I analyzed the chords to 1300 popular songs for patterns. This is what I found.

Post by jschulenklopper » Wed, Jun 13, 2012, 8:52 AM UTC

fennecfoxen wrote: post #32

taylorbuley wrote: post #16

I'd love to build this data into a neural network and see if I can come up with robosongs. It should be quite good at coming up with "What chord should come next?"

So if you open up a book like 'Music Theory for Complete Idiots' there's a section on "Chord progressions" that essentially has what you'd recognize as a state transition table for "what chords will sound good after this chord?" and I'm pretty sure there's a row that looks like [iii => IV, vi]. Coming up with a computerized vocabulary for the elements of coherent large-scale composition structures would be more of an…

Post by twelvechairs » Wed, Jun 13, 2012, 9:54 AM UTC

gruseom wrote: post #166

wheels wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your analysis is overly dismissive of genres that you presumably don't like. Simplistic pop songs aren't a new phenomenon; they were just as present in the 60s as they are now. We just don't listen to them anymore as they haven't stood the test of time. This was abundantly evident last weekend when I went through a stack of about 100 45s from the 60s and early 70s that I inherited. (My father was a radio DJ during th…

We just don't listen to them anymore as they haven't stood the test of time. This was abundantly evident last weekend when I went through a stack of about 100 45s from the 60s and early 70s [...] I'd never heard of 90% of the bands There was a Cambrian explosion of music in that period, and virtually no one ever heard of 90%, probably 99%, of the bands. Countless groups sprang up all over the place and pressed record…

Post by AblyExitNewtons » Wed, Jun 13, 2012, 10:34 AM UTC

fferen wrote: post #150

zopa wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's called a deceptive cadence -- that's the I V vi part. The IV is warmup for the V - I cadence that ends it all. "Deceptive" because vi is one note away from I, but in minor, not major. It's a well-known pattern; sorry the internet let you down.

Perhaps my google-fu was weak back then; searching now I see posts about it on several sites. Ha, there's even a Facebook group called "Stop using the I V vi IV chord progression" ( http://www.facebook.com/pages/Stop-using-the-I-V-vi-IV-chord... ).

Post by gizzlon » Wed, Jun 13, 2012, 11:18 AM UTC

krakensden wrote: post #128

aswanson wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Its incredibly repetitive pop drivel. I wonder if teens have a higher tolerance for repetition than adults. They seem the only demographic with any affinity for this type of stuff.

When you're young, you've heard less music. Which means that things that seem derivative and samey to older people don't to teens. There is also, in general, more tolerance for repetition in dance music than in other genres.

Post by iambrakes » Wed, Jun 13, 2012, 11:38 AM UTC