Happy new year! A month late, I know, but the thought is there. I’ve got two quick updates to start:
First quick update: At the time of writing this, I just finished finals a week ago and then went on a trip for the next few days to Big Bear Lake with my class.
Which leads to my second and probably more important update: I fractured three ribs and my collar bone and bruised my face and a whole bunch of parts on the right side of my body while skiing off a big ramp in a skill course way faster than I should have. It hurts, but I should be better after a few weeks. Plus, I lived. That makes me a liver (ha).
Anyways, the other day, a friend showed me a simple but interesting chord progression that involved just a major sixth and an exact copy of itself, only each tone was shifted up a half step. For example, a Cmaj6 (C, E, G, and A) followed by a C#maj6 (C#, F, G# and A#).
The first thing you should notice about this progression is that it doesn’t seem like it would sound very good. A chord shouldn’t progress well into almost the exact same structure with a slight change everywhere. Furthermore, half step intervals (which carry a frequency ratio about the twelfth root of two) on their own don’t make for a pleasant harmony. “Nice” frequency ratios tend to produce better sound.
Of course, chord progressions are more complicated than ratios, and the relationships between all notes has to be factored in, but I’d say this progression is still a bit of an oddball, all things considered.
Actually, what makes most music sound “good” has much to do with physics and mathematics. Embedded in every good harmony is a particular ratio of frequencies (math) of air that vibrates (physics), and you can actually define where these nice-sounding frequency ratios lie fairly rigorously. This guy does an amazing video on the concept.
Seriously, watching it will fundamentally change how you hear music. Do it now. I’ll wait here.
Done? Basically, suffice it to say, if every key only increases by that amount, it seems a safe bet to say that this progression won’t be very pleasant on the ears.
Curiously, I don’t think that’s at all what happens. Have a listen for yourself:
I use four chords in this short piece (and, very briefly, a fifth one) that are:
Cmaj6, C#maj6, Dmaj6 (D, F#, A, B), and Amaj/E (E, A, C#).
The majority of the song was based on Cmaj6 and C#maj6, with some parts including the chord just another half step above, a Dmaj6, which then can resolve into Amaj/E. The fifth chord I introduce is Cmaj7, which sometimes replaces Cmaj6 for extra umph (okay, I maybe overused this one).
In my opinion, it feels like the chords perfectly compliment each other. C# going into C feels like an arrival, a perfect cadence, while the reverse feels almost plagal. How does it sound to you? Also let me know if you’ve heard any pieces that implement a progression like this one.
In other musical news, I learned to play the guitar over the break. As proof, here’s the only song I can play from beginning to end so far: Banana Pancakes by the great Jack Johnson.
That’s all for my first post on music. Hope you enjoy using the cool chord progression: Have at it, and tell me how it goes.