DontRunMeOver

Something about this question tickled me - possibly because the question seems both practical and absurd - so I thought I'd make a similar post.

1. What's your favourite key? Do you prefer major, or minor, or those funny dorian modes or something else entirely?

2. What's your favourite tempo?

3. What's your favourite time-signature? Compound or simple (that means swing or straight)

4. Which of these terms:
a) Plagal cadence
b) Neapolitan sixths
c) Transposition

Do you understand musically?

Ok, you certainly don't have to answer 4, even if you know the answer. I'll give my input a bit later on, got to run at the moment...

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thebassistX

c major is my fav!!!! easiest key to play on
my fav tempo is 120
favourite time is 4/4 with lots of tripolets andd i dont understand Neapolitan sixths plaese explain

DontRunMeOver

A neapolitan sixth is a major chord whose root note is one semitone above the root note of the tonic chord.

In simpler terms, if you're playing in E major, the neapolitan sixth is the F major chord. If you're playing in E minor the neapolitan sixth is also the F major chord. If you're in B major, the NS is C major. In B minor its C major and so on.

Its called a 'sixth' because the neapolitan chord (the F major chord is the first example) is played in its first inversion. That means that instead of the bass note being an F, you use A as the bass note... the 6th semitone in the chord.

Overall, its meant to give a 'spooky/ghostly' feel to the piece, this is what is was mostly used for in classical music. Its used regularly in jazz, funk and latin music though, so the only consistent effect it really has is to make the music sound like it 'drifted' upwards and then will sound like it has been 'lowered' back down when it returns to the tonic (which it usually does).

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littleknowitall

heh, i gave up on theory, learnt enough to get by and show off to people who haven't a clue, and that's all i'll ever need.

Don

Compound time doesn't necessarily mean it's swing.

And I dunno about my favourite key and tempo, it changes every day :P. I guess I love minor chords, but susses get me hard. And I wouldn't mind a little augmented action as well. 5/8 played after/before 4/4 is probably my fav time sig change.

The best example of a neapolitan chord is in Beethoven's "Fur Elise."

DontRunMeOver

Yeah, true, I was trying to keep it simple for the people who don't know what compound time means. For people reading who don't know so much about music theory, compound time is an n/8 time signature, which signifies that the beats are divided into quavers (which usually are in subgroups in threes), whereas simple time is an n/4 (or n/2, but that's less common) time signature, which signifies the beats are divided into crotchets.

What is it with minor chords? The guitarist in my band is obsessed with them, to the point where he almost refuses to play a major chord at the beginning of a chord sequence. 5/8 is a good one, and is underused in most simpler music styles. It doesn't have that unnatural feel that some signatures like 7/8 and 11/8 have, where they come across as forced.

Where? I really didn't notice that before... wasn't really looking, admittedly. Wait, its the main theme, isn't it... trying to play the piece back in my head now...

I like the sound of this. Its disco time!

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Don

Uhuh, I just like showing my intellect, I knew you had some sorta reason. Btw, I think if n = 2 or 4, that's actually not compound time.


Of course guitarists love minor chords, it's all they know the noobs lol. Yeah that's exactly why I like 5/8 more :P

It sure is.

littleknowitall

oh yeah well im so profound when it comes to the learning of guitar wankage then i have to practically lube up the strings with my own manly essence before i play my dream theater solos, so im not so fast that it rips the skin from my hands.

Don

DT > You. See how witty and clever I am? Try to learn something.

littleknowitall

who was that directed towards? :S