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GMC Forum _ Uploads _ Chromatic Harmonization?
Posted by: steiner666 Aug 21 2008, 07:33 PM
I wrote a riff months back and recorded it. I armed a second track in Sonar and recorded the part for the second guitar, and accidentally played the riff 3 frets higher than the other guitar was playing it. It actually sounded kinda cool though, so I tried recording it 5 frets higher, which also sounded decently cool. I ended up having the riff played three times, once with the guitar both playing the exact same thing, on the second time the lead guitar scoots up 3 frets, and the third time it goes up 5 frets, all the while the rhythm guitar continues to play in the original key. It created a increasingly chaotic sort of tone, and as the song is about psychosis and the riff itself has a little chromatic descent in the beginning, I found it fitting.
I don't have much musical theory education, and I had no idea what the terminology for this is, but I googled "chromatic harmonization" and some results, most dealing with jazz composition. I play metal, primarily death, but a bit of doom and thrash.
Anyways, I just recently decided to revive the song that the riff is a part of and try to figure out what exactly I want to do with it and then re-record it. Just wondering if anyone has any relevant information or advice as to how to make this sound better? I attached a (very poorly played) recording of the song, the riff in question is the first one. Thanks
Posted by: Andrew Cockburn Aug 21 2008, 07:54 PM
I'd call it fixed harmonies - normally the interval between the 2 notes would vary between minor and major 3rds as you went up and down the scale, but you fixed the relationship by playing the exact same riff, up 3 frets, not just 3 notes up in the scale.
Interestingly for the 5th, at least for the minor/major scales and their variants, the fixed harmony is almost the same as the unfixed one as that relationship does not shift through the scale except for the 7th degree which would be a diminished 5th.
Whatever its called, that is a significant sounding riff, I really enjoyed the effect!
Posted by: steiner666 Aug 21 2008, 07:59 PM
Interestingly for the 5th, at least for the minor/major scales and their variants, the fixed harmony is almost the same as the unfixed one as that relationship does not shift through the scale except for the 7th degree which would be a diminished 5th.
Whatever its called, that is a significant sounding riff, I really enjoyed the effect!
Thank you so much! That's exactly what I wanted to know. I figured that since with power chords and other movable chords like it the notes added to the root and it's octaves are pretty much always in a fixed position that some sort of harmonization could come from it, it'd basically be like playing the chord but spreading the notes across different guitars.
thanks again
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