Oops- the seventh degree in major scale is not a minor chord as I posted but a diminished.
|
| + Visit West Bromwich Albion FC Mad for Latest News, Transfer Gossip, Fixtures and Match Results |
Sorry, don't mean to try and tell people what they already know, but just realized that the link I gave (or didn't give 😀doesn't explain what I, V, vi etc mean. Basically it's the degrees of the scale. There are 8 notes in Western music-A B C D E F G. Forgetting the intervals between notes (A- A sharp/B flat -B -C- C sharp/D flat -D -Dsharp/E flat-E-F-Fsharp/Gflat-G-Gsharp/Aflat) the degrees of the Key of A for example would then be:
1-A
2-B
3-C
4-D
5-E
6-F
7-G
For the key of D it would be:
1-D
2-E
3-F
4-G
5-A
6-B
7-C
The degrees are written not as 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 but as their Roman numeral equivalents I II III IV V VI VII.
The most commonly used degrees are I (the tonic or home), IV (sub dominant) and the V (dominant)
In a major key the second, third, sixth and seventh are minor chords and are written in lower case to designate this (e.g. ii rather than II)
Chords themselves are - in their basic form- built from 3 notes (triads) in their scale. For Major chords these are the I III and V notes (For C this is C E G).
For Minor chords these are I IIIflat and V (so C Eb and G) for example
Only just really getting to grips with basic music theory myself after years of playing so hope I've got this right!! Certainly still far from comfortable with understanding modes etc but hope this helps a bit
Oops- the seventh degree in major scale is not a minor chord as I posted but a diminished.
Thanks Omegstrat for something to investigate
Music and why it works is a really amazing topic for me seeing as I have no music ability
Thanks Lloyd for the link
If you like the Beatles, musicologist Howard Goodhall did a very good piece on Sgt Pepper and how the individual songs work and were structured. He can't sing for toffee but I found his explanations and the theory behind how the songs work (even if McCartney/Lennon/Harrison weren't consciously aware of it) very interesting. Think it's called "Sgt Peppers Musical Revolution" and used to be available on BBC I-player but, if not, it may be on you tube.