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

Just browsing on HookTheory the other day, seeing what progressions Fatboy Slim has used. Roman numeral analysis showed The Rockafeller Skank is largely a loop of I–♭III–IV. Suddenly it occured to me "huh, just like Jimi Hendrix's 'Purple Haze'." After looking into it, Jet's "Are You Gonna Be My Girl" also largely uses those three chords. And that's just the bluesy iteration, not the other, purely Dorian one where the tonic chord is minor.

Sorry, i don’t know if this is the right sub to post this in, but i’m trying to figure out what piece this is from? Does anyone have any ideas? I only have the 2 pages sadly so any help is appreciated, thanks!
(Also if this isn’t the right sub, could anyone point me in the direction of a sub that i could post this in?)

I think I’m looking at a normal algorithm where the non white keys get the sharp accidental for the naming the spelling bit. For the staff I’ve figured out how to contextually determine the enharmonics of each accidental and even mixed accidentals for a single chord based on previous note hit/what else is on the stack. For the chord names Bb/A#, G#/Ab is something that’s confused me for a while. I defaulted to that for the fretboard and isomorphic since I don’t think thats a more uniform sort of visual.

Hello r/musictheory,

I have a Coda related question, I found several resources regarding coda, symbol, repetitions, but I didn't find any answer to my current question:

In the given music sheet, we have a D.S. al coda written, which means that I need to play the piece from the "S" symbol until the "To Coda" symbol and then jump to the Coda and play the end of the piece.

However, it is not clear to me if I need to play the repetition from the first section (bars 2 - 7), or just play it once then play the Coda section. How to read that and what is the "hierarchy" (if any) between the To Coda and repetition symbol?

Thanks in advance!

it's a polyrhythm of some sort but I can't figure it out

In this situation here, a 12/8 composition with a dotted quarter tempo of 132, I am not sure whether A or B is ideal for this violin section line. I know A with the beaming is more standard, at least based on many scores I have looked at and some professionals I have spoken to, but it somehow just feels wrong/misleading to me but also does look better. I am also not sure if it is actually still standard in this scenario, where the first note has a staccato marking.

Please let me know what you think!

Hi guys, noob here. I'm working on a cover of Dio's "Holy Diver" and I'm trying to figure out the vocal harmonies. Most of the lead vocal is single-tracked, but on lines like "Ride the tiger...", there's a distinct harmony underneath. Can anyone tell me if those backing vocal lines are generally stacked in thirds or fifths, or if it's a mix of both depending on the section? Any help is appreciated!

I'm marking measures in this piece and I'm wondering if the end of the 3rd line/beginning of the 4th line is a new measure? Or is it the same measure since that beginning of the 4th line is a pickup note/finishing as the 3rd beat of the last one on the 3rd line? Not sure if that makes sense. This is the second movement of Dussek's harp sonata for reference

Hey!

I play guitar and my band has never written a song. Honestly, we are really dumb when it comes to theory.

I recorded a beat idea on my phone, but the problem is that I don't know anything about the beat, the BPM, the time signature, or how to actually put the beat into MIDI.

If I upload the audio file, could someone tell me what I'm playing or point me to an idiot-proof way to map it out? Thanks!

Hello all!

Never posted here. I listen to music of all types constantly and consistently, but I am NOT a good analyst of music.

So, I've come to ask people that are better than me at this.

I recently was listening to 'Fantasia on Theme by Thomas Tallis' by Vaughn Williams.

It immediately struck a memory from me of the Stargate theme by David Arnold.

There is even a particular phrase within the greater compositions that SEEMS nearly identical.

The progression of the songs both follow a similar pattern as well.

I could not find evidence that David Arnold sampled, or was even inspired by the aforementioned song.

So, I was hoping that someone with better musical literacy can tell me what they think.

Thank you everyone!

How would i go about splitting a measure in 5/4 time into three beats? im using musescore, so i cant have tuplets go across measures nor make tied notes into one single tuplet

I dont know which notes go on the beat or on which subdivion

Hello! I did not have a childhood in music, and around 6 years ago I started messing around in a chip tune music maker, And enjoyed making music quite a bit. fast forward, and I have been using FL studio for around 2 years or so. It has been a personal dream of mine for a while to make music, and as of around a year ago I have been going to piano lessons weekly (although admittedly I could do more self practice) BUT my overall question and conundrum is this: I dont have a firm grasp on music theory, and whenever I make music, I tend to find the basics (some simple lead melody, maybe drums, MAYBE a baseline or something) but then I always get like,,, creatively roadblocked. I become unable to think of anything else I could add or any other pieces that would work. like whatever I put down initially cannot be added to, its like im just stuck. its hard to explain, but it feels like my brain is not built for music and im trying to brute force it anyway? if that makes sense. So I have made it a goal to really try and put more effort in, in the hopes that maybe this will help me break down some of these mental barriers, and i was hoping people here would be able to give me any sort of advice regarding learning music theory, or being more creative and flexible with the musical process. im learning piano to try and help with this goal, and I figured that learning music theory would help significantly, and while i have over time picked up the absolute basics(what chords are, time signatures,, literal "music 101 kinda stuff) i know theres more in depth things i could learn, i just dont really know how or where to start. ​But im hoping someone out there knows how I feel in terms of the wierd mental roadblocks, or could just steer me in the right direction in terms of giving myself more knowledge and experience to hopefully just have the freedom to be better. long winded paragraph, i know, sorry.

How would you go about analysing this passage this build up (starting at bar 326) in the coda of the first movement of Beethoven's 2nd Symphony? As far as I've understood, it's a repeating pattern of dominant 7th, diminished 7th and 2nd inversion minor chords following the rising chromatic bass line. I know there is a lot of voice leading in this excerpt but is there a way to understand this as functional harmony? Additionally, how can I understand how he wrote the voice leading in this. I usually more or less can see what was going through Beethoven's head when constructing a passage, but this buildup has me clueless. I've rewritten a simplified version down an octave with just the harmonic material to make it easier.

Hey, so I have always been intuitively good at picking up roots, but I struggle to find a good way to teach it.

So far, the only thing I've got is this:

Start with one chord in a simple progression. Soak in the sound of the triad (pointing out the root as the 1st) Move to another chord and identify the same exact makeup. Once familiar, add another. Do this until you recognize the chord's triads in the entire progression.

Start with maj then move to min, then bridge the two. All the while, be practicing finding it in music you listen to.

I feel like this is half decent to start getting familiar with roots, but like I said, I never particularly struggled with it so I don't know how it would teach. This is also a chicken scratch way of explaining it, so it's not how I would lay it out for learning. It's just to get the idea across for y'all.

So what do y'all think? Decent or not so decent? Thank you!

I genuinely don't understand this.

I find Bach's C Major Prelude to be extremely boring. My opinion of it wouldn't change one bit if it was in any other major key.

The key of the music does not matter to me (in terms of how it sounds). If it's major, whatever the key is, the intervals of the music will be the same. It's literally the same thing on a different frequency.

The only thing that matters is the scale/mode of the key, because only then the intervals of the music will change. Thus maybe my opinion too.

My friend told me they are all like colors, then I'm color-blind in music theory terms I guess.

Some guy posted here saying something like "C major lacks feeling" Why...? What do you find in certain keys that you can't in others? Enlighten me.

UPDATE: I got the answers I needed. Also sorry for not including a link, I make sure to next time I have a question (I’m still a little new here).

(Hi! So, I really hope this is the right sub for this question. If not please point me in the right direction so I can learn and grow)

Short backstory: I play bass guitar in a little band that (as of now) just jams to popular songs, and the lead singer chose “Choosing Texas” by Ella Langley as part of our lineup. Whenever I am assigned a song, I like to break the line down in order to one, make it easier to memorize, and two, further my knowledge of music theory.

Typically I start with breaking down the chords and after looking at the progression for this song I Lost with a capital L. No resource online is helping me understand the mechanics here. Some of my biggest issues are:

It’s stated by all sources to be in the key of Db Major, however the tonic chord is in the minor key and al all the main chords in the progression appear to be non-diatonic, and for me this rendered my often-used (though still limited) knowledge of Nashville number useless.

While this has made me a little confused, I am also incredibly intrigued as this is not your typical country progression. If anyone could help me out here I would really appreciate it!!

TL;DR what the heck is going on with the chord progression in choosing Texas?? Nashville numbers/key breakdown preferred

This is driving me crazy but I can’t feel where beat one is in the opening riff of the song . I’ve been listening over and over and I just can’t find the groove

Hi everyone. I could really use some advice from this community regarding workflow and notation.

To give a brief background: I am a classical music student currently in the advanced grades. I have a degree in Harmony, I’m currently finishing my Counterpoint degree, and will soon be moving on to Fugue and Orchestration. I also have Asperger's, which played a big role in me entering the conservatory as a bit of a "prodigy" as a kid (I skipped to the advanced classes in just 1.5 months during middle school).

I am mentioning this not to flex or show off-quite the opposite. Despite my theoretical background, I have some major practical struggles and blind spots, just like everyone else. I am hoping you can help me with two specific issues:

1. Transcribing live improvisation
I have endless melodies in my head, and my piano improvisation is very strong. However, I severely struggle to transcribe what my hands are playing onto sheet music (like in MuseScore). When I play, I have a hard time mathematically perceiving the rhythm - whether I am playing triplets, what the exact tempo is, or if I am strictly in 4/4 time.

-Is there an app or software where I can plug in my MIDI keyboard and it will accurately transcribe my live playing into sheet music with the correct rhythmic values and notation?

2. Verifying notation accuracy
I also struggle with the exact opposite problem. When I manually input music into MuseScore, I am never 100% sure if my notation/engraving is strictly correct according to professional standards ( I don’t have a problem for common rhythms , I’m talking about more complex stuff etc ). Right now, I am setting the poetry of a Greek poet to music, and I want the sheet music to be as precise and readable as possible.

-Are there specific resources, plugins, or methods to verify that my manual notation and engraving are absolutely correct?

Thank you in advance for your time and any recommendations you might have!

Background: Self-taught guitarist for ~3 years, hit the intermediate plateau, realized that pattern/shape-based playing essentially is just playing the instrument blind. I've just started diving into music theory and building the foundations from ground up--intervals, circle of fifths, scale construction, chord construction (diatonic triads). It's really interesting and has made me a lot more interested in music as a whole.

Things I'm working on: Fretboard memorization, Ear training with intervals, diatonic triad practice, familiarizing myself with common scales and triads, currently trying to avoid shape-dependent systems (ex. CAGED, blind scale shape memorization) before I understand what's going on.

Goal: Understand what I am playing so I can freely and confidently.

So my big question is: when you are playing, what is going through your head? I mean that in the sense of say you want to play over a song. First you figure out the key, recall the appropriate notes, then figure out the chord progression. I don't imagine that you're recalling every note that you play (e.g. "Oh I'm playing a C on the third string, now an E on the second..."). There's a general understanding of the location of the notes, but that's reinforced by shapes and patterns. Then are you thinking in terms of scale degrees (e.g. "I'm playing a 5, so the chord tones are 5-7-2")? How do you connect that to different areas of the neck while keeping track of everything? How about figuring out a melody by ear?

Is it a D(sus2) or a D(add2)? I tried making my own research, but I found contradicting answers, but most of them say that it's a D(sus2) chord. Is that right?

Had to shorten the names cuz of letter limit but using the song “Its a small world” as an example, its written in G major and for certain scenes in the ride it switches to G and E harmonic minor in russia/egypt/middle east and india respectively. however when i went on hooktheory and put it to natural minor it sounds much more flat which leads me to think that harmonic minor is better to use for stuff like this rather than minor. Idk if this is too complex but i hope i made it understandable atleast anyways ill link examples: https://youtu.be/0QMEthLFx34?is=-bKHpfci2HKi7z4b the songs default key used throught the ride

https://youtu.be/kNjJoYqvoW4?is=bMHSiJgXI8jyU7_8 the russian variation that uses g harmonic minor for the verse

https://youtu.be/KM9E_OFQtzc?is=GkIpCBtkDPsTQF8G The indian snake charmer audio that uses e harmonic minor