hey all u guys out there...... i got somethings that aint clear to me as yet...cud somebody help me out with them?? 1. what exactly are chords? its been three months since i started guitar lessons...have learnt some chords and play them pretty well but i just dont get the concept of chords. what exactly are they? why arent two notes played together called a chord. why three or more? what are two notes played together called anyway? and who came up with these chords? 2. there are some 1000+ chords (i think)....how does one make out the chords by just listening to a song? is there a pattern or method by which one can identify them? 3. and vice versa, when you compose a song, how do you allocate chords for the tune youve created.....and how do you know where to place them??? 4. i shudve asked this q right in the beginning. but why o why are there 12 notes in music? is it just a fluke of nature? like colors (we have just seven main ones and the rest lie between 'em)....?? or elements in the periodic table??? or is there some other profound reason behind it? 5. this is the last one for now....it may sound silly but i still wanna ask.... is there a limit to music?? as in, will there ever be a time when man will have created everything possible? considering the fact that all music is just the different permutations and combinations of chords and notes.....will there be an end? (its hypothetical, i know) ...thats it fr now.....id really be grateful if i cud get answers to these.....thanks!
:think: Very thought-provoking questions indeed. Wonder why I never thought about some of these before... :think: But I'll attempt to answer as I can: 1) This has been discussed elsewhere right here on this site. Check under the lessons forum. And yes, two notes played together are chords too. They are called power chords and are made of the root and the 5th. They don't contain the 3rd - the note that distinguishes the majors from the minors, etc. These are played only on electric guitars with distortion. 2) Discussed already on numerous instances. 3) For a given composition, there are only a few chords that go well with it. Usually the principal note of each part of the composition is taken as the root note and one of the many chords with that root note is chosen according to the turn, colour, feeling, sharpness, flatness and many other factors, in the music.... Tricky business. 4) Don't know 'why' there should be only 12 main notes in an octave (for microtones exist too - in Indian music they are called shrutis and hence there are a total of 22 notes in a full octave). These are intricacies of Nature and her work she knows best. But I probably can explain the 'how' behind it... Each successive note in an octave of 12 is greater than its previous one by a factor of 2 raised to 1/12. Hence the frequency of a C# = (frequency of C)*2^(1/12).... This way the frequency of the C in the next octave is exactly 2^[(1/12)*12] = 2 times that of the C an octave lower. But this still doesn't answer your question. 5) Only philosophy can answer this one. I won't discuss that here but I don't agree that music will ever die, although it may decay depending upon the state of culture. And chords do not make music - music *consists of* chords arranged in fitting order. So to express the beauty in nature is the nature of the artistic part of man and it shall remain always so expressive through the guitar or the pen or the chisel or the brush.
here to answer only the 5th one... No. there isnt a limit to music..but it all depends upon urself. u culd limit urself to music and then tht wuld be the end of anything new for u. u culd limit ur idea of music and tht wuld be the end of music for u . otherwise there culdnt be a limit . i agree with the fact tht chords r music. - music is not chords . if ur out to make music of ur own... u will be influenced by some or the other sound of music which inspired u to make music ... but tht does not limit u to making something entirely new. - some in the 19th century on he invention of the first computer once said : "Everything that could be invented has been invented. "... funny . but its true ...ppl. will always prob. think and say tht .. it all depends on ur individual talents and interest and passion.
1. Chords are formed by joining specific notes and playing them together. eg Major chords are formed by playing the 1st, 3rd and 5th notes of a scale together... etc...
5. Is there a limit to music? Yes, music only stretches upto the limit of man's creativity and imagination. And u cannot see music as a sort of permutation of notes and chords... its much more complex than that... Its the expression of the heart and soul of the writer/composer. And so it shouldn't be a cause of worry that we'll run out of music...
4. Most people have trouble mastering over those 12 notes... its a good thing there aren't more... Can u recognize any note just by hearing it... its really not very hard but u'll find it tough at first... Anyway, these 12 notes can form a large no of scales and chords between them... like u urself said, there are over a 1000 chords (maybe not so many... but u get the point)... can u master all of them? I don't think so... only an amazingly talented musician might be able to do that...
