I need help understanding modes

#41
Mike Dimin said:
When functional harmony doesn't answer the question, there are other ways to figure out the key. #1 learn the melody. I have a very cool lesson coming up for my video series that I shot Friday, focusing on exactly that. Chord progressions, alone, can be tricky, there are a number of things one can look at to discern the tonal center. BTW, not enough bass players learn to play the melodies of the songs they play
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P.S. I like your lessons/book. A lot of valuable information.

Yes, chord progressions can be tricky, and there are a lot of reasons why.
Some chord progressions are written by gifted but not quite harmony/theory-skilled musicians.
Sometimes, a lot of chord substitutes and "passing or added chromatic chords could obscure the tonal center.
Also, without knowing about Modes it's kind of difficult to learn about Modal Interchange.
 
#42
Whousedtoplay said:
P.S. I like your lessons/book. A lot of valuable information.

Yes, chord progressions can be tricky, and there are a lot of reasons why.
Some chord progressions are written by gifted but not quite harmony/theory-skilled musicians.
Sometimes, a lot of chord substitutes and "passing or added chromatic chords could obscure the tonal center.
Also, without knowing about Modes it's kind of difficult to learn about Modal Interchange.
Click to expand...

Yeah, not all music fits nicely into the diatonic harmonic box. The rules are usually written after the music has been written as a way to explain what's going on.

Thanks for the kind words

Mike
 
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#44
Whousedtoplay said:
I find a lot of interesting nuances in your book, "The art of solo bass/Chordal approach" that a lot of other teachers tend to miss or disregard.
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Thanks, again. The original version which was self-published and more extensive (without the songs, however) was much more in-depth. Mel Bay (and other publishers) are less interested in the conceptual. That is why many nuances, in all books, tend to get lost in editing. My new website is really all about just nuts and bolts bass playing.
 
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#45
mambo4 said:
Most of of this post was solid, Just chiming in with a correction: Roman numeral notation is not for individual scale degrees, but the triads and chords built from those scale degrees. Generally speaking, we say there is a 4 scale tone but a IV chord.
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Thanks for that - I'm still very early into my journey of learning theory and sometimes i mix up the concepts a little. Had a quick glance at your .pdf book and I'll give it a proper read when I'm off night shift!
 
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