to all producers,what is the scale you most use for?

[TDOT]

Hey Tdot, I just let my imagination flow and hum some random melody. When I stumble on some good melody that I like I quickly put it to fl studio piano roll, and than look at the notes and see which scale uses those notes. I'm not that good to tell by ear on what scale a specific melody is on, so I need to analyse. It helps greatly if you have all the scales with its chords written on the paper!
Oh and try humming some known melodies and just improvise on that. Just hum the exact melody of eg. timbaland and go off the track and start improvising. That way you can find some great melodies! And it's not plagiarism! It also helps on improvising the melodies.

Hope it helped

Alright cool thank, I've tried humming to come up with melodies but I find that I only come with good melodies being hummer when I'm not consciously trying to do anything special.
When I try and and hum a melody it's over thought it doesn't work for me. I would try that though, and sometimes the melodies I do hum or to hard for me to put on the keyboard and play it.

[Pumpthrust]

Alright cool thank, I've tried humming to come up with melodies but I find that I only come with good melodies being hummer when I'm not consciously trying to do anything special.
When I try and and hum a melody it's over thought it doesn't work for me. I would try that though, and sometimes the melodies I do hum or to hard for me to put on the keyboard and play it.

That's a part of ear training, though. Don't overthink it....just record yourself humming a short four note melody and practice finding those pitches on your piano. In the beginning, its gonna seem difficult, but with consistent practice, you'll be able to transcribe melodies in no time. Remember---music theory doesn't make the music for you, its there to explain the music you made. Practicing humming melodies is hard work, but its the only way you'll get better. Making melodies ain't rocket science, if you can hum, you can make a melody. This was how most musicians who didn't know theory were able to express themselves on their instruments and learn songs by ear.

The only time I ever really think about scales is when i'm practicing improvisation. There are some really great software and resources that will teach you how to use scales in this context. I would also recommend learning arpeggios and chord construction since alot of times, the melody you're hearing is really nothing more than chord tones. For a good sense of this, try listening to some jazz tunes-specifically some Miles Davis and Grant Green and listening to how they solo over chords.

Here are some things you can download that will help put this in perspective for you.

http://www.johnhorneguitar.com/pdf/J...z-Handbook.pdf

Chord/Scale Chart | The Outside Shore
^^I recommend reading the whole book, though. Its worth it.

Another thing, do you have a keyboard or guitar handy for practicing the stuff you're learning?
Just reading this stuff from a book won't help you learn it---you have to be able to hear and apply it. Just "knowing" it is useless if you can't manifest it musically.

[skerrick]

what is the key you most use for?
1.hip hop
2.rnb
3.pop

i am just trying to get some info coz for sometime i have been stuck using the C scale and the Eb scale sometimes the Bb also.

Holy shit dude, wait till you work out/discover D. man. D is where its at.

[Pumpthrust]

Holy shit dude, wait till you work out/discover D. man. D is where its at.

D what?
D major, D minor, D mixolydian? LOL

[skerrick]

That's a part of ear training, though. Don't overthink it....just record yourself humming a short four note melody and practice finding those pitches on your piano. In the beginning, its gonna seem difficult, but with consistent practice, you'll be able to transcribe melodies in no time. Remember---music theory doesn't make the music for you, its there to explain the music you made. Practicing humming melodies is hard work, but its the only way you'll get better. Making melodies ain't rocket science, if you can hum, you can make a melody. This was how most musicians who didn't know theory were able to express themselves on their instruments and learn songs by ear.

The only time I ever really think about scales is when i'm practicing improvisation. There are some really great software and resources that will teach you how to use scales in this context. I would also recommend learning arpeggios and chord construction since alot of times, the melody you're hearing is really nothing more than chord tones. For a good sense of this, try listening to some jazz tunes-specifically some Miles Davis and Grant Green and listening to how they solo over chords.


Another thing, do you have a keyboard or guitar handy for practicing the stuff you're learning?
Just reading this stuff from a book won't help you learn it---you have to be able to hear and apply it. Just "knowing" it is useless if you can't manifest it musically.

if i was you i wouldnt be trying to replicate yourself humming rhythms. if you dont have perfect pitch and if your musical skill is limited/youre self taught, YOURE GONNA HAVE A BAD TIME!
haha just jam out on the keys and youlld find little patterns and combinations you can use. just jam out man, if youre humming rhythms and trying to replicate them and youre not a trained musician/ you dont have perfect pitch you might as well be punching a brick wall for the lulz.
just jam it out, cant emphasise enough. find one key, then find another that sounds good with it, keep doing this till you have 4 or 5 keys that sound good together, and play them randomly in patterns. youll work out melodies in no time man. its all about finding patterns on the keyboard amongst the keys.. play the same thing an octave above, or play it across two octaves using the same keys in both octaves, get experimental. youll pick it up in no time. download a piano chord app on your phone, basically any chord is a combination of notes, that all work together. so if youre playing a chord, you can play all the keys in the chord separately and make a tune out of them, and then layer the chord over the top for more harmony.. i hope im making sense. just get experimental.

---------- Post added at 05:47 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:42 PM ----------

D what?
D major, D minor, D mixolydian? LOL

D mixolydian? im not familiar with this... not sure if...
anyway..

i start on the note 'D' (between the two black keys (for anyone uneducated youll see theres 2 black keys next to 3 black keys in every octave, and 7 white keys) and as long as you finish a little riff/melody with the same D key between the two black ones (octave doesnt matter)
you can play any of the white keys at all, just no blacks.. hit the D then have a jam for like 6 or 7 notes and then finish/start the loop again with another D.
im self taught so thats as in depth as it gets for me really hahaha!

[JGrisly]

I just want to point out that there is about 20 some odd scales for any given note that you could name from A-G#. You can build the same roman numeral chord progression (i.e- I-IV-V, ii-V-I) from each scale and they will all sound different because the intervals within the scales are all different. Simply saying C scale or Bb scale isn't really describing a scale but rather a note. C Dorian, C bebop, C melodic minor, C Phrygian are all "C" scales and all have a unique vibe. Also, A minor is the relative key of C major and contain all of the same notes, but resolve to a different tonic. This means You could have a verse that is in A minor and a chorus in C major and it will not sound "off". Every scale has it relative major/minor and is a rather fun thing to explore....

[skerrick]

I just want to point out that there is about 20 some odd scales for any given note that you could name from A-G#. You can build the same roman numeral chord progression (i.e- I-IV-V, ii-V-I) from each scale and they will all sound different because the intervals within the scales are all different. Simply saying C scale or Bb scale isn't really describing a scale but rather a note. C Dorian, C bebop, C melodic minor, C Phrygian are all "C" scales and all have a unique vibe. Also, A minor is the relative key of C major and contain all of the same notes, but resolve to a different tonic. This means You could have a verse that is in A minor and a chorus in C major and it will not sound "off". Every scale has it relative major/minor and is a rather fun thing to explore....

^ thats genuinely interesting man, imma look into this. cheers dude.

[Pumpthrust]

if i was you i wouldnt be trying to replicate yourself humming rhythms. if you dont have perfect pitch and if your musical skill is limited/youre self taught, YOURE GONNA HAVE A BAD TIME!
haha just jam out on the keys and youlld find little patterns and combinations you can use. just jam out man, if youre humming rhythms and trying to replicate them and youre not a trained musician/ you dont have perfect pitch you might as well be punching a brick wall for the lulz.

How? Any pitch that you could hum is generally laid out right there in front of you. You don't know what you're talking about. You don't need to be a "trained musician" to practice ear training, who told you that? All of the pitches you could possibly hum are right there in front of you on the keybed. Just practicing for 30 minutes a day transcribing your own singing will allow you to eventually play anything you hear by ear...how is that bad?

[skerrick]

How? Any pitch that you could hum is generally laid out right there in front of you. You don't know what you're talking about. You don't need to be a "trained musician" to practice ear training, who told you that? All of the pitches you could possibly hum are right there in front of you on the keybed. Just practicing for 30 minutes a day transcribing your own singing will allow you to eventually play anything you hear by ear...how is that bad?

*whoooosh* thats the sound of what i was saying flying right over your head.
its not bad at all, its just another method, there are no rules really, besides some basic musical theory do's and donts..

by all means, train yourself and write music by humming tunes etc if that works for you, im just saying its easier IMHO just playing around with the keys and stumbling upon melodies from having a jam within a musical scale.. if this guy like coming up with his melodies that way, then good luck to him, ive been producing for about 3 years and im completely self taught and thats just how i found my footing.
personally, my process revolves around concentrating first on making as close to a flawless beat as i can, completing it from start to finish, and making sure it flows nicely and THEN i jam out a bassline, and when im happy with that i then just jam various synths over the top till ive found something i like that fits the beat. using this process i can finish a tune in as little as an hour or two. but thats just my workflow.

but yeah man, i have NO idea what im talking about - i mean, just listen to my tunes, theyre shocking, they lack skill and technicality on all fronts.
soundcloud.com/skerrick
peace.