Heaps of questions about harmony

HarmonyNoob123 · Joined: Feb 25, 2010 Posts: 1 Location: Germany

hey folks

first of all excuse my english, i'm not a native speaker Smile

i would be very happy if you could help me and answer the following questions.

thank you very much!

Chords
Does electronic music (especially electro) have chords? And which instrument usually plays the chords in electronic music? I quess it's a chord-playing synthesizer? If yes, how has the chord-playing synthesizer to sound like (the same as the lead-synth)?
And is it possible do make musik without chords (techno)?

Counterpoint and adding of other instruments to the melody
How can i figure out what the bass is playing according to the lead instrument's melody? -> Is it just about counterpoint and nothing else? (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counterpoint)
And if I want to add additional instruments (especially e guitar or strings) is it only about counterpoint-theory as well?

i hope you understand my weird questions Smile

otherwise feel free to ask for explanation.

thank you very much!

AperionProject · Joined: Apr 15, 2010 Posts: 3 Location: Chicago

Uncle Krunkus · Posted: Sat Apr 17, 2010 4:07 am Post subject:

Keep in mind that you can play three unique notes and still not have "tied down" any particular chord. For example, 1 note on a bass synth, 1 on a violin, and 1 on a piano, say E, B, and G and your playing some type of Eminor chord. But, if the vocal is on C#, you've got an Eminor6 and if the vocal hits a D, you've got Eminor13.
Chords are fluid things, they change dynamically with the melody, and may not be all on one instrument.
Sometimes, parts of the melody may be passing notes which have no affect on the chord progression.
Sometimes the melody will force a complete key change. (shifting all the chords into a new area completely)

jamiewoody · Posted: Fri Jun 11, 2010 4:07 pm Post subject:

an arpeggiator is a type of synth circuit. the definition of an arpeggio is "a broken chord". a triad is a kind of arpeggio with 3 notes, and so on.

some synths, as well as circuit bent casios, etc an added 5th note to single notes. a 2 note "chord" is actually considered a "double stop", which is chord like. in theory, however, a chord is usually 3 notes. the 3rd note, or the 2nd in some cases determine whether or not the chord is considered major or minor. the minor interval always takes prescidence over the chord or scale. for instance, a mixolydian has a major 2nd, but a minor interval eventually comes into play. so, the mixolydian scale/mode is considered minor.

mrcold · Posted: Sat Jul 31, 2010 6:06 pm Post subject:

..you can do whatever you want.

Really, there is no right or wrong here. Certainly, the advice you have gotten already is fine advice, but keep in mind that there is no one way to do things that is correct.

If there is a specific sound that you are going for, then you should LISTEN to that sound and try to figure out what is going on there... then if you have a question bring it back here and we can help you more specifically.

If you know about harmony, then the things that you know about it can certainly apply to electronic music, if you DON"T know about it you're going to be fine.. just do what sounds good! (but learning a bit of harmony never hurt anyone)

Ojd · Joined: Feb 22, 2008 Posts: 65 Location: Ua Audio files: 1

I find easy to create little piece of music (like sequence, or riff, or whatever), than, to give it flesh (with counterpoint, which, but i might be mis-leaded, it could be orchestration), you know, unexpected things in unexpected places. I love minimalism, drone, or light ant airy droning, but what about dramatic development? I mean there must be some system by which to string chords, right? I - IV - V works , but there must be more to it. Let's look at the classic Kraftwerk's Komietenmelodie 2 , can somebody put a chord chart for it? Lets talk about why they made such harmonic decisions (i clearly here 2 different tonalities there)?

Well, to make techno you don't need much musical knowledge. Anyone CAN do techno (Though not anyone can do CAN Very Happy

), its just 4/4, and simple bassline, repeating same pattern overandoverandover. Its a kind of today's punk. Also thats why it lost its elitism flavor, which Kraftwerk or Harmonia ( or Ash ra or other german post-psychedelic electronics) had. Though, in terms of orchestration (or contrapunkt), it has some taste, it has a place for maneuver (at least rhythmically). In minimal techno, for example, you can often hear clicks or boops in ridiculous places, it doesn't make sense, but as soon as 4/4 kicks in its a sense of a relief, its a syncope somewhere in the pattern. It is what contrapunkt is about (at least for me).

abreaktor · Posted: Sun Feb 27, 2011 8:35 am Post subject:

heh, thats an interesting aspect, i use rhythmic "counterpoint" a lot. last time i ran across a fine example of this (in a very basic and powerful form) was when listening to fluxion (chain reaction, around 2000 i think). stream I and stream II

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFYoQvdDIRE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G65B57vaXOU

bandcoach · Joined: Feb 27, 2011 Posts: 1 Location: Sydney, Australia

abreaktor · Posted: Mon Feb 28, 2011 2:31 am Post subject:

sup bandcoach

for us non-educated producers, i found chordspace to be immensely helpful.

http://www.chordspace.com/ChordSpaceindex.htm

alsoplustoo, its freeware!

Freds 1030 · Joined: Feb 20, 2011 Posts: 7 Location: USA

You can find counterpoint even in the simplest styles of music. Not necessarily the "traditional" classical or jazz counterpoint, but the whole idea of 2 or more lines playing together.

If you understand this concept you can derivate harmony principles and ideas, as well as chord theory from this.

In other words, I really recommend studying counterpoint. It will help you with any style of music and your understanding of music will grow a lot. I would go as far as saying that you can apply counterpoint principles to other arts, like writing or painting.

So don't try to differentiate too much chords, from counterpoint, from rhythm, etc. Everything is related and like some have said, at the end there's no right and wrong. But is better to break the "rules" when you actually know them.
Everything will make more sense then and music will probably be more interesting.

Praxis Axis · Joined: May 09, 2011 Posts: 5 Location: Brisbane

One of the interesting things about electronic music is that a synth is an especially good instrument for unravelling timbre and the harmonic structure of what is ostensibly a single pitch. The way that timbral exploration, manipulation and change can be used to create musical interest and development - sometimes in place of harmony - is perhaps the most notable thing that electronic music has offered western music in general.

Having said that of course there is harmony in all sorts of electronic music, much of which is standard triadic harmony (again in many cases, perhaps, the interest is more to do with timbral manipulation).

I guess what I'm saying is that if you get into electronic music, you're perhaps missing the best part if you are not interested in exploring the physical interior of sound, as well as abstract things like pitch and harmony.