Dissonance In Music

The more I listen to music, particularly metal, the more I notice sounds which don't sound quite 'right' and creates feelings of tension. Yet they still sound cool. The beginning of Meshuggah's song "Future Breed Machine", Norma Jean's "Memphis Will Be Laid To Waste", and "Panasonic Youth" by The Dillinger Escape Plan are prime examples of that tension I feel when I hear their music. 

Here are the songs that I mentioned earlier. FULL OF TENSION!!!

 

Beauty Is In The Eye Of The Beholder: A Lesson by Victor Wooten

 **Following in an excerpt from the book. It is a conversation between a teacher and a student**

"How we view notes provides a good example of how we view Life," Michael said.
"How we view life? What do you mean?"
He then played a C and a C sharp at the same time on the guitar.
"How does that sound?" he asked.
"Awful. It sounds like two notes clashing," I responded with a grimace.
"Very ordinary answer," he said matter-of-factly. "Now, if I take the C up and octave and play the two notes again, what does it sound like?"
"Now it sounds pretty," I answered. "The C became the major seventh which is the key factor in making a chord sound pretty. That's cool."

"Correct. The rule book tells us that two notes played side by side, a half step apart, should clash and sound dissonant, but if we movve the lower note up and octave, the same two notes sound pretty. Why is that? They are the same two notes, so how can they clash at one instance, and sound pretty in the next? There is a Life lesson in there somewhere."

"So you're saying that situations in life which seem to clash may not be 'wrong' at all; they may just be in the wrong octave?" ...If we can learn to change our perspective and see negative tings in a different 'octave' we may be able to see the beauty in all things and in all situations."

"All situations and all people contain beauty, but it is up to us to see it....Here's another way to look at these two notes," he continued. "Let's say that we don't change the octave of the C or the C sharp. Let's just surround these two notes with other notes and see what happens."

"If you play a B flat, a C, a D flat, which is the same as a C sharp, an F, and an A flat, you have a B flat minor nine chord. Now the C and the C sharp sound good even though they are right next to each other and in the same register. People could learn a Life lesson from Music if they would just choose to see." He began to sing, "I can see clearly now the rain is gone."

"Johnny Nash," I responded, recognizing the lyric. "That's a beautiful song."

He nodded in agreement. "Also," he continued, "in the key of B flat minor, the rule book tells us that we are not allowed to play a C sharp, but when I play it, it sounds good to me. We're supposed to call it a D flat. Even though they are the same note, we  can play one but not the other. It's all in the the name, I guess. Rules! Once they are learned, they can be thoroughly broken!"

(Pages 51-54).

Intervals Workout: Thank You Guitar World

Recently I found an great article from Guitar World (May 2005)  that talked about intervals. The article talked about fretboard application, some ear training exercises with popular songs to compare it to, and soloing techniques. I have posted the article below.

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Intervals and the Guitar: Part 2

As I researched intervals further I found that some interval shapes remain constant as you move to most other string sets:

(A and D; A and G; D and G; B and high E). 

However, when the lower note of the interval is on the G string, or if the G string separates the two notes of an interval, the shape changes.

This is due to the tuning of the guitar. Remember, the strings are tuned in 4ths except for the third and second strings, which is a major 3rd. 

Below is an example of these interval shapes:

Intervals and the Guitar

As I was researching intervals I came a cross a section in one of my music theory books that was particularly interesting. It said, "One of the most valuable (and overlooked) skills a guitarist can possess is the ability to recognize and play intervals on the fretboard." It also said that whether ascending or descending, the name of the interval remains the same (either note can be considered the "root." 

Below is a example that features the interval shapes as they appear on the fretboard on the low string sets (low E and A; low E and D), with the lowest note on the sixth string

Intervals

Intervals: Are the incremental building blocks from which melodies are constructed.An interval is also the distance between two notes. The smallest interval in Western music is the half step (the distance from one fret to another on guitar). All intervals can be measured by the amount of half steps they contain, but the most common way to identify intervals is to refer to them by their proper names. The names of intervals are bases on the scale steps of the major scale. 

**Here is an example of the intervals of the C Major Scale:

 

Written on the staff are two octaves of the C major scale, with the scale steps written above. The brackets below the staff measure the distance between the tonic and the other notes of the scale. Intervals within the first octave of the scale are called simple intervals. Notice that the name of these intervals directly correspond to the scale steps. For instance, the distance between the tonic and the second scale step is called a major 2nd; the distance between the tonic and the third step is called a major 3rd ect. Once the octave is reached, higher number take over. These "beyond the octave" intervals are called compound intervals. In all cases, the number (2nd, 5th, 7th, ect.) describes the interval quantity (number of scale steps); and the adjective (major, minor, perfect, ect.) describes the interval quality (number of half steps).

Slayer Does Not Need Music Theory To Sound Cool!!

The more I read interviews and articles by some of my favorite musicians the more I noticed how many of them were never classically trained, had lessons from a guitar guru or even bothered picking up a scale book. Take Kerry King from the band Slayer for example.This guy can practically break the sound barrier with his face-melting guitar solos and can write brutal riffs that would whip any audience into a frenzy. But he doesn't know shit about music theory!! He just knows what he likes and what he thinks his fans will like. Slayer has been around for almost 30 years so they must have found a "formula" that works. The article below goes a bit more in depth as to Kerry King's thoughts on music theory and also has some advice on economical fingering techniques. 

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