I've noticed something odd about damn near every beat I make...i find myself using the black keys on my piano to compose instead of the major chords on pretty much everything. I mean nobody has complained about how my stuff sounds it just strikes me as odd that I always think the minor sound sounds better...is there any downside to composing this way?
Why I am i always using the minor keys?
- Thread starter Hi-Lo
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O
open mind
Guest
i noticed this shit happens to me to i tend to use the major keys instead of the black ones lol.the downside to this is the melody sounds the same and has same mood if u always use the same keys variation is the key.try to be more versatile and use the whole keys u got.tough i need to do variate too.
O
open mind
Guest
i heard that scot storch uses the minor keys alot too.
bigdmakintrax
BeatKreatoR
It all depends on the mood and tone, do RnB you must be all over the board with how the scale falls depending on the key you do happy and sad songs, do something hard hitting hip hop, check back in most of the joints considered hardcore or classic its sad or minor, this also applied to some of the bands I played in, some of the harder stuff was always in a minor key, "using the black keys" LOL 
just because its black doesnt make it a minor also...LOL("A" minor scale is all white keys) think of the application of what you are doing, study the mood you are setting it can't be a track that is too happy.......an emcee can hone in on that too they might not like to pick your joint up....good luck.
Here is an article I found on that subject too
http://guitar.about.com
Sometimes, the theme or mood you wish to create with a song doesn't suit the generally "happy" sounds that a major key tends to provide. In these situations, a minor key is often the best choice for your song.
Which isn't to say that a song written in a minor key has to be "sad", or that a song written in a major key need be "happy". There are thousands of songs written in major keys that certainly not uplifting (Ben Folds Five's "Brick" and Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here" are two examples), just as there are many tunes written in minor keys that reflect positive, happy feelings (like Dire Straits' "Sultans of Swing" or Santana's "Oye Como Va").
Many songwriters will use both major and minor keys within their songs, perhaps choosing a minor key for the verse, and a major key for the chorus, or vice versa. This has a nice effect, as it helps break up the monotony that sometimes results when a song lingers in one key. Often, when switching to a major key from a minor key, writers will choose to go to the Relative Major, which is three semitones up (or, on the guitar, three frets up) from the minor key the song is in. So, for example, if a song is in the key of E minor, the relative major of that key would be G major. Similarly, the Relative Minor of a major key is three semitones (or frets) down from that key; so if a song is in D major, it's relative minor key would be B minor.
We've got lots more to discuss, but before we do, we need to learn what chords we can use in a minor key.
We have a lot more chord choices when writing songs in minor keys than we do if we're writing in a major key. This is because we compile two scales to create these chord choices; both the (ascending version of the) melodic minor, and the aeolian (natural) minor scale.
It is not necessary to know or understand these scales in order to write good songs. What you need to summarize (and memorize) from the above illustration is when writing in a minor key, chords can be found starting on the root (minor), the 2nd (diminished or minor), the b3rd (major or augmented), the 4th (minor or major), the 5th (minor or major), the b6th (major), the 6th (diminished), the b7th (major), and the 7th(diminished) of the key you're in. So, when writing a song which stays in the key of E minor, we could use some or all of the following chords: Emin, F#dim, F#min, Gmaj, Gaug, Amin, Amaj, Bmin, Bmaj, Cmaj, C#dim, Dmaj, and D#dim.
Phew! Lots of stuff to worry and think about. You might want to keep this in mind too: in most "popular" music, diminished and augmented chords really don't get used a whole lot. So if the above list looks daunting, try sticking to the plain major and minor chords for now.
In many traditional harmony books, you'll see the above series of chords, accompanied by a diagram that illustrates "acceptable" progressions of these series of chords (eg. V chord can go to i, or to bVI, etc). I have chosen not to include such a list, as I find it to be rather restrictive. Try combining various chords from the above illustration of the chords in a minor key, and decide for yourself which sequences you do, and don't like, and develop your own "rules".
Now that we've learned what the diatonic chords in a minor key are, let's take some time to study a few tunes, and analyze them using this knowledge.
Here's a tune with a relatively simple chord progression; Peter Green's Black Magic Woman (made famous by Santana):
Dmin - Amin - Dmin - Gmin - Dmin - *Amin* - Dmin
* OFTEN PLAYED AS Amaj
All of the chords (including the Amaj possibility) fit into the key of D minor (which contains the chords Dmin, Edim, Emin, Fmaj, Gmin, Gmaj, Amin, Amaj, Bbmaj, Bdim, Cmaj, and C#dim). If we analyze Black Magic Woman numerically, we come up with i - v - i - iv - i - v(or V) - i. There are just a few simple chords here, but the tune is very effective, and it should be a great reminder that your song doesn't have to contain ten different chords to be great.
Next, we'll look at something slightly more complex. Most people will recognize the very famous Eagles tune Hotel California. Here are the chords for the intro and verse of the song:
Bmin - F#maj - Amaj - Emaj - Gmaj - Dmaj - Emin - F#maj
By studying the above progression, we'll can surmise that the song is in the key of B minor (which contains the chords Bmin, C#dim, C#min, Dmaj, Daug, Emin, Emaj, F#min, F#maj, Gmaj, G#dim, Amaj, A#dim). Knowing this, we can numerically represent the chord progression of the song as i - v - bVII - IV - bVI - bIII - iv - V in that key. Hotel California is a great illustration of a tune which more fully takes advantage of all the chords available in a minor key.
These were just a few examples of the millions of songs written in minor keys. To more fully comprehend minor keys, and how to write songs in minor keys, I highly reccomend analyzing dozens more tunes, in the same manner as illustrated above, until you get a better idea of what chord movements sound best to you, etc. Try "borrowing" parts of chord progressions from songs you like, and adapting them into your own songs. It will undoubtedly take a while to get used to doing this, but your efforts should pay off in no time, and you'll find yourself writing better and better chord progressions for your original songs. Good luck...
just because its black doesnt make it a minor also...LOL("A" minor scale is all white keys) think of the application of what you are doing, study the mood you are setting it can't be a track that is too happy.......an emcee can hone in on that too they might not like to pick your joint up....good luck.Here is an article I found on that subject too
http://guitar.about.com
Sometimes, the theme or mood you wish to create with a song doesn't suit the generally "happy" sounds that a major key tends to provide. In these situations, a minor key is often the best choice for your song.
Which isn't to say that a song written in a minor key has to be "sad", or that a song written in a major key need be "happy". There are thousands of songs written in major keys that certainly not uplifting (Ben Folds Five's "Brick" and Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here" are two examples), just as there are many tunes written in minor keys that reflect positive, happy feelings (like Dire Straits' "Sultans of Swing" or Santana's "Oye Como Va").
Many songwriters will use both major and minor keys within their songs, perhaps choosing a minor key for the verse, and a major key for the chorus, or vice versa. This has a nice effect, as it helps break up the monotony that sometimes results when a song lingers in one key. Often, when switching to a major key from a minor key, writers will choose to go to the Relative Major, which is three semitones up (or, on the guitar, three frets up) from the minor key the song is in. So, for example, if a song is in the key of E minor, the relative major of that key would be G major. Similarly, the Relative Minor of a major key is three semitones (or frets) down from that key; so if a song is in D major, it's relative minor key would be B minor.
We've got lots more to discuss, but before we do, we need to learn what chords we can use in a minor key.
We have a lot more chord choices when writing songs in minor keys than we do if we're writing in a major key. This is because we compile two scales to create these chord choices; both the (ascending version of the) melodic minor, and the aeolian (natural) minor scale.
It is not necessary to know or understand these scales in order to write good songs. What you need to summarize (and memorize) from the above illustration is when writing in a minor key, chords can be found starting on the root (minor), the 2nd (diminished or minor), the b3rd (major or augmented), the 4th (minor or major), the 5th (minor or major), the b6th (major), the 6th (diminished), the b7th (major), and the 7th(diminished) of the key you're in. So, when writing a song which stays in the key of E minor, we could use some or all of the following chords: Emin, F#dim, F#min, Gmaj, Gaug, Amin, Amaj, Bmin, Bmaj, Cmaj, C#dim, Dmaj, and D#dim.
Phew! Lots of stuff to worry and think about. You might want to keep this in mind too: in most "popular" music, diminished and augmented chords really don't get used a whole lot. So if the above list looks daunting, try sticking to the plain major and minor chords for now.
In many traditional harmony books, you'll see the above series of chords, accompanied by a diagram that illustrates "acceptable" progressions of these series of chords (eg. V chord can go to i, or to bVI, etc). I have chosen not to include such a list, as I find it to be rather restrictive. Try combining various chords from the above illustration of the chords in a minor key, and decide for yourself which sequences you do, and don't like, and develop your own "rules".
Now that we've learned what the diatonic chords in a minor key are, let's take some time to study a few tunes, and analyze them using this knowledge.
Here's a tune with a relatively simple chord progression; Peter Green's Black Magic Woman (made famous by Santana):
Dmin - Amin - Dmin - Gmin - Dmin - *Amin* - Dmin
* OFTEN PLAYED AS Amaj
All of the chords (including the Amaj possibility) fit into the key of D minor (which contains the chords Dmin, Edim, Emin, Fmaj, Gmin, Gmaj, Amin, Amaj, Bbmaj, Bdim, Cmaj, and C#dim). If we analyze Black Magic Woman numerically, we come up with i - v - i - iv - i - v(or V) - i. There are just a few simple chords here, but the tune is very effective, and it should be a great reminder that your song doesn't have to contain ten different chords to be great.
Next, we'll look at something slightly more complex. Most people will recognize the very famous Eagles tune Hotel California. Here are the chords for the intro and verse of the song:
Bmin - F#maj - Amaj - Emaj - Gmaj - Dmaj - Emin - F#maj
By studying the above progression, we'll can surmise that the song is in the key of B minor (which contains the chords Bmin, C#dim, C#min, Dmaj, Daug, Emin, Emaj, F#min, F#maj, Gmaj, G#dim, Amaj, A#dim). Knowing this, we can numerically represent the chord progression of the song as i - v - bVII - IV - bVI - bIII - iv - V in that key. Hotel California is a great illustration of a tune which more fully takes advantage of all the chords available in a minor key.
These were just a few examples of the millions of songs written in minor keys. To more fully comprehend minor keys, and how to write songs in minor keys, I highly reccomend analyzing dozens more tunes, in the same manner as illustrated above, until you get a better idea of what chord movements sound best to you, etc. Try "borrowing" parts of chord progressions from songs you like, and adapting them into your own songs. It will undoubtedly take a while to get used to doing this, but your efforts should pay off in no time, and you'll find yourself writing better and better chord progressions for your original songs. Good luck...
"happy" vs "Sad"
Long story short when ur going by ear minor key signatures Espically melodic minors sound very sinster etcc. with them its pretty easy to get a sinsister sound quickly. major Key signatues tend to be more mellow or "happy" sounding.
NOTE- This is only the case when you stay in a realtive key sig, things change with differnt progessions
In this thread Ive seen people refer to minor keys as black keys. Like big D said This aint the case, those are just sharps or flats... MInor/Major key chourds have nothing to do with black or white keys, its just the interval between the first and third note of a triad chourd. (and where you place the 7th or 9th)
There are a minor chourds & scales that have no black keys in them
class...
Long story short when ur going by ear minor key signatures Espically melodic minors sound very sinster etcc. with them its pretty easy to get a sinsister sound quickly. major Key signatues tend to be more mellow or "happy" sounding.
NOTE- This is only the case when you stay in a realtive key sig, things change with differnt progessions
In this thread Ive seen people refer to minor keys as black keys. Like big D said This aint the case, those are just sharps or flats... MInor/Major key chourds have nothing to do with black or white keys, its just the interval between the first and third note of a triad chourd. (and where you place the 7th or 9th)
There are a minor chourds & scales that have no black keys in them
class...
black keys aren't minor, they just black keys
EDIT haha i guess this has been said a couple times sorry.
but anyway i try to use them all equally, but there is just something different about using a C# major scale and a C major, when its on the sharps it just, i dont know, i'm not a music theorist haha, it just sounds dope
EDIT haha i guess this has been said a couple times sorry.
but anyway i try to use them all equally, but there is just something different about using a C# major scale and a C major, when its on the sharps it just, i dont know, i'm not a music theorist haha, it just sounds dope
Thats when learing progessions comes into, most of the time people choose minor scales casue most producers dont know how to transition from one chourd to the next. So most beats stay in one chord triad. Which is kinda like a short cut(a pretty useful one) But your beat only stays in one triad and can become boring... also over time with this tecnique all your beats begin to sound the same(since they are all minor triads..)
But when you learn progessions this entire problem goes away becasue then you have the abilitity to bring togher differnt chords and differnt keysignatures... And build whatever you want. Regardless of major minor tone, then when you add inversions and 7ths and 9ths the possibilities will be endless...
class...
MarkN
ILLIEN
ill o.g.
Battle Points: 55
if u find urself playing the same notes or chords try getting a piano book, and just practicing the more i practice different chords/melodies/progressions/inversions and stuff the more comfrotable they become and then more u find urself using them so basically the more stuff u have in ur memory the more beats ur guna be able to make !
adomav17
ILLIEN
ill o.g.
yeah thanks for that little bit right there...
i understand that too lol... i've just recently been getting into those inversions and 7ths....