The pentatonic scale is, probably, the most used scale in popular music - for solos, "improvisations" and such.

Let's not forget atonalism as described by Schoenberg in his Pierrot Luniare.
It has strict, and difficult to follow, rules for those indoctrinated in the classical/18thC musical traditions that still outline much musical discourse.



I love this period of his work dearly but cannot begin to work within it's parameters as my skills, ears and heavily reinforced expectations simply won't allow it.

I do, however, "break the rules" often - particularly those related to chord progressions within a "key" or "key" itself.
That said, some of my stuff has been described, by music teachers, as senseless.

I was told that this was an egregious breaking of the rules...that it couldn't be a song, that it needs to be rebuilt from the ground up etc. I, quite simply, like the sound of the chords together and built the melody from chord tones as that "sound" suited the melancholy/disrupted-ness and paranoia of the lyric.


I've written plenty of songs that are more well behaved/well tempered. This is one I wrote, (well, the chords & lyrics), in 76 or 77 but forgot/lost until a couple of years ago. It's constrained by the chords I knew at the time...about half a dozen.


Last edited by rayc; 08/18/22 09:10 PM.
Cheers
rayc
"What's so funny about peace, love & understanding?" - N.Lowe