For almost fifty years I have been struck by the way mood and music complement each other. The mood spectrum, from despair to euphoria, can be tracked by listening to chords. Deep, dark Minor chords evoke sadness. Light, bright,Major 7th chords can instill a warm bliss. Everything in between constitutes normal, everyday feelings as expressed by a simple Major chord!
I pick up my acoustic guitar and slowly strum E Minor. The melancholy sound fills me with unease and I switch to E Major, finding a source of calm stability. Then I move to A Minor and experience another moment of foreboding.
If I move 2 frets up the neck, again maintaining the A Minor cluster, the chord becomes B Minor, still dark and mysterious. If I move up another 2 frets, the chord suddenly changes to A Major 7th, and I feel the incredible joy of eternal optimism! A significant mood swing has occurred within a fraction of a second.
The next chord change is quite funky. I move my fingers up just one more fret and the sound becomes really weird. I call this dissonant chord 'city angst', because it resembles the bizarre buzz of urban life. I can only tolerate this emotion for a few seconds and then land my fingers back on the safe E Major chord. Usually, the strings get muted by my picking hand as I launch into a bold Nashville chord-riff, adding a twangy A7th to the mix. I visualize myself as a boisterous, cowboy busker who will not get off the stage. This actually feels quite normal for me.
If NORMAL becomes a bit boring, I get back to the A Minor position, 6th fret, to experience 'city angst' once again. Sometimes I go back and forth between the 5th and 6th frets in that same cluster, just to experience the swift change of emotion. It really is quite a rush! Bliss to bewilderment ad infinitum. A rollercoaster ride that somehow energizes me with the spin of it all.
There are subtle shades of mood that more complex chord changes can create. I have just scratched the surface of a human dynamic that I am sure many psychologists have researched. I know only from my own experience over decades that music has helped me to understand myself. Apparently, music and mathematics have close ties, which surprises me. Maybe there is an actual equation that brings logic and emotion together via music.
I enjoyed writing about music and mood as they are something very close to my heart. If you play guitar I encourage you to try these chord sequences. When you move up from the first fret, just bear in mind to strum the top 4 strings only. I recommend E Major to finish on. End on a happy note!
Music can trace human mood swings, especially using chord changes. The spectrum of emotion can range from despair to euphoria. Guitar chords may help to locate a person's place on the mood-scale and get them back to a happier frame of mind I am not a therapist, but I know for certain that music has helped me to find light at the end of the tunnel. Explore these chords and then land on a happy note!
0 التعليقات:
Post a Comment