key signatores

how do they work.

i was under the impression that there were 7 keys in a key signature but i looked in a book and they only showed 4 keys per scale

any good programs or websites.

i thought it would be an idea to put little stickers on my (midi) keyboard so i would know what keys to use

comprende?

thanks

- teh yek

the amount of notes in a scale entirely depends on the scale

there are seven notes in the major and minor:

C major (the only key with no sharps or flats): C D E F G A B

C minor (with a flatted third): C D Eb F G A B

the whole tone scale has six notes (there's a full interval between each tone): C D E F# G# A#

the pentatonic has five (and sometimes a 'passing note', F# for the C pentatonic, which gives the scale a bluesy flavour): C Eb F (F#) G Bb

if you're talking about modes, yes there are seven modes off a major scale, which is the most common use of modes

your question is not clear :)

good place to start:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circle_of_fifths

modality truly reveals it's colours when you remove equal temperament from the equation.

just intonation can be very hard on the ears tho :(

our brains are so used to equal temperament, we hear it from birth

ther's no denying that bach was a genius, but i don't agree with your assertion that just intonation can be hard on the ears.

yeah, it is different, but modern western tonality is so limited anyway (and becoming more so with generic production techniques like auto tuning vocals). it's a breath of fresh air. kinda like the quarter tone stuff the bulgarian womens' state choir do.

i find correct tuning lends itself to a huge range of different moods that equal temperament can't match, simply because of the uniform tuning.

  kaini said:

the amount of notes in a scale entirely depends on the scale

there are seven notes in the major and minor:

C major (the only key with no sharps or flats): C D E F G A B

C minor (with a flatted third): C D Eb F G A B

 

the whole tone scale has six notes (there's a full interval between each tone): C D E F# G# A#

 

the pentatonic has five (and sometimes a 'passing note', F# for the C pentatonic, which gives the scale a bluesy flavour): C Eb F (F#) G Bb

 

if you're talking about modes, yes there are seven modes off a major scale, which is the most common use of modes

 

your question is not clear :)

i guess i'm talking about major and minor. i thought they had 7 notes but are only 6

well most of the just intonation i'm familiar with (and not very familiar with at that) is very austere harpsichord or piano stuff.

i've never really heard any electronic music written in just intonation. although tuning correctly for a particular key is hella easier on a synth than on an harpsichord i would imagine :)

major and minor have SEVEN, yek. SEVEN.

SEVEN

s-e-va-nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn

ok go it

except you wouldn't be retuning per key would you, cos it's just intonation. duh i need to give up the greenery

  kaini said:

except you wouldn't be retuning per key would you, cos it's just intonation. duh i need to give up the greenery

what do you mean?

i mean the big deal about just is that bach invented it then denied it (like a fart lol) to avoid retuning your harpsichord

are you speaking on the issue of tuning instruments (in this case piano) by fifths instead of octaves?

i imagine bach would have found it pretty hard to deny after writing the 48 preludes and fugues.

@synthacat..

eg.. c sharp, and d flat are actually two marginally different notes. bach came up with the idea that tuning every semitone equally would mean less wonky sounding stuff, and would make the keys uniform.. so essentially a major or minor scale sounds the same whichever key you play it in. he wrote the preludes and fugues to prove that it worked. it's called equal temperament, and is generally the tuning that we hear in western music nowadays.

  loganfive said:

i imagine bach would have found it pretty hard to deny after writing the 48 preludes and fugues.

 

 

@synthacat..

 

eg.. c sharp, and d flat are actually two marginally different notes. bach came up with the idea that tuning every semitone equally would mean less wonky sounding stuff, and would make the keys uniform.. so essentially a major or minor scale sounds the same whichever key you play it in. he wrote the preludes and fugues to prove that it worked. it's called equal temperament, and is generally the tuning that we hear in western music nowadays.

a fine summation but bach did not invent it, but he was one of the first major supporters that we remember today. the idea had been around for a few hundred years before bach in europe, and potentially a LOT longer in asia (though the oldest theory from asia is not quite equal temprament, it is pretty close)

it was generally considered sacriligious and the work of the devil untill not-so-religious musicians got hold of it and started to make interesting sounds...

i stand corrected.

just press any old fucking keys and see what happens. worked for mozart.

except im pretty sure mozart devised ingeniously perfect modulations , rythmic patterns and tonal devices to create his music.

nah, he just winged it and pretended he knew what he was doing....

thread's a lol

There are twelve key signatures. Twenty four if you include the relative minor keys.

There are a gazillion scales. I have a book that has every scale possible in the back, megalol.

Most people never use scales that have less than five notes or more than eight notes.

Just go into any music store and pick up the cheapest book there is on something like "beginner's music theory".

Equal temperament has been around since like Euclid. Although those Greekish people didn't use the same names and stuff we use now.

so, if i'm working in a minor key, how do i know which chords should be major chords and which minor?

taking C Minor, for example,

C D Eb F G A B

which of those chords would be minor(ed)?

also, key signatores? whassa madda you?

cmin, d min (or diminished),eb maj(or augmented), fmin, g min, Abmaj, or A diminished, Bbmaj or Bdim.

you just use the notes within the scale dude, taking into account the existence of harmonic and melodic minors (hence the diminished and augmented chords.)

  LOL Alzado said:

so, if i'm working in a minor key, how do i know which chords should be major chords and which minor?

 

taking C Minor, for example,

 

C D Eb F G A B

 

which of those chords would be minor(ed)?

 

also, key signatores? whassa madda you?

C Minor goes like this:

C D Eb F G Ab Bb C

The minor chords are as follows: C Eb G, F Ab C, G Bb D. Although, in classical music, usually no one uses natural minor. But it's used in techno all the time!

Here is a little cheat sheet I found one day, when perusing the internets.

It shows the major and minor key chord properties. An uppercase numeral means it is a major chord, and a lowercase numeral means it is minor.

Added bonus, the chart then shows you common progressions from the current chord you are on (IN THAT KEY).

So for example, if you are in C major:

I = C major

ii = d minor

iii = e minor

IV = F major

V = G major

vi = a minor

vii = b diminished

Hope someone finds this somewhat useful. But remember, this is just a general guide... where you place these chords in a phrase, how long you stay on them, etc, plays into their functionality and effectiveness.

Force to scale - the easy option.