What is Contrafactal?
“Good artists copy, Great artists steal”. The history of music is a history of theft and imitation, marked by bold acts of creative interpretation. As songwriters and musicians, we teeter on a fine line between novelty and familiarity each time we take inspiration from existing music to create something new, whether it’s a composition, cover performance, or guitar solo.
But when we sit down to write a song or solo over a chorus, what exactly are we copying? What tangible aspect from the source are we stealing? Musical theft has it currency and vocabulary in a shared set of musical elements - harmony, melody, rhythm, form, dynamics, tonality, texture, timbre.
Contrafactal explores these musical elements - also known as music theory - by breaking down great songs. Armed with a trusty guitar, we’ll learn how to play iconic songs from pop, rock, folk & jazz history, complete with chord diagrams, tablature and step-by-step instruction. And while we’re at it, we’ll take a peek into the songwriter’s creative process by examining their musical sources of inspiration, and explore the role of theft and imitation in their songwriting and style.
As for the name of this newsletter? A contrafact is a musical composition in which a new melody is created over a pre-existing harmonic structure or chord progression. Essentially, it involves taking an existing piece of music, typically a well-known tune or chord progression, and writing a new melody to fit those chords. Often used in jazz and other improvisational genres of music, contrafacts enable musicians to explore and reinterpret existing music while showcasing their own musical ideas and improvisational skills.
Popular music is contrafactal. My goal with this newsletter is to compile a field guide of musical elements that weave through the songs we love. Whether you’re a practitioner or just an observer, my hope is that Contrafactal will enrich your appreciation of music, provide vocabulary and concepts for your musical journey, and - most importantly - convey the joy that is music’s mystery and magic.
