does "western" music mostly consists of Major/Minor scales?

[shawshawraw]

And also its root chord is called Dominant... for a reason.

No!!! “Dominant 7” is a misnomer. The correct name is “major-minor 7 chord”, or just “7 chord”.

[Pashkuli]

And also its root chord is called Dominant... for a reason.

No!!! “Dominant 7” is a misnomer. The correct name is “major-minor 7 chord”, or just “7 chord”.

Never said "Dominant 7", I said only Dominant. Here is the reason for it:
“major-minor 7 chord” is a bit nonsensical and ambiguous

Dominant.jpg

[shawshawraw]

Never said "Dominant 7", I said only Dominant. Here is the reason for it:

Dominant.jpg

P!! Listen!! That 7 chord can only be a V in old church indoctrinated times. In modern music as of the 22nd century, 7 chords can sound/function as a IV and even I (what we just discussed).

[Pashkuli]

Never said "Dominant 7", I said only Dominant. Here is the reason for it:

Dominant.jpg

P!! Listen!! That 7 chord can only be a V in old church indoctrinated times. In modern music as of the 22nd century, 7 chords can sound/function as a IV as well as I (what we just discussed).

I am not arguing its function. Only how it should be called. And Dominant is a proper name. It has nothing to do with I-IV-V-I (rather T-S-D-T) and such stylistic progression.

In pentatonic styles and progression you can use it almost anywhere as a harmonisation.

Can not get any more cringe than that:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9k-ZABPH9fM

[shawshawraw]

I am not arguing its function. Only how it should be called. And Dominant is a proper name. It has nothing to do with I-IV-V-I (rather T-S-D-T) and such stylistic progression.

In pentatonic styles and progression you can use it almost anywhere as a harmonisation.

Can not get any more cringe than that:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9k-ZABPH9fM

"Dominant 7" is NOT a proper name!!!!

"As a IV" doesn't mean it has to be a IV of the key - but a IV "somewhere"! Hope you'll get it one day.

[Pashkuli]

Dominant is a proper name, but "Dominant 7" or DV is not.

Naming it Dominant is correct, because that is the chord of the natural harmonics, especially in high resonant vibrating objects.
Just a fact from physics. But is also the sub-Dominant.

Just because it happens at the fifth step of a Ionian mode, does not mean it can be used only there.
I use it whenever I feel it has to resonate more notes I want to include in the melody or voice.
It can happen even chromatically.

I had reharmonised the song "No diggitty" by Blackstreet (really basic two chords redusction), based on Bill Withers' song "Grandma's Hands" may years ago, around 2010. It is definitely bluesy...
It had Dominants in places I wanted them.

[shawshawraw]

Dominant is a proper name, but "Dominant 7" or DV is not.

Naming it Dominant is correct, because that is the chord of the natural harmonics, especially in high resonant vibrating objects.
Just a fact from physics. But is also the sub-Dominant.

Here:


Your music is tooo old!

[shawshawraw]

Yuck, the book called it "dominant 7"!!

[Pashkuli]

Your music is tooo old!

Sorry, I can not understand those. I mean I do not want to.

My music is not old. You have not heard it. But I have old songs (from the mid 2000s that is)...
Here:
some music

[shawshawraw]

Sorry, I can not understand those. I mean I do not want to.

My music is not old. You have not heard it. But I have old songs (from the mid 2000s that is)...
Here:
some music

Sorry P, I didn't mean anything personal... pardon me!

I like "Heaven on Earth" - some cool voicings there!

[jancivil]

Mixolydian scale <> mixolydian mode.

Or is there another word for that major scale with diminished 7th I missed?

C Mixolydian’s 7th, Bb, is a minor 7th from C.
a diminished 7th from C is Bbb. (3 minor 3rds = a diminished 7th; C Eb Gb Bbb is a diminished/diminished 7th chord. C Eb Gb Bb is a diminished/minor 7th)

Here’s how it works: The “Perfect” type of interval, a label strictly given to 5ths, 4ths, and 8ves is known as Augmented when made larger by a semitone, Diminished when made smaller by a semitone.
The Major type (a word strictly assigned to 2nds, 3rds, 7ths, & 6ths) made smaller by a semitone is Minor; the Minor (2nds, 3rds, 7ths, 6ths) made larger by a semitone is Major; Minor made smaller by a semitone is Diminished; while Major grown by a semitone is Augmented.

Probably the Augmented 3rd (or Augmented 7th) isn’t real, owing to the primacy of the P4 (or P8) in tonal music; albeit might make sense linearly, though here will be a pretty abstruse chromaticism.
An Augmented Sixth (having a chord type all its own) has a particular voiceleading function in a Predominant harmony, its implied voiceleading in contrary motion outwards to an octave: F D# to E E. An Augmented 2nd is also a linear concept, eg., leading to Major 3. IE: its spelling in a harmony is meaningful in this way; lacking that sense it will tend to be a misspelling. EG: Ab B (C) in C harmonic minor typically outlining vii7 or V7(b9). C - D# OTOH does not = Cm.
EDIT: also the diminished 4th pretty much has to be strictly linear, owing to the primacy of M3. EG: Fb Eb Db C in a descending line, vs. C Fb vertically sounding as a major third, therefore is that.

It’s C Mixolydian mode in music that works modally. “C Mixolydian Scale” is but an abstraction.

Dominant seventh is a functional harmony (implying a tonic/tonicized target to its dominant eg.,V7); the Bb7 in eg., the verse of James Brown Say it Loud isn’t. It’s just a major/minor seventh type of chord sitting on the Bb ‘tonic’.

[BertKoor]

> diminished 7th from C is Bbb

Well spotted, thx!

One wonders what the 6th then is. Ab?

[jancivil]

Well, the other kind of music, Country does

Western music nowadays consists of major/minor scales since it is more trendy and more appealing to listeners. The contemporary world of today needs a wider scope of scales to be popular especially with the new generation who enjoy listening to music in doing most of their daily activities.

This was a reference to the joke, “We play both kinds of music, Country and Western.”.

“the new generation who enjoy listening to music in doing most of their daily activities.” doesn’t actually follow any point regarding what scales or such comprise “Western music”, which needs defining to begin with.

Rock music going back well over half a century has used scalar and harmonic materials that cannot be attributed to the major/minor paradigm.
Some of it is/some kind of is derivative of modes.

In fact, there are music theory writers that have written extensively on this. One I know, Brett Clement (Ball State, alma mater Cincinnati Conservatory) has a couple of articles on it, @ Academia.edu.

1) Diatonic and Chromatic Tonicization in Rock Music
posits, among other things, the primacy of bVII and IV in rock, to the extent he and others suggest them as alternative dominants.
IE: an “approach to rock music based on a “principle of tonicity” rather than on the tonic-dominant axis”

2) Convention and Invention in Harmonic and Melodic Theories for Rock Music approaches the question again, against ‘Schenkerian tonal’ precepts as a launch point.
So, instead of the argument “IV remains subservient to V,”, Clement cites a variety of arguments which eg., ‘permit the IV chord to function at the same hierarchical level as the dominant-tonic axis’.
CF: “Allan Moore's 1995 article on the bVII chord, for example, highlights uses of this chord that contradict the idea that it should be understood as a substitute for V, specifically its role in cadences and in modulations.”

<Moore's elevation of modality does in fact propose a foundation from which rock harmonic practice can be separated from classical concepts. In Schenkerian theory, for example, modality plays a comparatively limited role, with major and minor tonality linked exclusively to the conventional Ionian and Aeolian modes. By using modal terminology, Moore aligns rock with non-classical styles such as folk and jazz, and further, references the practical language of rock musicians as exhibited in guitar/keyboard magazines. Regarding structure, he asserts that a modal system not only elucidates "tonally 'strange' harmonic sequences, but it does not assume them to be 'abnormal’”.>