Opeth will say they dont know theory but most swedish will have a strong foundation in music due to an excellent education system. they have to be taught a minimum of 200 hours out of a possibly 6000 throughout their 9 years of primary. Thats why there are so many good swedish artists and bands. Mikael is probably being modest as he usually is, he probably doesnt have advanced theory knowledge but definately has a good understanding of chords and their functions, modes etc
at the very least, i assume the case is he knows more than he thinks he does. there's drum rudiments i've played for years before finding out that they're actual things
By his own words, one of the songs on the latest album (§4 I believe) started its life as as a _goddamn dodecaphonic composition a'la Schoenberg_, so he's almost definitely sandbagging at least a little bit.
Love the analysis. I've always been shocked by Opeth's ability to create really complex harmony based primarily on Akerfeldt's ear alone. My "trick" to making Opeth-y parts is almost to use a kind of Modal Interchange, where I take a simple diatonic chord progression, write a simple melody, and then replace every single chord with either a Minor or a Sus chord. It works really well!
I mean you would end up with a lot of minor chrommeds and minor tritone cadences and stuff depending on which chords you're replacing with minor chords. Which is cool and I love those sounds and I HEAVILY encourage composers to explore them but I feel like over doing them can lead it to sound more black metally in terms of tonality if you don't do other types of chords in the modal interchange. At least thats what I've found with my writing for my silly little project :)
@@spectriaofficial You`re right about the black metal part, however, especially the early Opeth stuff has a lot of black/death metal influences, so chromatic minor chord movements, minor chord movements with minor/major thirds are actually pretty frequent there.
i think 99% of the time, when an artist says he doesnt know theory, he probably meant he doesnt read standard notation, but mikael understand music theory very well, he wrote all the drums for their new album, he clearly knows exactly what he is doing, i believe he was taught by his grandmother about the fundamentals, intervals, chords etc, and everything else he learned from active listening
I was wondering why RUclips recomended me this video, is not the type of content i consume but as soon as you said "In My Time Of Need" i understood lol, that song is my favorite song ever, i hear that song like at least 10 times everyday, the recomendation makes sense. In any case, i loved the analisys, i think you have explained things that i felt but couldn't put into words for lack of knowledge on the subject.
Not making boring modal songs is not the same as not knowing theory. Using the notes to modulate to another tonal center, adding tension or color to certain parts of the song are well known tools that any modern composer should know. Like Miles Davis talked about not playing only butter notes, adding color via a rich harmonic context gives the melodies new life, it's not a "wrong" or "uneducated" approach lol.
Music theory isn't really rules, but rather a language to communicate what's happening in music. Opeth isn't really breaking any rules, but rather often not following the most used chord progressions or staying in one key etc.
Love your channel. Keep going dude. Just one point for discussion. Don't you think that, in rock and metal specially among the most creative bands and artists, they seem to try to avoid deep understanding of music theory? Could it be that "too much" music theory would hinder their spontaneity (the instinct as you mentioned in your video)? It seems to me that most of them learn bits of music theory along the way, that is, by the practice they gain throughout their career. It is rare that they learn substantial music theory before they start writing songs. One of the exceptions that I can think of is probably Dream theater, but they seem to be an exception and not the standard in this particular point of the relation between music theory and spontaneity in composition.
Hey man, thank you for the kind words I'm glad you're enjoying the content. I do agree with your point. I know that many people that don't learn theory on purpose share that same mindset. However, As someone personally knows Theory, I can't imagine not knowing it. For me personally knowing Theory allows me to not only know what works, but then to use that knowledge as a means to find other things that go against the "rules". I think I have some videos on this very subject in my "Music theory FAQs" playlist.
Saying that music theory gets in the way of writing music is like a poet saying that learning the alphabet gets in the way of writing poems. Some of the best music out there has been made by people not knowing music theory, but writing it down does really makes it easier to remember and share it. Especially if you want to write down specific chord voicings, or if you want to write down an idea for someone you just can send them sheet music.
The misconception is that people who learn theory write music solely based on the rules learned at music school. Music theory is there simply to make sense of the ideas in your head and make you able to traslate what youre thinking in a structure manner so that you can : Communicate your ideas to other musicians more efficiently. Help you understand why things sound good and others not , intentional or otherwise. Help you with recalling ideas without having to rely solely on muscle memory. I write mostly without thinking about theory . But i will analyze it afterwards to explain what is going on to my other band members. I also find it useful when im stuck or need to spice up something , whether its borrowing chords from a different key , modal interchange with leads or whatever. The notion that it stifles creativity is ridiculous
The video died on the editing table. I try not to make videos too long as people don't watch more than half anyway, at least that's what the analytics tell me. However, I'm always trying to improve. Thanks for watching.
Opeth knows the theory of Sorrow. 😢
I attended one of their shows, excellent musicians. A unique band. Prog, jazz, folk influences blended with metal.
Opeth will say they dont know theory but most swedish will have a strong foundation in music due to an excellent education system. they have to be taught a minimum of 200 hours out of a possibly 6000 throughout their 9 years of primary. Thats why there are so many good swedish artists and bands. Mikael is probably being modest as he usually is, he probably doesnt have advanced theory knowledge but definately has a good understanding of chords and their functions, modes etc
Thank you for the additional info
at the very least, i assume the case is he knows more than he thinks he does. there's drum rudiments i've played for years before finding out that they're actual things
By his own words, one of the songs on the latest album (§4 I believe) started its life as as a _goddamn dodecaphonic composition a'la Schoenberg_, so he's almost definitely sandbagging at least a little bit.
I honestly feel the video was too short! Love this kind of content, cheer up! And continue bringing more !!
I plan on never stopping. Thanks for watching
Opeth knows music theory.
Opeth does not make music by accident, Michael is just nothing less than a music god.
Love the analysis. I've always been shocked by Opeth's ability to create really complex harmony based primarily on Akerfeldt's ear alone. My "trick" to making Opeth-y parts is almost to use a kind of Modal Interchange, where I take a simple diatonic chord progression, write a simple melody, and then replace every single chord with either a Minor or a Sus chord. It works really well!
This is a good trick, I feel though that Mikael sings a top line and then finds chords that fit the mood hes trying to convey
I love your take, awesome
I mean you would end up with a lot of minor chrommeds and minor tritone cadences and stuff depending on which chords you're replacing with minor chords. Which is cool and I love those sounds and I HEAVILY encourage composers to explore them but I feel like over doing them can lead it to sound more black metally in terms of tonality if you don't do other types of chords in the modal interchange. At least thats what I've found with my writing for my silly little project :)
@spectriaofficial cool info. Thanks man
@@spectriaofficial You`re right about the black metal part, however, especially the early Opeth stuff has a lot of black/death metal influences, so chromatic minor chord movements, minor chord movements with minor/major thirds are actually pretty frequent there.
i think 99% of the time, when an artist says he doesnt know theory, he probably meant he doesnt read standard notation, but mikael understand music theory very well, he wrote all the drums for their new album, he clearly knows exactly what he is doing, i believe he was taught by his grandmother about the fundamentals, intervals, chords etc, and everything else he learned from active listening
I was wondering why RUclips recomended me this video, is not the type of content i consume but as soon as you said "In My Time Of Need" i understood lol, that song is my favorite song ever, i hear that song like at least 10 times everyday, the recomendation makes sense.
In any case, i loved the analisys, i think you have explained things that i felt but couldn't put into words for lack of knowledge on the subject.
Glad you liked it. Thanks for watching
Instant sub I didn’t even watch the video yet!!
I would call the vocal style staccato in this song
Not making boring modal songs is not the same as not knowing theory. Using the notes to modulate to another tonal center, adding tension or color to certain parts of the song are well known tools that any modern composer should know.
Like Miles Davis talked about not playing only butter notes, adding color via a rich harmonic context gives the melodies new life, it's not a "wrong" or "uneducated" approach lol.
Your video made me seasick.
If you don't follow the rules, maybe you are making the rules.
Music theory isn't really rules, but rather a language to communicate what's happening in music. Opeth isn't really breaking any rules, but rather often not following the most used chord progressions or staying in one key etc.
Love your channel. Keep going dude.
Just one point for discussion. Don't you think that, in rock and metal specially among the most creative bands and artists, they seem to try to avoid deep understanding of music theory? Could it be that "too much" music theory would hinder their spontaneity (the instinct as you mentioned in your video)?
It seems to me that most of them learn bits of music theory along the way, that is, by the practice they gain throughout their career. It is rare that they learn substantial music theory before they start writing songs. One of the exceptions that I can think of is probably Dream theater, but they seem to be an exception and not the standard in this particular point of the relation between music theory and spontaneity in composition.
Hey man, thank you for the kind words I'm glad you're enjoying the content.
I do agree with your point. I know that many people that don't learn theory on purpose share that same mindset. However, As someone personally knows Theory, I can't imagine not knowing it. For me personally knowing Theory allows me to not only know what works, but then to use that knowledge as a means to find other things that go against the "rules". I think I have some videos on this very subject in my "Music theory FAQs" playlist.
Saying that music theory gets in the way of writing music is like a poet saying that learning the alphabet gets in the way of writing poems. Some of the best music out there has been made by people not knowing music theory, but writing it down does really makes it easier to remember and share it. Especially if you want to write down specific chord voicings, or if you want to write down an idea for someone you just can send them sheet music.
The misconception is that people who learn theory write music solely based on the rules learned at music school. Music theory is there simply to make sense of the ideas in your head and make you able to traslate what youre thinking in a structure manner so that you can :
Communicate your ideas to other musicians more efficiently.
Help you understand why things sound good and others not , intentional or otherwise.
Help you with recalling ideas without having to rely solely on muscle memory.
I write mostly without thinking about theory . But i will analyze it afterwards to explain what is going on to my other band members.
I also find it useful when im stuck or need to spice up something , whether its borrowing chords from a different key , modal interchange with leads or whatever.
The notion that it stifles creativity is ridiculous
camera has the hots for that guitar in the back lol
Definitely some kinks in the video, but the informative approach was awesome. Would love it if you dug a little deeper on an opeth song.
The video died on the editing table. I try not to make videos too long as people don't watch more than half anyway, at least that's what the analytics tell me.
However, I'm always trying to improve. Thanks for watching.
Me too sir.
OOOOOOPEEEEEETH!!!!