Help dissecting this song.. Source n' midi inside!

[Grayburg]

I'm trying to steal some of Dj Amuro's moves from AAA, and most of the song is standard fare (G minor with generic chord proggan'), but this section lost me.

Here's a midi of what I wrote down by ear, (even though I don't get how some of it functions)

http://www.quickfilepost.com/download.do?get=1dd7a35ed2fe9a6afd6947db1c91f7b0

So, it has a 1 > 7 > 6# > 6 > 7 progression.. what?

The progression is acting like that 6 chord is the dominant, but that doesn't make any sense. The 7 at the end at least makes sense as a replacement.

I don't know what that 6# chord is doing in there, either. At bar 6, it has that 6#, and the melody is playing an arp forming a minor chord on that 6#, but why is that allowed? It's hitting a major 3rd and major 6th, which shouldn't sound right at all in this G minor key..

Bar 14 and 15 have that 6# playing major 3rd and 6ths again.

Then at the very end (bar 16 and 17), it's clearly playing some sort of scale, but da hell kinda scale is dat supposed to be?

I think it's the scale of F minor (which is this song's G minor's 7th), but didn't it start while it was still on the 6 chord? That should mean it shouldn't sound good, but it still sounds correct, anyway.

I probably made mistakes transcripting, especially likely during the scales (really hard to hear.. lol), so if I just heard something wrong, please let me know.. I'm looking to possibly arrange this as I learn it. ^^

[SenPi]

all I'm going to say is that AAA isn't a real song. DJ Amuro had NO hand in it. It's just A with some stuff added on top by DM Ashura.

[Grayburg]

lol.. Don't worry..

I know AAA is just A + AA, the section in particular I'm interested in is the wild synth melody from A, so.. it's still Amuro's ideas pretty much.

[Skyline Drop]

Uh... Well, long story short, it's chromaticism. It shouldn't sound right, if there were any law that said you have to stick to the key of g minor the whole time, but there really isn't. In this case, it's just a nice sound, and it works because of the fairly regular, downward motion in the bass. Not just any chord would have worked in that situation, but the e-minor (that 6# you're referring to) does because the E in the bass is right below the F in the bass of the previous chord, and right above the Eb in the bass of the next. You can try a number of different chords that have an E in the bass (C/E is a fun one) and they'll work even though none of them belong to the key or serve any definite function harmonically speaking.

I don't really see anything here that would suggest the VI is acting as the dominant. If anything, there's evidence to suggest that the VII is acting as the dominant, since it's what resolves back to the i in this case. One could argue, however, that the song is actually not in g minor, but rather, in Bb Major, and that that VII > i progression at the end of each phrase is actually a V > vi in Bb (aka a deceptive cadence). This argument is kind of sketchy though, because Bb as tonic doesn't appear anywhere in this progression.

Let's see... I'm not gonna try and analyze their scale choices at the end there, because, quite frankly, I can't come up with a better answer than "it sounds good, so it works." Just as a bit of advice, however, I think you're taking the wrong approach to chord-scale relationships. Even though the chord playing is an Eb major, that doesn't necessarily mean you have to use an Eb major scale over it. You have to consider the general mode that the song uses - if we're in the key of g minor, an Eb Major chord actually implies the Lydian mode and not the Ionian (major) mode. All this, of course, is moot, because the scale used at the end isn't Eb Lydian, so if anyone with a bit more knowledge wants to step in and cover that, by all means, go ahead.

[Grayburg]

Ah, nice. Thanks for the info.

So chromatic chords are actually allowed.. Most songs just use the occasional chromatic note in melodies, so I didn't know what to make of that chord until now. very interesting

6th = dominant thing.. I guess I was just thinking of other songs that have a similar kind of progression that have the last quarter of the progression with a 5th and then a 7th to fancy it up, while maintaining the same kind of harmony. I'll amend how I think about that stuff from now on. Guess it's just a normal "7 pretending to be a 5th in a minor key" in this case.

I know what you mean about an Eb major chord in G minor key calling for an Eb Lydian scale, and that major chord != major scale. It'd make perfect sense if it did play a Lydian scale.

Been looking at it more.. the scale starts during the Eb chord, but keeps going as the progression moves into the F chord. Even though it was a major chord in G minor, it's basically left G minor just for those bars to play the F minor scale, which I guess is kind of cool, since it builds tension during the Eb chord, and resolves in the following F (now minor) chord. Then the song goes back to generic chordan' in G minor again. Correct thinking?

Damn, talking with the actual note names is so confusing. Constantly alt tabbing back to FL to check what note I'm even referring to.. lol

don't know how you guys do it

[Nase]

chromaticism is neat. i've used a lot of chord progressions that i found while building around a chromatic line. i can't say that i always understand the function of each chord (ie how western music theory would interpret it), but who cares when it sounds good. if it works and i can use it in future tunes from then on, i'm most happy.

i also think that it's possible to have almost any chord progression make sense with a good melodic counterpart.

just made a short midi for fun, trying to stick to chromatic basslines most of the time. i'm sure there are better pieces out there to analyse, but maybe it can help illustrate the concept.

http://www.mediafire.com/?ynq3wzzgjzz

[Skyline Drop]

That's my one year of AP Music Theory kicking in from senior year of high school. I really ought to take another few classes in theory for the kicks