What Is The Difference Between Various Gospel Music Genres?
There is NO one way to describe these different gospel music styles. In fact, they can vary by geographic location and even time period. In the 70’s, if someone came along and changed the way people played “traditional” gospel, musicians may have referred to this new style as “contemporary.” But fast-forward 30 years and now any style “back-in-the-day” is associated with traditional or “old-school.” So again, everything is subjective in gospel music and depends on a number of factors. ….So saying ‘contemporary’ is not synonymous with playing better. Playing ‘urban’ isn’t necessarily a more advanced branch of contemporary music either. It’s all about your preferences. Traditional Gospel In traditional gospel music, you hear a lot of triads and seventh chords (especially the dominant seventh chord). You notice a huge reliance on the primary chords of a scale (the “1,” “4,” and “5” degrees). You play a lot of major, minor, and diminished triads. To some modern musicians, it is a basic s
