Justin Timberlake's "Rock Your Body"

[ElectroVibe]

To the music theorists, why does this combination of melody and harmony sound so strange on this song? It's like they don't fit. If I just heard the melody it would sound normal. So would the backing track by itself. But it sounds like they don't really match together.
Still, I love the song.

 

[EarnestTBass]

If I hear it correctly, the main chord progression is:

| F/G G/A | Em |

It might be difficult for others to guess what you might think sounds "so strange". Individual tastes and perceptions are different, and all equally valid. I would guess that you are hearing a dissonance that is created by the inversions. In addition, the Em implies (to my ear) the key signature of G, the F natural would then be a repeating accidental.

On your bass - instead of playing: | G A | E | play the roots: |F G | E | and hear the difference inversions make.

I defer to actual, qualified, music theorists who may have further comments.

 

[ElectroVibe]

If I hear it correctly, the main chord progression is:

| F/G G/A | Em |

It might be difficult for others to guess what you might think sounds "so strange". Individual tastes and perceptions are different, and all equally valid. I would guess that you are hearing a dissonance that is created by the inversions. In addition, the Em implies (to my ear) the key signature of G, the F natural would then be a repeating accidental.

On your bass - instead of playing: | G A | E | play the roots: |F G | E | and hear the difference inversions make.

I defer to actual, qualified, music theorists who may have further comments.

Thanks. That sounds like the right chords. I've just never heard them in that kind of progression before. At least not in pop music on the radio.

 

[ElectroVibe]

I just heard this driving home from work. This time on the radio, it sounded like the BASS was out of place. Like the man is trying too hard to pull a reluctant woman, which is sort of what the song is about. But then I played the chords both ways on my acoustic, and it sounded nothing like that. A truly mysterious song.

 

[EarnestTBass]

When you play the inversion on an acoustic six string guitar, you are playing the chord tones with less spacing. Instead of F/G, it might sound more like a muddy F add9 when there is less space between the chord tones. The bass line is better defined when it sits at least an octave lower that the rest of the chord tones.

Maybe you were on to something when you noted that the bass, (not the guitar or keys) is out of place. Maybe the unsettled effect is achieved when the band is playing the major chords and the bass guitar -alone- is playing the inversions, AND- the bass line is separated from the other voices by at least an octave.

But then again, I am not a music theorist. I have a lot yet to learn. Someone else may have a better understanding, and better answer for you.

 

[ElectroVibe]

Yes, there's probably a lot to that. Without the electric bass guitar it doesn't really have the same power. But normally, an acoustic guitar or piano, playing the bass as the lowest note, will create that chord alone rather than sounding like an add9 chord.

But I agree with you on this song. It's not as conventional. It wouldn't really work with just an acoustic instrument, even though my mind can usually "fill in" what's missing if I'm playing a song by myself without an audience. It would need to be reworked from scratch into something slightly different.