I finally started studying music. God, it’s not a good start. The hardest thing is the slowest thing I’ve ever done.
Rhythm of 1.
1.1 Rhythm in Cubase
First open cubase and take a look at the piano roll-up window.
However, a closer look reveals that each beat can be divided into four parts. So this is what 1/16 at the top means, each measure is divided into 16 parts, and each cell is a sixteenth note (as we’ll see later).
Shockingly, these 16 squares have their own names:
If 1/16 is changed to 1/8, the 8 cells have new names:
These two distributions are called 16 and 8.
1.2 clap,
A quarter note like this, which has one beat and four beats to each measure, is called a 4/4, and it’s called a beat sign.
1.3 notes.
This is a very general lecture. I didn’t explain what a sixteenth note was, but I’ll do it now. Anyway, as you can see in the picture below, each grid of a 16 minute beat is a 16 minute note, and so on; Notes with the exception of one minute are called whole notes.
When you actually use it, whether it’s 4/4 or whatever it is, you usually use 1/16 grid, because you can draw it long, but you can’t draw it short, it’s that simple.
1.4 Cubase metronome
To turn on the metronome, press C, or the button in the lower right corner.
BPM and beat sign can be set on the left side of metronome.
The commonly used beat signs are 4/4, 6/8, 2/4, 3/4. (If you always forget which is the number of beats above and below, remember 6/8, because there are no diacritics, so it only means 6 beats per measure, so the top is the number of beats per measure, and the bottom is how many diacritics are in a beat.)
1.5 practice 1
Four consecutive sections, marked 1, E, &, a. Then turn on the metronome and play it on a loop, saying 1E & A2e &a… . Then clap your hands every time you draw a note.
1.6 practice 2
Now change to 2 notes, remember to set the speed back first (there is one missing in the picture, there is another &a at the end) :
1.7 practice 3
Change to 3 notes and add 4 notes (4 notes is a combination, after all) :
1.8 rhythm type
The above 15 basic permutations and combinations of the 16 minute beat are the most basic and commonly used rhythms. It’s used in most pop songs.
Among them, bars 5,6,7, 11,12,13, and 15. One of these arrangements, if you fill up the notes, you get something called a rhythmic pattern.
But rhythmic patterns don’t mean anything, they just mean that they have their own name, and 15 rhythmic arrangements are equally important.
1.9 Syncopation exercises
Practice with an octant.
2. The chords
Sound single note, sound together with two notes. Generally used for solo vocals and instrumental music. And more than 3 notes at the same time sound, chord, is generally used to render the atmosphere, etc.
2.1 Three-note chords
2.1.1 The first chord: Major Chord
Major triad:
- Among them, the relationship between the fifth sound and the first sound is good, so the fifth sound is mainly to enhance the sound of the first sound, but no color function
- It is the third note, the third major, that plays an important role in chord color, hence the name “major” chord.
Notice that in English, they don’t name triples into chords
C major chord: If the root is C, the chord is called C major chord. Capital C (C, E, G)
2.1.2 Minor Chord
Minor triad: not hard to imagine, is a combination of minor third and pure fifth.
If the root is C, it’s called C minor triad, labeled Cm (C Eb G).
2.1.3 Diminished Chord
Although, as mentioned earlier, the fifth tone is not primarily used for color. But for the fifth note, you get two chords.
Among them, the minor third plus minus fifth is reduced triad.
With C as the root, it’s called a C minus triad and it’s labeled Cdim (C Eb Gb)
2.1.4 Augumented Chord
A third plus an augmented fifth gives you an augmented triad.
With C as the root, it’s called a c-augmented triad, marked Caug (C E G#)
2.1.5 supplement
Add triad and subtract triad color is more exciting, generally less use.
Besides, there is no third degree plus minus fifth. And a combination of a minor third plus an increased fifth.
2.1.6 Hanging fourth chords
So that’s the third degree and its inflection.
If I change the degree from a third to a pure fourth. So the combination of a pure fourth + a pure fifth is called suspended 4th chord.
Pay attention to English, this time include the number
With C as the root, it’s called a c-hanging chord, marked Csus4 (C, F, G).
2.1.7 Hanging two chords
A combination of a major plus a pure fourth is called suspended 2nd chord.
If the root is C, it’s called a c-hanging chord, marked Csus2 (C, D, G).
2.1.8 added 2
There is no size difference between hanging a second chord and hanging a fourth chord. A neutral feeling.
2.1.9 Triad
All of the chords that I just mentioned are made up of three notes. So it’s also called a triad.
Notice that the three here represents three, not three in the third degree.
It’s actually easier to understand in English, the English triad, it’s called a triad. It’s nice to separate it from major 3rd.
2.2 A chord consisting of four notes
This extra note can be added to the sixth note or to the seventh note.
2.2.1 Seventh Chord
First let’s look at the addition of the seventh note. Notice that seventh chords don’t have seven notes. It’s called the Seventh Chord in English because the seventh chord is made of the triad plus the seventh note.
2.2.1.1 Major seventh degree and subordinate seventh degree
We talked about intervals before. The seventh is called the major seventh, and the lower half is called the minor seventh.
And in the Seventh Chord, the major and minor seventh are combined with the major and minor triads.
The Chinese and English of the picture are not precise, do not need to remember, just look at the marks and piano notes above 
Take C as root and mark them as:
- Cmaj7
- C7
- Cm7
- Cm maj7
2.2.2 Sixth Chord
In the case of the sixth note, there are only major sixth and major triad, minor triad combinations. The former is called a major sixth, the latter a minor sixth.
When C is the root sound, they are marked as:
- Cmaj6
- Cm6
2.3 Special Chords
- It’s a seven-hung fourth chord
- Minor seventh flat fifth chord
- Major seven plus fifth chord
When the root sound is C, they are marked as:
- C7sus4
- Cm7(b5)
- Cmaj7(#5)
A progressive chord in the 2.4 C major scale
An average piece of pop music usually has only one scale.
Take each note of the C major scale as an example to form a seventh chord:
The dominant seventh mentioned in the picture is the minor seventh. The teacher said that the minor seventh in a chord is called the dominant seventh, but I searched and found no such saying
These seven seventh chords are called progressive chords in the C major scale.
3. Harmony
The expression 4536251,1645 is often heard.
Let’s take out the twelve average tones, with 1st as the root, and 6th, 4th, 5th as the root, and play the chords. So this is 1645.
1645 doesn’t specify death, because you decide what chord to play, just the root note:
Therefore, there are special functional spectra of chord progressions.
- The meaning of meter and measure.
1 = C indicates that 1st = C
Of course, even with a functional spectrum, there’s still room for improvement. Because Cmaj7 (C, E, G, B) has to be C1, E1, G1, B1, and you can change pitches like C2, E3, G3, B3.
3.1 Chords in Cubase
I could have drawn it on top, but that’s not standard. Standard practice is to create a new chord track, add chords to it, and then listen for another instrument track, as shown here:
3.2 Rules of harmonic progression
3.2.1 Rule 1: Keep the top close and the bottom thin
First of all, “middle” refers to the most comfortable and warm part of the ear, which is near C3:
Top close, which refers to the notes above the central C (C3), should be as dense as possible so that the inner notes of a chord can’t be inserted, such as the C chord. This is called a close arrangement:
The natural meaning of the lower notes is that they should be as open as possible. (Preferably no more than two octaves)
3.2.2 The second rule: Do not allow all sounds to move in the same direction:
Here’s a counter example:
3.2.3 The third rule: no consecutive ascending or descending pure fifth or octave is allowed.
Here’s a counter example:
3.2.4 Rule number four: Move as smoothly as possible.
For example, to have two chords in common:
3.2.5 Rule 5: Do not repeat notes in the same chord
3.2.6 The sixth rule: The number of notes should be uniform
You can’t have a chord that’s three notes and then the next chord is four notes.
3.3 Chords for other instruments
Once the harmonic framework is established, it’s not just the piano that has to follow this. Other instruments are also played in harmony.
3.4 Slash Chord
Sometimes the functional spectrum is marked with this:
3.4.1 Interpretation of 5/7: Inversion chords
So let’s look at an example. So let’s say 5/7. So let’s first find out if 1 is equal to C, 5 is G. So that’s G, B, D. And then since we have a PI over 7, that means 7 as the lowest note. And 7 is B. So B has to be the lowest. So that’s B, G, B, D.
Did you find any problems?
- Yeah, that’s a violation of rule five, but that’s allowed in slash chords. You can view it as a special case.
Since B happens to be the second note of G chord, it is also known as the first inversion. Similarly, if the D is the bass, it’s called the second inversion.
3.4.2 Interpretation of 4/5: The second interpretation of the slash chord
In addition to being interpreted as an inverted chord, there is a second interpretation of the slash chord. This is the last 4/5 in the figure above. If 1=C, 4 is F, A, C, and 5 is G, but since G is not in GAC, it cannot be called an inversion chord. As for the specific explanation, it will be explained later.
3.5 Practice: Chord progression
Function spectrum:
Chord notation in Cubase (of course, this step is a bit lame because it doesn’t have the function of 11) :
My practice results:
