Playing Piano By Ear? Does It help with Creating Your own melodies?

I

IKETURNERMUZIC

Guest
I've seen the many books and programs on the internet saying they'll teach you piano by ear in 12 weeks. Basically you'll be learning how to play popular songs, but how is this going to help me with playing and getting the melodies out of my head and applying them to the keyboard.I'm a beginner on the keys and Im trying to create my own sound as far as producing and i'm tired of sampling.I have a music theory & scale/chord book that I'm learning so Im taking the beginner steps.

I really need the advice of everybody that has been in my shoes,trying to learn the basics.Would learning to play by ear benefit me in learning to create my own arrangements.What would you suggest for someone struggling with learning keys?

All advice is welcome and appreciated

Jay
 
I don't play the piano but I've been playing guitar for 3 years. I learned to play by learning popular songs. Playing popular songs or songs you like will help with your ear.

The whole trick behind it is that the more you play and practice your scales, your ear will pick up and recognize notes and chords. A lot of pop songs use the same chord progressions. They just arrange it different, invert chords, or add something to make the song sound unique. So eventually your ear will get trained to where you will have a melody in your head that has a similar chord progresssion as a pop song you know and it will help you find it and put it down on the keys faster.

You don't have to play by ear to write your own melodies but the better your ear is with your instrument, the easier it will be. Listen to a lot of music to where you can hum melodies to songs without hearing them. I realized there are a lot of music lovers that can't even sing their favorite song in the right key lol. Humming a melody on key with the music is good for starters.
 
Definitely, humming or singing the interval jumps will help your ear to recognise them when they crop up in tunes. One of the first things I used to do when practicing was playing and singing along with all the intervals. You'll find this will help you get those sounds out of your head and into your fingers.

I think a good amount of theory really helps too, it ties things in together, so work through your music theory books too. There's no easy way, the more you practice, the better you'll get, good luck.
 
I have taught myself many scales, scales are great for melodies because you will already know what will fit and what will sound off. Im tryin to create R&B tracks but the thing that messes me up are the chords. I dont know any progressions at all.
 
Well if you know the major scales, then you know the diatonic chords (ie chords belonging to that key) in terms of major scale harmony, just build up the chords on every other note. quick example, say c major scale = CDEFGABC. Every other note gives you the first root chord: I = C,E,G,B (that's CMaj7). Starting on the second gives you II = D,F,A,C (Dmin7). etc. Once you've figured out the rest of them, just try moving from one chord to another, there are certain strong chord progressions or cadences, such as from the V to I.

But really most of the sound of these progressions come from their voicings (in what "order" the notes are played). For example, a nice voicing of the Dmin7th chord is LH: E,A - RH: C, F, A. This is a rootless voicing (quite often if the bass is playing the root, you can voice chords over it that don't involve the root note at all).
 
playing guitar or piano along with popular music is an EXCELLENT way to learn the interactions of the chords. When i'm playing a new song, my hands just kinda GO to the right chords. i can just feel it. it's not that mystical either. you begin to hear the relationship between a IV and an V and the root. then you pick up the minor lift, and then you start adding 2m, 3m etc. it's fun.

the more you play, the more you feel it. don't buy into a "learn in 12 weeks program." cause nothing can replace you playing music you LIKE. Just stick to that and it will come over time. there are no shortcuts.
 
I can play by ear partially. It helps because I get an idea for a melody or harmony in my head and I can play it on my keyboard. When I make mistakes, I'm able to get back on track quickly and find the correct notes without getting lost.

If that 12 week program isn't too expensive and if it really works then I'd say it's worth it. However, the way I learned to play by ear was by listening to songs I liked and then figuring out how to play parts of them on the piano. Learning music theory also helped out because it gives you the tools to make educated guesses about what types of chord changes or changes in melodic interval (how high up or down) are happening.
 
IKETURNERMUZIC said:
I've seen the many books and programs on the internet saying they'll teach you piano by ear in 12 weeks. Basically you'll be learning how to play popular songs, but how is this going to help me with playing and getting the melodies out of my head and applying them to the keyboard.I'm a beginner on the keys and Im trying to create my own sound as far as producing and i'm tired of sampling.I have a music theory & scale/chord book that I'm learning so Im taking the beginner steps.

I really need the advice of everybody that has been in my shoes,trying to learn the basics.Would learning to play by ear benefit me in learning to create my own arrangements.What would you suggest for someone struggling with learning keys?

All advice is welcome and appreciated

Jay
Click to expand...


Playing by ear is the best possible thing you can do in order to be able to come up with your own compositions.
I know this from personal experience 'cause I've been playing by ear all my life and became fairly acomplished at a young age.
And think about it; to play by ear simply means to be able to play what you hear without having to sight-read sheet music. There's no sheet-music for what's in your head, right? If you can hear the music- and translate that to your fingers - whether it's on the radio or in your head then you're a step ahead of a lot of people.
Being able to hear music in that way is also advantageous because you'll tend to have more insight than average into what actually goes into making a song.
To be honest, I'm a little skeptical about someone who says they can teach it to you in 12 weeks but, regardless, my advice would be to put in the time however long it takes. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain.:cheers:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top