About how much music theory do you consciously use while writing your songs? I know back in the BTMI days you liked an odd meter every now and then but I’ve found that especially in WORRY, you have some sort of love for tritones, modal interchange, secondary dominants, - ThreadSky

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About how much music theory do you consciously use while writing your songs? I know back in the BTMI days you liked an odd meter every now and then but I’ve found that especially in WORRY, you have some sort of love for tritones, modal interchange, secondary dominants,

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illlinoise.bsky.social•113 days ago

And there’s so many other things that stand out in comparison to other artists in terms of theory. I’d love to know if this is just something that you subconsciously do because you’ve heard it in other music, or if it’s something you’re aware of and intentional about when writing songs.

jeffrosenstock.bsky.social•113 days ago

I did study music theory quite a bit when I was younger, but the place I mostly apply it is the interplay of parts with each other, horn arrangements and harmonies - stuff where applying counterpoint rules and contrary motion can lead to parts opening up and resolving in interesting ways...

jeffrosenstock.bsky.social•113 days ago

but a lot of what I'm doing is by ear, picking up a guitar or sitting at a piano/synth and trying to play something that sounds cool or interesting or punk or thick etc. Along the course of my records, I can pinpoint when I discovered certain things that give me gut feelings...

jeffrosenstock.bsky.social•113 days ago

(minor iv chord, tritone/diminished chords, inverted chords, secondary dominants, chords outside the key, Major 7's, 9's and beyond aka mariokart shit) and leaned somewhat heavily on them as it led to new progressions and melodies, but that's mostly about discovery, building vocabulary n feelin shit

jeffrosenstock.bsky.social•113 days ago

music theory within the context of rock music is funny because like, the first rule of music theory is no parallel fifths and parallel fifths (aka the power chord) is responsible for like 90% of rock music and power chords and barre chords kick ass and sound great for lots of stuff!

jeffrosenstock.bsky.social•113 days ago

*are

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