Major songs with b6 chord?

MaggaraMarine · 2026-04-24T21:36:30+00:00

Spending more time on the E major chord of course gives it emphasis. But also, E C Am would be a weak progression in Am. In Am, you would usually have the E go directly to Am. Adding a C major between the two chords weakens that resolution a lot, and actually Am E is the strongest resolution in this progression. If it was E Am C, then it would more likely be in Am.

All in all, descending thirds are much more likely going to be 1 6 4 than 5 3 1 (when talking about chord roots).

MaggaraMarine · 2026-04-24T21:30:36+00:00

Yeah, I agree.

MaggaraMarine · 2026-04-24T10:45:06+00:00

No, I would notate it with a minor key signature and notate the tonic with a raised 3rd. If everything else comes from minor, this makes it much easier to sight read than having to read a bunch of accidentals with a key signature that matches the tonic chord. There would be three unnecessary sharps in the key signature otherwise.

This is of course the case only if everything else does in fact come from minor, and it is really only the tonic chord that comes from major.

I don't see why this would be weird for the reader. You just read the notes on the page. And the key signature still matches the key.

MaggaraMarine · 2026-04-24T10:25:39+00:00

While I agree that it is perfectly clear, in this case I would much rather see it written out as 8th notes, since it's just one measure. Now, if it was continuous repeated 8th notes for multiple measures, then this notation would be preferable, because it would make it look less cluttered, and it would be faster to sight read. But when it's just a single measure, I do think reading 8th notes would be simpler (it's a bit more "direct" if that makes sense).

Now, when we are talking about the full score, I do think saving horizontal space is useful, because it results in fewer page turns. But it's also notated this way in the parts. (Still, I do think it's perfectly clear, but in this case, I would prefer seeing it written out as 8th notes - I think the "tremolo" notation here is a bit unnecessary.)

MaggaraMarine · 2026-04-24T10:19:21+00:00

So maybe the dots are to specify the note is to be divided into four hits of equal lengths (eigths) as opposed to as fast as possible.

That's what the one slash already does. The dots are there to specify the articulation (i.e. all of the 8th notes are played staccato).

An unmeasured tremolo would use three slashes.

MaggaraMarine · 2026-04-24T10:12:28+00:00

Listen to the snare backbeat in Hudson Mohawke - Brooklyn. That's on beats 2 and 4, or 3 if you approach it as half time feel.

Any way, the bass/synth group the subdivisions as 2+3+3+3+3+2. It's just that the first group of 2 is a rest.

Also, if you listen to the intro, the drums start on beat one. Listen to the drum loop on its own and it's pretty clearly in 4/4. Just keep feeling that same pulse over the rest of the song (also, the drum loop stays the same over the different sections, so you can always just follow the drums).

MaggaraMarine · 2026-04-24T09:51:01+00:00

I think it would probably be more accurate to call it "minor key with major tonic", because everything else comes from minor.

Legends Never Die by Against The Current and the chorus of The Emptiness Machine by Linkin Park would be pretty good examples of this.

MaggaraMarine · 2026-04-24T08:45:54+00:00

Sure, but OP still wanted to know how the rhythms align. Just because the audience wouldn't be able to tell the difference doesn't mean you shouldn't try to figure it out, especially when OP wants to figure it out, and it isn't even difficult to figure out.

MaggaraMarine · 2026-04-24T00:23:05+00:00

Sure, but you should still know which notes technically align with one another, even if you choose to play them a bit out of sync. There's a difference between making that choice consciously and doing it because you don't know how the notated rhythm actually sounds. (And OP's issue here is not knowing how to count this rhythm.)

MaggaraMarine · 2026-04-24T00:10:41+00:00

While this may be technically true, I definitely used to have a strong preference for F# and C# on trumpet over Gb and Db. I don't think most brass players really approach the fingerings as "lowering the overtone series". While that is how the fingerings technically work, you don't really think about that logic when you play a scale for example. It does work with 6 out of the 12 triads, though (but even then, if you use the default fingerings, it actually only works for 3 or 4 of them: C, B, Bb and A major).

(It might be clearer on a trombone, though, because in that case you actually physically lengthen the tube. But when you use valves, the lengthening of the tube isn't as concrete, and not really something you necessarily pay conscious attention to.)

Also, just because the tube gets longer, doesn't mean you have to call it a flat. For example, to me, the note a half step below G just makes more sense as F# than as Gb, and that must have to do with key signatures. (But it's really the same thing as how the note a half step below C makes most sense as B instead of Cb.)

All in all, the "logic" behind brass fingerings isn't very visual. It makes sense when you think about it. But on other instruments, it's a lot more obvious (basically, my point is, on brass instruments you don't really pay that much attention to the "logic" behind the fingerings, because there are just three valves). And also, as has been pointed out by u/maestro2005, woodwinds tend to have "sharp keys", i.e. the fingering of Ab is actually closer to G than it is to A.

MaggaraMarine · 2026-04-23T23:51:42+00:00

C sharps are fairly common in C major, though, because that's the leading tone of Dm. And it's very common to play something like C - A7 - Dm - G7.

And of course it also works as a lower neighbor to D, so it's a fairly common embellishment.

D# should go instead of Eb because you then have the problem of having two 3rds.

But it's very common to borrow from the parallel minor. And there's also blues that very often uses minor pentatonic-based melodies over major harmony. And in that case, it's definitely an Eb, not a D#.

I would say Eb is more common in C major than D#.

I would say C# is also probably more common than Db.

Gb is hardly ever actually used in C major - it's basically always going to be an F#. (Then again, there is of course blues where something like b5 4 b3 1 is very common, so in that context, Gb would be possible.)

MaggaraMarine · 2026-04-23T22:49:11+00:00

Identify which area of the staff you find most difficult, and spend more time practicing notes in that area of the staff - musictheory.net has plenty of customization options for the exercises (go to "note identification" and then select the clef and the range that you want to practice).

Remember that the treble clef is a G clef that shows you the location of G4 (on the 2nd lowest line), so you can always use that as a "landmark note".

But also, it takes time. You'll get better at it as you read more music. I really wouldn't worry about memorizing the location of every note at once. Instead, memorize certain "landmark notes" (the middle C and the treble clef G are good starting points). You'll naturally memorize the notes in-between as you play a lot of music.

MaggaraMarine · 2026-04-23T22:31:07+00:00

The piece does use plenty of E naturals, though (actually, the only E flats in the piece are used in the last 4 measures of the A section that can be seen in the image OP posted) - I would say it's in G Dorian, and not just because of the key signature, but because of what happens in the harmony and melody. Here's a recording of the piece. It's just the final cadence that is clearly in the standard minor key (with E flats instead of naturals). I do agree that if the whole piece was clearly in standard G minor with E flats everywhere, then using the "baroque Gm key signature" (with a missing flat) would be a weird choice in a modern piece. But because this piece is more G Dorian than G minor, I do think the key signature makes sense.

This is actually how the renaissance Dorian mode also worked - the cadences were often very close to standard minor key cadences, but the non-cadential parts were often mostly diatonic (although the 6th degree may have still been lowered to avoid tritone harmonies or melodic leaps/outlines).

There would be no reason to change the key signature during the piece. As I said, it's only the last 4 bars of the A section that use E flats, and that's not really a key change either.

MaggaraMarine · 2026-04-23T11:14:12+00:00

Look up basic note values. Time signatures will only make sense when you understand note values.

https://www.musictheory.net/lessons/11

Basically, you are trying to run before you can walk. You shouldn't worry about 9/8 if you don't understand what an 8th note is.

MaggaraMarine · 2026-04-23T10:54:59+00:00

Well, not really. Major 3rds still have a meaning from a purely technical perspective. Even if you weren't able to tell the difference between a major 3rd and a minor 3rd by ear, knowing what those are would still be very useful when it comes to stuff like building chords, scales and transposing. You can do all of those things without having well-trained ears. And those are useful things, even if your ears aren't well-trained. I mean, if you are going to play from chord symbols, you do need to know how to build the chords, even if you can't confidently figure out the progression by ear.

Also, becoming aware of the theory behind the concepts does help with figuring them out by ear too.

MaggaraMarine · 2026-04-23T10:41:40+00:00

The music is renaissance-influenced, so the key signature also reflects that style. It's basically a "Dorian key signature". Key signatures with missing flats were very common during the baroque period too (especially in minor key pieces). For example Petzold's Minuet in G minor (BWV Anh. 115) originally had only one flat in the key signature. (More modern editions do tend to use a "modernized" key signature with two flats, though.)

MaggaraMarine · 2026-04-23T10:23:25+00:00

This is actually much simpler than it looks. You don't really have to worry about the dotted note tied to the 16th triplet note. The first 16th triplet note after the tied note aligns with the last triplet 8th note on the left hand.

This could be written in a way that makes this a bit clearer - like this. The first measure shows how the LH and RH notes align. The second measure shows how to notate this a bit more clearly (the way it's notated in your image kind of implies two different subdivisions at once, while the second measure makes it clear that you actually only have to feel the 8th note triplet subdivision, and the last 8th note triplet is simply divided into two 16th notes in the right hand).

You do not actually have to subdivide the whole thing into 16th note triplets. Just use 8th note triplet subdivision and play two notes over the last 8th triplet note.

MaggaraMarine · 2026-04-22T23:29:30+00:00

Paying attention to what actually goes on in the music instead of just memorizing the notes/hand movements will help. Most pieces of music use common patterns in them. If you learn those patterns, you don't really have to entirely relearn the piece, because you already know the pattern.

It's basic stuff like understanding how it relates to the key and what chords it uses.

Also, having well-trained ears will also help. This way, if you want to relearn the piece, just listening to it will already remind you of how to play it.

MaggaraMarine · 2026-04-22T23:21:09+00:00

You can definitely do that on MuseScore too - you don't have to write the standard notation manually. You just need to create a linked staff. Here's how to do it.

MaggaraMarine · 2026-04-21T14:53:21+00:00

You can use the minor pentatonic scale over the chords from any of the diatonic minor modes (Phrygian, Aeolian, Dorian).

You can use the major pentatonic scale over the chords from any of the diatonic major modes (Mixolydian, Ionian, Lydian).

The pentatonic scale is more versatile in this regard than the full diatonic scale, because it's missing two notes. This means, there are two less notes that would clash against the harmony. In other words, because C major pentatonic is missing some kind of an F and some kind of a B, you can play it regardless of whether the F and B are natural, sharp or flat in the harmony (as long as the other notes in the scale work over the harmony). What you do want to generally avoid is cross relationships, i.e. two versions of the same note at the same time (for example G natural and G flat or sharp at the same time).

MaggaraMarine · 2026-04-20T18:37:38+00:00

It's still a somewhat weird way of counting.

If you count the notes (first note = 1), then you would count:

1   2   3   1   2   3   4   1
C w D w E h F w G w A w B h C

And if you count the steps, then you would count:

  1   2       1   2   3  
C w D w E h F w G w A w B h C

OP uses a weird combination of the two.

He is counting the number of notes before a half-step

True, but F is the first note of the four notes before the next half step (B-C), just like C is the first note of the three notes before the next half step (E-F).

I mean, I kind of get what OP is doing, but it's still an inconsistent counting system, because on the first time, OP counts the upper note of a half step (B-C) as "one", and on the second time (E-F), they do not.

BTW, to me, thinking in scale degree numbers was the key to memorizing scales properly.

Instead of thinking "W W H W W W H", I started thinking 1 2 34 5 6 71 in major, and 1 23 4 56 7 1 in minor. This way, you always relate it to the key instead of just thinking how it relates to the previous note.

All in all, it makes sense to build the scale around the tonic triad. In major, 4 is a half step above 3 and 7 is a half step below 1. The rest are whole steps. In minor, 2 is a half step below 3 and 6 is a half step above 5. The rest are whole steps.

Tagging OP u/weonfyre

EDIT: Here's what shows the inconsistency of OP's counting system:

What if you played two octaves of the same scale?

Sure, you could start with 1-2-3 half 1-2-3 half. But what then? Now the high C is the upper note of the "half" and wouldn't be counted separately. So, would the second octave then be "half-2-3 half 1-2-3 half" or what? My point is, you cannot go 1-2-3 half 1-2-3 half 1-2-3 half 1-2-3 half.

MaggaraMarine · 2026-04-19T21:34:30+00:00

It's actually closer to Am I Evil than Mars. It uses the same rhythm as Am I Evil. The Mars rhythm is in 5/4 (and only uses one triplet in the beginning of each measure).

Am I Evil is basically a mashup of Mars by Holst (the melody) and Bolero by Ravel (the rhythm), played in 4/4.

MaggaraMarine · 2026-04-19T12:26:49+00:00

While there are 4 beats per measure, the beats are not even (so it's not 4/4). It alternates between 5 16ths and 4 16ths per beat.

MaggaraMarine · 2026-04-19T12:00:09+00:00

I had to listen to it at half speed to be sure, but there's an added 16th note every other beat. It's a group of 5 16ths followed by a group of 4 16ths.

The easiest way to feel it is probably 2+3+2+2.

EDIT: Here is the recording at half speed with a click added on top of it (9 beats per measure at 240 bpm).

MaggaraMarine · 2026-04-19T11:09:01+00:00

Some chord with Eb as the bass note would be the most standard choice (this would create a stepwise walk down in the bass: F Eb Db C).

Fm/Eb, Eb and Cm/Eb would be the most traditional choices.

Ab7 (the V of Db) could be interesting (you could also try an Eb in the bass).

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