Please tell me someone on my list still knows music theory!

[baratron]

Gah. I wish I still remembered any music theory. I was having an Aerosmith circa 1975 evening while cooking, and "Sweet Emotion" was driving me nuts - specifically, I'm sure it's not in a normal major or minor scale. I swear it starts off with a diminished chord, but Richard was insisting it was the normal major. I have this vague recollection of when I used to know music theory & worked out that it was written in the Dorian mode, or something. But I just looked up Dorian mode on Wikipedia and the entry makes very little sense, because I've almost forgotten just about everything. I know what a major, harmonic minor & melodic minor sound like, and that's it. Pentatonic? Oh yeah, I heard of those once. Plagal mode? Yeah, again.

I've just added "Re-learn music theory" to my list. My list currently stands at:
- Learn Japanese
- Relearn Latin
- Relearn Greek
- Study A-level biology
- Relearn A-level physics
- Learn to speak French, properly, so I can actually speak it rather than just being able to read, write & vaguely understand aurally
- Relearn music theory

Like I'm ever going to have enough copious free time to learn even the new stuff. If I could only remember everything I've ever forgotten, I'd be sooo clever.

Meanwhile, I discover that my head really is full of song lyrics. Sang along to most of the "Toys in the Attic" album word perfectly, despite not having played it in years. Why do I have the lyrics of "Sweet Emotion" in my head to the extent I could probably sing it backwards, yet I can't remember what frigging mode it's in. Gah.

Update: I've found the score to the bass line online, legally. OK, it's in A major. All the tabs are highly simplified compared to what's played on the record, but definitely the bass line has an A --> G natural thing going on. That's a diminished seventh, isn't it?

And argh argh argh in doing a Google search I just found an FAQ for 'Revolution X'! NOOOOO!! Don't remind me of that game!! (When I was an Aerosmith fangirl, I once put £40 into a Rev X machine. I'm not joking. I wish I was.)

Comments

[ceno.livejournal.com]

Sounds to me like it's mostly A minor pentatonic with a chromatic riff thingy, then it changes to E and sounds kinda ambiguously minor/major like a lot of blues rock stuff can be. If that makes much sense.

[baratron.livejournal.com]

i should've specified. It's the bassline that's bothering me. There's something very weird going on with it, not least of all the fact it starts 1 beat before the bar each time. (And I can't even remember what that's called any more - it's not syncopated, something else. Some word like anticipatory but in Italian :/)

I updated the post to add more info btw.

[ceno.livejournal.com]

Ah yes, there's a flat seventh in there with a major third, so I'd say A Mixolydian for that particular bass part.

[baratron.livejournal.com]

You might be right. Crap. I'm getting urges to run out and buy a cheap keyboard, for the sole reason that I can't sightread music in my head anymore.

WHERE DID IT ALL GO?!?

The worst thing is this - I used to be a cellist. What does cello music look like? Bass clef. Occasional tenor clef. OK, so here's me able to read the treble clef, and struggling with the bass!

AAAAARRRRRGGGHHHHHHH!!!!

Mind you, I managed to relearn organic mechanisms after 9 years, and I actually understand them now (and can do the simple ones in my sleep), so assuming I can find my old music theory books...

...and buy a cheap keyboard, 'cos I really don't need a whole piano. I don't even enjoy playing the piano.

Not enough hours in the day. There're just not enough hours in the day.

[hiddenpaw.livejournal.com]

I'd just call it bluesy. But I only ever got as far as grade 2 music before we moved away from the music school and never found another.

[epi-lj.livejournal.com]

At least you knew this stuff once.

I saw some nice-sounding music theory learning software earlier today, but a lot of it was Windows-only.

[baratron.livejournal.com]

If you do the Associated Board music exams (which are THE classical music certification in the UK), to take grades above grade 5 you HAVE to do Grade 5 Theory. I did Grade 5 cello and Grade 6 piano, so I had to take theory as well.

I actually did Grades 2, 4 and 5 Theory, and I think I got 98% on the Grade 5 exam. Which is what makes this so galling. (Galling - as in gall bladder. Hmmm. Haven't made that pun yet. I should.)

[wuluf.livejournal.com]

The modes come from the Major scale ie D dorian is 1 2 b3 4 5 6 b7 Which is D E F G A B C. Notice it is the same Notes a C Major Scale only you start on D Which would mean a solo or intro over a chord progression in A would work. The only difrence is A has a C sharp in it. But most blues and classic rock use the Blues scale to solo over which contains a b3 and a 3rd so it works. Staring a song with a diminished chord would be very strange unless the next chord is a seimitone higer or lower ie D sharp diminished to E. You normaly use a diminished chord as a passing chord to get from say D to E. This is because it needs to resove to something else overwise it just sounds strange and dark

In the Key of A, G is indeed a diminshed though is very rarely played as a diminished, mainly only in jazz, more common you would play it as a G major or a G7 instead.
It is known as the Devils chord and if you played it in the middle ages you were burnt at the stake for being a heritic I kid you not!