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telebunke · Post by **telebunke** » Wed Sep 14, 2005 4:17 pm

I'm not much of a "know all about music theory and styles" person, so that question my sound quite dumb to some of you.
I wonder if in today's music that is soulish, the choice of the chord progession plays a major role to make it sound soulish? Or, if it's mainly other things, how would one define the attributes of a soulish song?

EDIT: It has been suggested that I'd better call it R&B-like, (Destiny's child and so forth), so that people would know more precisely what I'm talking about.
tele

Stupid American Pig · Post by **Stupid American Pig** » Wed Sep 14, 2005 4:34 pm

soulish chords usually rely on blues or mixolydan scales and 6/9 or 9th, 11th and 13th chords. acheck around any muso theory sites can usually give you a couple of examples..

Shagga · Post by **Shagga** » Wed Sep 14, 2005 4:38 pm

Its quite hard to explain really....but
Soul is something you feel.

Getting deep, rheres no real chord sequences that are 'soul chords' as soul takes many forms and really depends the person making it, their experiences

Most Major chords generally make you feel kinda happy so use these as starting blocks - work on the C Major scale to start with (play the chords - C3, E3, G3 and B3 then C, D# F and G#) then work a harmoney based around this to give you a grounding. Blues Scale 1 works well so learn it (music theory is NOT my thing!)

Best thing is to sit down, play a triad, then another triad and see how they work, and how they connect and make you feel.
Soul music is supposed to give you a eurphoric feeling but at the same time come from the heart (IMO!)

Imagine driving to a party or club during a Saturday night, and that will give you some idea.

Thats about the best i can suggest. I do write the odd house track some of this uses elements from soul but you must also understand i was born and brought up in an urban jungle and understand how things like poverty affect the mind.
So you need something happy to let yourself go.
I might add i'm from London, not the US so my view is proberly different to the majorty here.

3*s · Post by **3*s** » Wed Sep 14, 2005 4:45 pm

By "soul" do you mean temptations soul, ray charles soul, issac hayes soul, or vandross/contemporary rnb soul? That word has meant various different things over time.

Shagga · Post by **Shagga** » Wed Sep 14, 2005 4:49 pm

A thats a very good point.

Manc Chris · Post by **Manc Chris** » Wed Sep 14, 2005 5:00 pm

3*s wrote:By "soul" do you mean temptations soul, ray charles soul, issac hayes soul, or vandross/contemporary rnb soul? That word has meant various different things over time.

Yes it has. But I struggle to find ANY 'soul' in contemporary R&B. In fact I would go as far as saying that Destinys Child are one of the most soul-less acts ever.

Someone played me a cover track the other day. Long John Baldry's version of 'You've Lost That Loving feeling'. Man, it was one of the most beautiful things I have ever heard, true, heartbreaking soul.

Beyonce? Go tidy your room girlfriend

CypherOne · Post by **CypherOne** » Wed Sep 14, 2005 5:02 pm

I'd help her tidy it...

telebunke · Post by **telebunke** » Wed Sep 14, 2005 5:02 pm

3*s wrote:or vandross/contemporary rnb soul?

By "soulish" I meant contemporary, like you named it

tele

Manc Chris · Post by **Manc Chris** » Wed Sep 14, 2005 5:07 pm

CypherOne wrote:I'd help her tidy it...

More fool you.

telebunke · Post by **telebunke** » Wed Sep 14, 2005 5:07 pm

Manc Chris wrote: Yes it has. But I struggle to find ANY 'soul' in contemporary R&B.

Sorry to say, but that's the contemporary soulish stuff I'm trying to understand a little more.

I'd like to gather a little understanding of what makes these styles and put a very tiny little breeze of it into my pop songs.

tele

Manc Chris · Post by **Manc Chris** » Wed Sep 14, 2005 5:09 pm

telebunke wrote:
Manc Chris wrote: Yes it has. But I struggle to find ANY 'soul' in contemporary R&B.
Sorry to say, but that's the contemporary soulish stuff I'm trying to understand a little more.

I'd like to gather a little understanding of what makes these styles and put a very tiny little breeze of it into my pop songs.

tele

look, stop calling it Soul, and refer to it as R&B, and then we'll have more of a picture.

CypherOne · Post by **CypherOne** » Wed Sep 14, 2005 5:10 pm

Manc Chris wrote:
CypherOne wrote:I'd help her tidy it...
More fool you.

maybe. Can't stand her music tho

Manc Chris · Post by **Manc Chris** » Wed Sep 14, 2005 5:15 pm

CypherOne wrote:
Manc Chris wrote:
CypherOne wrote:I'd help her tidy it...
More fool you.
maybe. Can't stand her music tho

It's when they all ad lib at the same time during the play out of every song. It's enough to make a shy bald bhuddist reflect and plan a mass murder

telebunke · Post by **telebunke** » Wed Sep 14, 2005 5:19 pm

Manc Chris wrote:

look, stop calling it Soul, and refer to it as R&B, and then we'll have more of a picture.

Typical R&B-like, contemporary chord progressions, ok, that's what I'm looking for. Maybe some examples?

tele

3*s · Post by **3*s** » Wed Sep 14, 2005 5:23 pm

Most contemporary stuff uses borrowed progressions from guys like barry white stevie wonder, as well has whatever toped the charts in the past 20 years.

These guys were Jazz musicians who wrote pop songs, so the influences lie there.

The two big theory elements of this style when it comes to harmony seem to be minor interchange and diminished passing chords.

Minor interchange: use chords from the parallel minor of the key your in (ex in C major, take chords from C minor) (eg in C, Fmaj7, B half dim, E7 (interchange chord), A minor (switch to relative minor)

Diminished passing chords: Chords that are connected by half steps, the first being more dissonant, usually diminished or dominant with upper extentions, the 2nd usually being in the home key. (eg in C maj: G#dim#11, cmaj(add9).

7th and 9th chords are your friends obviously.

Make sure you voice these properly, that means try not jump more than 2 steps per chord, use inversions for a smooth transition from 1 to another.

Also check out Secondary and substitute dominance (jazz concepts).

Soulish chord progessions? (contemporary R&B-like)