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Related: Culture Forums, Support ForumsQuestion for DUers who understand music theory
I learned how to read music at an early age, but never learned a lot of theory. In the Oasis song below, the Noel Gallagher is playing bass, and he's pulling all kinds of things out of the Paul McCartney trick bag.
My question is this...at the 1:18 mark, and throughout the song (every time after "Roll it over my soul, and leave me here" is sung), Gallagher hits a bass note that is noticeably lower than the note being sung, and for a second almost sounds like he hits the wrong note, like it's off a half octave or something, but...just as when McCartney did the same thing...it works perfectly. As someone with a sketchy music theory background, I'd call it "counterpoint," but I'd like to know what it's actually called. Thanks!
The Velveteen Ocelot
(115,683 posts)It's not counterpoint, which would be a separate parallel melody. It didn't sound odd to me - sounded like pretty traditional harmony.
Miles Archer
(18,837 posts)Many players just anchor themselves to the root note / chord being played. It's what separates musicians like McCartney, Entwistle, and others from that group.
I heard the song and then found out that on that album, it was just the Gallagher brothers and Alan White from Yes on drums. Noel played all of the other instruments, so it's someone who is primarily a guitarist tackling the bass, and it was a noticeable element to the songs, not simply rhythm.
The Velveteen Ocelot
(115,683 posts)I don't even know who any of those people are, except McCartney - my background is in classical music so was thinking of traditional music theory. A lot of popular music is pretty boring, harmonically speaking - seems like most guitarists know only three chords and will maybe throw in a 7th if they feel really daring.