We all have singing voices, and of course we all think we sound great when singing in the shower or belting out a tune along with radio while driving.
In fact we all have a unique voice. But just because we think we sound great and maybe you do, this doesn't mean you can't make it better. With the access to the internet you now have the ability to pick from great vocal coaches and singing programs and make a vast improvement in your singing voice.
There are some very basic ways to improve your singing voice that you can concentrate on. A very important area is breath control. Without proper breath control your singing will be very shaky and you will not be able to hit notes properly.
All breath is controlled from you diaphragm when singing. Most people will take deep breaths into their chest, you have to break this habit and only breathe from your diaphragm.
To do this you have to pull air in through your nose and only your stomach should move in and out while your chest stays still. Learning this technique of breath control helps a singer breathe easier, have more breath for a performance, and push out notes with more control.
Another problem area for singers is their pitch. A big issue for a singer is not being perfect on their pitch. When trying to hit a note they end up falling on the lower half of the pitch as they come up to the note. What you want to do if you continually find yourself in this position, is to come from above the note and landing on perfect pitch. Finding yourself on the bottom of a note often just means you need to put in more intensity to sing the pitch.
Sounding a proper vowel sound is critical. It can make the difference between sounding smooth or like you are screeching. Having an understanding of the production position of vowels will make sure you are coming through clear.
It will also make sure you are consistent in your diction so your audience will have a better experience. This becomes even more important for group singing. Not everyone will pronounce vowel sounds the same. Just think of the word mom some might pronounce it "Mahm" while others use "Mawm"
Thursday, November 17, 2011
The Significance of the Bass Clef
The bass clef on the piano usually sounds deeper in tone and is typically played with your left hand while the treble clef plays higher pitched notes. So if you wanted to be a minimal one man band, your left hand would typically be the bass guitar while your right hand is lead guitar.
When you look at the bass clef, your bottom line on your staff is a G. As you climb up, the notes follow in the same order:
G A B C D E F G A....
This pattern can go on as much as you like. You can find the bottom line G on the piano by locating middle C and moving an octave down to the next C and then moving down again to G. As you go up on the staff, you will climb up on the piano. While you can go and play all the notes on the piano on the bass clef as much as you want, there are more practical ways to play higher pitched notes.
Here are some examples of how a composer can achieve this:
Sometimes when musicians need to reach higher notes, they will change to treble clef and notate that it is to play with the left hand (usually by annotating with L.H.). Once they have hit all the high notes, they can change back to the bass clef.
Another way to hit high notes on this clef is to notate to your players to move an octave up which is an italicized 8va with dashed lines along the top. The dashed lines will keep going as long as the composer wants you to go with the higher octave. Likewise, musicians can notate to move an octave down.
Now don't think that you will always be playing the deeper notes on the bass clef. If you listen to the vast variety of piano music (and I don't mean just classical), you will find that there are plenty of songs are soft in tones and sometimes you won't even go past the bottom G. And on the flip side, you will find songs that are deeper in tone.
If you check out Schubert's Serenade, you will see that most of the song is like a whisper with just deep notes here and there which are played softly as to not dominate the other notes in the song. It's a very expressive piece of music and I highly recommend you check it out.
When you look at the bass clef, your bottom line on your staff is a G. As you climb up, the notes follow in the same order:
G A B C D E F G A....
This pattern can go on as much as you like. You can find the bottom line G on the piano by locating middle C and moving an octave down to the next C and then moving down again to G. As you go up on the staff, you will climb up on the piano. While you can go and play all the notes on the piano on the bass clef as much as you want, there are more practical ways to play higher pitched notes.
Here are some examples of how a composer can achieve this:
Sometimes when musicians need to reach higher notes, they will change to treble clef and notate that it is to play with the left hand (usually by annotating with L.H.). Once they have hit all the high notes, they can change back to the bass clef.
Another way to hit high notes on this clef is to notate to your players to move an octave up which is an italicized 8va with dashed lines along the top. The dashed lines will keep going as long as the composer wants you to go with the higher octave. Likewise, musicians can notate to move an octave down.
Now don't think that you will always be playing the deeper notes on the bass clef. If you listen to the vast variety of piano music (and I don't mean just classical), you will find that there are plenty of songs are soft in tones and sometimes you won't even go past the bottom G. And on the flip side, you will find songs that are deeper in tone.
If you check out Schubert's Serenade, you will see that most of the song is like a whisper with just deep notes here and there which are played softly as to not dominate the other notes in the song. It's a very expressive piece of music and I highly recommend you check it out.
Augmented Vs Diminished Chords
There are more kinds of chords than minor and major. Today, I want to discuss augmented versus diminished. I have already discussed minor and major chords on my blog. Augmented and versus diminished can follow the same strategy.
To find a major, you know that you begin with your root, move 4 half steps up to your mediant and then move 3 steps up to your dominant.
The interval for augmented chords would be 4 - 4 which means 4 1/2 steps from the root, and then 4 from the mediant. Another way to look at it is to find your augmented chord is to begin with your major chord and then move your dominant chord a half step up.
Let's take a look at the D augmented chord. You can either count 4 1/2 steps from D and then get F(sharp) and then count 4 up from F sharp and land on A sharp. However, if you just look at the major chord which is D, F sharp, A, you can see that moving A one half step up will give you your augmented chord.
Now let's take a look at diminished chords.
Diminished are similar to augmented except that you look at the minor instead of a major chord. A minor chord is 3 half steps up from the root, and then 4 up from the mediant. When you want your diminished triad, the chord interval would be 3 - 3. Now if you want to start with your minor chord, you would move your dominant a half step down instead of up.
Let's do an example using the A diminished. You can follow the same two methods that are stated above which either is counting steps or starting with your minor chord and making it a diminished.
With an A minor chord, you have the notes A, C, and E. The chord interval here is 3 - 4. Now you can take your minor chord and move your dominant note down a half step to get A, C, and E(flat). Or you can use the alternative method and start with A, move up 3 half steps to C, and then move 3 to E flat.
To find a major, you know that you begin with your root, move 4 half steps up to your mediant and then move 3 steps up to your dominant.
The interval for augmented chords would be 4 - 4 which means 4 1/2 steps from the root, and then 4 from the mediant. Another way to look at it is to find your augmented chord is to begin with your major chord and then move your dominant chord a half step up.
Let's take a look at the D augmented chord. You can either count 4 1/2 steps from D and then get F(sharp) and then count 4 up from F sharp and land on A sharp. However, if you just look at the major chord which is D, F sharp, A, you can see that moving A one half step up will give you your augmented chord.
Now let's take a look at diminished chords.
Diminished are similar to augmented except that you look at the minor instead of a major chord. A minor chord is 3 half steps up from the root, and then 4 up from the mediant. When you want your diminished triad, the chord interval would be 3 - 3. Now if you want to start with your minor chord, you would move your dominant a half step down instead of up.
Let's do an example using the A diminished. You can follow the same two methods that are stated above which either is counting steps or starting with your minor chord and making it a diminished.
With an A minor chord, you have the notes A, C, and E. The chord interval here is 3 - 4. Now you can take your minor chord and move your dominant note down a half step to get A, C, and E(flat). Or you can use the alternative method and start with A, move up 3 half steps to C, and then move 3 to E flat.
How To Be A Good Singer - 6 Top Tips To Take You To The Next Level
The question of how to be a good singer comes up all the time in vocal circles. There are so many different answers and opinions out there that it can be hard to know where to start. Read on to discover six vital tips that will help you catapult your singing to a whole new level.
1 - I want to stress how important it is to get yourself a good teacher. You can do all the singing you want, but if you want to learn how to be a good singer and don't have an experienced professional to give you a helping hand, you won't get very far. Sure, there are singers who are naturally talented, but even they need help to reach their full potential.
2 - It's a great idea to record yourself practicing. If you can, record your singing in both audio and video format. There is no quicker way to learn than to watch and listen to yourself sing as often as you can. You might cringe at first, and that's totally normal! But soon you will get over the initial shock of observing yourself singing and be able to see and hear what you're doing well and what needs improvement. You may surprise yourself by performing in a totally different way than you had imagined. Or you may sound completely different than you thought you did. This is all part of learning how to be a good singer, and it'll help you to progress much faster.
3 - You can also put on small-scale concerts for family and friends. Just make sure that you are fully prepared to sing in front of other people, as this is a totally different experience from singing on your own. A good tip is to sing for a good friend first, who is kind and understands what you want from your singing. They don't have to be a musical expert, but you have to trust them enough to ask for honest feedback. Whatever you do, don't sing for anyone who could knock your confidence, otherwise you might never want to sing again! Anyone who can't give you some encouragement as you learn how to be a good singer is not worth singing for.
4 - Practice a little bit every single day. Fifteen minutes a day is much better for your voice than two hours on a Sunday and then nothing the rest of the week. Your vocal health is so important, and singing little and often will help protect your voice from hoarseness, tiredness and more serious vocal problems. Don't jump straight into singing your favorite song or aria at the beginning of your practice session; instead, do some physical and warm-ups to prepare yourself. You would never see a hundred-meter sprinter go straight into a race without warming up first. Your voice is no different - just a few minutes of warm-up will help you get ready for some serious singing!
5 - Another tip that can really help you build up your voice is to stay still when you practice. It can be far too tempting to move or dance around the room when you sing! If you want to add movement and dance to a performance, that's fine, but first of all just stand and sing. This will focus all your attention on your voice and means that you can get used to the feeling of just singing. After all, the main thing you are learning here is how to be a good singer, not a good dancer! When you record yourself singing this way, you will learn the most about what works and what doesn't work vocally. You can move a little, of course - you're not a robot! But keep all extra movements to a minimum to begin with, and stand with an upright and relaxed posture. Imagine that there's a thread coming out of the top of your head, gently holding you in a beautiful posture!
6 - Finally, watch, listen and learn as much as you can. There are examples of all kinds of singing on the internet, TV and radio, as well as your local library and concert venue. Going to see live music is another excellent activity, as you can watch and listen to the pros and learn from them. Don't just listen to the music you already know. Be adventurous and find out about all types of music, including unfamiliar popular genres, musicals and opera. The more styles you can become familiar with, the better.
1 - I want to stress how important it is to get yourself a good teacher. You can do all the singing you want, but if you want to learn how to be a good singer and don't have an experienced professional to give you a helping hand, you won't get very far. Sure, there are singers who are naturally talented, but even they need help to reach their full potential.
2 - It's a great idea to record yourself practicing. If you can, record your singing in both audio and video format. There is no quicker way to learn than to watch and listen to yourself sing as often as you can. You might cringe at first, and that's totally normal! But soon you will get over the initial shock of observing yourself singing and be able to see and hear what you're doing well and what needs improvement. You may surprise yourself by performing in a totally different way than you had imagined. Or you may sound completely different than you thought you did. This is all part of learning how to be a good singer, and it'll help you to progress much faster.
3 - You can also put on small-scale concerts for family and friends. Just make sure that you are fully prepared to sing in front of other people, as this is a totally different experience from singing on your own. A good tip is to sing for a good friend first, who is kind and understands what you want from your singing. They don't have to be a musical expert, but you have to trust them enough to ask for honest feedback. Whatever you do, don't sing for anyone who could knock your confidence, otherwise you might never want to sing again! Anyone who can't give you some encouragement as you learn how to be a good singer is not worth singing for.
4 - Practice a little bit every single day. Fifteen minutes a day is much better for your voice than two hours on a Sunday and then nothing the rest of the week. Your vocal health is so important, and singing little and often will help protect your voice from hoarseness, tiredness and more serious vocal problems. Don't jump straight into singing your favorite song or aria at the beginning of your practice session; instead, do some physical and warm-ups to prepare yourself. You would never see a hundred-meter sprinter go straight into a race without warming up first. Your voice is no different - just a few minutes of warm-up will help you get ready for some serious singing!
5 - Another tip that can really help you build up your voice is to stay still when you practice. It can be far too tempting to move or dance around the room when you sing! If you want to add movement and dance to a performance, that's fine, but first of all just stand and sing. This will focus all your attention on your voice and means that you can get used to the feeling of just singing. After all, the main thing you are learning here is how to be a good singer, not a good dancer! When you record yourself singing this way, you will learn the most about what works and what doesn't work vocally. You can move a little, of course - you're not a robot! But keep all extra movements to a minimum to begin with, and stand with an upright and relaxed posture. Imagine that there's a thread coming out of the top of your head, gently holding you in a beautiful posture!
6 - Finally, watch, listen and learn as much as you can. There are examples of all kinds of singing on the internet, TV and radio, as well as your local library and concert venue. Going to see live music is another excellent activity, as you can watch and listen to the pros and learn from them. Don't just listen to the music you already know. Be adventurous and find out about all types of music, including unfamiliar popular genres, musicals and opera. The more styles you can become familiar with, the better.
Songwriters - Learn How the Position of Your Lyrics Can Change What You're Saying
Have you ever wondered if the position of your lyrical phrase within your music affected the message you were trying to get through to your audience?
I'd argue that it does for multiple reasons, but right now I want to show you why it matters for the purpose of highlighting specific words within your lyrical phrases. What I am talking about? Okay, okay, be patient... I'll show you.
There's a great example of what I'm talking about in the song "These Days" by Foo Fighters. But before I get into that, we need to back up and talk about our everyday speech patterns and how they relate to music.
The Spoken Word
In every day speech, some words and syllables are accented, and others are not. For example, look at the phrase "One of these days." It's a phrase we've heard many times before, so we're familiar with its sonic shape. If you listen carefully, you'll notice the words "one" and "days" are stressed more than the words "of" and "these." I'll notate this by capitalizing the stressed words: ONE of these DAYS. Do you hear it? The combination of stressed and unstressed syllables in this phrase help to create its natural shape. If we stressed words that don't want to be stressed, we'd get: One OF THESE days. Sounds like William Shatner saying it, doesn't it? It's not how we're used to hearing it.
...And in Music
That's cool, but what does this have to do with music? Well, when we sing lyrics, we also accent certain words, but the position of the words in the measure has everything to do with which words get accented, and which words don't. Each measure of a song has beats within its measure that are stronger than other beats. For example, in 4/4 time, the first beat of the measure is the strongest, the third beat is the second strongest, the second beat is the third strongest and the fourth beat of the measure is the weakest. Without getting too complicated, all we need to take away from this right now, is that the first beat of the measure is the strongest. So, if we place a word on the first beat of the measure, it'll tend to sound more accented than a beat that is on the second, third or fourth beat.
As songwriters, it's important for us to align the accented words of our lyrical phrases with the accented words in the spoken version of the phrases we choose. Remember that singing is just an exaggerated form of speech, so in order for our lyrics to really resonate with our listeners and sound natural, we need our vocal phrases to have the same sonic shape as the spoken version of our phases.
Applying These Concepts to "These Days" by Foo Fighters
Back to our Foo Fighters song. If you'd like to follow along, please check out the song on YouTube.
At the beginning of the song, the first line we hear lead singer, Dave Grohl, sing is "One of these days." He repeats this phrase a few times throughout the verse in the exact same manner. When he sings this phrase in the verse, it sounds good. It sounds natural. The way we would speak it. "ONE of these DAYS." Why is that? Check it out.... If you count along with the song, you'll notice the words "one" and "days" fall on the first beat of two consecutive measures. So the visual version would look something like this:
BEATS:-------1-------2-------3--------4--------1-------2
LYRICS:------ONE-------------of-these----------DAYS----
Go back and listen to the first line of the song. Notice how the words that should be the strongest in the phrase (based on how we say it), are on beat number one. The result? The phrase resonates with us the way it should. Cool.
As a comparison, let's fast forward to the chorus. Go to about a minute and thirty-five seconds into the song and take another listen to when he sings the same exact lyrical phrase, "One of the days," in the chorus. Go check it out.
Oops! What happened now? Suddenly, the phrase sounds like this: "one of THESE days."
Or, in the song
BEATS:-------3-------4-------1---------2-------3-------4
LYRICS:------One-of----------THESE-days----------------
In the chorus, they've changed up the sonic shape of the phrase. Now the emphasis is on the word "these," which goes against what we're used to hearing in spoken language. That's why something sounds off and not as natural as it did before. The word "these" lands square on beat one (the only word in the phrase that does) and sucks up all the spotlight. But is it supposed to? Let's check our original spoken word version: "ONE of these DAYS." Nope it wasn't supposed to. So THAT'S why something sounds off...or at the very least, different than it did in the verse.
One thing I love about this song as a study of this topic, is that it uses the phrase "One of these days" in both ways, so we can get a side by side comparison within the song. You can clearly hear how the positioning of your words matters when you write your lyrics to music. Do it right, the way Foo Fighters did in the verse, and it sounds natural. Do it not-as-right (this is art after all, and there is technically no "wrong"), the way Foo did in the chorus, and it doesn't sound as natural anymore.
I'd argue that it does for multiple reasons, but right now I want to show you why it matters for the purpose of highlighting specific words within your lyrical phrases. What I am talking about? Okay, okay, be patient... I'll show you.
There's a great example of what I'm talking about in the song "These Days" by Foo Fighters. But before I get into that, we need to back up and talk about our everyday speech patterns and how they relate to music.
The Spoken Word
In every day speech, some words and syllables are accented, and others are not. For example, look at the phrase "One of these days." It's a phrase we've heard many times before, so we're familiar with its sonic shape. If you listen carefully, you'll notice the words "one" and "days" are stressed more than the words "of" and "these." I'll notate this by capitalizing the stressed words: ONE of these DAYS. Do you hear it? The combination of stressed and unstressed syllables in this phrase help to create its natural shape. If we stressed words that don't want to be stressed, we'd get: One OF THESE days. Sounds like William Shatner saying it, doesn't it? It's not how we're used to hearing it.
...And in Music
That's cool, but what does this have to do with music? Well, when we sing lyrics, we also accent certain words, but the position of the words in the measure has everything to do with which words get accented, and which words don't. Each measure of a song has beats within its measure that are stronger than other beats. For example, in 4/4 time, the first beat of the measure is the strongest, the third beat is the second strongest, the second beat is the third strongest and the fourth beat of the measure is the weakest. Without getting too complicated, all we need to take away from this right now, is that the first beat of the measure is the strongest. So, if we place a word on the first beat of the measure, it'll tend to sound more accented than a beat that is on the second, third or fourth beat.
As songwriters, it's important for us to align the accented words of our lyrical phrases with the accented words in the spoken version of the phrases we choose. Remember that singing is just an exaggerated form of speech, so in order for our lyrics to really resonate with our listeners and sound natural, we need our vocal phrases to have the same sonic shape as the spoken version of our phases.
Applying These Concepts to "These Days" by Foo Fighters
Back to our Foo Fighters song. If you'd like to follow along, please check out the song on YouTube.
At the beginning of the song, the first line we hear lead singer, Dave Grohl, sing is "One of these days." He repeats this phrase a few times throughout the verse in the exact same manner. When he sings this phrase in the verse, it sounds good. It sounds natural. The way we would speak it. "ONE of these DAYS." Why is that? Check it out.... If you count along with the song, you'll notice the words "one" and "days" fall on the first beat of two consecutive measures. So the visual version would look something like this:
BEATS:-------1-------2-------3--------4--------1-------2
LYRICS:------ONE-------------of-these----------DAYS----
Go back and listen to the first line of the song. Notice how the words that should be the strongest in the phrase (based on how we say it), are on beat number one. The result? The phrase resonates with us the way it should. Cool.
As a comparison, let's fast forward to the chorus. Go to about a minute and thirty-five seconds into the song and take another listen to when he sings the same exact lyrical phrase, "One of the days," in the chorus. Go check it out.
Oops! What happened now? Suddenly, the phrase sounds like this: "one of THESE days."
Or, in the song
BEATS:-------3-------4-------1---------2-------3-------4
LYRICS:------One-of----------THESE-days----------------
In the chorus, they've changed up the sonic shape of the phrase. Now the emphasis is on the word "these," which goes against what we're used to hearing in spoken language. That's why something sounds off and not as natural as it did before. The word "these" lands square on beat one (the only word in the phrase that does) and sucks up all the spotlight. But is it supposed to? Let's check our original spoken word version: "ONE of these DAYS." Nope it wasn't supposed to. So THAT'S why something sounds off...or at the very least, different than it did in the verse.
One thing I love about this song as a study of this topic, is that it uses the phrase "One of these days" in both ways, so we can get a side by side comparison within the song. You can clearly hear how the positioning of your words matters when you write your lyrics to music. Do it right, the way Foo Fighters did in the verse, and it sounds natural. Do it not-as-right (this is art after all, and there is technically no "wrong"), the way Foo did in the chorus, and it doesn't sound as natural anymore.
Transferring Music From an iPod to a PC - How It's Done
You may have known that you can easily transfer music from a personal computer into an iPod, but not the other way around. But what if you need to transfer some music from your iPod to your PC? One possible reason is that your computer had crashed and after reformatting the drive, there is no music left on the file.
You can simply copy music from your iPod. Follow these steps:
1. Open the "My Computer" icon in your desktop or select it from the start menu. Then, select "Tools" and click "Folder Options". This will then open an "Advanced setting". Click the "View" tab and look for the "Hidden folder" option. Tick the box corresponding to the "Show hidden files and folder".
2. After setting the folder option, connect your iPod to your PC using a USB cable. Look for the USB drive corresponding to your iPod and open it. Go to the "iPod_control" folder, and then open the "Music" folder. You will notice that there are several songs in different folders, and with scrambled file names. These are the song files that are in your iPod. Although they have scrambled file names, the ID tags and other information are still intact.
3. Create a new folder in your desktop. After doing so, copy all the scattered music files in your iPod and place them inside the folder that you have just created. Copying may take awhile, depending on how many songs you are transferring. You should have all the scrambled songs saved in a single folder after completely copying the scrambled music files.
4. After completely copying all the music files into the new folder, open your iTunes menu. From there, go to "Edit" and then click "Preferences". This will open an option box with several tabs. Click the "Advanced" tab and make sure to tick the box with the option "Keep iTunes media folder organized".
5. The next step is to select "File" from the menu bar, and then click "Add folder to library". Look for the folder where you have stored the copied music files from your iPod. Since you ticked the "Keep iTunes media folder organized" box, iTunes will automatically rename the files and restore the correct information. This process may take some time, depending on the number of songs you have copied.
There you have it. Just follow the above steps and you can now enjoy your iPod music in your PC too.
You can simply copy music from your iPod. Follow these steps:
1. Open the "My Computer" icon in your desktop or select it from the start menu. Then, select "Tools" and click "Folder Options". This will then open an "Advanced setting". Click the "View" tab and look for the "Hidden folder" option. Tick the box corresponding to the "Show hidden files and folder".
2. After setting the folder option, connect your iPod to your PC using a USB cable. Look for the USB drive corresponding to your iPod and open it. Go to the "iPod_control" folder, and then open the "Music" folder. You will notice that there are several songs in different folders, and with scrambled file names. These are the song files that are in your iPod. Although they have scrambled file names, the ID tags and other information are still intact.
3. Create a new folder in your desktop. After doing so, copy all the scattered music files in your iPod and place them inside the folder that you have just created. Copying may take awhile, depending on how many songs you are transferring. You should have all the scrambled songs saved in a single folder after completely copying the scrambled music files.
4. After completely copying all the music files into the new folder, open your iTunes menu. From there, go to "Edit" and then click "Preferences". This will open an option box with several tabs. Click the "Advanced" tab and make sure to tick the box with the option "Keep iTunes media folder organized".
5. The next step is to select "File" from the menu bar, and then click "Add folder to library". Look for the folder where you have stored the copied music files from your iPod. Since you ticked the "Keep iTunes media folder organized" box, iTunes will automatically rename the files and restore the correct information. This process may take some time, depending on the number of songs you have copied.
There you have it. Just follow the above steps and you can now enjoy your iPod music in your PC too.
How to Play Jazz - Tritone Substitution Explained
Tritone Substitution is a form of reharmonization, used often by jazz musicians to spice up their sound when playing old jazz songs from the past.
'Tritone' is a term used to describe the augmented 4th/diminished 5th interval. For example, the interval between C and F# is a tritone.
The tritone interval is found in several types of chord, but it features most prominently in the dominant 7 chord (C dominant 7 is C E G Bb).
The tritone in this chord is found between the major 3rd (E) and the flat 7 (Bb).
Here's the cool part:
E and Bb are also the tritone of another dominant 7 chord, other than C dominant 7. F# dominant 7 also has an E and a Bb in it: F# A#(Bb) C# E. In F# dominant 7, E is the flat 7, and Bb is the major 3rd (correctly spelled A#).
This means that whenever you see a C dominant 7 chord symbol, you can substitute it for an F# dominant 7 instead. In doing this, you keep the important tritone sound, while also creating a new and more sophisticated slant in the harmony.
So every time you see a dominant 7 chord symbol, try substituting it for the dominant 7 chord a tritone away (up or down). E.g. if you see a Bb dominant 7, play E dominant 7. If you see a G# dominant 7, play D dominant 7.
When you apply this to ii-V-I progressions, you will notice that you get a nice chromatic moving bassline (moving by half step downwards). For example, in C major:
The ii chord will be D minor
We can tritone substitute the V7 chord, G dominant 7, becomes Db dominant 7.
The I chord is C major.
Try playing:
D minor 7 (D F A C), Db dominant 7 (Db F Ab Cb), C major 7 (C E G B).
Sounds pretty cool doesn't it!
Sometimes you will have to alter some of the melody notes slightly, to fit with the new chord symbol. Say the original dominant 7 chord was G dominant 7, and the melody note was an A natural. If you substituted the G dominant 7 for the same chord a tritone away, Db dominant 7, then the A natural would become dissonant when played over the new chord. So you would have to alter the A natural, and make it an Ab or maybe a Bb. Whatever sounds good to you.
'Tritone' is a term used to describe the augmented 4th/diminished 5th interval. For example, the interval between C and F# is a tritone.
The tritone interval is found in several types of chord, but it features most prominently in the dominant 7 chord (C dominant 7 is C E G Bb).
The tritone in this chord is found between the major 3rd (E) and the flat 7 (Bb).
Here's the cool part:
E and Bb are also the tritone of another dominant 7 chord, other than C dominant 7. F# dominant 7 also has an E and a Bb in it: F# A#(Bb) C# E. In F# dominant 7, E is the flat 7, and Bb is the major 3rd (correctly spelled A#).
This means that whenever you see a C dominant 7 chord symbol, you can substitute it for an F# dominant 7 instead. In doing this, you keep the important tritone sound, while also creating a new and more sophisticated slant in the harmony.
So every time you see a dominant 7 chord symbol, try substituting it for the dominant 7 chord a tritone away (up or down). E.g. if you see a Bb dominant 7, play E dominant 7. If you see a G# dominant 7, play D dominant 7.
When you apply this to ii-V-I progressions, you will notice that you get a nice chromatic moving bassline (moving by half step downwards). For example, in C major:
The ii chord will be D minor
We can tritone substitute the V7 chord, G dominant 7, becomes Db dominant 7.
The I chord is C major.
Try playing:
D minor 7 (D F A C), Db dominant 7 (Db F Ab Cb), C major 7 (C E G B).
Sounds pretty cool doesn't it!
Sometimes you will have to alter some of the melody notes slightly, to fit with the new chord symbol. Say the original dominant 7 chord was G dominant 7, and the melody note was an A natural. If you substituted the G dominant 7 for the same chord a tritone away, Db dominant 7, then the A natural would become dissonant when played over the new chord. So you would have to alter the A natural, and make it an Ab or maybe a Bb. Whatever sounds good to you.
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