Make Your Own Rules: music theory

Music has rules, but the thing is, you get to write them yourself. It’s sort of like a deck of cards. The cards don’t have rules, it’s just a framework to play the game.

So, let’s make a little game. Ten chords revolving around the key center of C. At Beat Kitchen, we call this the ten chord toolkit.

Now, we’re going to create some illegal notes. So if I’m playing a major chord, the fourth, that’s going to be off limits. And if I’m playing a minor chord, I’m going to avoid landing a half step above the root or a half step above the fifth.

Now, let’s take a sequence, like this one. We’re going to play it over and over against a few of these chords. Now, if the sequence doesn’t quite fit based on the rules, we just change it a little bit.

Remember, you can make up whatever rules you want. And if you don’t like the result, you don’t have to follow them. But sometimes a framework can operate like a set of guardrails.

And if you like this sort of thing, or if someone who belongs in a Beat Kitchen class, share this post. ( Go To; NetEyes. org )