Q. I have had people tried to teach me the chord method...for the longest time...I thought it was something I had to learn to make music on the electrical guitar....but...I have found that chords take energy out of the melody rather then adding to it....plucking several different notes at the same time, only clouds the melody
why the obsession with chords? how did it start historically?
aren't chords, as used in rock music, more a distraction from the melody rather then a contributing factor
thanks again for all the great answers...I bought my first guitar 2 months ago from costco..I do not wish to belittle anyone's style of music....but I have found that composing melodies using notes on the guitar to be more satisfying then trying to play the same melodies using chords....for some reason....they lose energy...I have a friend who has been playing guitar for the longest time and when he attempts to create the same riff using chordal methodology....it loses the punch...and even he admits it does....
also without using chords...I am better able to explore the notes within notes...
A. You thought you had to learn it? YOU DO HAVE TO LEARN IT.
Chords don't take energy out of the melody unless they are the wrong chords or the cat playing them uses too many notes; a common problem with players who only use the barre chords or who always play harmony with big open voicings when there are other instruments in the group that are already covering those notes. It ends up sounding like a traffic jam.
The "free jazz" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_jazz) school of thought goes along the lines of eliminating chords but I'm very clear about this with my students; the most famous practitioners could play the conventional way and play very well the conventional way. They just wanted to try something different. Many times when I have a student tell me "do I need the chords" its because they:
1. Can't play them very well.
2. Can't play "the changes" as we like to say, meaning they can't solo through what they're hearing.
So, they come up with this nonsense that "they don't need them" and they can "create something abstract and cool without them." Yeah, right. Picasso was allowed to be an abstract artist because he could also paint an apple or your portrait if need be. Even in anarchy there is structure.
I really don't think there is an "obsession" with chords. What I do think is that the guitar, which in the days of Dixieland was a limited, rather unpopular rhythm instrument no one could hear and the with the advent of the amp and rock music became the most popular instrument in the WORLD, that yes chords have become very important. This is especially since anyone with $200 can go buy some form of axe, learn G-C and D, and call themselves a musician. I had a student that came to me and didn't even know the names of the notes on the fingerboard but could play those three chords. Its largely a self accompanying instrument that people use for sing alongs and the chord is obviously a huge component of that.
But chords and theory have always been here. The piano always played chords in classical music, piano sheet music many times has the chords written into the arrangement and even when a composer writes a melody with no chords attached there are chords that are implied in different ways, either very specifically or vaguely, but they are there. You play me any melody, even some nonsense off the top of your head, and I will write it down and find chords for it. And many different ones at that. The melody, however, is always the MOST important thing.
Let's get to Rock for a second. You have to have chords in Rock. Its chordal music. The rhythm is the predominating force in the music. When I play jazz I lay back a lot; I'll play two note chords so I don't get in the way. For example if the piano player is playing G7 I might just play the 3rd and the 7th (B and F) because those are the strong tones that indicate the chord and I'm not getting in the way. I'll also play the chord on certain beats so it has a more free, swingy type of feel. If I'm in a rock group and I'm playing rhythm guitar and there's no keyboards then I'll go all out and play the big chords, with a chord on every beat, or whatever is called for.
Here's a guy who I love and I think you might enjoy:
http://www.billfrisell.com/
Bill Frisell is a very well known avant garde/jazz player who does a lot of chord free type of stuff. But listen to me; HE CAN PLAY. Its always musical and that's the main thing. He's a very educated musician and he's always MUSICAL.
This is a great question and I applaud you for posting it. Its a pleasure to see someone post something with some meaning. Before throwing my two cents in on this the best question I had seen today was something like this:
"Does U tink dat mi IPOD is a niece color?" in which the person apparently wanted a consensus on their choice of IPod shade along with sarcastic little old me giving them a spelling lesson.
Oh yes; here's a book you might find interesting:
http://www.amazon.com/History-Western-Music-Donald-Grout/dp/0393979911/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1213227854&sr=8-1
Its a bit pricey so perhaps you can search it out at the local library.
Hope this helped, if even a small amount.
Piano question!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!?!?!?
Q. What does it mean when theres 2 notes on top of each other in the same space but not the same notes there different its hard to explain but i need help and what does it mean when its C/G or F/A???? need help please fast!
o and i meant C/G and F/A chords
A. In response to your question question, it takes two to make a dyad, it takes three to make a chord.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyad_(music)
In response to your second question, David B is right.
Are the piano chords C2 and Cadd9 the same?
Q. C2 has the notes C,D,E,G, while Cadd9 has the notes C,E,G,D', but here I quote from Wikipedia:
Add nine major triad major ninth - C2, Cadd9
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chord_%28music%29
But I think that is impossible that that is right, because major ninth means D' which is not the same with D in chord C2.
A. The 2nd and 9th are the same note, so yes, they are the same chord.
How you voice it determines what it is called.
If you add the D that is between the root note and the 3rd, it is a C2.
If you add the D that is in the next octave of the scale it is Cadd9.
That's because the 8th would be an octave higher than the root note (C), which makes the 9th an octave higher than the 2nd (D).
They sound subtly different, but they are interchangeable if the song in question allows for improvisation.
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Title : why does western music rely on chords?
Description : Q. I have had people tried to teach me the chord method...for the longest time...I thought it was something I had to learn to make music on...