hello and welcome to busy works beat.com
today we continue the music theory
series right here busy works beats calm
/ music theory today we're gonna focus
on traditional versus new music theory
now does this mean we're supposed to
throw away set the circle of fifths
circle of fourths scales minor major
scales modes Lydian Aeolian note we're
not throwing out that stuff we're just
saying that there's a new approach to
music theory and the reason we have a
new approach is because the way which is
taught in school is confusing when
you're trying to immediately start music
production for example if I let me show
you something so what if I say play the
first the third and the fifth now what
does that even mean if you have no idea
what a scale is then you can't get
started and that's the biggest Block in
music theories because they teach you
based on scale degrees and when you get
further and further into music theory
you'll realize oh we can actually step
outside of a scale so being in one scale
is not a rule you know there's so many
forms of determining a scale and once
you understand the higher knowledge of
music theory you realize people
complicate things for no reason so I'm
going to show you one quick way to get
right into music theory and the reason
why this is so powerful these are called
chord codes and the reason we use chord
codes is because anybody who has no
experience no piano playing no lessons
from any teacher didn't go to school for
anything as long as you know how to
count you can use these chord codes
they're so powerful for example I'm
closing my eyes right now and I'm
landing on a key that key is D sharp so
let's say you want to make a dish ARP
minor 9 chord there are different chord
codes for different chord types and this
is what really makes a chord if I said
make the minor 9 chord on the D minor
scale first you have to map out the D
minor scale then you have to map out the
scale degrees then you have to map out
the chord it takes there's so many
in-between steps that are unnecessary
now when you get into higher and higher
music theory of course you're gonna want
to know what the scale is of course
you're gonna want to know what the fifth
and the seventh and the ninth is we're
not saying that's a bad thing we're just
saying to get started a lot quicker for
example I can start here the chord code
for a minor seven chord is 0 3 7 10 14
all I have to do is wherever I start
that's called a zero point because we're
not going anywhere we're at rest
so this is zero there's no distance all
we have to do is count up the keyboard
so it's 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
14 so now we have a minor 9 chord
without knowing anything about music
theory anything about a scale anything
about anything really all you need to
know his numbers now the reason this is
so powerful because what if you get into
the studio or in a session with a an
artist they asked you to make a minor
9th chord and you're sitting there
mapping out the scale trying to figure
out how to do it it eats up so much
unnecessary time and this way you can
figure out chords that you've never
played before so for example I can move
around the keyboard and closing my eyes
again and let's say you want to make a
dominant 7 chord which is 0 3 7 10 you
don't that memorizes stuff I'm just
letting you know when a dumb is assumed
nested 0 3 7 10 0 4 7 10 is a dominant
7th it's basically a major root which is
0 4 7 and then a minor 7th which is a 10
you again no need to memorize the stuff
we have the chord codes for you where we
add on the keyboard so let's say I start
here at E and I want to make a dominant
7 so this is our zero point zero 1 2 3 4
5 6 7 8 9 10 that's a dominant hold up 0
1 2 3 4 let's go up an octave 0 1 2 3 4
5 6 7 8 9 10 it's more of a jazzy chord
used for transitioning
but I'm just showing you you can make
these chord types there's so much to
explore and that's the power of you know
this new way of approaching music theory
versus the traditional learn the scale
first
you know if the scale the scale is like
a middle man and it just gets in the way
so let's go over a couple of new reasons
why you need to understand music theory
this way is because now when you get
into sound design it gets way more
complex
okay let's actually open up a different
plug-in where we a serum s ii i mean i
serum sylenth where we get
okay now as we open up this plugin let's
reset this back a new version I didn't
know that okay cool
let's open that up okay menu now let's
say you want to build a cord inside this
plugin this is why cord codes are so
powerful so I'll quickly go go through
this but all we have to do now is set
each voice or each oscillator to a
certain pitch so for example I'm going
to keep this at 0 the next we're gonna
use a chord code let's do the major 7
which is 0 4 7 11 now have to go a
little quickly through this I can't go
through sound design from top to bottom
but in short our first note is 0 so that
means when I play a key it plays that
note now this second oscillator plays
like another instrument and I can change
the note so let's make that 4 so it's 0
4 now I'm hitting one key but it's
playing both notes ok let's go to Part B
let's activate these voices this is why
chord codes are so powerful and you're
going to need them when it comes to
sound design so this is not made-up
stuff so I'm Part B we're gonna use the
note value here 7 so it's 0 for 7 so
we're gonna go plus seven semitones now
every time I hit a note to major chord
now let's go to the last note and let's
make this 11 now we're going up and up
and up but it only goes to plus 7 so in
short every octave is 12 so let's go up
12 and then minus 1 so that makes 11 now
again we go over the stuff in our music
our excuse my sound design series and
courses that busy works beats calm this
is how house chord sounds so luscious
because every note they hit is a chord
because it started by them sampling
chords and transposing them
so now I'm just playing around
and now we have that house feel and
that's the technique and that's why
court codes are so powerful zero four
seven eleven translates perfectly into
the sound design realm now one less
thing about traditional music theory is
that they don't account for modern
techniques so for example if I want to
do FM synthesis
there's no way to map the note value
that we're gonna create with the sound
for example if I use oscillator B again
I know I'm kind of going into things
that are way deeper and music production
but if I use oscillator B to control
oscillator a this is called FM synthesis
okay I can basically distort the
waveform now what happens when this
turns a Toma which means it doesn't have
a real identifiable note and this is how
idiom stuff sounds like so let's make
this give it an envelope of some sort
now this one I'm making it sound like a
note but it's gonna start out with this
sloppy tone now I'm going to extend the
decay so it takes a while to get to the
tone how do we give this sound a note
and this is modern music production so
make this a little more interesting
what happens when some things become a
little atonal or not musical and that's
why music theory doesn't account for
this this is why the music theory is
evolving into new forms and music
production techniques I just wanted to
show you you know the traditional way of
going about music versus our way of
showing you about music theory because
now you can create chords like these
without knowing a bunch of scales and
modes now of course scales and modes can
take you to a cool level of composition
I'm not saying it's useless I'm just
saying it's an antiquated way going
about it like for example in music
production nowadays do you use sheet
music and your da W chances are you
don't unless you're you know a film
score artist then you can make these
chords with simple chord codes that's
why they're so powerful
all right so we're gonna show you all
this stuff right here busy works beats
calm I don't want you to get overwhelmed
I just want you to understand there's a
traditional way to talk about music
theory and then an easier way to go
about it so thanks for watching today
it's busy works beat.com and we have
tons of music theory courses right at
busy works beats calm
