Originally Posted By: saxgentleman67
Most great songwriters do NOT think about theory when composing a song.


This made me smile for 2 reasons.

The first is that I have had people say "I don't know anything about theory." And then they play parts that are absolutely theoretically correct. In those cases they actually DO know theory. They just don't KNOW that they know theory.

The second is best served by analogy. When you learn a sport or a craft or a trade, you learn "things". You use those "things" so much they become second nature. A carpenter, when checking for square, measures one side at 3 feet, the other side at 4, and measures between those 2 marks, and if they come out to 5, the frame is square. He doesn't stop to think "Okay I will apply the Pythagorean Theory here." He just does it because by rote he knows that's the right thing to do. Or if you are playing football and you see that the offensive lineman block briefly and then let the rush get through. That means screen pass. But you don't stop and think "Ah. He blocked me for a 3 count and then let me go. It's a screen pass." You just react and "do". Most writers know theory whether they know it or not. Do you think John Petrucci needed Berklee to learn how to play as well as he does? Would he not have become what he is by practicing on his own? He learned MUSIC at Berklee. WHAT to play. HOW to practice.

As to Billy's OP, in any scale, (use C so they are all white keys) if you just move up one triad at a time, 2, 3, and 6 will always be minor chords. CM, Dm, Em, FM, GM, Am, B is a "word they will censor that means out of wedlock" chord that can be looked at as a G7 with no root, a sus, a dim... (all depending on what you consider to be the root note) and back to CM. Every major scale is exactly that. Just like steps in a major scale are WWHWWWH where W = whole and H = half. Those steps never change in a major scale.

Noel, I have never see the Cycle of 5ths where the 5ths go counterclockwise and the 4ths go clockwise. In fact, this clock hangs in my studio.



Maybe it's a southern hemisphere thing like how your water drains in the opposite direction. grin

Last edited by eddie1261; 01/14/22 07:28 AM.