12 Bar Blues

A lot of modern music is based on 12 bar blues. Lots of people have heard of it, but what is it really?

Well, it is based off a sequence of chords lasting 12 bars then repeating or in some cases repeating with slight variation. If we work with just the basic 12 bar blues configuration, you'll find it really isn't that mysterious.

I have mentioned the concept of I IV V chord progressions before, and 12 bar blues is the poster child for this idea. The basic pattern for classic 12 bar is I, I, I, I, IV, IV, I, I, V, V, I, I in any key. There are variations on this theme, but this is in a nutshell, the idea. You may never hear the chord played, but the music in each bar falls into the rules for the chords in the key.

In my continued journey, I purchased a book called Blues Piano For Beginners by Mark Harrison which I highly recommend by the way, if you are learning to play. In the book Mark explains the basic concept of playing 12 bar blues. His examples use the "Quick-Four" variant and M7th chords in C Maj. It looks like this:

I (C7), IV (F7), I (C7), I (C7) - IV (F7), IV (F7), I (C7), I (C7) - V (G7), IV (F7), I (C7), I (C7). 

There are a lot of resources out there to talk about why, and about the mechanics (like the book linked above).

Knowing this you can apply it to your composition, you don't really need to know WHY it works, only that it does. Using notes from the chords or the chords themselves inside the bars assigned, you can make music that sounds "right." Putting the notes together in a particular way is what makes your composition unique.

I put together a song based on Mark's book. The music is in C Maj, the chord changes as described above, and the piano part is Pretty Close to his. I used a little artistic license (but not much) with the right hand and varied the left hand part also slightly. He has you play a repeating I-V, I-VI, pattern and a repeating I-V, I-VI, IIIb, III pattern with the left hand. I use the I-V, I-VI, IIIb, III pattern in the first 12 bars, and a I-V, I-VI, I-V, I-VI, I-V, I-VI, IIIb, III in the second 12 bars and alternate between those two patterns for the duration.

What does it sound like? Well, It sounds like this: 12 Bar Blues obviously I had to find some guitar, drums and bass that went along with it, the Guitar is a midi VSTi that strums the chord changes and I located drums and bass in a Mixcraft song kit. Hope you enjoy it.


Thanks for playing along.  

Practical Applications

As I have been exploring music in this new way, my practical side wants to know what the heck I am going to do with what I am learning, other than to amuse myself and "show off" to both of the people who read this blog... er  I mean my "worldwide audience."

As you likely already know my wife likes to take pictures. She does a fabulous job with a basic digital camera. I know she could do a lot better with better equipment, but we just haven't deemed it necessary to spend $4000 on a camera for her hobby. For years, with those pictures, and others she has collected from family members and scanned, she has created slide shows for special events. So when she wanted to post a slide show she made on YouTube only to be rudely greeted by the copyright message, which she (unlike most people) did not ignore. She shelved the project as buying licenses for that potential audience was impractical given it was just some photos. We have since started a small business for her surrounding that sort of thing, and really wanted to get those photos up, but we don't have a great deal of capital for the venture, and buying music for a promotional show was not an option.

Given the nature of my new hobby I thought it would be interesting to see if I could create something suitable that she would not have to pay for. The result of that endeavor can be found here. In this case the beginning of the process pre-dated my recent trend to composing my own music, I did not compose the music for that. I did it using Mixcraft loops, as explained in my Tools: Mixcraft post. The major benefit to this is that music arranged in this manner is royalty free. Meaning I can use it anyway I want, and any original arrangement is mine regardless of the origin of the loops (provided they are also royalty free) as obstensibly, nobody has arranged things in the same way I have done it. So I have obtained the individual rights through various means to the little blocks of music (or loops: in this case everything is 8 bars or less) and arranged them in a totally unique way creating art that did not previously exist, even though the individual sounds did. Make sense? Well, I can understand if it doesn't.

Seasons is an arrangement that lasts just under 8 minutes consists of well over 100 individual elements probably a third of that are unique elements. So an interesting puzzle. One that I originally had done in a completely different order (though now I wish I had rendered it to MP3 so you could hear the difference) and remixed sunday for the final version of the slideshow. After the final mix I decided it was good enough to go without composing my own tracks for it.

Now again, this is done with a relatively inexpensive tool, one that I just purchased and figured out as I went along. The video track was created from other relatively inexpensive tools, and while we would like smoother transitions, and a smooth zoom feature, we are not real fond of the super duper transitions seen in many similar productions. This is about the photos, not an exhibition of fancy animations. The music is done simply also. I do not do anything tricky with panning or adding effects. It is a simple thing, designed to compliment another simple thing, all put together to showcase the actual content. In this case the wonderful pictures. It is an old school approach I admit.

The point of the preceding 5 paragraphs is that, this type of thing is obtainable by basically everyone. If you have a desire, there is no reason you shouldn't give it a try.

Thanks for playing along.     

Scales and Chords and Semitones Oh My...

As always, I am here sharing my continuing education on music. Today I bring something from an actual music teacher. The following is an email exchange between myself and my father-in-law Jack Clifford, my questions in blue his answers in red:

So I am reading on the interwebs about F# Maj (because I am working with a sound kit in that key and want to write a keyboard part)

Why not either down 1/2 step (F Major) or up 1/2 step (G Major)???? GRIN

They have F# Maj as - F# G# A# B C# D# E# F# but have the chords as all major chords with the exception of the A# which is an A# Minor. Both C# Major and A# Minor contain a natural F, which does not exist in the key.

F# = F#, A#, C# G# = G#, B#, D# A# = A#, C#, E# (E# = F) B = B, D#, F# C# = C#, E#, G# (again, E# is F) D# = D#, F#, A# E#= E#, G#, B#

Chords based on any/all major scale(s):
I = Major II = minor III = minor IV = Major V = Major VI = minor VII = diminished

Is this right? If it is, how does that affect using the I, IV, V chord progression?

I = F# Major (F#, A#, C#) If extended by adding an E#, chord becomes F# Major 7
IV = B Major (B, D#, F#) If extended by adding A#, chord becomes B Major 7
V = C# Major (C#, E#, G#) If extended by adding a B, chord becomes a C# Dominant 7

Get all that?

 

Well, let me try to simplify it a little bit.

 

All of the scales have a pattern. Each pattern has multiple variations some based on a concept called the "semitone." Which is basically a half step. Natural notes become flats and sharps and vice versa. 

It doesn't take much thinking to figure out that a half step UP in one scale renders the same note as a half step DOWN in another. A good explanation of the patterns can be found here. What Jack is explaining about is the pattern for each CHORD in a scale rather than the NOTES. If you read the link above, or at least the part on patterns, it will be much more clear what Jack was saying. 

 

As always, I was looking for this information to fill a practical need. The result of that experimentation can be found in this song. Where I needed the information to write the organ part. Enjoy. 

 

Thanks for playing along.     

Fun with Midi

Today I want to talk about Midi, and my first complete composition. One of the tools for non-musicians or aspiring musicians (and for actual professional ones too) is called a midi sequencer.

Musical Instrument Digital Interface is a basically a standard for interfacing computers with instruments. You can check out the wiki link if you want a full explanation. By using this tool, some creativity and some patience, you can create some pretty cool stuff. The sequencer is a computer or digital tool used for making midi files, which you can also do by recording from a midi instrument. But we will cover that in another blog. I am talking about the sequencer or computer side today.

The sequencer I used is part of mixcraft. A quick tutorial on YouTube will give you a better idea how it works than I can do with a few pictures or words. What I want to talk about isn't how to use the specific tool, but (as usual) the reasons for it and my theory behind the music that made it happen.

So why use a midi sequencer? Well, I use one because I can do it anywhere I have a computer, and I never disturb anyone. Also, it allows you to use virtually any instrument you can think of, virtually. It can be a great tool for putting an idea into music which can then be converted to sheet music (easily). It is also very good for people whose minds work better than their fingers. I like to use my keyboard to work out songs, but I am not practiced enough to play an entire one yet and certainly not reliably. The sequencer puts my notes exactly where I want them. It allows me to move and copy them as well as other useful things. It also allows me to apply different instruments to the same notes, to get just the sound you want, or to easily create complimentary tracks.

So, this piece of music 1CC which stands for 1st complete composition, or as it says in the file, 1 crazy circus. Which is a name based on the brass parts, and an organ tone (which I removed - but the name stuck anyway). This was written, sequenced, arranged, and recorded entirely by me. There are no loops used that I did not personally create. It was all done with a midi sequencer. There are several instruments, Piano, French Horns, Trombone, Tuba, Bass Guitar, and Drums.

The method for doing this, like anything, starts with an idea. I am spending a lot of time on the keyboard for the basic reason it is easiest for me to physically play. So this leads me to thinking about piano music. Pianos are special in that you can play from two different octaves at the same time. There are other instruments that can do this, but they are in the minority. Because of the left hand, right hand thing you can play things in a way other instruments can't, like notes on one hand and an accompanying chord with the other. You'll notice I take advantage of that in the sequences in 1CC.

The choice of piano as the main voice was an important choice. The next choices are what key, I went with C Major for simplicity sake (as the piano is naturally C maj), and the tempo which is 69 BPM. You notice that I start slowly and pick up the pace, so it sounds like I am playing more than 69 BPM but I am really not, I just altered the back beat from every other note to every note. You can play downtempo or uptempo with pretty much any BPM by altering your beats and note pacing. I am not using any 32nd notes here, so you can see even at this tempo, you can make a fast sounding song.

C Major is CDEFGABC. The I, IV, V, chord progression for C Major with no modes is C (root) F (Major 4th) and G (Perfect 5th). This gives you the entire scale to work with and uses no flats or sharps. So the building blocks I used were the chords C maj, F maj, G maj, and all of the individual notes in the scale as they are contained in those three chords. You might remember this trick from an earlier post. Harmonically, if I stick to these building blocks, I really can't make something that has sour notes in it. Maybe they sound funny being in the wrong place at the wrong time, but they won't be sour. I know most people just want to play something that sounds good. As funny as this may seem, if it sounds good, you are almost certainly following the rules even if you don't know that you are, which is one of the cool things about music. I am writing this stuff because I am composing music, so I am starting with a theory and then writing something, not starting with something and translating it. By all means, if you can play, just play and be happy. You don't need to know how this all went together.

Now there may be music grognars among you, who may notice I mess up on one or more of these technical details on occasion, which is fine, I am new at it, and I already wrote something in A Major Transposed Ionian Mode when I was shooting for A minor.. Live and learn right?

A little music humor there, I know, very little.. ;)

Thanks for playing along.