Songs that are the most accessible yet also the most complex on their respective albums

Songs that are the most accessible yet also the most complex on their respective albums.
I'll start.

youtube.com/watch?v=95pdkVSHIVY

Other urls found in this thread:

youtube.com/watch?v=x_tonrrxvYA
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wouldn't_It_Be_Nice#Composition
youtube.com/watch?v=xrqqkh3Upmo
openmusictheory.com/contents.html
twitter.com/NSFWRedditImage

youtube.com/watch?v=x_tonrrxvYA

Bumping

No one cares?

i hate you

it's not even close to the most complex on the album. that goes to god only knows easily

this desu senpai

Well, the middle part on Wouldn't Be Nice uses two tonal centers (bass is in D, the rest is in A), the same notes are used in the intro, but the chords they imply are different because of the bass.

There are 3 keys in the song, A, F, and D.

The bridge has both a different key and tempo.

And God Only Knows is my favorite, no doubt, but I consider Wouldn't it Be nice to be more complex.
You could argue that the ambiguous key of the song (by use of both Bminor and Bmajor within a bar of each other, and the diminished chords that are connected through E for the 1st, 2nd, and 4th verses, and A for the 2rd).

Modulations are made, but the whole band is in the same key, and Brian uses an early version of the techniques he'd used for Smile by making that jump modulation from E to A.

god only knows has a bassline in a different key as well, and the modulations are more complex

>the modulations are more complex
Not really, Brian creates a leading tone created by adding a 7 to the F#minor chord then modulates to B major from the Bminor before that F#minor.

The second modulation is a sudden jump modulation. You're right about the bass being in a different key. The song goes out of key by half steps, however, not something big like 3 steps as in Wouldn't it Be Nice.

i guess i didn't necessarily mean more complex, i just think it fits the song better. the 3 big jumps in wouldn't it be nice don't stand out to me much, probably because they're just that, big jumps.

the modulations in god only knows sound fluid and support the meaning of the song. the restlessness of the tonal ambiguity then the resignation with the cadence that starts with the "god only knows" line.

i just think it works better. and i like the bassline way more, one of my favorite basslines of all time. although i still adore wouldn't it be nice

this thread is effectively a testament to how little I actually know about music

The bassline of God Only Knows is a 10/10 bassline that's independently beautiful in addition to fitting the song perfectly.

And I agree that the modulations fit the lack of certainty of the song coupled with the final realization finding a tonal center.

That being said, Wouldn't it Be Nice was the more popular song, the more accessible song, and had different modulation techniques in the same song, thus I argue it's more complex. I say it's more popular because of its chart performance (with God Only Knows as the B-Side).
>this thread is effectively a testament to how little I actually know about music
To be honest, I don't even know that much about music, I'm just autistic and I've listened to or thought about this album every day for the past 2 years.
I've started making compositions of my own, with large influences from Brian, but I'm still not satisfied. I think I need more different influences.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wouldn't_It_Be_Nice#Composition

I feel the same way, friendo.
>tonal centers
>leading tones
>adding a 7
>jumping modulations
>key
>tonal ambiguity
It is akin to reading a foreign language to me. How do you add a 7 to music?

thanks for the article and support user, I appreciate it
As for the compositions, I feel like more influences is always good, especially with music because it'll get you away from unintentionally sounding too similar to your source material. Good luck with that

I admire the passion tho, senpai

That's pretty advanced stuff. Start with scales and keys, then work your way up. If possible, take a course a local collage or something. I took Music Theory 101 in high school and collage and it helped me tremendously.

any good good self help stuff?
I'm planning on reading Gödel, Escher, Bach this summer, but that probably won't teach me too much

i've been playing music for a while but i wouldn't even say i'm that far into theory. you guys can definitely learn this stuff pretty quick.

also adding a 7th is pretty straightforward, most chords are created by stacking thirds on top of each other. a major chord is a root note, a major third, and a perfect fifth. to create a dominant 7th (bluesy chord) you add a minor 7th on top of that. so in the key of C major (which contains the notes C D E F G A B), you would have the root (C) the third (E) the fifth (G) and the 7th (Bb, because it's minor seventh, not major 7th).

and a leading tone is just a tone thats a half step away from the tone that follows in the next chord, which creates a nice sense of movement and continuity.

desu typing this out i'm realizing it's more complex than i made it out to be, but i assure you that you pick it up pretty quick

i meant to say it's a minor seventh interval, but it creates a dominant 7th chord. i'm a shitty teacher, sorry.

there are tons of good books though by better teachers than me. don't really know where to start though

Do not take this post the wrong way as I 100% appreciate what you're doing here and I'm sure that after learning some theory I could get this

But as my main musical experience is playing clarinet in middle school and listening to Animal Collective, I have no fucking idea what any of that means aside from your basic definition of a chord (sort of)

ah, yeah, i was kind of worried about that after typing all that out. i should've asked your background

youtube.com/watch?v=xrqqkh3Upmo

i find it helps when you can hear it, so here's a video

Hey this actually really helps. Thanks so much

Here's an open music theory course I've kept bookmarked (but have procrastinated on).

openmusictheory.com/contents.html

Thanks for the support m8.
Literally the only thing in the world I'm actually confident at is Beach Boys music facts.