Project 7: I, IV, V

So the last project was a whopper and took a LOT of time./ This one shouldn't take so long. Feel free to use your own original synth sounds that you developed in project 6, but don't feel that you must. You can use preset synth sounds if you like. Keep in mind, now that you know how to manipulate envelopes in FL studio, you may find yourself improving or tweaking presets synths a lot more often to come up with some really great sounds. I do it all the time.

At the heart of this project is a chord progression. Don't be scared. A chord is sounding three notes at a time, and a progression is moving from one chord to the next. Your project must use the I (one) IV (four) and V (five) chords from the key of C. More on that in a minute. You can put them in any order you like, as long as it is a 4 bar progression, and each measure uses one chord. That's right. One of the chords has to be used twice, and yes the project has to be more than four bars long, which means you have to repeat the chord progression. In both examples below, I have repeated the 4 bar progression 4 times. Now, onto the nuts and bolts.

Keys
The key of C refers to notes in this scale: C D E F G A B C. That's all of the white keys on the keyboard. If we count C as 1, the scale degrees work out to be 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8. 8 and 1 are an octave apart and they are the same note.

When we refer to a chord, we're talking about three notes in a key, separated by thirds. For example: 1,3,5 (C,E,G) makes a chord. So does 4,6,8 (F,A,C) and 5,7,2 (G,B,D). I will use these numerals when referring to degrees of the scale, but I will use roman numerals when referring to complete chords like the I (one) chord in the key of C. Built on C, the I chord is this: C,E,G. The IV (four) chord is build on F because it's the 4th degree of the scale. We find F, and then stack thirds on top of it to get the IV chord (F,A,C). keep in mind, when I refer to the IV chord, I referring to all three notes in the chord.

BTW. We use roman numerals because they can be written in lower case (I and i). This will be important when we experiment with minor chords. but that will be another lesson.

Orchestration
Now that we know what chords are, and what chords we will be using. it's time to play with them a bit.You can plunk down your chords with any instrument you like. In class I used the piano and sounded all the notes at once. You could just as easily assign the low note to a bass, and the other two notes to a saw wave synth and have yourself a chord too. Beethoven did it with a full orchestra. Assigning different parts of a chord to different instruments or voices is called orchestration.

Doubling
In addition to orchestration, we can double notes in a chord. I'm a guitar player. You have probably seen me or other guitarists strumming away chords on all 6 strings. How can this be if there are only three notes in a chord? Doubling is the answer. On the guitar, the open position G chord is voiced like this: G,B,D,G,B,G. Notice how many Gs there are? This really bangs home the G-ness of this chord. Most properly voiced chords are root heavy. Think of a chord as a balanced meal. The emphasis is on the main course -let's say chicken. That's the 1. The side dishes are the 3 and the 5. Too much of the 3 and you're really not having chicken for dinner anymore are you?


Arpeggiating
We did an arpeggiator project a few lessons ago. An arpeggio is a chord in which all of the notes are sounded one after another. It tricks your ear into hearing the chord very much like the way a movie is a bunch of still pictures run one after another. If you take your C chord and break it up into it's parts, you have an arpeggio. Check out my examples below for use of arpeggios.

Inversions
What dish do you get when you have lettuce, tomato and cucumbers in a bowl? A salad right? Well, what if you added the cucumbers first, and then the lettuce and then the tomato? Still a salad. Okay, I have a C chord (CEG). What if I flipped it around like this: EGC. It's still a C chord. This is an inversion of a C chord. Inversions can help you in two ways. One, the inversions of chords tend to make them softer. Not in volume, but in delicacy. Think gentle, fragile sounding chords. Root position chords are strong, and strong is not always the sound we're looking for. Two, voice leading. It is easier on the ear to move from CEG to CFA than it is to move from CEG to FAC. The C stays n the bass of the IV chord, and the resulting motion is pleasing. Try some other inversions.

Check out these two examples:

For this example, I set out to write a lullaby. I chose a nylon string acoustic guitar sound, and arranged the notes to be arpeggiated in an up and down pattern. I made sure the notes did not get cut short so the notes sounded together even though they weren't being struck at the same time. The second layer (after 4 bars of the guitar) is of a sting patch sustaining all of the notes in the chord together. I used some inversions here. Finally, I wrote a sting melody that sounds above the guitar and string parts. I like the contrast between the sustaining strings and the plucked guitar, and I think the melody is suitable to create a lullaby mood.


The second example is a bit more of a rocker. The Slayer begins by sounding out the I, I, V, IV progression in "power chords" (just the root and the 5th) played in a chopped heavy metal style rhythm. The bass accentuates the downbeats, and each new chord. after 4 bars, the organ comes in and sounds the full chords very much like the strings do in example one. For the finishing touch, I added another electric guitar and scored arpeggios so simulate a Van Halen-like guitar riff.