Excessively long quote from the entire topic before posting something to prove iGotno_scope's lack of musical knowledge.
oh my god you guys are rube goldberg, just be sad when you make it.. that is key
Just because you're sad when you do something, it doesn't mean that you KNOW how to do it; music's no exception. All the other members post meaningful items on the forum to teach new users like you how to do better music. Sadly, not all new users know how to learn & improve themselves.
And another thing; you don't really need to quote so many people or quote so many quoted quotes before you make any post.
_______________________
Technology: the one thing that's hated & cursed at by all engineers, technologists, scientists & technicians!
Also mostly unrelated, but I added triangle to Yucca's second "sad" song attempt (sounds like dungeon music - it would actually be pretty cool in a dungeon).
I don't know what I could add that others haven't answered better already. Slow and minor seems to work. Being sad when you make it seems to work. And by being sad, what I mean is think back to a sad point in your life. A miserable break up, a family member dying, or a time you've been crushingly homesick. Nostalgia sometime carries a certain twinge of sadness.
I'm not all that studied in music theory, but I've found that a 3/4 beat is sadder than other time signatures. Not sure why.
but I've found that a 3/4 beat is sadder than other time signatures. Not sure why.
I'd argue that it's just because you've heard a lot of songs that are sad in 3/4, but then I remembered that probably half of the songs that I've written to be outright "sad" are in 3/4 :P
examplez: (there are a couple missing because they're either unfinished or in progress... but yeah).
Sea of Memories kind of starts out sad, then gets less sad, but it still kind of fits. Files are listed from newer to older (nevermind it seems to kind of randomize order, or maybe it's filesize. i dunno).
I'm not all that studied in music theory, but I've found that a 3/4 beat is sadder than other time signatures. Not sure why.
I feel I'm essentially clueless to music theory, but I would assume a 3/4 beat works well because most popular music tends to work in a 4/4 time signature; persuading one to pay attention to a different pattern than what they're used to.
That being said, if it isn't untimely to refer to sad songs, I'd like to refer to the following for a good example of a sad, almost mourning song.
I have to agree with the 3/4 statement. Don't forget that phrasing is important, too, and personally I think 3/4 time has a kind of fluidity to it you just don't get with 4/4.
_______________________
The only things certain in life are death and uncertainty.
I kinda figured it sounded sad because 3/4 just old fashioned and old things carry a lot of sad memories. I mean, you don't hear a lot of happy waltzes nowadays. Or any waltzes, really. Unless you live somewhere that still has a heritage folk presence.
Maybe this is a bit subjective, but I get wistful whenever I hear a good cajun waltz even though its almost always somewhere where people are dancing and having a good time. Slow and minor and in 3/4 time.
Another 3/4 song is 'Moonlight Sonata'. I thought that sounded pretty depressing since it's in minor, it just sounds...well...yeah...depressing to me. Then again, even major-chord songs can sound sad, but I wouldn't say depressing.
Moonlight Sonata is actually compound quadruple metre (i.e. 12/8, a.k.a. 4/4 with each beat subdivided into triplets).
But... written metre isn't really the most meaningful thing to debate; there is periodic structure at many scales in most music. Seems kind of myopic to focus on one specific layer of it anyway. It's true that one of these layers in that Sonata is divided into 3s.
) 
