Advice On Composing

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IKETURNERMUZIC

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I'm trying to teach myself piano and I have been reading books and trying to make sense of all of the information.I know my scales a lil but how do I put it all together to make melodies.Everything is confusing me, I dont get chord progressions and how to put them together in r & b type of music.example of playing would be bryan michael cox and the track "ride for you" by danity kane".If you have any advice on what I should learn that will help me out with playing and understanding notes, scales, chords & chord progressions
Thanks
JAY
 
T:cheers: ry making up something in the key of Cmajor. play a Cmajor chord(left hand) for four beats(quarter notes) and play up and down the scale(right hand) together. Come up with melodies and harmonies. You can develope your ear by hearing melodies well. All the white keys belong to c major. some simple progressions would be I IV V, I V I, I VI V I. Give those a try in the key of c.
 
i have no idea what u just said lol^

i just play what sounds good, i know a lil bit about scales and chords, but mostly i hear a melody in my head and play it, or just mess around til i hear somethin that sounds dope *shrugs*
 
K first of all u need to understand how scales and melodies relate to each other.

Lets use Cmajor as the scale. To create a melody you would do a key progression only using the keys in Cmajor scale. You can do C E F G- back to C, with what ever rythm you want. I went from 1st note to 3rd note to 4th note to 5th note and reapet. that a very simple melody but it has a very importatn concept when creating melody. Tension and Release is the concept of creating tension so the listener feels uneasy and then releasing tat tension so they feel relieved. The tension that i created in this melody was going higher and higher with notes in the melody, from 1-3-4 and then 5. I then relase the tension by going from 5-1. In the major scales going from the fith note to the 1st note is called perfect candance, which releases all the tension. It is the most perfect tension release you can do. When you go to church and hear then sing they end songs with AAAAAAHHH which create alot of tension and then release that tension with MEEEEEEEEEEEEEN. AMEN is a perfect candance going from 5-AHHH to 1-MEEN. Use this concept to create melody. Just like everything in music this is not a set rule is a guide line.

Now chord progression are related to scales the same way that melody are. On the above melody i will create a chord progression. A chord is the paying of 2 or more keys togerther. When u have a scale u want to write a song to, you can only use the notes in that scale to create the chords for your chords progression. for the above melody i going to create a 3 chords chord progresion.

chord 1 CEG, chord 2 FAC, chord 3 GBD.

Im going to create tension going from chord 1 to chord 2 and releasing wit chord 3 back to chord 1. Agian this is not set in stone you can do whatever u want as far as chords. you can even have a chord with notes that are not in the scales as long as it sounds good who cares.

I suggest you pick up a complete idiot guide to music theory, and a complete idiot guide to music composition. It will help you understand music theory and applying music theory to composition.
 
Good Looking Efd753 That Was Some Good Info You Gave Me On Scales And Melodies.i Went Out And Bought The Complete Idots Guide To Music Theory & Composition.

Im Always Listening To One Of My Favorite Producers Bryan Cox And Trying To Understand His Arrangements.

If You Got Anymore Advice Or Tips Please Post It
 
efd753 said:
K first of all u need to understand how scales and melodies relate to each other.

Lets use Cmajor as the scale. To create a melody you would do a key progression only using the keys in Cmajor scale. You can do C E F G- back to C, with what ever rythm you want. I went from 1st note to 3rd note to 4th note to 5th note and reapet. that a very simple melody but it has a very importatn concept when creating melody. Tension and Release is the concept of creating tension so the listener feels uneasy and then releasing tat tension so they feel relieved. The tension that i created in this melody was going higher and higher with notes in the melody, from 1-3-4 and then 5. I then relase the tension by going from 5-1. In the major scales going from the fith note to the 1st note is called perfect candance, which releases all the tension. It is the most perfect tension release you can do. When you go to church and hear then sing they end songs with AAAAAAHHH which create alot of tension and then release that tension with MEEEEEEEEEEEEEN. AMEN is a perfect candance going from 5-AHHH to 1-MEEN. Use this concept to create melody. Just like everything in music this is not a set rule is a guide line.

Now chord progression are related to scales the same way that melody are. On the above melody i will create a chord progression. A chord is the paying of 2 or more keys togerther. When u have a scale u want to write a song to, you can only use the notes in that scale to create the chords for your chords progression. for the above melody i going to create a 3 chords chord progresion.

chord 1 CEG, chord 2 FAC, chord 3 GBD.

Im going to create tension going from chord 1 to chord 2 and releasing wit chord 3 back to chord 1. Agian this is not set in stone you can do whatever u want as far as chords. you can even have a chord with notes that are not in the scales as long as it sounds good who cares.

I suggest you pick up a complete idiot guide to music theory, and a complete idiot guide to music composition. It will help you understand music theory and applying music theory to composition.
Click to expand...

I learned a lot from that thanks
 
IKETURNERMUZIC said:
I'm trying to teach myself piano and I have been reading books and trying to make sense of all of the information.I know my scales a lil but how do I put it all together to make melodies.Everything is confusing me, I dont get chord progressions and how to put them together in r & b type of music.example of playing would be bryan michael cox and the track "ride for you" by danity kane".If you have any advice on what I should learn that will help me out with playing and understanding notes, scales, chords & chord progressions
Thanks
JAY
Click to expand...
Let me break it down for you lol. First i suggest buying a chord/scale diagram book...it'll make it much easier then goin back and fourth between websites. But when it comes to chords...chords are based on scales. For example...the cmajor chord is built on the 1st note...3rd note..and 5th note of the cmajor scale. The cmajor scale is C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C (only reason i'm using cmajor as an example is because its proabably the easiest scale to learn and the one most people start with).

When your composing in this scale you can find the chords that fall within this scale by just looking at the notes of that scale and figuring what the chord is for the corresponding scale. The chords in a major scale follow a certain pattern. I-ii-iii-IV-V-vi (the lower case dennotes a minor chord). So in other words d minor is gonna be the second chord in the c major scale (because its the second note in the scale and lowercase). And if you got a scale diagram booklet you'll see the notes in the d minor chord are the 1st note..3rd note..and 5th note in the dminor scale.

I'll tell you right now these aren't strick rules but I would use them when starting out. Of course if an out of scale note or chord sounds good in a melody or progression...then use it. Another side note...the only difference between a major scale and a minor scale (natural minor) is that the third...6th and 7th is lowered a half step. For exapmle C-D-E-F-G-A-B (c major) turns into C-D-Eb-F-G-Ab-Bb (c minor).

I know thats alot to take in at once but I'll add more later if you got anymore questions.
 
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SoulBoy said:
Let me break it down for you lol. First i suggest buying a chord/scale diagram book...it'll make it much easier then goin back and fourth between websites. But when it comes to chords...chords are based on scales. For example...the cmajor chord is built on the 1st note...3rd note..and 5th note of the cmajor scale. The cmajor scale is C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C (only reason i'm using cmajor as an example is because its proabably the easiest scale to learn and the one most people start with).

When your composing in this scale you can find the chords that fall within this scale by just looking at the notes of that scale and figuring what the chord is for the corresponding scale. The chords in a major scale follow a certain pattern. I-ii-iii-IV-V-vi (the lower case dennotes a minor chord). So in other words d minor is gonna be the second chord in the c major scale (because its the second note in the scale and lowercase). And if you got a scale diagram booklet you'll see the notes in the d minor chord are the 1st note..3rd note..and 5th note in the dminor scale.

I'll tell you right now these aren't strick rules but I would use them when starting out. Of course if an out of scale note or chord sounds good in a melody or progression...then use it. Another side note...the only difference between a major scale and a minor scale (natural minor) is that the third...6th and 7th is lowered a half step. For exapmle C-D-E-F-G-A-B (c major) turns into C-D-Eb-F-G-Ab-Bb (c minor).

I know thats alot to take in at once but I'll add more later if you got anymore questions.
Click to expand...


Good looking on the info.Ive been writing down everything and trying to apply it my keyboard.I got a couple of books & articles on scales and chords and I plan on taking piano lessons really soon just as a foundation.If you have anything else that my help me out please post it.

One more question how long did it take you to learn keys really good? From all this information and reading it seems like its going to take forever before I can do like a B.Cox or Scott Storch piano riff.I know practice is everything but its alot to learn.
 
efd753 said:
When you go to church and hear then sing they end songs with AAAAAAHHH which create alot of tension and then release that tension with MEEEEEEEEEEEEEN. AMEN is a perfect candance going from 5-AHHH to 1-MEEN. Use this concept to create melody. Just like everything in music this is not a set rule is a guide line.
Click to expand...
Actually, the "Amen" cadence is a plagal cadence... IV - I. ;)
 
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efd753 said:
Thxs for correcting me on that. I thought it was perfect cadence V-I.
Click to expand...

Oftentimes pieces of this nature will include a very strong V-I *towards* but then be followed by a "weaker" IV-I *at* the end. This rule is not steadfast by any means, so I'm absolutely certain that "Amen" has been sung V-I. It's just that in general terms, the "Amen" cadence is IV-I. :)
 
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