KVR Audio

SampleScience · Post by **SampleScience** » Tue Jun 14, 2016 11:03 pm

Not new, but very interesting:

http://www.hooktheory.com/blog/i-analyz ... t-i-found/

Not that I want to make pop music, but I've always wondered what were the most used scales and chords.

BertKoor · Post by **BertKoor** » Wed Jun 15, 2016 7:26 am

I expected this thread to be a newb question, but luckily it's an answer from statistics.
That was an interested read, especially parts 2 & 3. Thanks for sharing!

Boardwalk · Post by **Boardwalk** » Wed Jun 15, 2016 7:47 am

Gee, I dunno, since I don't know what 1300 songs the author picked.

Jafo · Post by **Jafo** » Wed Jun 15, 2016 8:31 am

I'd imagine a lot also depends on what instrument a given song was composed on/for. Piano songs seem to tend to rely heavily on the white keys with the occasional black (that is, C Major with some forays into F and G, and the respective minors of all three), whereas guitar songs tend to rely on chords with open strings. At least, all the Beatles and Stones songs which come to mind seem to in the ten seconds I bothered to name some -- not exactly a reliable measure.

Regardless, these are the easiest for each instrument, and that has to play a part.

Still, the relative popularity of Eb/cmin surprises me. Maybe the writer has a Sousa fetish, or took every song from Quadrophrenia? Oh, wait -- it's probably E tuned down a half-step, pretty common on guitar. But then wouldn't Ab/fmin be more common? Curious.

Aloysius · Post by **Aloysius** » Wed Jun 15, 2016 8:41 am

I'm sure people used to sell books like this when I was a kid.

With Titles like: ''The magic chords used in hit songs'' or ''The hit song formula'' Etc.

Here are the ''magic notes'' used in every hit song over the last 100 years.

If you use any of these notes in your next song, you'll potentially have a hit on your hands.

AsPeeXXXVIII · Post by **AsPeeXXXVIII** » Wed Jun 15, 2016 8:44 am

All you need is C major and A minor.

GaryG · Post by **GaryG** » Wed Jun 15, 2016 8:49 am

Aloysius wrote:If you use any of these notes in your next song, you'll potentially have a hit on your hands.

I have used these notes extensively so will sue anyone back to the stone age if they use them, anywhere, ever.

Aloysius · Post by **Aloysius** » Wed Jun 15, 2016 8:52 am

Your secret is out.

Roman Empire · Post by **Roman Empire** » Wed Jun 15, 2016 8:59 am

Interesting in terms of proving how the idiosyncrasy of an instrument impacts song writing, but I´d be more interested in if they´d have analyzed functions (tonic, dominant, subdominant and all the others), usage of 7ths, 9ths etc and modulations in the songs and see how these trend over the decades as well as becoming less and less and simpler and simpler.

Best Regards

Roman Empire

SampleScience · Post by **SampleScience** » Wed Jun 15, 2016 6:22 pm

The other way around, there's the most underused "notes" (the notes between the notes):

nickamandote · Post by **nickamandote** » Wed Jun 15, 2016 6:41 pm

AsPeeXXXVIII wrote:All you need is C major and A minor.

you can then transpose to any key you want.

Boardwalk · Post by **Boardwalk** » Wed Jun 15, 2016 7:02 pm

Maybe it's a better idea to analyze the pop songs you like.

Googly Smythe · Post by **Googly Smythe** » Wed Jun 15, 2016 7:22 pm

Boardwalk wrote:Maybe it's a better idea to analyze the pop songs you like.

...And then do something original...

Googly Smythe · Post by **Googly Smythe** » Wed Jun 15, 2016 7:27 pm

I also like the way the word "music" is used - as though Northern European/North American music is the only music in the world.

My missus is Nigerian (Yoruba), and I still can't get my head around "her" music - the rhythms/chord structures make me cross-eyedeared!

Boardwalk · Post by **Boardwalk** » Wed Jun 15, 2016 7:28 pm

@Ayorinde

You mean like ABBA?

Here you are:

http://www.hooktheory.com/theorytab/vie ... cing-queen

Analysis:

http://schall-und-mauch.de/artificialmu ... ftmanship/

Most popular scales and chords in pop music