"Formula" to play diffrent genres on midi keyboard-help

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Vilz

New member
I just got myself a midi keyboard and im new to this ****.
I have some knowledge about scales, chords and know somethin about progressions. Starting to learn drum programming.
I know all those music theory sites -those are very helpfull but not enough...
When im ... "playin" keys i cant really come up with good melody.
Can u tell me is there a formula to play piano for
Rock music, Soul , Rnb and pop [im into Hip Hop so anythin related-

For example: how should i play rhytimically ,wich chords should i use(& progressions), wich scales.. .. just some guidelines to get me started ..i know that i wont play like a pro in 1 day but i need some help to get me goin ... im not a quitter.

How should i practice playin ? Just playin scales up&down-u know it gets boring quickly.

I appreciate any help, u kno everybody has to start somewhere..
 
Hi Vilz,

Im don't have a lot of experience in this area as well since im a beginner my self. In my experience i've found it very easy to come up with melodies (well not #1 hitz ) :) when u practice your fav songs. Once you start playing u kinda start to understand patterns and the right feel for each genre. In the middle of a practice session it might come to you. And u start building from there.

I am not talking about copying! I dun know it will just come to you. Sometimes when i try to play by ear i mess up. But it leads to a melody of my own. So i forget about the original song for a while and start building mine.

As i have come to understand some of the most fav songs are just simple melodies. Thats what im trying to do. No complex chord progressoins for the time being. In my opinion if you start thinking about complex stuff and try to do what somebody's doing with a lot of experience in their bag you will get stuck. My theory is start simple and PRACTICING will lead you to more advance stuff..

I think i'll be able to play some good stuff in few months. Even better in a few years. So main thing is keep practising. Thats what im doing and sometimes i am surprised at my self when i come up with something!

Hope this helps...
CHeers
~Z~
 
Thanks for replies.
Ill try to recreate some of the music i like and maybe somthing will come up, i have to train my ear more
 
Try experimenting with stuff based around chords more than scales and it might lead you to find new interesting things. Improvising over different chords allows you to use modes and even other scales in the same piece of music over each chord, potentially creating sophisticated material and allowing you to explore much more. The trick is knowing what mode to improvise over what chord and doing it so the music flows together nicely too. ( Unless you are into whacky Jazz stuff )

For simple, basic stuff, you can pretty much always create a melody from either the major or minor pentatonic as they will usually work all the time but you'll soon get tired of this and how simple they sound.
 
Props for helpin me out.
Ive read that blues is the precusor of all modern music. Would learnin blues help me to come up with nice hip hop melodies?
 
Sort of. Blues led to rock which led to nost modern genres

EDIT: personally to step my melody game up I listen to rock or classical. It also helps to clear your mind or the normal shyt
 
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Vilz said:
I just got myself a midi keyboard and im new to this ****.
I have some knowledge about scales, chords and know somethin about progressions. Starting to learn drum programming.
I know all those music theory sites -those are very helpfull but not enough...
When im ... "playin" keys i cant really come up with good melody.
Can u tell me is there a formula to play piano for
Rock music, Soul , Rnb and pop [im into Hip Hop so anythin related-

For example: how should i play rhytimically ,wich chords should i use(& progressions), wich scales.. .. just some guidelines to get me started ..i know that i wont play like a pro in 1 day but i need some help to get me goin ... im not a quitter.

How should i practice playin ? Just playin scales up&down-u know it gets boring quickly.

I appreciate any help, u kno everybody has to start somewhere..
Click to expand...


Google

"Pop piano book"

it's about 10 years old but goes into great detail the kind of chords that are used and rhythms that are used. You need to be able to read music though. It is not a beginner's book but it is really not a super advanced book neither and does a good job explaining stuff in a simple to understand language.

The first half goes through basic music theory, the second half goes through styles "Slow Rock, Fast Rock, New Age, Slow R&B, Fast R&B, Country, Slow Gospel, and Fast Gospel".

You can buy midi examples for the book to study and practice them.

Sheet music also helps, but unfortunately many great songs don't have sheet music available.

But to really get the chord progressions down in the end comes to learning how to play stuff by ear. A keyboardist should have a good knowledge of theory and also a good ear for figuring out changes, and keys and what not.

But you must absorb yourself in the music
 
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