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GMC Forum _ THEORY _ Japanese Music Theory
Posted by: Adam Dec 27 2022, 12:59 AM
Hello, long time since I've been around!
Life has been keeping me busy and I wasn't able to play guitar for a longer while but I never gave up on music. I got interested and inspired by Marty Friedman's playing style and his musical choices and I tried catching up on as much interviews and stuff like that as possible and at some point he said something like "you just need to stay in touch with Japanese music and let it soak in to really adapt their harmony. you need to listen to and play folk music and start learning the patterns they have in common."
Music is something you learn all your life, i know. There's probably not much of a shortcut you can take to learn Japanese musical tendencies over the Western harmony that is overflowing with media and people you can learn from.
I came across a certain series on Amazon, Japanese Music Harmony by Kayano Chino and since I'm neither a Kindle nor Amazon user, I'm really hesitant to give it a try (especially since it feels pricey for not so many pages these contain). I was wondering if anyone at GMC has had contact with any of these books and could give me an honest opinion as to, if it's worth the money or not.
I'm hoping I will be able to get back to GMC and be a regular visitor again!
Posted by: Kristofer Dahl Dec 28 2022, 05:43 PM
Though a big Marty fan - I haven't taken any steps towards understand Japanese music theory in general.
However, I still explore the possibilities of this simple 5 note 'Marty/Japanese' scale:
http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/scalegenerator
If you play it over E minor or an E Phrygian progression - it sound metal!
If you play the same scale position over F Major - it sounds lydian and amazingly beautiful.
...and that's as far as I have gotten. But 100% sure you can squeeze more modes, chords and riffs from it.
---
Not sure how much it answers your initial question, but hopefully it can be useful to some people!
Posted by: Todd Simpson Jan 2 2023, 04:43 AM
Good to see ya bud!!! The good news is that music theory is music theory. Japanese music and it's roots are very different than "western" music of course. So it's mainly a cultural/historical difference. Here is Marty talking about it.
He's an amazing player whose questionable technique has not held him back from being a great player.
Todd
Life has been keeping me busy and I wasn't able to play guitar for a longer while but I never gave up on music. I got interested and inspired by Marty Friedman's playing style and his musical choices and I tried catching up on as much interviews and stuff like that as possible and at some point he said something like "you just need to stay in touch with Japanese music and let it soak in to really adapt their harmony. you need to listen to and play folk music and start learning the patterns they have in common."
Music is something you learn all your life, i know. There's probably not much of a shortcut you can take to learn Japanese musical tendencies over the Western harmony that is overflowing with media and people you can learn from.
I came across a certain series on Amazon, Japanese Music Harmony by Kayano Chino and since I'm neither a Kindle nor Amazon user, I'm really hesitant to give it a try (especially since it feels pricey for not so many pages these contain). I was wondering if anyone at GMC has had contact with any of these books and could give me an honest opinion as to, if it's worth the money or not.
I'm hoping I will be able to get back to GMC and be a regular visitor again!
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