Transpose from Am to A

[stringtapper]

Yeah, disastrous advice there. I don't want to shit on anyone's livelihood here but there comes a point when supposed information becomes disinformation.

This terminology of "moving down three" or "moving to the left" as others quipped about is just plain lazy thinking when it comes to music and how it works.

First of all to say that transposing "down three" from A minor will give you A major is just plain false. Down three what? Half steps I assume, but if you transpose A minor down three half steps all you get is F# minor, which, as we already addressed in this thread, is not really the same as playing in A major even though the key signatures are the same.

Folks we need to have a clear understanding of how key signatures work but also how tonal centers work. Just because C major and A minor have the same notes in their key signatures doesn't make them the same tonality. One is based around C, the other is based around A. Knowing the key signatures (i.e. notes in the scale) is not the end of story!

Most pieces of music will be based around a central tone and that tone acts as the home base. It doesn't matter whether the overall key is minor or major or even some modal variant, there is always going to be some central tone that the music revolves around. It might be A or it might be F# but it will rarely be both unless the music modulates or there's some kind of atonal action going on.

If anybody has any questions just post them.

[sporkles]

Two things that strike me here:

1) stringtapper keeps referring to the OP (djtom2000) as "adonis"; is there anything the rest of us should know?
2) What you guys are probably overlooking here, is that djtom2000 in all likelyhood is working with samples (bassline-am.wav, hook-am.wav, accapella-a.wav, or somesuch), not MIDI, so the best piece of advice is to go learn what the difference between major and minor actually entails, and why you can't "transpose" from a minor to a major (at least not with an audio sample). I believe The Raven's Spiral Guide to Music Theory has been recommended a lot in the past; it offers a pretty relaxed and off-beat approach to music theory.

[ian_halsall]

Move the cs to c# and the fs to f#.

If it's audio you need to split it into 16ths or higher and transpose the samples.

If the audio contains chords it most likely won't work or will sound utterly grim.

Good luck!

[bicarbone]

Well, you can shift your bass line and stabs 3 semitones down (i.e to the left) and then your song will be in F# minor. That should sort of work in theory, because F# minor is the minor relative scale to the A major scale. Anyway, listen and see if you like it.

for some reason describing the relative minor as 'to the left' is funny and quite punk rock. I can fully imagine standing in a rehearsal room shouting at a bassist to "go left you bastard! No! More left!"
Spinal tap moment.

Haha, very punk indeed! I was just using the same words as OP's so he doesn't get confused. Op was probably referring to the transpose knob in live's clip view.

[madlab]

Well, you can shift your bass line and stabs 3 semitones down (i.e to the left) and then your song will be in F# minor. That should sort of work in theory, because F# minor is the minor relative scale to the A major scale. Anyway, listen and see if you like it.

for some reason describing the relative minor as 'to the left' is funny and quite punk rock. I can fully imagine standing in a rehearsal room shouting at a bassist to "go left you bastard! No! More left!"
Spinal tap moment.

edit : what a great reason to reach 1000 posts...

[stringtapper]

stringtapper keeps referring to the OP (djtom2000) as "adonis"; is there anything the rest of us should know

Ha, yes I though it was djadonis and kept reading it like that. Sorry to the op!

[stringtapper]

Root note is the standard terminology for your "central tone", and is obviously different in A minor and C major as in one it is an A and in the other it is a C.

No, the standard music theoretical terminology for that is "tonic", I just didn't want to assume people knew it and used something more descriptive.

"Root" applies to every scale step within a scale in relation to the chords built from them. In A major A is the root of the I chord, but A is also the tonic or "central tone." In A major D is the root of the IV chord but it is not the tonic, the key doesn't revolve around that tone and its constituent chord.

Sorry for being hard on you, and no I didn't read the article, it's just that as a music theorist by profession I am often wary of one-liners like "C major is the same as A minor" especially without the "context" of such a statement being explained in the same space where the statement was made (the same thread). There's a lot of musical disinformation that happens on the internet, one glaring one being the refusal of many to understand enharmonic spellings and why for instance a D# is not the same thing as an Eb.

Anyway I applaud you for wanting to bring music to beginners, I'm just a little… up tight when it comes to how music is taught.

[gjm]

Blah

[sporkles]

Is this the music theory equivalent of Trekkies discussing who the better starship captain is?

[gjm]

Blah

Not directed at stringtapper.

Bowing out.

[ian_halsall]

I keep checking this thread to see if anyone has anything funny or sensible to say.

Rubbish

[stringtapper]

Blah

Not directed at stringtapper.

Bowing out.

You shouldn't have. I thought what you said was constructive and well put.

[stringtapper]

I keep checking this thread to see if anyone has anything funny or sensible to say.

Rubbish

Sorry if music theory isn't "funny" enough for you, but it is certainly sensible if you take the time to try to understand it. Dismissing it is indeed rubbish.

[ian_halsall]

Check my earlier answer.

I think you'll find its correct.

Rubbish

[ian_halsall]

You're rubbish