Music Theory for Electronic Musicians 2: Minor Keys and More
Lesson 3 of 26
Minor Scales
Music Theory for Electronic Musicians 2: Minor Keys and More
Lesson 3 of 26
Minor Scales
Lesson Info
Minor Scales
Okay. Ah, here we go. So we're gonna dive into minor scales now. Now, um, this is good. I'm excited that we're getting to this one, because this is one that, um from the first class, I got a lot of emails about this one saying, um, I really want to do minor scales and learn. Ah, minor keys. Because a lot of the music I listen to and that I'm interested in producing is in a minor key. Ah, so I want to point out one thing about that before we dive into this, is that, um just because of song uses minor chords doesn't necessarily mean it's in a minor key. Um, we saw that when we looked at Ah, even something like that last piece we analyzed. There were minor chords in it. So, um, even though it was in a major key, So any key is an arrangement of major and minor chords and some other ones sometimes. So, um, a chord, a chord progression might sound dark, but still actually being kind of a major key Now, that being said, if it sounds really dark, it's probably in a minor key. And, um, I for th...
e kinds of music that I think most people watching this class are interested in. Um, minor keys are important. Ah, you do want to work in minor keys. At least some of the time. Maybe not all the time. Um, so let's dive in, shall we? So what we're gonna do in this lesson is talk about the minor scale. Okay, so we know the major scale. The major scale is a organization of half steps and whole steps. Right? Ah, minor scale is also so let me throw our major scale on here. So we have whole step whole step, half step, full step, whole step, Rick. Whole step half step. So the thing to keep in mind here, that's what it sounds like. Let's move slow that down to touch without moving my grid. Okay, um, thing to keep in mind here is where are the half stuff? There. Right here and there. Right here. Okay. So the minor scale is also an arrangement of whole steps in half steps. Um, the only difference, really, is that the half steps are in a different place. Ah, the arrangement of half steps in a minor scale. Well, the arrangement that the pattern Let's just let's just dive in right to the pattern. So let me use Okay, So the pattern is Let's just write it down here somewhere whole half. We have 1/2 step right away. Whole whole, half, whole, whole. So that's our pattern. Whole half whole whole half hole hole. So you can see that's different than let me write the major. All right, the major right above it. Whole whole half a whole. Ah huh. Half. Okay, so this is major here, and this one is minor with right minor. So before we hear this, let's analyze this a little bit. Let's just have a look at it. So we still have 2/2 steps in the minor scale. They're here in here. So they're the 2nd 3rd 4th and fifth. So and if you look close at this and this isn't something we're gonna talk about right away, but we're gonna talk about it real soon, Like the next video or maybe two videos from now. Um, there is actually a looping pattern that happens your whole whole half whole whole whole half, right? Um, you can find that pattern in the minor scale if you start it right here for 4/2 whole hall cycle back whole half. So the major scale from here to here is the same as the minor scale, right? The same pattern happens if you started here. Now that will be important in a minute, So just filed it away. Um, well, we'll want to remember that, but for our purposes right now, we don't exactly need it. But remember it. Okay, so let's organize our pitches correctly. Um, let's get rid of my notes. Here. We have a whole Teoh here. That's hole. And then half right there. So we have whole half and then whole whole step and then half step. And then from this half step, we need a whole step, which this is now bigger than a whole step. Whole step is two lines here. So if take that one down to their it's a whole step now and then. Ah, whole step again. So this Now we have a minor scale. Now, if if you were paying attention, let me do that one more time. I'm gonna restore the major scale All we really need to do to convert a major scale to a minor scale is to take the third, go down the sixth on, go down on the seventh and go down. That is the fundamental difference between a major scale and a minor scale. It's the 3rd 6th and seventh that are lowered by 1/2. Step turns a major scale into a minor scale. So now we have a minor scale. Let's hear it. So it has a darker sound. It's a little hard to hear in this context cause it's like this happy piano sound. Okay, this is also called the natural Minor Scale. Now, again, we're gonna look at different kinds of minor skeletons are actually three different flavors of minor scales. Um, this is the standard normal minor scale.
Class Description
In the first part of Music Theory for Electronic Musicians, we learned how to work with the piano roll editor in a DAW to make harmonies, melodies, and whole tracks. In this second part, we'll expand on those ideas. We'll work with minor keys, focus some time on melody and bassline writing, and we'll talk about how different tracks work.
Extensive Analysis
In this class, we feature an extensive track analysis segment by Daft Punk, Avicii, Skrillex, and many more. In each of these segments, we'll look at their tracks on the piano roll editor. We'll talk about why they sound the way they do, and how you can use similar techniques in your own music. Each of these segments picks apart multiple elements of the song and dissects it in an easily digestiable manner.
Who should take this course?
Anyone interested in producing their own tracks. This will get you up and running and give your tracks a unique sound in no time.
Structure
This course consists of video lectures, which all contain a session in Ableton Live 9. If you are using a different program (or none at all), no worries! This isn't a class on how to use Ableton Live, and the concepts can be applied to any DAW.
Lessons
- Welcome and Overview
- Analysis: Shame on Me (Avicii)
- Minor Scales
- Relative Keys
- Minor Diatonic Chord Progressions
- The Case of the Melodic and Harmonic Minor Scales
- Analysis: Ghosts N Stuff
- The Circle of Fifths
- Changing Keys Within Your Track
- Analysis: Get Lucky (Daft Punk)
- 7th Chords in Minor
- 9ths and 13ths
- Suspended Chords
- Reading a Chord Chart
- ster and Unnamed Chords
- Analysis: Everything You Do is a Balloon (Boars of Canada)
- Writing Melodies for Chord Progressions
- Writing Chord Progressions for Melodies
- Counter Melody with Apreggiators
- Analysis: Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites (Skrillex)
- Bass lines: Follow the Root Note
- Bass Riffs
- Get Muddy
- Analysis: Windowlicker
- Chromaticism
- Thanks and Bye!
Reviews
MikeD
Well, I slobbered all over you after your first class and this one is as good or better. I realize people don't go to college for 12 years and learn what you shared in a few hours and you didn't earn your doctorate with just this stuff. I mean Julliard must offer a lot more, but you have advanced my knowledge by miles and I've got to say thank you. Make some more of these simple, common talk courses - I'll buy them all.
Nick van Lochem
This course its so good he makes it al sound so easy. that ists easy to remember and use in your creations.
Scott Vincent
Very cool class - learned a lot from this class as well as from the Part 1 class. Highly recommend both classes!