help with some questions for a music class

[gravesRR7]

my freind is writting up a short write-up on dave matthews for a music class.

i helped her out as much as i could, but some of the more technical questions, i'm not sure about.

if anyone can help out with any of these, that would be awesome.

1) Does dave use much syncopation? an example if you can think of one

2) Describe his singing form, and how he applies pitch?

3) how far away does he move from the basic chords of a key?

4) How often does he use 7ths and 9ths as opposed to standard chords? (think he uses them often, but not sure, like satellite, warehouse, etc)


Thanks for any input guys.

[paulaitchison]

i wish i could give a proper answer, but it would all be BS, ive a friend who digs dmb studing music at university, ill ask him

[gravesRR7]

thanks. i'd appreciate it.

[briguy945]

Is your friend going to cite a message board as a source?

[gravesRR7]

ummm....i dunno

she'll probobly site me as a source. and if anyone helps me out from on here, i'll add thier name to it. maybe just a username.

it's pretty opinionated. the goal isn't to look at Dave as a musician. but to look at these questions as they pertain to music, and the musician is just a way to relate the concepts practically.

[skoal]

1) Does dave use much syncopation? an example if you can think of one
Most of their songs are syncopated to some extent, some more than others. SMTS, Grey Street, Halloween, the strings on EWU are examples

2) Describe his singing form, and how he applies pitch?
I don't know much about singing, but while he has a good range most of his songs stay in a relatively close range (excluding falsettos), not many octave jumps for example. And he used to falsetto much more earlier in his career.

3) how far away does he move from the basic chords of a key?
Not very far. I can't think of many instances where the songs modulize either, there are just some instances of non-diatonic chords. The Am in LIOG for example, or the C major in Billies. I don't know if you would consider the prechorus in Jimi Thing (If you could keep me floating...) a modulation, I'd just say the D is a bVII and the F a bII. Or it could modulate a whole step down to D, and the F serve as a bIII. I don't know you should probably get Fatjack's or MWR's or some other knowledgeable persons help on this one.

4) How often does he use 7ths and 9ths as opposed to standard chords? (think he uses them often, but not sure, like satellite, warehouse, etc)
The only ninths he plays are in ASTB, the Ants jam, and Too Much (sometimes). I wouldn't say he plays a large amount of sevenths either, but he does use them nonetheless. The first chord in Crash Into Me, the first two chords in the WWYS jam (Em7 > A7), the C7 in the WWYS (x323xx). Many times though either Butch, Leroi, or Boyd wil throw that seventh in there, so you'll hear a seventh chord although won't actually be playing one. I'll try to think of more, but overall I'd say he's using standard major and minor chords more than half the time.

I think it's important to state that Dave usually opts for partial chords and intervals rather than the traditional open chords, and also uses many different voices for chords. For example, instead of always playing a standard open D he'll play a 2x02xx, 1097xxx, x54x3x, 109x11, etc. This allows for easier muting, chord changes, or slides into chords.

[gravesRR7]

thanks a lot skoal. that helps out a lot. i'll be sure to get a least a mention of that in the citations so we don't rip you off.

thanks again