Musical theory part 2

Welcome back. If you haven't already done so, check out part 1 of the theory tutorial by clicking here:
Musical Theory tutorial part 1

So far we've covered the absolute basics of theory. Next up: harmonic minors.
Important note: We're talking about the scale, not S Club Juniors. Hohoho.

Anyway...

Part 3 - Harmonic Minor Scale

Right. This one's my favourite. It isn't much different from the natural minor - in fact it's only one note different. However, this one note change completely changes the mood of the scale. The harmonic minor scale has a much darker feel to it, and can sound a bit more... For lack of a better word, let's just say "classicallish." The harmonic minor is my favourite scale, and I think that's the old metal band ways still creeping in there.

To form the harmonic minor, all you have to do is change one note - You augment the 7th note of the natural minor scale. In other words, you move it up one semitone. So with the examples we used earlier...

Key:
T = Whole Tone
S = Semitone
TS = 3 semitones (This interval will be discussed and named later)R = Root

A minor scale              E minor scale                 B minor scale

R-T- S-T-T- S-T-T          R-T-- S- T-T- S-T- T         R-T-- S-T-T-- S-T- T

A-B-C-D-E-F-G-A         E- F#-G-A-B- C-D-E        B-C#-D-E-F#-G-A-B

Becomes...

A harmonic minor           E harmonic minor            B harmonic minor 

R-T- S-T-T- S-TS-S         R-T-- S- T-T- S-TS-S         R-T-- S-T-T-- S-TS- S

A-B-C-D-E-F-G#-A         E- F#-G-A-B- C-D#-E       B-C#-D-E-F#-G-A#-B

That simple. Try playing about with it, that one note change can completely change the mood of a track.

Part 4 - More intervals

So far we've only looked at the whole tone and semitone. I'll go into chord construction and stuff shortly, but before doing that it's important to appreciate the other musical intervals between notes. For the sake of only covering basic theory, i'm only going to look into the intervals within a single octave, and this way when you accidentally stumble across a BbDim+13 chord or something you can wet yourself with jazzy jazzy joy.

There are 4 main types of interval - Major, Minor, Perfect and Augmented/Diminished. The names used really depend on their application.

1 semitone - Minor 2nd (c-c#)
2 semitones - Major 2nd (c-d)
3 semitones - Minor 3rd (c-d#)
4 semitones - Major 3rd/Diminished 4th (c-e)
5 semitones - Perfect 4th (c-f)
6 semitones - augmented 4th/diminished 5th (dependant on your outlook on life)(c-f#)
7 semitones - Perfect 5th (c-g)
8 semitones - Augmented 5th/Minor 6th (c-g#)
9 semitones - Major 6th (c-a)
10 semitones - Minor 7th (c-a#)
11 semitones - Major 7th (c-b)
12 semitones - Octave

Note: While the movement between these notes upwards results in movement of these intervals, these are also the names for the chords these notes create when combined. This brings us on to chord construction.

Part 5 - Basic Chord Construction

A chord is technically defined as 2 or more notes played at the same time. These combination can sound pleasant or unpleasant, but they're still chords. First off, lets look at how the intervals mentioned above sound.

The Minor 2nd and Major 2nd
These combinations of notes sounds very harsh and unpleasant. In electronic music, you're unlikely to ever use these chords, but for more experimental works I personally love it for its awkwardness if used sparingly. 

The Minor 3rd

This is the base of your minor chord, and has a melancholy tone. Harmonically, it is pleasing to the ear, and is quite often used within metal guitar lines to give a dark feel to the harmony of 2 guitars, playing 1 note each.

The Major 3rd

This is the base of your major chord, and has a brighter cheerier tone. Again, it is harmonically pleasing, and when used next to minor 3rd  chords you have the base for most basic western world music.

The Perfect 4th

The term "perfect" refers to the fact that this combination of notes sounds neutral, it is neither major nor minor. Tonally, it has quite an eastern or oriental quality.

The Perfect 5th

Again, harmonically neutral. This combination of notes is often referred to as a "power chord" on guitar, and a lot of rock music utilizes these chords exclusively.

We will look at the 4th and 5th in more detail later.

The Augmented 4th/Diminished 5th

This chord was at one time referred to as "The Devil's Interval" due to its dark tonality. It is an awkward chord which is often used in jazz and metal music, although when used alongside major and minor chords, its placement in modern mainstream music is not uncommon.

The Major/Minor 6th

This is a chord I don't utilise very often, but when I do it is generally as a variation from the perfect 5th. It is a little more awkward sounding than the major or minor 3rd, but is still harmonically pleasing dependant on placement.

The Major/Minor 7th

The 7th is an interesting beast. Played as only the root plus 7th, the combination can be quite unpleasant. However, when combined with the 3rd and 5th, they become some of the most commonly used chords. These chords should only be used sparingly at first until you really have a grasp on where they should be used.

The Octave
To save another lengthy explanation, I shall simply re-state what was written about the octave in part 1:
The reason these notes share the same name, is because the change in frequency going up an octave is exactly double, and we perceive the 2 notes to have similar harmonic qualities. Very few acoustic instruments (as in not electronically generated signals) will be able to perfectly recreate the interval, which is why octave harmonies on guitar sound very distinct and characteristic. If you play an instrument, listen to the octave next time you play one - It should sound a little... Wobbly.

This is chord construction at its most basic. In the next entry I shall go into more complex chord construction, but I'm gonna give my brain a rest for now. As always, if there's anything you'd like explained in more detail, or if any of this confuses you, don't hesitate to contact me and I'll do what I can to help :)

K! x

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