Half Step Modulations?

Bellycaster · February 2014

This is something I barely noticed before, but a couple of songs I've been learning caught me out.

I'm used to hearing songs modulate a Minor 3rd like Bon Jovi and Cuddly Toy by Roachford to name a couple, but this half step modulation is a bit of a new discovery.

This song goes up a semi tone for the last chorus.

as does this at 2:00 mins in

I managed to find the chords that connect the two keys, or the transition chords if you like, at 2 mins is Bbmin7 to Cmin7 to Ebmin7, then the picking riff goes from starting on D to D#.

I'm gonna have to get more examples of modulations, of any sort.

How do you "think through" or "Engineer" a semi tone modulation, or any modulation for that matter if you are writing music?

Ta.

monquixote · February 2014

Soul man has a semi tone modulation. It really catches people out.

I'm pretty sure the blues brothers version of think modulates in semi tones several times.

"Love on top" by Beyonce is the ultimate as it has 4 semi tone key changes.

Bellycaster · February 2014

Yep, just listened to that Beyonce track, it's more apparent in that. Soul Man is def more subtle. Neat little trick ain't it?

monquixote · February 2014

Yeah, it's a neat trick and that Beyonce track is a fucker to sing. The singer in my band is awesome and she had a really hard time with it.

I tend to not think of it in a music theory context more in a sort of subtle increase in intensity, especially if it's tied with an increase in tempo so it sounds a bit like a tape speeding up.

viz · February 2014

New york new york!
You can't stop the beat
all that lot do it.

Bellycaster · February 2014

@monquixote

Yeah, it must be quite tough to adjust the key with ones voice, it's all fingers with us, but when your vocal chords have to make the adjustment it's a different ball game.

I always tend to be drawn to studying how(musically) the change is tackled, I usually just end up knowing the transition chords and not really undertanding the theory, there must be a limited number of "routes" from one key to another and maybe it depends on more than just the route from one key to another. Cuddly Toy simply goes straight to the minor 3rd change after the drum roll with no transition chords.

I suppose the way to do it would be to write a simple ditty and then try for myself to negotiate the said route with the half step.

@-)

thisisguitar · February 2014

If memory serves 'Rock With You - Michael Jackson' has a semi-tone modulation towards the end. Had to teach it this week, but am too knackered to pick up a guitar and check right now!

Catthan · February 2014

thisisguitar said:

If memory serves 'Rock With You - Michael Jackson' has a semi-tone modulation towards the end. Had to teach it this week, but am too knackered to pick up a guitar and check right now!

You are quite right!

thisisguitar · February 2014

@Catthan - Thank you :-)

Remembered this morning another one: Stevie Wonder - You are the sunshine of my life.

ThePrettyDamned · February 2014

Bellycaster said:

@monquixote

Yeah, it must be quite tough to adjust the key with ones voice, it's all fingers with us, but when your vocal chords have to make the adjustment it's a different ball game.

I always tend to be drawn to studying how(musically) the change is tackled, I usually just end up knowing the transition chords and not really undertanding the theory, there must be a limited number of "routes" from one key to another and maybe it depends on more than just the route from one key to another. Cuddly Toy simply goes straight to the minor 3rd change after the drum roll with no transition chords.

I suppose the way to do it would be to write a simple ditty and then try for myself to negotiate the said route with the half step.

@-)

A lot of the music I listen to has time sig changes, tempo changes and key changes and often with no warning.

Ultimately, it'll either sound good or bad and that's for the listener to decide. But if you play something a certain way, people will accept.

Bellycaster · February 2014

It seems like the HSM is a popular move in Soul, Funk and R&B. I suppose it's a sort of "Mood Lift" quality it has that fits those styles well.

monquixote · February 2014

Yep.

Loads of Soul tracks have completely baffling key changes if you look at them in terms of theory, but they do it with conviction so it sounds fine.

SidNewton · February 2014

And I Love Her by The Beatles has a half step modulation just before the guitar solo.

viz · February 2014

Houston's i will always love you's got a tone modulation. Titanic theme tune's got a major 3rd or something. But they're similar to the semitone modulation because it's basically a gear shift, repeating the whole thing up a key, rather than a normal modulation which is to go into a NEW section in a new key.

Bellycaster · February 2014

viz said:

Houston's i will always love you's got a tone modulation. Titanic theme tune's got a major 3rd or something. But they're similar to the semitone modulation because it's basically a gear shift, repeating the whole thing up a key, rather than a normal modulation which is to go into a NEW section in a new key.

Thanks @viz

It's stuff like this I need to know the difference with. Like you say, a gear shift. Do you have any examples of "Going into a NEW SECTION in a new key". I might have heard some examples time and again, but it's recognising it that really improves ones understanding of songwriting theory etc.

I seem to be able to spot the gear shifts, but am missing the other.

monquixote · February 2014

I'm currently learning L-O-V-E by Joss Stone.

That shifts up by a semitone every 2 times around the chords.

viz · February 2014

Bellycaster said:

viz said:

Houston's i will always love you's got a tone modulation. Titanic theme tune's got a major 3rd or something. But they're similar to the semitone modulation because it's basically a gear shift, repeating the whole thing up a key, rather than a normal modulation which is to go into a NEW section in a new key.

Thanks @viz

It's stuff like this I need to know the difference with. Like you say, a gear shift. Do you have any examples of "Going into a NEW SECTION in a new key". I might have heard some examples time and again, but it's recognising it that really improves ones understanding of songwriting theory etc.

I seem to be able to spot the gear shifts, but am missing the other.

yep, for example that awesome section in every breath you take.

Bellycaster · February 2014

@viz

Great song. This is what I mean by my ears failing me, because everything in the song fits so well I have to guess whether you meant the part that starts

"Since you've gone, I've been lost without a trace....."

or

"Oh, Can't you see, you belong to me"

:-S

thisisguitar · February 2014

@Bellycaster -

The 'since you've been gone' bit

viz · February 2014

Yep. It's in a key far far removed from the main sections before and after.

thisisguitar · February 2014

Pain in the arse to play along with as the recording is slightly sharp of A flat (more likely than the opposite as it was probably sped up for the American market).

@Viz - It seems to do that classic pattern of playing three major chords a tone apart (like Sgt. Peppers)

viz · February 2014

It is, except unlike normal where you just do 3 major scales, the so-called "D#" (which is actually Eb, because it goes Eb, F, then back to G, which is 3 notes apart, not 4) is actually an Eb Lydian, and the F is F Mixolydian, both of which imply Bb major. That sharpened 4th on the Eb, which is an A note, is also in the scale of G major, the root, so the resolution is even more satisfying than your typical 3 major chords a tone apart ploy.

edit - the above is all assuming the piece is in G major - I didn't know they play it in an off A flat key.

Bellycaster · February 2014

thisisguitar said:

@Bellycaster -

The 'since you've been gone' bit

@thisisguitar

That was my initial gut feeling as that part adds magic to that song, although the song is great anyway.

Cheers as well @viz

thisisguitar · February 2014

@Viz - I assume you worked this out as if the song was in G major (which just confused the hell out of me for a moment).

So basically he's modulated to a new key up a minor 3rd (play a IV / V progression, going to VI which is I in our previous key). That right?

EDIT - just read your correction @Viz

viz · February 2014

Well actually no, he's modulated down a major 3rd like you said, but he's not playing Eb Ionian, he's playing Eb Lydian, and is playing the I and the II for the F. You don't have to necessarily always think of Lydian as being the IV of the key a 4th below it - it's a scale in its own right. Forget it's a mode, it's just a scale, so it's the key of that part of the song - Eb Lydian. I only mentioned Bb major so we could easily know the flats (Bb, Eb) for comparison with the sharps of G (F#), so we could appreciate how dissimilar they are (though they do share that A natural).

thisisguitar · February 2014

Okay, I'm on board with that idea. Would have expected the vocal melody to have highlighted the #4th over the I chord to give the Lydian flavour to things though.

viz · February 2014

Agree but I suppose there's a good chance he didn't say, "right seeing as we're in Eb Lydian I'd better sing an A natural (or actually a slightly sharp A# as we're transposing up 1.1 semitones)", the whole thing could just be accidental. But isn't that the great thing about interpretation and playing covers? I mean sometimes, shockingly, the composer isn't always the best performer - others can come and dig out even more music from the score than the composer found when he/she wrote it. Not saying that's the case here, but a different singer might slip in an A and enhance the flavour dramatically. Or maybe it's better understated and implied as in the original (anyway the piano hammers the Lydian out)

Kebabkid · February 2014

Ooh good to hear some Jimmy Barnes there @Bellycaster!

Madness do this quite a bit and it's evident on the choruses of "Our House". I think they do it on the second chorus but if you listen from 3.10, the choruses go back n' forth right up to the end with a half step coming in between 3.17 and 3.26. When we play it we go round a couple of times with the whole pattern. Damn clever band!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwIe_sjKeAY

EricTheWeary · February 2014

Yes, lots of key changes in Madness, although not having played any of the choons for a bit was struggling to think of the specifics. They do a lot of stuff outside of the diatonic chords and I'm never sure if that means they know nothing about music theory - just threw it out the window - or know a lot and apply it very cleverly. Their early stuff tends to stick more to trad 3 chord progressions so I'm guessing they learned more as they went.

Anyhoo, half step modulations: I have heard these applied just to 12 bar blues, its a Buddy Guy trick. Typically intro solo in one key and then bam everyone up a semi tone for the next lot of 12 bars.Wonderfully disjointed.Although a car crash waiting to happen if someone in the band forgets.

Bellycaster · February 2014

Nice one @Kebabkid and @EricTheWeary

Yes, Our House has a minor 3rd change in each Chorus(except the one going into the middle section. The last chorus plays the melody in 3 keys and like you said, one of them is a half step change, I had to get the guitar out mind you.

I think there would have been some real musical knowledge in that band as I often see Mike Barson quoted as being a classically trained Pianist, so he's not daft.

I like Madness, they did some cracking tunes, I bet they did a lot of stuff similar, I'll be checking it out of curiosity now.

Edit: I don't think I've seen that bit at the beginning before on the street, hilarious, they were "Nutty Boys" especially the bit at the beginning of Baggy Trousers were he runs up to the camera.

Kebabkid · February 2014

Glad you liked it @Bellycaster. I've been depping on bass for a Madness tribute for the last 4mths and having to get to grips with this stuff and it's turned my head. As a guitarist, the songs, their structure and the bass lines have really grabbed my attention and presented some pleasant challenges with their clever twists and turns.

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