aslaton1
New member
Post I found from another site.
Though melodically and harmonically speaking, hip hop can take on any "identity," (meaning you can sample anything from pink floyd to kenny G and it can still turn out hiphoppity), there are certain chord progression, built from certain scales, that do sound more hip hop.
I'll give you three, starting with my preferred one.
1) Remember that real hip hop originated from the use of rare grooves, which, could have been from any genre, but mostly were from soul, funk, and disco. of course, these three all descend from THE BLUES.
Marol...always remember these two things: a) all african-american music is rooted in the blues. b) hip-hop is an african american music form. = hip hoop is rooted in the blues.
You can search for info on blues progression, but here is the skinny: the blues scale is I, bIII, IV, bV, V, bVII, I. In the key of C, that is:
C, Eb, F, Gb, G, Bb, C
Do yourself a favor: is you only learn how to play one scale well, learn this one. It will open up worlds of funk for you. How do you play it? Simply alternate between your thumb and your middle finger. like this:
C (with your thumb), Eb (with your middle finger), F (with your thumb) etc until you get back to C. Get in front of a keyboard and try it, and see the funk emerge (try it with a piano patch and a rhodes).
Ok, but what about chords? Bad news and good news. The bad news is that blues is "chromatic," which means the chords are not "built" from the notes C, Eb, F, Gb, G, Bb, C. The good news is that most blues progressions are built from only three chords.
What are those three chords?
Cminor = C, Eb, G
(furthermore, in blues, you can always throw in a 7th if you're feeling saucy. makes it sound more "down home." That would make it:
C, Eb, G, Bb)
Fminor = F, Ab, C (optional = Eb)
(notice that "Ab" is not in the blues scale. But its like an "honorary member," so its okay. The ear "expects" it.)
Gminor = G, Bb, D (optional = F)
(notice the D is not in the blues scale. See, i told you the blues was chromatic. This is because it is believed this scale comes from africa, and does not follow the rules of western music. Its black, brother.)
Only three chords? That's it?!?
That it. Well, okay okay okay. I'll give you two "in between" chords you can throw in between the chords I've given you for transitional effect:
Cdim = C, Eb, Gb (optional A, which would turn it into Cdim7)
Gdim = G, Bb, Db, (optional E, which would turn it into Gdim7)
Play around with progressions of these puppies, and see if you don't end up with something funky.
2) Minor scale (aeolian mode) - without getting into a whole discussion of modes (wiki it, if you want), just learn the aeolian mode. The easiest one to learn is in the key of A:
A, B, C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C
It is easy because it is merely the white keys of the piano.
Okay what chords can you make with this?
Well, some very sad ones. which is good, if you like deep dark sad beats. here are three chords formed from this scale
Aminor = A, C, E
Dminor = D, F, A
Eminor = E, G, B
play with those and see what you find. The aeolian mode is little too sad and "depressed white dude" for my tastes, but run with it.
3) The Byzantine, or Arabic, Scale - props goes to Timbaland for importing this to the hip hop world; now everyone uses it. here's the scale:
C, Db, E, F, G, Ab, B, C
Play with this a little while, see if some snake doesn't crawl out of a basket nearby.
Here's the bad news: I have yet to form chords from this scale. Since it doesn't move in normal western intervals (major and minor thirds) I don't know harmony works in it.
Though melodically and harmonically speaking, hip hop can take on any "identity," (meaning you can sample anything from pink floyd to kenny G and it can still turn out hiphoppity), there are certain chord progression, built from certain scales, that do sound more hip hop.
I'll give you three, starting with my preferred one.
1) Remember that real hip hop originated from the use of rare grooves, which, could have been from any genre, but mostly were from soul, funk, and disco. of course, these three all descend from THE BLUES.
Marol...always remember these two things: a) all african-american music is rooted in the blues. b) hip-hop is an african american music form. = hip hoop is rooted in the blues.
You can search for info on blues progression, but here is the skinny: the blues scale is I, bIII, IV, bV, V, bVII, I. In the key of C, that is:
C, Eb, F, Gb, G, Bb, C
Do yourself a favor: is you only learn how to play one scale well, learn this one. It will open up worlds of funk for you. How do you play it? Simply alternate between your thumb and your middle finger. like this:
C (with your thumb), Eb (with your middle finger), F (with your thumb) etc until you get back to C. Get in front of a keyboard and try it, and see the funk emerge (try it with a piano patch and a rhodes).
Ok, but what about chords? Bad news and good news. The bad news is that blues is "chromatic," which means the chords are not "built" from the notes C, Eb, F, Gb, G, Bb, C. The good news is that most blues progressions are built from only three chords.
What are those three chords?
Cminor = C, Eb, G
(furthermore, in blues, you can always throw in a 7th if you're feeling saucy. makes it sound more "down home." That would make it:
C, Eb, G, Bb)
Fminor = F, Ab, C (optional = Eb)
(notice that "Ab" is not in the blues scale. But its like an "honorary member," so its okay. The ear "expects" it.)
Gminor = G, Bb, D (optional = F)
(notice the D is not in the blues scale. See, i told you the blues was chromatic. This is because it is believed this scale comes from africa, and does not follow the rules of western music. Its black, brother.)
Only three chords? That's it?!?
That it. Well, okay okay okay. I'll give you two "in between" chords you can throw in between the chords I've given you for transitional effect:
Cdim = C, Eb, Gb (optional A, which would turn it into Cdim7)
Gdim = G, Bb, Db, (optional E, which would turn it into Gdim7)
Play around with progressions of these puppies, and see if you don't end up with something funky.
2) Minor scale (aeolian mode) - without getting into a whole discussion of modes (wiki it, if you want), just learn the aeolian mode. The easiest one to learn is in the key of A:
A, B, C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C
It is easy because it is merely the white keys of the piano.
Okay what chords can you make with this?
Well, some very sad ones. which is good, if you like deep dark sad beats. here are three chords formed from this scale
Aminor = A, C, E
Dminor = D, F, A
Eminor = E, G, B
play with those and see what you find. The aeolian mode is little too sad and "depressed white dude" for my tastes, but run with it.
3) The Byzantine, or Arabic, Scale - props goes to Timbaland for importing this to the hip hop world; now everyone uses it. here's the scale:
C, Db, E, F, G, Ab, B, C
Play with this a little while, see if some snake doesn't crawl out of a basket nearby.
Here's the bad news: I have yet to form chords from this scale. Since it doesn't move in normal western intervals (major and minor thirds) I don't know harmony works in it.
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