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Originally posted by crazedonee I was having this debate/argument with someone which he claims that trance music can only be achieved by using only certain chord progressions.

He's wrong. There are no "forbidden" chord progressions in trance.

Of course, lots of producers use simple chords and progressions because they're easier to figure out and even the most musically ignorant person will have an immediate response to them. But there aren't any "rules" about what chord progression a track has to use in order for it to be trance.

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Originally posted by MrJiveBoJingles Of course, lots of producers use simple chords and progressions because they're easier to figure out and even the most musically ignorant person will have an immediate response to them.

By "immediate response" I assume you mean it will sound good to them? As in, you don't have to be a pretentious ass who listens to music for the complexity/scale/chord progession instead of how it sounds to appreciate it? Yeah, that is why people use those chords/progessions. Spot on.

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Last edited by mysticalninja on Aug-27-2007 at 22:08

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Originally posted by mysticalninja By "immediate response" I assume you mean it will sound good to them?

Yeah, basically.

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As in, you don't have to be a pretentious ass who listens to music for the complexity/scale/chord progession instead of how it sounds to appreciate it?

Nope. I'm not talking about Schoenberg or microtones here, or dissonance for the sake of being "avant-garde."

Sometimes young kids don't eat anything other than sugary cereal for breakfast. As they grow older, most of them grow out of eating nothing but sugary cereal because they learn to appreciate other foods as well. But some don't.

Music is like that, too. A piece of music doesn't need to be comprehensible or enjoyable to an average four year old in order to be "authentic," and the fact that one isn't comprehensible to a four year old doesn't necessarily make it "pompous" or "pretentious."

It's funny how readily that idea (that only uneducated, inexperienced appreciation is "real") gets bandied about and taken seriously in discussion of music, whereas people would laugh at anyone who suggested that Shakespeare would have done better had he written like Dr. Seuss.

I hear a lot of the same chord progressions in Trance. There are certain ones that sound good, but they get used too much IMO. It's silly to say that one can only use certain chord progressions for Trance, or any style of music for that fact. I can't even imagine trying to compose using a certain set of chord progressions. You've just limited yourself if you do that, might as well throw creativity and innovation out the window. Not only that, you're tracks are going to sound like everybody else's.

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Minor chords are common, majors for the more uplifting sound, but gets a bit cheesetastic if overused.

I've been playing with sustained2 and sustained4 chords a bit, they seem to integrate well.

5th's work out nicely too

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Originally posted by MERiDiAN5i2 Minor chords are common, majors for the more uplifting sound, but gets a bit cheesetastic if overused.

At least its the best if you combine them...

and i think the overall meaning is.. there are no rules it has to sound good. trust your ear.

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Originally posted by MERiDiAN5i2 Minor chords are common, majors for the more uplifting sound, but gets a bit cheesetastic if overused. I've been playing with sustained2 and sustained4 chords a bit, they seem to integrate well. 5th's work out nicely too

Using suspended chords (i gather that's what you mean by sustained) doesn't make a chord not major or minor. Generally, almost every trance song (and a huge number of songs in popular music, i'd even wager to say most) is making use of major and the parallel minor chords in their progressions. Suspending the third just adds a bit of variance to the progression and is also fairly common.

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gah yes, suspended. i think i've been playing with ADSR envelopes too long tonight. sus2 drops the middle note 2 halftones, sus4 raises the middle note 1 halftone, indeed a nice variance

agreed, go with what sounds the best.

neat little chord/scale viewing utility: http://nfo.net/MFILE/

Some chord progressions are not used in trance. Diminished chords are examples of chords not frequently used, but theres no real reason why not...

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is it allowed to use am am f g? and a horse bassline anymore?!

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Originally posted by MrJiveBoJingles Yeah, basically. Nope. I'm not talking about Schoenberg or microtones here, or dissonance for the sake of being "avant-garde." Sometimes young kids don't eat anything other than sugary cereal for breakfast. As they grow older, most of them grow out of eating nothing but sugary cereal because they learn to appreciate other foods as well. But some don't. Music is like that, too. A piece of music doesn't need to be comprehensible or enjoyable to an average four year old in order to be "authentic," and the fact that one isn't comprehensible to a four year old doesn't necessarily make it "pompous" or "pretentious." It's funny how readily that idea (that only uneducated, inexperienced appreciation is "real") gets bandied about and taken seriously in discussion of music, whereas people would laugh at anyone who suggested that Shakespeare would have done better had he written like Dr. Seuss.

ur analogies are so bad...

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