Interesting Chords - Ben Levin
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- čas přidán 30. 10. 2017
- A method for quickly writing interesting chord progressions, plus an example of further development.
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You can hear my music here:
www.BenLevinGroup.BandCamp.com
www.BentKnee.BandCamp.com - Krátké a kreslené filmy
"Sometimes cleverness will just getchya killed" Bens the man
I couldn't resist. I had to use that line: soundcloud.com/schwa_iska/ben-levins-clever-chords-will-you-get-you-killed
^Made with Ben's permission
Honestly i related to that so much. Sometimes trying to be too “aha! Bet you didn’t expect this” just junks up a song so bad I bail on it. But...SOMETIMES...it’s great.
"you might get something that sounds bad like..." plays some dope spread voicings
I dig your world man
Glad to be in yours :)
Not Right Music exactly! He‘s so relatable
"Am I gonna try to be clever or am I just gonna go with the flow? Sometimes cleverness will just get ya killed" Ben on his taoist shit, I dig it
"id ont know, everything sounds good to me today" I know right? As a musician, you get at that point of life where you just understand and appreciate everything
peter wurst i think I have these days too. Some days everything sound nice and musical and other days everything I wrote sound like crap doesn't matter how hard I try do compose.
The day I realised that even the ugliest sounding chords can be made to sound beautiful was one of the most important musical points of my life.
although admittedly he was playing a lot of pretty consonant stuff in my opinion
Sounds like hot trash to me
J the only thing that makes a note or chord wrong, is what comes before it and what goes after it.
If you can take it to a resolution, it’s all good!
You're teaching me how to be creative again, instead of relying on music theory :D
i hope you scheduled the doctor and got your plane tickets ben
I still haven't done those things :(
Oh my gosh, I definitely thought that was a calendar appointment I had given myself but I had no idea why...
4:43- "Any of this stuff could work, depending on how we arrange it." - Fact. That is all.
I'm glad I'm not the only one that records myself singing gibberish to make up vocal melodies! Then I write the lyrics later. The random rhythm of the gibberish usually inspires the lyrics.
Chris Edwards
Absophukkinlutely!! Of course whatever works for the individual. I most often, though not every instance, will gibberish to assist an enticing melody line. There are times where a lyrical line already sparks and prompts me to build upon that with already a melodic influence is there.
GIBBERISH=GOOD!!
LOL!
It's a tried and true method. Sia does it!
Haha that's how she ends up with such uninspired lyrics. She is no poet
i actually learned how to sing by just humming chord progressions while im playing guitar, i still suck at singing but im getting better at the actual techniques used to sing, i can hum something while playing and itll sound pretty good, but once i start trying to sing actual lyrics it gets nasally and sounds like a cat dying.
That's how Steve Vai wrote "For The Love Of God"
I love your none-standardized approach to music! As Stokowski (1882 - 1977) would instruct his orchestra, "Each one of you must be a poet as well as a great player of your instrument, and through your poetic feeling, you can express every kind of music. Do not permit yourselves to become, as is the tendency in the world today, standardized, so that you all think and feel the same way. Do not be alike. Be different as you really are in nature. No two violins are alike. No two bows are alike. No two hands are alike. No two nervous systems are alike. No two minds are alike. No two emotional characters are alike. You are all different. Be different! Don’t standardize yourself. And put all those differences, all that richness of different coloring of personality into the music." This is what I appreciate about your musicianship.
(I would add, know that we are the Sameness expressed as infinite differences and let that be the muse of our creations.)
Ben managed to writ in like 45 seconds what is quite possibly my favorite melody/vocal line of all time.
The relationship you have with music is enviable. Love the very down to earth and mellowness of your approach.
Love how you give us this close look on your process.
Love your approaches Ben. You've influenced me a lot in my own writing. Thank you
This has me subbed. If the rest of your content is half as groovy as this, you've got a fan for life
Youre so relatable! „Be clever or go with the flow?“ this is so me.
I love that you're so transparent about your process.
7:34 Take that adam neely xD xD
Ben you are a solid and beautiful musician with all the bases covered
Bro. I doreally love your mindset with music, you have a veeery nice touch. When I say that music nowadays is very advanced and we should experiment with it a lot more, I think a lot of you because Iknow that you understand what it means, music is just bunch of infinite possibilities and im glad that people like you is just nailing it! cheers from Venezuela, pal
With the percussion, it reminded me of Kaada/Patton's stuff!
I seriously love your videos, Ben! I'm inspired to try and stasrt learning music theory, and these videos have been a magnetic north to head for. Keep up the great work!
I like your way of doing that kind of things. Not thibking too Much, just throwin ideas, without worrying too write the perfect chord progression.
Yeah, the thinking comes in, but not until I'm on a roll.
very interesting. Fascinating watching the creative process at work
Watching your process is always interesting and helpful for me.
Excellent, thanks for telling me!
That second chord and its accompaniment are freaking awesome! Cmaj Cmin stuff!
I haven't slept in about a day. I dozed off while watching and Ben's singing scared me half to death
Fantastic idea and very inspirational.
man that video is gold, i really like composing this way
this is actually almost exactly how i do it already, that's really cool
liquid prozac i
i looooove this progression
love this. love you ben
Yes, dude. This is what I needed. Thank you
I love watching you write cause it’s very similar to how I write and I was able to predict the direction you was going. Except the drum line. You got me there lol
I like the nonidiom he made up just like that. Very freeing! Thank you.
Thanks Ben!
Fantastic. Inspiring.
"Cmajor and Cminor world" how can you not dig that
what did he mean by that?
@@caronava2629 The chord has both the major and minor 3rd of C in it depending on how you analyze it (E and Eb).
The chord has a chromatic cluster in it aside from not being voiced as such (D-Eb-E-F), so I don't think conventional analysis will be of much use.
I'd like to think of it as a #9 chord (E natural and D#), but there's already a D natural as well so uh-oh. Not to mention voicing a #9 with the #9 in the bass makes it sound as though that same bass note is actually the tonic - that is, if you voice a C7#9 chord well and then play the same upper part over the "Eb" (D# when regarded from C7#9's point of view), then it sounds a lot like an Eb7b9 (the "E natural" functioning as an Fb). Things get weird.
looove the vibe of this song
Thanks!
What a bass.
The 1st chord reminds me of that little thing from the ps1 startup screen.
Nice, I hope that brings back good memories.
What is that gamelan sounding patch? Holy cow!
great video as always, ben!
Thank you Pedro!
I'm a really sad person and this makes me happy. Hope you feel good about that. THanks.
Amazing method. Love your content.
Than you!
Ben Levin wow, you're also very humble! Thank you for replying!
Dawg the minute you started singing WTF . It was GAME OVER. HOW are you so fucking good.
Love watching the right brain at work. Letting go of conscious control from the left and jumping in. That's where I find my favourite chordal voicings on the guitar when I'm searching for a new song. Have you read the book 'Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain'?
continue this song it sounds so good
Ben, you’re so mellow... Brutal... 🤘
Very interesting - nice work.
Great video!
So so cool, thanks for sharing
You're welcome!
Writing with a plan was a great series, but I'm definitely happy that we're back to your usual content for a change. Cool and inspiring video, I should try this out on my keyboard as well. But what exactly did you use for percussion?
Yeah, I'm glad to be back too. The thing about Let's Write is that it can take an unlimited amount of time for me to actually finish the piece, so it ends up being an epically long series. It's probably the most useful thing I do on this channel though because I'm not aware of anyone else doing it. Anyway, thanks for watching! I used Battery 3 small percussion kit for the sounds on this one.
that was really interesting, great trigger for ideas. thanks!
Excellent, may you write and be happy!
HE'S BACK
I never left you pal!
This is has something special. Did that musical idea make it to an album? I like the feel of it, and the instrumentation works too, especially the initial keyboard part, vocal and sax. It has depth.
Great channel, subbed!
Awsome stuff
This is sick. Also the way you memorize each chord for going from the piano to the text document is something I do a lot, even the inflections are similar.
Interesting idea. Another idea. Put the numbers 1-88 into a random list generator. (1-88 referring to the keys on a piano) use the first 5 numbers to make a chord (could be any number just arbitrarily going with 5). Keep regenerating lists and making the first 5 numbers of each list a chord. So if you did the list say ten times you would have ten 5 note chords. Solves the problem of hand shape and hand size determining the chord you pick. You could do any amount of numbers depending on the register you
Want to use. Could be 20-50 if you wanted. Register could change between chords. Your video gave me this idea.
List could just be 0-11 and you could decide yourself what octave each note should be in.
With 0-11 there's more potential for smooth voice leading I think if you want voiceleading.
this is great
The second chord sounds a good bit like Pelog from gamelan music, expecially since the music box sort of sound you're using sounds like a saron. I really like where this is going!
sweet concept
seems like everyone has an artist this reminds them of. i thought it was very evocative of Arca's self titled LP, with maybe a bit of a James Blake structure to it. that chord construction method is basically how i would always improvise on the piano, since my training with it stopped so young and i never could really do much more than that.
The middle 'mushy' one at 2:56 was awesome
That's really funny, I've been wokring in a similar way for a bit now. Love your stuff man :)
Cool! It's a lot of fun!
I'm pretty sure that 7 chord you're having a problem with is the #9. Good stuff. By the way
Have you heard Dhafer Youseff? He's an awesome Jazz oud player/singer. The chords and vocals reminded me of him.
Very cool, I love this kind of creative stuff. Can't say I much cared for the vocal part, but it's not done. But overall, this is an awesome way to kick start a song. BTW, Ben, you're in NYC right? Hope you and your friends are keeping safe with the stuff going on there today.
Really cool singing!
so damn good
Interesting ways to approach chord progressions! Gotta try this out sometime.
I have a question: how do you process your vocals? I don't know, might be the timbre of your voice but damn the vocal take sounds amazing on this one!
I have been practicing singing a ton, so that helps. I'm using a good deal of reverb and am enhancing the stereo image using a preset in Phasemistress called Stereoizer 3. Microshift can do the same thing.
A lesson on singing would be amazing Ben. Whatever it is that you been practicing, it's working fantastic!! Please share it with us.
Ben Levin Thank you!
Finally, someone who speaks my language.
Cheers dude
That sounded like it could have turned into a trap beat for some reason. That light snare roll thing I think was part of it, the use of ascending arpeggios, and the sparseness/the gap between the very low end and high end of the frequency spectrum. It was fun to think about even if that wasn't where it was going. Very cool chords.
Thanks! Feel free to sample the audio and make your trap beat come to life if you'd like.
Yooooo... I might have to now :)
Just pledged on your Patreon :)
Thank you so much! I messaged you on Patreon about something, you rule!
The trap remix happened. Check my reply on Patreon.
Didn’t know Ben played sax, pretty cool
Must make a full track out of that !
embrace failure shirt in background. as in lets paint tv?! as in john Kilduff?! Fuck yeah mate!!!!
Yeah! Let's Paint TV is awesome!
First chord is a C-11. Chord scale is C Dorian.
Second chord is a D- (omit 5) over Cmaj (omit 5) with a pedal Eb. [a hybrid polychord]. E Phrygian with a Eb pedal.
Third chord is a Gsus4 (b9). Chord scale is the 4th mode of the Pentatonic with a b9 (it's a real Japanese feel)
Forth chord is a Bbmaj over Abmaj (omit 5). [a polychord] Chord scale is Ab Mixolydian.
Other chord scales are available, but those are my picks.
Huh, I was viewing the third chord as some sort of Ab maj/lydian tonality
That's very impressive and musical. Nice one, Dr. Levin. I've got a question: I know that this approach focuses on spontaneous conceptualization, but is there anything that we should / had better avoid? Thanks
When you come to Oregon for your next big tour my family and I will be buying tickets.
Great video! Like the kinda playful way of composing
By the way, the first two chords remind me a lot of Noctambulist by matryoshka, haha
I might be weird but I actually liked the chromatic thing going under the 2nd chord better than what you rolled with in the end. But it's cool either way, I should try this method if I ever get my hands on a keyboard-based instrument.
You're the best
:) thanks Jacky!
This reminded me of a music from Nomade Orquestra, called Venus.. don't know exactly why ..
Pretty cool btw!!
Nice!
Thanks!
Super cool! I'm doin' it!
Do it!!
i CANNOT believe you just invented arca
This is where I usually leave it. I say "alright, that's a start, I'll continue tomorrow", and that never happens again. 😂
Super cool ideas! You should absolutely check out Inna Zhelannaya. She has a similar vibe in some of her songs. You would like it.
Let me know if you end up liking her stuff. It completely opened a new world of sound for me.
I watched this at double speed and that was a good decision on my part.
you need to schedule doctor and get plane tickets in 30 min dont forget
Thank u for making the comment section worth my time
How do you like using REAPER? I've been using for the last 10 years and I love it. Also, do I hear the Keyscape saucer bell??
I was so hoping you were going to double or triple that saxophone part and make it nice harmony or cord with the sax sound. Might I suggest that for a future project?
Björk is that you?
Man the chords were iffy until the baseline kicked in. I was like aww yea and the vocals move it along. The percussion were icing on the cake
This is really inspiring! Thanks a lot! Also, what is that Reaper skin called? I like the look.
This is tasty. Nice vocal, and the sax sounds amazing in the final arrangement. What is the instrument you chose for the chord part? Xylophone family I guess?
Hey Ben I know your music theory is pretty advanced. So as someone just beginning, how do I figure out what the chord names are that I find using unconventional methods like the one you showcase in this video, and then how do I figure out what key/mode/whatever they are in? Thanks for the great content, heaps love.
dope idea
I like this video
Great stuff! Thank you!
PS: schedule doctor, get plane tickets in 30 mins
;)
i really hope this wonderful man scheduled his doctors appointment and got those plane tickets.