"chromatic" songs

C

Curt

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6,975
Someone mentioned that Christopher "Kid" Reid's REAL TIME theme song for Bill Maher, was "chromatic".http://www.myspace.com/chriskidreid
Listen to it here. Bill Maher
http://www.myspace.com/chriskidreid

Can anyone else name a few other chromatic styled songs?
I don't know what it is, but I love the style.

Here's the definition.
The chromatic scale is a musical scale with twelve pitches, each a semitone or half step apart. "A chromatic scale is a nondiatonic scale consisting entirely of half-step intervals," having, "no tonic," due to the symmetry or equal spacing of its tones[1].

Thanks
 
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norumba

norumba

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I dont think you'll find many truly equally chromatic rock tunes, (or , for that matter rock music composed out of 12 tone rows), but there are bunch of artists who use a fair amount of chromaticism in their lines -- check out Kim Mitchell's work both in solos and songwriting for Max Webster, early 80's era Robert Fripp ( perhaps more angular than truly chromatic), others.

a good half of the music i listen to is pretty atonal and/or chromatic, but will be in the free jazz vein. I could point you to a lot of resources there, but as far as rock songs im drawing a blank beyond the couple of artists mentioned. i know there's bunch more -- and as soon other posters post ill slap my forehead -- but im drawing a bit of blank at the moment.
 
M

Member 995

"Entry of The Gladiators" written by Julius Fucik (think circus song)

"Flight of the Bumblebee" by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (think piano virtuoso)

Both of these still have a pretty strong tonic, I think.
 
burningyen

burningyen

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Yeah, you're not going to find many 12-tone rock tunes, but a couple off the top of my head that are heavily based on half-step lines:

NIN - Somewhat Damaged
Alice In Chains - Them Bones
 
Goo Fighters

Goo Fighters

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Hendrix used chromaticism to great effect...The Wind Cries Mary, Hey Joe, and Little Wing are good examples. If you want chromatic overload, listen to pretty much any Dream Theater song. A good example off the top of my head would be Erotomania. John Petrucci just loves using chromaticism at every opportunity. Sometimes it sounds good, but most of the time it's ultra boring and uninspired combined with his soulless machine gun picking approach. Also, check out Django Reinhart, Bireli Lagrene, and Trey Anastasio for tastier chromatic licks.
 
JSeth

JSeth

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2,559
well, it's not a "rock" tune - but "Midnight Sun" is my favorite chromatic-type song; wonderful melody against the changes... an eternal classic!
 
tastylicks

tastylicks

Silver Supporting Member
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963
Dazed and Confused by Led Zep uses that famous, chromatic-ish bassline, but that (or any Zeppelin) song's harmony is no mystery of chromaticism.
 
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