"Forgot About Dre"

[mornview]

Ah, dammit. Sorry about the above; I get "page cannot be displayed" errors so often when visiting this site, yet for some reason it still posts the thread with just a thread title.

Anyways, this was the post:

Sorry to ask another one of these questions as this forum gets flooded with them, but I'd really like to understand the logic behind this beat, and I can't figure out what scale it's using ...

I found this MIDI of Dr Dre's "Forgot About Dre" over at hamienet a while back and it sounds pretty spot on, so I'm pretty sure these are the correct notes ...

Strings: D/G, D/G, D/G, D/G, D#/G, D#/G, D#/G, D#/G

Bass: G, D, A, A#, A, D#, D, G#

Melody: G, A#, D, G, A, A#

So, from that, I can tell that it at least uses:

A-A#-D-D#-G-G#

or

A-Bb-D-Eb-G-Ab

I'm sorry I can't provide the other notes ... since it apparently doesn't use any other notes from whatever scale it's using.

The confusing part to me is that whatever scale it's on must include three 1/2 step intervals, yet I don't know any scales that have more than two 1/2 step intevals (then again, I only know major and minor). I understand musicians occassionally use accidentals, but these notes appear all over the song ...

If anyone could clue me in to what key/scale this song might be using, I'd really appreciate it. Thanks.

 

[JerzHittaz]

I think the song goes from G Minor to Eb Major then back to G minor with a flat 2nd in the bass note. I just listened to the song for a second ,so I might be wrong. Someone please correct me if I made an errors.




www.soundclick.com/jerzhittaz <<<<<<<<<<Check us out and leave feedback on the message board

 

[hakaveli]

Strings: D/G, D/G, D/G, D/G, D#/G, D#/G, D#/G, D#/G

Bass: G, D, A, A#, A, D#, D, G#

Melody: G, A#, D, G, A, A#

So, from that, I can tell that it at least uses:

A-A#-D-D#-G-G#

or

A-Bb-D-Eb-G-Ab

can someone explain how one can use this information to compose the notes? i know which keys are which but what does the information above contain that will aide in composing the beat? can the above be referred to as sort of a music sheet or is it totally different?

 

[UnixMn]

I think the song goes from G Minor to Eb Major then back to G minor with a flat 2nd in the bass note. I just listened to the song for a second ,so I might be wrong. Someone please correct me if I made an errors.

Flat second? You mean minor second? And based off what chord, the G minor?

 

[mornview]

I think the song goes from G Minor to Eb Major then back to G minor with a flat 2nd in the bass note. I just listened to the song for a second ,so I might be wrong. Someone please correct me if I made an errors.




www.soundclick.com/jerzhittaz <<<<<<<<<<Check us out and leave feedback on the message board

Nah man, I checked it out and you're right on about that ... but is it usual for producers to change the key/scale like that in the middle of a song? Because, well, I'm hardly an expert on the matter, but most of the songs I've looked at all the notes are usually located all in the same key (for example, I'm pretty sure all the notes in Jay-Z's "Song Cry" are in the scale of G minor).

haha, I'm just trying to figure out the logic behind this ... Dre's Chronic 2001 style is one I look up to ...

 

[mornview]

can someone explain how one can use this information to compose the notes? i know which keys are which but what does the information above contain that will aide in composing the beat? can the above be referred to as sort of a music sheet or is it totally different?

Nope, I'm pretty sure I said in the original post that it's coming off a MIDI. Of course I could've posted stuff like how long the notes last and stuff, but since I just wanted to know what key the song was in I just posted the notes. If I knew of a free program to create sheet music in I'd gladly post it for ya tho ...

 

[Stranjer]

Nah man, I checked it out and you're right on about that ... but is it usual for producers to change the key/scale like that in the middle of a song? Because, well, I'm hardly an expert on the matter, but most of the songs I've looked at all the notes are usually located all in the same key (for example, I'm pretty sure all the notes in Jay-Z's "Song Cry" are in the scale of G minor).

Many songs in popular culture are in one key. But it is not unusual for a songwriter to compose a song in a couple of keys. Some traditions observe the more keys the better the song. In jazz you may hear 6 keys for one song.
Or even sometimes it is not a key switch at all, just a note (or a couple) that do not fit in that key. No rule that says you must stay in key.

 

[mornview]

Many songs in popular culture are in one key. But it is not unusual for a songwriter to compose a song in a couple of keys. Some traditions observe the more keys the better the song. In jazz you may hear 6 keys for one song.
Or even sometimes it is not a key switch at all, just a note (or a couple) that do not fit in that key. No rule that says you must stay in key.

Thanks. I knew some more complex forms of music change key during the middle of the song, but I was not aware of this in rap (or most recent popular music, actually). Then again, Dre is regarded highly amongst producers, so I guess it's not all that surprising that he of all people would be doing this.

Thanks again everyone, though ... haha, I would've been looking forever if I kept trying to find just one key this song used ...