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Subdivide the 8 beats in unorthodox ways. For example: Coldplay's "Clocks" subdivides 8 beats into a 3-3-2 rhythm. Not exactly groundbreaking, but a bit different from the usual. You can take that idea and run wild with it. Here are some ideas: Re-arrange the more familiar 3-3-2 subdivision into 3-2-3, which is a bit more unusual. 3-5. Play a beat in ...

It actually goes back to the Medieval period when music that was not church music nor followed the church's rules was the devil's music. Madrigals were considered the devil's music because they were mostly about sex. Ending a piece on a minor chord was also forbidden which gave us the Piccardi third (raising the third of the final chord of a piece in a minor ...

Rock music is defined by rhythm, not melody. Rock is in 4/4 time with the heavy beats being 2 and 4. Rock and roll in the '50s has exactly this in common with all of your "sub-genres" that you consider to be "rock" today. It's that simple. I'm constantly amazed at how many people around the world today have essentially only listened to rock music all ...

Listen! Listen to the music what it needs and listen to other drummers playing the same styles and you'll learn a lot. For a rock band, you usually want to keep a strong backbeat on 2 and 4, so you don't have much choice on the snare drum except for adding some ghost notes here and there. Variations on the bass drum and on the hi-hat pattern are possible of ...

The term "Rhythm and Blues" or "R&B" was coined by Jerry Wexler (who went on to be a famous record company executive and producer) when he was working as a journalist at Billboard Magazine, circa 1952. (Wikipedia link). Billboard published a weekly chart displaying their estimates of the relative position of retail sales of single recordings which were ...

We have two legs, and so we tend to like rhythms which 'go into' two. We also tend to like tempos which match things we can do with our legs -- slower than a stroll hardly feels like a rhythm, faster than a sprint and we mentally recalibrate to half-tempo. By the same token, there are lots of actions like scrubbing or sawing that are naturally fall into ...

The only "rock" (as opposed to every other style of music) chord pattern I can think of is the so-called "Texas G" chord: $E.3.$D.0.$G.0.$B.3.$e.3 This is typically played using the thumb on the low-E string and the middle finger playing both the B- and high-E strings. Note that this isn't a typical G chord, which includes the B on the A-string. Instead ...

The first thing that comes to mind is «backmasked» messages (i. e. hidden by the means of recording it backwards) with sinister and supposedly satanic contents: http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_cul5.htm http://www.nauglefest.net/backmask.htm The best example of such message is the classic passage from reversed «Stairway to Heaven»: "All yours, ...

This is really one of the most subjective areas in music, and one that individuals who follow a sub-genre get most militant about. In my opinion, the only real way to do this is by comparison with other songs/bands in a particular genre. There are exceptions, for example Industrial - which has well defined descriptions based around the use of industrial ...

Can one make an objective, quantifiable distinction between Rock-n-roll and Rhythm-n-Blues? Short answer: No. Long Answer: Alan Freed's use of the term rock-n-roll in the 1950s is often considered definitive. He used the term to refer to R&B combos, black vocal groups, saxophonists, black blues singers, and white artists playing in the authentic ...

All I can say is that the more recent the music is, the less scholarly work has been done to study it. This goes along with the timeless principle that "theory follows practice." But music theory is music theory, and yes, you can study any piece of Western pop music and analyze it according to the established principles of Western functional harmony and ...

A strong, steady pulse makes a kind of very stable skeleton for the music. If it's there, you can do other things without completely breaking the style or making the piece incoherent. Compare it to this: Play a strong, continuous low note. You can play almost anything on top of it and the music still seems to be "calm" and rooted in a way. Play a strong, ...

Replying to Michael Thibodeau: I would love to see any reference to non-church music being called the devil's music during the medieval period that cites medieval sources. I've been working on medieval music history for quite some time and never seen any reference to any of this history. The reference to the tritone being the devil's interval can't be traced ...

Overly-broad question that's dangerously close to off-topic, but I have to quote this famous song from a pioneer in Christian rock, Larry Norman (1947-2008). With lyrics. The title quote, "Why should the Devil have all the good music"? has been attributed to none other than Martin Luther(1483-1546) ...

To my ear, the notes sound like they've got a bit of sustain in them, so it might be simpler than you're making it out to be. No hammer-ons, pulloffs, or complicated sweep picking--just finger a concert Eb minor triad (in root inversion) high on the fretboard on the top three strings and do the rest of the work with your right hand. From the recording you ...

I think the answer to this could easily be any rock song using chord progressions in open positions; there are literally thousands of possible examples; though a favourite of mine is 'Sympathy for the Devil' by the 'Rolling Stones' (check out the rest of their catalogue for more examples). Led Zeppelin's work has a lot of open chords, one of the most well ...