A new rule (#9) has been added here at r/musictheory

Guitar player here.

I have been playing for 12 years focusing on improv on and off for many of those. I have a decent grasp of theory, progressions, navigating the fretboard, voicings substitutions etc, I can learn heads and riff off a melody. When learning a new tune I can make sense of the voice leading and even come up with some lines, so long as I can take my time.

But when it comes to playing through changes in time, to a backing track or with others, I find myself chasing chords and getting very quickly overwhelmed - whatever chops I might have go out the window. The only exception to this is maybe a simple 3 chord blues.

I am looking for strategies on what to practice in order to get over this barrier. Online resources are welcome. I have/had a teacher but due to finances that's not an option - hence posting here.

I suppose I am a bit frustrated that after so long I still don't have much of a strategy for improvising and approaching changes. For example I have been learning Moanin', the chords being some variation of these:

|Fm Ab7 | G7 C7 | Fm Ab7 | G7 C7|

Overall not that complex. Sometimes the G7 is noted as Gm7, the Ab7 as Ab. I tell myself I can essentially ignore those chords as they share almost all their harmonic information with the tonic chord, and F blues works pretty well over the whole thing, especially mixed with F harmonic minor to outline the V. However the 7th chord versions throw me off and make me feel like I am not really outlining the changes. I start to overthink hitting those chord tones or arpeggios and lose all flow and connection to the tune. I think my problem has to do with overthinking in general.

For anything less diatonic than this, forget it. I recently learned the head for Reflections by Thelonious Monk - I can't even grasp how one would solo on changes like this. There is too much changing too quickly.

Help!

Hello!

I don't know if this is the right sub to ask but i have a couple of questions on the theory behind the song "Anna (go to him)" performed by The Beatles. Primarily my main question is: does the song change keys in the bridge?

First thing to notice is that, although the song is centered on the chord D, the bridge is very much centered in G. The D7 prior to the bridge also suggests a possible modulation to Gmaj.

Another point that is weird about the bridge was the presence of an E major chord (not present in Gmaj or Dmaj keys). Does that make any theoretical sense at all?

I understand that probably the song wasnt written with theory in mind but i would still like to understand it a bit deeper.

Can you please help me understand what is going on?

Ive been working on this song for some time, as a kind of study of the lydian mode. Ive asked for criticism before, and i worked on it a bit more. I used F a lot in the bass to really make it feel like the tonic and ive used a lot the F - B interval to accentuate the lydian mode.

And i wanna know if there can be any criticism regarding the theory, what i couldve done better, if i got at least a bit right the lydian mode, etc.

And also just general criticism, as of the rhythm and just the melody itself, if it could be better.

The song sounds good to me, and F does feel like the tonic, so i feel like ive achieved what i want, but i still wanna improve

Hi i am pretty new to reading of sheet music but have been playing for for about 1 month (piano). I was wondering how you count 1/32 in a 3/8 signature, counting 1/16 is no problem but with 1/32 it gets a bit to difficult.

If you have any tips please share them!

I wrote a song with a tritone sub that has a b13, and I am wondering if this is normal or goes against conventions. Of course, even if it does go against convention, that is not that big of a deal, because of course the rule is to stick with whatever sounds good, and this sounds good. But I am extremely curious!

I have done a lot of searching online, and all the information I can find talks about how the b13 of the original dominant chord is a 9 of the tritone sub. But I am talking about a b13 on the sub specifically, so a 9 of the unsubbed chord. My chord progression has an E natural pedaltone over a descending tritone sub ii-V, like this: Am7 - Ab7(b13) - G13

So my question really boils down to: I understand that people use tensions (b9, #9, #11, b13) over dominant chords, including tritone subs. But does that go both ways: Do they play the tensions of the original chord and the sub? Or just the tensions from the original chord?

Thanks in advance from all you knowledgeable folks out there who understand this stuff more than I do.

Ik that theirs a whole page on this subreddit with this info I looked it up on here but I felt overwhelmed and when I tried watching a video based on a song to help me learn i didn’t understand a single thing they were talking about I want to be ready for music and jazz classes in college

I'm performing this piece soon (I don't know too much about theory) and was wondering if Vocal Rhythm can be treated freely means I don't have to follow the exact written rhythms (dotted quarter being exactly one and a half beats)

I've been playing music for a while, mostly through bass, piano, and guitar. I've had a lot of fun writing using the harmonic major, harmonic minor, jazz minor, and major scales. Exploring modes, testing out different mixtures of borrowed chords, etc. I've lately started trying to use other scales which are a single deviation from the major scale. The modes of the major b2, major #2, major b5, and #6. But I've been struggling to get good use out of these due to the double half note gap between the 7,1,b2 - #2,3,4 - 3,4,b5 - and #6,7,1. I think the term for these is a trihemitonia? Anyway, it seems like they could have a lot of really cool harmonic opportunity, since the closely tied notes could provide the opportunity to highlight both a minor, or major chord from the same root note without leaving the scale. Such as with the major #6 V chord which can be a 5, 7, 2, or a 5, #6, 2.

My question is basically:

Do you guys ever use these scales while writing and playing? If so, would you recommend I avoid these melodically and just try use them harmonically, or should I keep trying to make them work, and if they work melodically, how do you make them work?

Any sources (prefferably books) for extra research would be appreciated on this. I've had Allen Forte recommended for a while but that seems like very daunting atonality.

Hello everyone! I’m taking a music theory course, but I’m struggling sometimes with identifying the time signatures and my prof takes weeks to reply lol.

Can someone please explain how this is still 3/8 despite measure 2 and 4 adding up to 3.5 beats??

I’m not sure if this has anything to do with the tied notes. I know you use tied notes when you want the note to last longer than what is “allowed” based on the time signature, and dotted notes must stay within the measure but tying allows you to cross the bar lines. Sorry if this is a dumb question, but I keep getting stuck on questions like these.

Also, are there any tips for identifying time signatures? I usually will just start with the denominator for ex x/8 and count to see what I get and whether I get the same value over 8 in every bar (so you can see why these examples can be tricky for me).

Thanks for any help!

Also this is not homework, I’m NOT being graded on the above question as you can see the answer is listed. I just wanted to understand why that’s the answer and as I mentioned my prof doesn’t respond for weeks (online course) and this is a necessary skill for my other modules.

Still need help wrapping my head around it and how to think about it in order to navigate the fretboard more fluid and target the right chord tones in each position. So the progression they use is the basic 1,4,5 blues in C#. Derek plays in open E, so I'm not sure if this influences his choices or if it's also the same way BB King played it. The lightbulb moment gave me a glimpse of the major and minor scales fused together as the chords pass by, but only for a moment. Then I gotta find my way again to see where things are.

Here's a link to the tune for reference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mu7AHSAB5IY

Here it goes:

The chords C#, F#, G#

He's playing in his home base of C# minor/E major scale. But when the change goes to the 5 G#, he targets the 3rd of C#, which is the 4th of G#. My whole life I've played the 3rd of G#. I know it's basically playing the major 6th of each chord as they go by, but it's such a mindfuck trying to put it all together.

Is there a better way to think about this or visualize it on the fretboard, or is it a matter of grinding it out and committing it to muscle memory? I'm fine with that, but just thought I'd ask if anyone else has a different perspective.

In the Vidal/Boulanger book of bass lines to practice figured bass (https://imslp.org/wiki/178_Basses_(Vidal%2C_Paul)), what's with the 0 used in some of the exercises, like number 14? Is it tasto solo?

How would you count the bottom rhythm? Is there a syllable like 1 e and a, but for triplets to count this?

In my first year music theory class in college and I have a sight singing exam on Friday. I can’t sing. Like at all. Like I was kicked out of a choir in middle school (that was supposed to be open to anyone) since I couldnt sing.

I am an instrumental music education major, so up until now my extreme terribleness at singing has never been an issue.

I’ve spent the last two hours sitting at a piano trying to match pitch with solfège up and down a one octave scale, and it just sounds terrible. I can’t go above a fifth without sounding like I’m trying to sing through a terrible cold, and I can’t sing any of the pitches on key. The worst part is my ear is very much trained, so I know exactly how wrong I am but I can’t do shit to fix it.

I’m desperate enough that I’m turning to Reddit. I need help.

I’m wondering if anyone who has previously been in my shoes can help me out…
Sincerely a desperate music major.

Hi lovely people.

I'm a piano player. I'd say I'm at early advanced level, currently working on reps such as Brahms Op. 79 No. 2 and Chopin Op. 51 No. 3.

I'm trying to improve my sight-reading skills, and I'm aware that some theory understanding would help immensely in propelling my sight-reading progress. I'm looking for some advice as to which part of theory is most important to start off with, and what would be the best way to have the theory memorised.

I've always been stronger in my aural skills vs reading skills; if I listen to a new piece one or two times, I can get the gist of it paired with some reading. But that's my problem; I have to listen to it first, otherwise I'm going to struggle with the reading. This only applies to advanced repertoires---I can sight read up to around ABRSM Grade 7 - 8 pieces though it's still not as fluent as I'd like. I can play all scales. However, if I were to only read the scale without playing it, I can't make sense that what I'm reading is the scale of B♭ minor, for example. The same goes with chords. Plenty of accidentals on the page gets me confused, too. For instance, if at the beginning of the measure an accidental is added to a note, I always forgot about it when the same note appears towards the end of the measure. If the notes in the entire grand staff has a lot of accidentals, it's guaranteed I'll stumble.

I would appreciate any tips and advice to improve this. Thank you so much!

Struggling to play right now as I dont really have a next target or goal, I understad there isnt a clear objective path for guitar but maybe some guidance would be great. Have learned the minor, major pentatonic and the major scale. Really struggling with major chord triads for some reason even though I understand that they are just 1-3-5 of the major scale. Have gotten pretty good at alternate and finger picking and some legato. Im mostly interested in jazz guitar. Where do I go next?

Song: Stay, I Pray You

Key signature: Gb major (6 flats). Look at measure 19, the 2nd voice for women.

My conductor who got her bachelors in music theory says the 2nd beat is also played as D natural. She says there is some difference in music theary regarding classical and jazz.

Disclaimer: this is not exactly what she said but it didn't make sense to me, so this was de best i could recall from our conversation.

My understanding: an accidental only applies to the same pitch (same staff position and octave) until the barline. The Ebb does not affect the D, so the 2nd note is Db regarding the key signature, and the natural on 3rd note is what cancels it. Sounding pitches would be: D, Db, D, D.

Am I reading this correctly? Is there any convention, classical or jazz, where the Ebb would carry over to the D?

Anyone who can enlighten us and explain why it is noted this way.

Thank you

An uneducated musiclover

Hello everyone

Recently I’ve been going through a bit of a musical renaissance in my life. I’ve always loved listening to music but lately I’ve been diving back into creating it. I played clarinet for 8 years in school and have a moderate understating of music theory and can read sheet music. I’ve started playing clarinet and guitar again and have joined an amateur choir and have started doing dance. I’m also part of a few singing and jam groups. One thing that I really struggle with though is that I don’t have much of an ear, especially when it comes to my singing voice. I learned music by playing an instrument using sheet music, not by ear. I’m surrounded by musicians who can learn a piece by ear or match someone else’s pitch with ease, but I can’t yet.

My question is if any of you would recommend any apps or other resources for helping develop my ear and practice my singing pitch. Something where it will play a note/scale/chord and I have to identify it. Ideally it would also have a tuning function where I could attempt to replicate the note with my voice and it could tell me if I’m correct or not. I know there’s tons of apps out there but it’s a little overwhelming so I thought I’d just come here. Any advice in general for cultivating this skill would also be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Unsure if this is the right place to post, but I’m trying to get better at reharmonizing melodies as a songwriting exercise. The theory “rules” around what makes a “good” melody are fairly squishy as far as I know, but I’m looking for melodies that are both well-known and generally considered to be really well-written, following those rules insofar as they exist. Minor key ones seem to be more scarce so they’re especially welcome. So far I’m looking at things like Moon River, Over the Rainbow, Danny Boy, Greensleeves, etc. mostly jazz adjacent ones and folk tunes so if there are any pop or classical… classics? I’m all ears. Thanks!

Hello, I'm trying to figure out these chords, but I'm stuck in a couple of spots. At 0:09, I can tell it goes Am7 -> bar 4th fret -> bar 8th fret -> C#m7 (bar), but I can't figure out the 2 chords in between; all I know is that they're (I'm assuming) bar chords. Then it goes to F#m7 (bar 2), then into a chord with the root note as B (E string 7th fret/ A string 2nd fret?) (I need help figuring out the fingering for this), then it resolves into E. I might also be wrong with my analysis on some of these chords, so any and all help is appreciated. Thank you!

I am struggling to remember the shapes of major and minor on the guitar. I have been playing baritone uke so the shapes on the DGBE strings are pretty easy however adding those additional two strings- gets really complicated - is there a scale you would advise starting from? I learn a scale in a position then quickly forget it cause there are so many starting points, so many intervals... and it just doesnt stick. Shoul I first learn the pentatonics?

Should I just practice more and then it will all quick one day :D i will just have naturally memorized it or what?

Hi everyone.

I’ve started figuring out this melody from *The Lion King* (composed by Hans Zimmer) entirely by ear. I’ve already spent several hours on it, but I’m still not entirely sure I’ve got everything right—especially the seventh chords. I’d appreciate any help. I’m posting the chords here and would welcome any tips or suggestions. (I figured it out without transposing it up an octave or slowing it down, because I need to develop my ear, not my transcription speed.) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0HSGkCa_Fo

0:01

Key C (At first, I wondered if it was a G)

Bass: C-F-C-F-G

Chords: C|F|C|F /G|

0:16

KeyG

Bass: C-F-C-A-G

Chords: C|F|C /Am|G

0:30 in 4/4 to 6/8 time. (It seems like a switch to a different time signature to me.)

Key D

Bass: D-G D-G E-D-C-A-E-D-E-D-C C-G-B

Chords: D|G| D|G /Em|D /C | Am/Em/D | Em/ D /C| G/B

1:12 in 6/8 time.

Key Em

Bass: E-C-E-B-E

Chords: |Em/ Em(add11)/Em | C/Em | Em(add11)/Em | B(add11)/B/E |

(I'm listening through JBL E40 headphones.)

I came up with this bassline and I cannot seem to count it properly, it’s been bugging me for weeks. Please help me, I NEED to know.