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Introduction/ YYZ

Dylan2712

By Dylan2712,
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ioc

ioc

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I don't remember one for YYZ, but (God, I think it was the late 80's/early 90's) a guitar magazine had an article breaking down La Villa Strangiato. It was pretty in depth (in terms of theory), but I can't remember when or which one it was. I regret losing that damn thing (I was a teen) If you wanted to switch to La Villa and dig for it, I know it's out there...somewhere
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trenken

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Well one thing you should know about Geddy if you are learning bass is he does not actually know music theory. You can find some interviews with him talking about this.

 

He just writes what feels right. I really dont think he sits there thinking he wants to write something in Phyrigian and is not hung up on theory at all. To me this is the best way to write otherwise you start sounding like Dream Theater trying shoehorn everything you can do into every song and everything starts sounding dead, lifeless and too angular.

 

Geddy is self-taught just by jamming in bands, not sitting down in front of books or webpages. To me some of the best musicians of all time know nothing about theory. They are the real artists. The guys that know theory well end up just teaching or in some overly technical band, so dont get too hung up on that stuff. The band that wrote these songs didnt even get hung up on it. Rush writes songs by jamming and putting it all together like a puzzle. Theory is not something they are very concerned with. You can tell by the fluid nature of their song writing.

 

When I first started learning bass I was very concerned about theory, overly analyzing everything and I ended up abandoning it. Best decision I ever made in all the years ive been playing bass. When I write music now I just try to make things sounds cool. That's all I care about.

Edited by trenken
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ioc

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QUOTE (trenken @ Jul 28 2011, 01:49 PM)
Well one thing you should know about Geddy if you are learning bass is he does not actually know music theory. You can find some interviews with him talking about this.

He just writes what feels right. I really dont think he sits there thinking he wants to write something in Phyrigian and is not hung up on theory at all. To me this is the best way to write otherwise you start sounding like Dream Theater trying shoehorn everything you can do into every song and everything starts sounding dead, lifeless and too angular.

Geddy is self-taught just by jamming in bands, not sitting down in front of books or webpages. To me some of the best musicians of all time know nothing about theory. They are the real artists. The guys that know theory well end up just teaching or in some overly technical band, so dont get too hung up on that stuff. The band that wrote these songs didnt even get hung up on it. Rush writes songs by jamming and putting it all together like a puzzle. Theory is not something they are very concerned with. You can tell by the fluid nature of their song writing.

When I first started learning bass I was very concerned about theory, overly analyzing everything and I ended up abandoning it. Best decision I ever made in all the years ive been playing bass. When I write music now I just try to make things sounds cool. That's all I care about.

That's the beautiful thing about theory. So much of what we intuitively create spontaneously often fits in one of the western modes (almost impossible not to). Some aspects of music theory is identified by observed emotional effect. So, just because none of the guys relied on, or were even aware of, how what they wrote fit into theoretical constructs, it often does (I can't say "always" does because I haven't worked all their songs out that way...but I bet they all do)

 

That said, I can see the benefit of studying it through those lenses...not so much as a way to learn to write but as a way to get a handle on the mechanics of music. I agree that writing in that way can lead to "color by numbers" songs, which often sound stiff, forced and boring after a while. Although the masters (speaking of classical music here) wrote exactly that way. I don't find their creative genius stiff, forced or boring. So maybe there just haven't been any rock composers that have mastered that method of writing...yet.

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Dylan2712

Dylan2712

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QUOTE (trenken @ Jul 28 2011, 01:49 PM)
Well one thing you should know about Geddy if you are learning bass is he does not actually know music theory. You can find some interviews with him talking about this.

Oh totally. the first 1.5 years of me learning to play Bass was in a band and in that time, i grasped the very basic concepts of playing. since i've moved to go to school, i had to quit the band, and i filled my spare time with building on my techniques to play more fluently (also, more like Geddy).

 

The theory part of my post was related to my university class. we are learning various theory aspects of music, and i wanted to show a video that demonstrates how songs (YYZ) can incorporate these topics into them. thats pretty much it.

 

and i agree with the part about writing songs without worrying too much about theory. no one needs another song with an A-F-G-C chord progression. tongue.gif

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HowItIs

HowItIs

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http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd103/laserspray/internet%20stuff/smilies/aloha.gif

 

Welcome to TRF!

 

I'm just learning about music theory, too - and just FYI, I'm a bit older than you so you're doing well to start now. I know that the Boys write like trenken said... just what sounds good. But I think ioc is correct in saying that they usually end up fitting into constructs. I'm finding out just how very talented they are as I'm trying to learn to play guitar. Alex is fond of suspended chords and throwing odd ones in here and there. In fact, I often think he's just making new ones up! biggrin.gif

 

I'm not entirely sure about YYZ, but my Hubby is pretty well-versed in music theory. I'll point him at your post. He should have a few words about it.

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trenken

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QUOTE (Dylan2712 @ Jul 28 2011, 10:10 PM)
QUOTE (trenken @ Jul 28 2011, 01:49 PM)
Well one thing you should know about Geddy if you are learning bass is he does not actually know music theory. You can find some interviews with him talking about this.

Oh totally. the first 1.5 years of me learning to play Bass was in a band and in that time, i grasped the very basic concepts of playing. since i've moved to go to school, i had to quit the band, and i filled my spare time with building on my techniques to play more fluently (also, more like Geddy).

 

The theory part of my post was related to my university class. we are learning various theory aspects of music, and i wanted to show a video that demonstrates how songs (YYZ) can incorporate these topics into them. thats pretty much it.

 

and i agree with the part about writing songs without worrying too much about theory. no one needs another song with an A-F-G-C chord progression. tongue.gif

You're absolutely right. As someone else pointed out, even if they arent aware of the deeper aspects of theory, naturally the things that they write will fall into it.

 

I was kinda drunk when I posted that, lol. Basically what I was trying to say is that of course theory is great to learn, it can only make you better and it's nice to understand how everything works together in a technical sense, but knowing it isnt the key to writing great songs or even becoming a great musician. So to pick apart Rush songs this way is kind of senseless. but if its for a class then that makes sense, I think I missed that part of your post.

 

I specifically remember very old interviews with Geddy and Alex talking about theory. Neither of them are very familiar with it, or at least werent at the time which I think was in the 80s. Taking Alex as a great example, look at the difference between him and Joe Satriani. Joe is a theory nut, and is a MUCH better technical player than Alex is, but I think most here would say they like Alex more because his playing just has more emotion and life in it. I think this is because he didnt learn guitar by the books. He learned it by jamming in bands. He learned enough basic scaleschords and how notes worked together, and that was all he ever needed to write every great Rush song.

Edited by trenken
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trenken

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QUOTE (Dylan2712 @ Aug 3 2011, 12:02 AM)
Hey guys so here is the info video i made of YYZ(ed) i hope i got most of the info, if there's something that seems wrong, let me know and i can totally fix it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgNaPAxYrt4

That text is scrolling too fast. Not enough time to read some of it unless I pause which is a little annoying.

 

The boys would crack of up if they saw this though. Ill bet their response would be, "Wow, I didnt know some of this info". So you might officially know more about one of their songs than they do! biggrin.gif

Edited by trenken
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Dylan2712

Dylan2712

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QUOTE (trenken @ Aug 3 2011, 09:50 AM)
QUOTE (Dylan2712 @ Aug 3 2011, 12:02 AM)
Hey guys so here is the info video i made of YYZ(ed) i hope i got most of the info, if there's something that seems wrong, let me know and i can totally fix it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgNaPAxYrt4

That text is scrolling too fast. Not enough time to read some of it unless I pause which is a little annoying.

 

The boys would crack of up if they saw this though. Ill bet their response would be, "Wow, I didnt know some of this info". So you might officially know more about one of their songs than they do! biggrin.gif

i know it scrolls too fast, but i wanted to keep the info that you're reading to be relevant to that part of the song that you'd be listening to.

 

it definitely didn't seem that fast when i was making it, maybe i was too hoped up on caffiene trink36.gif

 

haha, oh well.

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