Disco Chords

[TylerRS]

I'm trying to write different styles of music, but I can't figure out how to get a disco type song. I know a little bit of music theory, but not a lot. To me it sounds like the bass kind of stays in a minor sounding groove and the keys play some major sounding chords. I've tried this in the basic minor scale, (i.e. keys playing C major chords and bass grooving in A minor) but I still don't get the disco feel. I also think I hear a lot of half steps in the keys. Maybe they're playing in a different scale mode than I'm familiar with. I guess what I'm asking is what scale mode they are playing in and what scale tones I need to emphasize.

Here are some examples of what I'm looking for:







Thanks in advance!

[jdtrbn]

In my humble opinion, disco is 90% about rhythm and the idiomatic sound. Your examples don't sound theory-wise exotic at all. The first one has a lot of a bass playing only two notes! Diatonic major and minor plus blues scale should be most of what you need. When you want to be catchy like in a disco song, you can't get too complex unless your audience consists of old pairs of jazz-ears.

So, my uneducated guess is that you should look elsewhere. Of course it would be easier if I'd heard some of your attempts. Is it not possible to get the disco feel without all this chord and scale stuff? Pay attention to the emphasis of the root note and a punchy rhythm made with percussion and bass instruments. A lot of catchy music is about very short notes and hits and would sound like soft pop or soft rock if you let the sounds lose their sharpness (I was once asked why a song doesn't sound like funk and it turned out this was the biggest problem).

[martian]

the first of your examples doesnt sound very discoy to me, the other 2 do though. you could try playing around with a blues scale in the bass, but dont stick to it, add in any other notes whenever they sound good, like in quick succession, and play lots of octave notes. then play mostly a major harmony over the top. you can play major chords for every blues or minor scale note if you want. Imaj - bIIImaj is extremely common. personally i dont agree with poster above about diatonic harmony.

[jdtrbn]

personally i dont agree with poster above about diatonic harmony.

I'm not sure what you're referring to with that diatonic harmony. I mentioned diatonic scales because I think most melodies in disco (or other) music don't go very complex.

[martian]

sorry, i meant mainly in relation to chords. personally i think there is at least one common simple chromatic movement in disco, the I-bIII one i mentioned, which harmonises a blues scale bassline nicely.

but i think also some melodies use a lot of chromatic notes in semitone steps to get from one stable (perhaps diatonic) note to another.

maybe im wrong.

[tee boy]

I'm trying to write different styles of music, but I can't figure out how to get a disco type song. I know a little bit of music theory, but not a lot. To me it sounds like the bass kind of stays in a minor sounding groove and the keys play some major sounding chords. I've tried this in the basic minor scale, (i.e. keys playing C major chords and bass grooving in A minor) but I still don't get the disco feel. I also think I hear a lot of half steps in the keys. Maybe they're playing in a different scale mode than I'm familiar with. I guess what I'm asking is what scale mode they are playing in and what scale tones I need to emphasize.

Here are some examples of what I'm looking for:







Thanks in advance!

[ballbag]

Disco is about the groove and overall sound, you need to have virtually a whole orchestra to pull it off properly. You should concentrate on that first as disco often has strings and brass, sometimes inaudible coz it's so low in the mix. Next thing is to try and re-create the sound of vintage amps and mics (and tapes) etc. For the keys try using four note chords, sus 4 works nicely as do 7ths and inversions of roots. Stay away from bog standard triads.

Edit: Make sure your bassline isnt too static.

[TylerRS]

Hey thanks everyone for helping me out! I know the first example isn't too disco-y, but around 0:50 it does the major chord thing over the minor bassline which I'm really looking for.

@martian: Which scale tones are in the bIII chord? I tried to find that one on a chord chart and couldn't.

Thanks so much guys.

[jdtrbn]

@martian: Which scale tones are in the bIII chord? I tried to find that one on a chord chart and couldn't.

Thanks so much guys.

His point is that the notes aren't in the scale, it's chromaticism, baby.
I think he meant it in such a way that in C major scale it would be C major chord (I) and Eb major (bIII). C major includes notes C E G and Eb major includes Eb G Bb. Notes C, Eb, E, G and Bb don't exist in many scales, but one of them is C half-whole diminished scale (an exciting scale and one of my favourites). But it's perfectly ok to think of this as playing in C major/mixolydian and then playing some "outside-notes".

[martian]

thats right jdtrbn.

the I-bIII progression is 2 major chords a 3rd appart, they form a chromatic mediant.

in disco you can use them to help harmonise each note of a blues scale bassline doing for instance F, Ab, B, Bb, F. you could play a major chord for every one of those if you wanted, although normally you dont harmonise every note in disco. the Fmaj to Abmaj to bmaj is the chromatic mediant in double action, just to emphasise, you'd probably only use it once though in disco to avoid it sticking out too much.

for disco you could also use larger chords like jamiroquai for example, i think they use lots of 4 or more note chords including chromatic notes to get a really nice jazzy discoy feel, then the major/minor feel gets really blurred.

[TylerRS]

Now that I listen to the style I'm after, I'm hearing more and more of the chromatic stuff and the more complex chords. Thanks guys for helping out! Sounds like I need to dig up the old chord charts now, this should be an interesting and educational new composing experience for me. I'm usually really OCD when it comes to staying in the scale in my compositions, and I think thats why none of my music sounds "Funky". I think it's time to change that! Thanks for helping out!

[Amblin]

One very interesting subject that I've thought of countless times and never gotten around to post myself, just when it comes to disco.

I know a bit about theory, atleast I thought so, but I am getting lost more and more when reading the replies here.

Things like Chromaticism, "harmonize every note", and chromatic in general makes my head spin.

when you say progressions like I-bIII that part I understand since I atleast think I have an understanding of major/minor scales, progressions and chordinversions.

But all this exotic scales like the blues scale, how does that work? Let's say I have a bassline playing in the C blues scale, with some (or all) of these notes: C, Eb, F, G, Gb and Bb. Can I just play a C major chord over the bass, eventhough it includes the tone E which is not part of the blues scale? Is that E now a dissonant?

Any help with dumbifying what you have concluded in this thread would be awesoemeness.

[martian]

amblin,

i personally think jazz/funk/disco is best done by ear, experimentation, experience and whatever sounds good. you dont need any theory, sure others may disagree.

re: your bass example: dont think about what notes of a chord are in out of any particular scale, does it sound good? then use it, then try and understand it later if you want. if it helps you can do what jdtrbn says, and think of your blues bassline as playing the major scale with 3 'outsider' notes.

[Amblin]

...and think of your blues bassline as playing the major scale with 3 'outsider' notes.

Now that is an excellent tip, that is general enough to use. I will try that as soon as I get home. The rest however I don't really agree upon.

Many people often say that "just play by ear until it sounds good". Why that is a good non-bounding tip, it usually takes a while of brute forcing notes. When we talk specific styles, one thing (apart from the specific sounds and the instruments that were used at that time) is a pattern of chordtheory that all that music had in common. A pattern that defined and gave the music a name, like "disco". You need to analyze and understand this pattern in order to capture the vibe and the style. Just playing by ear is tricky to capture this pattern I have concluded.

Atleast that's what I believe. Maybe it's more of a sound specific issue that captures the style (moogs, nice fender bassguitars, creamy snares and semi-heavy compression), than it is a chord-theory issue? Although, if you want to create some trance music, playing polka melodies with a supersaw will be tricky to pass of as trance

[martian]

for me, a lot of disco/funk is defined mostly by the monophonic elements, like the bass melody, drum groove, and genernal 'funky' rhythms to each element. these elements can be harmonised with chords (or not!) in many different ways. so i dont know how much chords define disco, but of course there are common patterns (like mostly major), and im probably refering to different artists than you in my generalisations.

anyway, would like to hear what you come up with! whether it conforms to 'disco theory' or not.