D vs B
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Forum Description: General progressive music discussions
URL: http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=18041
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Topic: D vs B
Posted By: gabbel ratchett
Subject: D vs B
Date Posted: January 26 2006 at 23:40
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What key do you like better for an extended prog epic with choirs, bag pipes, gongs, theremins and woodblocks? B flat would be acceptable also. ------------- dead things don't talk too well, they've got a shaky sense of diction. |
Replies:
Posted By: Cygnus X-2
Date Posted: January 26 2006 at 23:42
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What about D# minor? Always is a key note to have. ------------- 
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Posted By: gabbel ratchett
Date Posted: January 26 2006 at 23:45
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isn't that the sadest of all keys? ------------- dead things don't talk too well, they've got a shaky sense of diction. |
Posted By: KoS
Date Posted: January 26 2006 at 23:49
| sad is good |
Posted By: gabbel ratchett
Date Posted: January 26 2006 at 23:50
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was that the key that the "Big Bottom" suite was written in? ------------- dead things don't talk too well, they've got a shaky sense of diction. |
Posted By: Cygnus X-2
Date Posted: January 26 2006 at 23:52
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No, that's D Minor. -------------
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gabbel ratchett wrote:
Posted By: Cygnus X-2
Date Posted: January 26 2006 at 23:53
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No, the Lick My Love Pump "Mach" piece was written in D Minor. -------------
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Posted By: Hierophant
Date Posted: January 26 2006 at 23:54
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Several will do ------------- 
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Posted By: Cygnus X-2
Date Posted: January 26 2006 at 23:55
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You mean each instrument playing in a different key all at the same time? -------------
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Posted By: Goldenavatar
Date Posted: January 27 2006 at 00:29
| Come on, any true prog epic will modulate through many keys. And if you want it to be really cool you can't just go circle of fifths. You need a weird mix of major and minor. And no way can you use relative major and minors, go with parallel major and minor, that's a cool sound. Plus use really dissonant key changes. Abrupt tritone changes between keys would be very appropriate I think. For example go between A and E-flat and do it within one measure, not starting on beat 1. Make it very syncopated. Lastly if you want a really funky sound use phrygian or locrian modes. For example when you're in A major have the rhythm harp on the IV and V chords but have the bass use a C-sharp pedal. Solo in A-major but use C-sharp as if that's tonic and voila, instant phrygian mode. Man I should write a prog epic. |
Posted By: Cygnus X-2
Date Posted: January 27 2006 at 00:31
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Good luck with that. -------------
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Posted By: Hierophant
Date Posted: January 27 2006 at 01:11
This all sounds very logical  probaly sounds like the local music store falling down the stairs -------------
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Posted By: vogre
Date Posted: January 27 2006 at 02:00
That's already a RIO epic!  |
Posted By: Moribund
Date Posted: January 27 2006 at 04:13
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How about the key of Life? Oh no, that's been done...
------------- New Progressive Rock Live show now touring UK theatres! www.masterpiecestheconcert.co.uk |
Posted By: Pafnutij
Date Posted: January 27 2006 at 05:11
No absolute pitch here. They all sound the same to me 
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Posted By: Syzygy
Date Posted: January 27 2006 at 09:51
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B flat is an arse of a key to play in if you're a guitarist, though if you tune your axe a semitone below standard concert pitch it's much easier. It was good enough for Hendrix, after all.
------------- 'Like so many of you I've got my doubts about how much to contribute to the already rich among us...' Robert Wyatt, Gloria Gloom |
Posted By: el böthy
Date Posted: January 27 2006 at 11:37
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I tend to use B flat a lot in my own songs...as a matter of fact the epic I have done goes from E flat to B flat thrue out the whole song... ------------- "You want me to play what, Robert?" 
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Posted By: Goldenavatar
Date Posted: January 27 2006 at 18:07
I have not noticed this myself. B-flat only has two flats, it's really not that bad. Granted I'd rather play 5 sharps than two flats any day. But really it's not terrible. Now F minor. That's a bugger of a key. And D-flat is one I'd stay away from. The unfortunate thing is jazz and horn players all want to play in those offensive flat keys. No one cares about guitar players! |
Posted By: Ricochet
Date Posted: January 28 2006 at 00:55
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wtf?
------------- 
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Posted By: Pafnutij
Date Posted: January 28 2006 at 04:03
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In terms of playing , D of course: 2 sharps instead of 5! Oh, and Bb . |
Posted By: gabbel ratchett
Date Posted: January 28 2006 at 10:40
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Some of you folks need to settle down and take a deep breath. I was just making fun of some of those insipid Yes vs Genesis and DT vs Mars Voltsa threads. ------------- dead things don't talk too well, they've got a shaky sense of diction. |
Posted By: Goldenavatar
Date Posted: January 28 2006 at 11:52
| Regarding the previous comments concerning playing in difficult keys for the guitar, I wondering something. If anyone here plays both guitar and mandolin, or guitar and violin, can you give a relative comparison with the difficulty of each? I play guitar and have the standard fourths tuning pretty much assimilated. But I've messed around with mandolin a bit and besides the fact that they are ridiculously tiny, the fifths tuning seems really nice. Major scales are particularly easy. Does it make playing easier in general, even the nasty keys? |