Music Theory Live Class #I

An octave is 12 semitones higher than the root note - the equivalent of going all the way around the Note Circle and back to the same note.

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@Stuartw

Perhaps we were typing at the same time and you missed my post - which includes a keyboard.
Take a look at the repetition of it.
Start at C1.

White C
Black C# / Db
White D
Black D# / Eb
White E
White F
Black F# / Gb
White G
Black G# / Ab
White A
Black A# / Bb
White B
White C ā€¦ where the pattern starts again.

Over and over for each and every 12 notes.

The C major scale does not use any black keys.

Stuart must be a subscriber to have received an invite to the live class.

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There is a logic to it. You just arenā€™t seeing (or, really, hearing) it yet.

Imagine if we had separate names for every single note that existed. Even if we limited it to a piano keyboard (and there are far more notes than that) we would have 88 individual note names.

Not only donā€™t we have enough letters in the alphabet, but there would be no relationship between any of the note names, which would make learning music a nightmare!

Now, that would be illogical.

As @Richard_close2u has pointed out, if you want to get really picky, then you can use the octave numbers to differentiate between C notes at different pitches: C1, C2, C3, and so on. We donā€™t do this in general because in most case itā€™s either obvious which C we are talking about, or it doesnā€™t matter.

And, no, they donā€™t sound identical, but there is an extremely strong relationship between the C notes: in music, all C notes perform the same function, which is why they are all called ā€œCā€.

For example: thereā€™s lots of ways to play a C chord on a guitar. When a songā€™s harmony contains a C chord, you have a choice of C chords you can play and they will mostly sound different from each other, but they will all sound perfectly good. If you play any other chord, it will sound wrong.

Thatā€™s because, regardless of the octave they are in, the notes with the same note names perform the same function in music, which is why itā€™s totally logical to give them the same name.

Cheers,

Keith

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Well that turned out to be a strange old day. After a good walk round the grounds of our local Natural Trust place we came home for my missus then to go A over T in our hall and spend the net few hours in A and E. Sheā€™s OK but bruised and in pain!

I did see your post and hadnā€™t processed all the information provided.

I now understand about the frequency thing with that are an octave above/below have half/double the frequency and for convention have the same name, but sound different.

No but having checked it shows on my guitar tuner.

As noted by @Richard_close2u I have subscribed to the PMT course and have competed module 3, but not really got much further.

Agreed, and can see (now) the logic of not naming everything :slight_smile: If you donā€™t ask you donā€™t find out!

Noted but at this point I donā€™t know that many and guessing that there are loads that I donā€™t know or will ever know or use.

I see that now.

Thanks to all who took the time to respond to my questions. Appreciated and you learn something new everyday.

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Oh dear, Iā€™m sorry to hear that Stuart. I hope she mends quickly!
On another note - what an informative conversation you instigated. Thank you. :slightly_smiling_face:

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Stuart @Stuartw
Sorry to hear about your wifeā€™s fall, hope she has a speedy recovery.
Michael

Stuart, sorry to hear about your wifeā€™s fall. All the best for a speedy recovery!

Stuart, Sorry to hear about your wife, hope she gets well soon. Well done for asking the question and starting the topic. Thatā€™s the beauty of this group, you can ask and people will try different ways of explaining it so that, hopefully, one or a selection of answers helps answer it for you.

I hope your wife is ok! It took me a minute to get what ā€œA over Tā€ and ā€œA and Eā€ meant, nice one there, but sorry for your wife. For a moment I thought that when she went A over T you went and worked on the A and E cords!

I have an app that show all fingerings for C maj, then for all the other variations on the C cord and all there possible fingerings. Like a cord encyclopedia. Mind boggling for sure. Makes me scream ā€œtoo manyā€ and run away.

For now, I donā€™t even worry about it. It is interesting to know they all exist, but I am learning cords and variations as they show up in songs only, right now. Every so often I will think that I should pick a few different cords for my standard progression that I use for right hand technique/strumming practice. But, I havenā€™t yetā€¦

Youā€™re spending way too much time overseas Keith !

@Stuartw Hope the missis is ok and a recovers pqd !
:sunglasses:

I donā€™t know if this goes against the spirit of the challenge, but the first thing I wanted to do is analyze the structure of the first (and so far only) song I wrote. The intro, chorus, and bridge have the same structure.

The verse is: I II V7 I IV I II V7 I

The Chorus etc. is: V I II V

I play it finger style and use a number of ā€˜color notesā€™ that modify chords.

I with I sus4
II with II sus4
V7 with V
IV with IV9

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My Chord Progressions

Key A ==> A - Bm -D - A

Key F ==> F - Am - Bb - C - F

Key D ==> D - F#m - Bm - Em - D - F#m - Bm - D

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Que?

@Stuartw I hope your wife recovers quickly.

Cheers,

Keith

Are we supposed only to write chord progressions (for verse and chorus) here or record ourselves playing those and post here? I thought the latter was the request.

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This is very interesting Michael, thanks a lot for sharing it, Iā€™ve been wondering about it, especially when singing, I sometimes think Iā€™m not singing the same of the original but one octave lower or higherā€¦now it should be interesting to observe my throat while singing: how do I produce higher or lower frequencies?

This is something I didnā€™t know, thanks Richard for the detailed explanation.

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My chord progressions are:

Verse: Bm Em F#m G
Chorus: D A Em A

And Iā€™m in the key ofā€¦? D! :grin:

I tried to follow Justinā€™s advices, to keep it simple and not to overthink musicā€¦I let my ears decide :blush:

Now, since I started working on the Strumming Dynamics Course last month, the real challenge for me is bringing these progressions to life :star_struck:

I was wondering as well, but actually planning to post on the AVOYP section if I end up with something that I like.

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Just noticed this typo when @Silvia80 quoted Richard.
Should say ā€œThe note we call C at fret 3 of the 5th stringā€
ā€œThe note we call C at fret 1 of the 2nd stringā€

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Yesā€¦I didnā€™t notice, I read quickly and the strings were what caught my attention, not the frets, because I know where those Cs are.

Are you sure itā€™s not B minor? :wink:

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