chord progressions

Possibly one for the music geeks only, this.

My favourite chord progression used to be i-VI-VII-i. You hear it in most mid-period Iron Maiden songs. It's nice and predictable, flowing towards a satisfying resolution. You know exactly what to expect, and where the melody's going to go. Something about it just feels 'right'.

These days, I prefer i-VI-iv. This is mainly because it's ambiguous; is it really i-VI-iv, or is it v-iv-i in a different key? Only one note separates the two keys and it's easy to leave it out of the harmony... or to deliberately play the wrong one to add a bit of tension, as I did at one point in the last track I recorded.

I think that this interest in the more ambiguous, open-ended harmony is hinting at some underlying change in my psyche; an interest in acknowledging there isn't always a single correct way to resolve something, or an acceptance of multiple ways to interpret a situation.

Or maybe it just sounds cooler.

Weekend events

I must remember to post about events rather than just feelings and impressions, otherwise this won't serve as much of a reference in the future. Speaking of which, is anybody exporting theirs and taking a backup? I need to do that at some point but haven't found a simple tool for it yet. The web-based facility seems to require that I do it month by month, which is tedious.

Anyway. On Friday I went to the student rock night "Assault", which was mostly as expected (average music, lots of student types there), but was fun for a change as I hadn't been in a year. The main event of note, as previously alluded to, was that a couple of members of the band Hellyeah were in attendance, including Vinnie Paul, previously of Pantera.

On Saturday I went over to West Bridgford to help ogly celebrate leaving the country. markachu did a much better job with the barbecue than the last time we left him in charge, and everybody seemed to have fun. I ducked out early before the real shenanigans began, such as the Chair of Doom which I have since heard about.

On Sunday was the yearly BBQ that the people at the Other University hold, and which is always worth attending. I went to meet people in the pub beforehand, but due to being unable to read the previously issued instructions, I was in the wrong pub. Ace! Still, not a problem as I know the way and was quite enjoying a quiet drink anyway. I arrived at the traditional bbq site - now defiled by a path through the middle, sadly - at about the point the food started being served (denatone delivering the comestibles with perennial aplomb) and proceeded to consume it, washed down with free cider. A small amount of football was played, some people hit each other with bits of bamboo, and I think we managed to convince some friends visiting from Germany that duct-taping gay people to trees is a perfectly normal pastime here in England. (It's not.) I had a good time, though I'm sure it has got more subdued every year over the 3 times I've attended. Maybe my 3 years are not a representative sample though? And maybe coinciding with the Download festival this year wasn't good for it. Oh well.

Today I was back to work, in the sweltering hothouse that is the 3rd floor of Clarendon Chambers, near Nottingham train station. Tomorrow is our last day there before relocating further into the city centre, which is good for my laziness but probably bad for my health, as it cuts 15 minutes off my daily walking distance. Maybe if we get regular football sessions going (a slight nudge towards metal_rob there) I might not weigh 300lbs by the end of summer.