AnimeSuki Forum - View Single Post - What makes Japanese music different from American music? (specifically, rock)

yuutokun · 2012-03-01, 14:18

Surprised no one got into this but Im in a Japanese band so ive been delving into this issue alot lately. One major component of the jpop sound is the chord progression it uses. Particularly the IV7　V７　IIIｍ７　IVｍ pattern which is used in some form in over half of jpop/jrock songs. Especially in the choruses.

Go ahead, listen to all the jpop and jrock hits you know and you'll find it everywhere.
This comes from 80s eurobeat hence the 80s flair that people talk about.
Western songs such as Rick Astley Together Forever and Bananaramas Cruel Summer use it among others.

A more modern example would be Girls Not Grey by AFI (A song I really liked due to its similarity to jrock. Go figure)
There are other common progressions such as a special anime progression along with one developed by Komuro Testsuro from TM Network which is used in alot of 90s music and has a disco flair.
And of course there is good ole Canon such as Sakuranbo by Otsukai Ai among many others.

Other than the progressions I think as someone mentioned the syllables make the melodies slightly different as well as the fact that japanese sing in pure vowels to the notes. So the singing comes off more as a piano would. In natural English its really hard to sing like this.

Im sure theres more that I havent explored but this is what Ive noticed thus far.
　

2012-03-01, 14:18	Link #59
yuutokun Junior Member Join Date: Mar 2012	This will point you in the right direction Surprised no one got into this but Im in a Japanese band so ive been delving into this issue alot lately. One major component of the jpop sound is the chord progression it uses. Particularly the IV7　V７　IIIｍ７　IVｍ pattern which is used in some form in over half of jpop/jrock songs. Especially in the choruses. Go ahead, listen to all the jpop and jrock hits you know and you'll find it everywhere. This comes from 80s eurobeat hence the 80s flair that people talk about. Western songs such as Rick Astley Together Forever and Bananaramas Cruel Summer use it among others. A more modern example would be Girls Not Grey by AFI (A song I really liked due to its similarity to jrock. Go figure) There are other common progressions such as a special anime progression along with one developed by Komuro Testsuro from TM Network which is used in alot of 90s music and has a disco flair. And of course there is good ole Canon such as Sakuranbo by Otsukai Ai among many others. Other than the progressions I think as someone mentioned the syllables make the melodies slightly different as well as the fact that japanese sing in pure vowels to the notes. So the singing comes off more as a piano would. In natural English its really hard to sing like this. Im sure theres more that I havent explored but this is what Ive noticed thus far.