Piano Licks

J

-Jay-

Guest
I'm not sure where to post this but this is concerning piano licks and improvisation. Now this is sort of hard to explain but I'll try my best.

When I listen to R&B songs such as Justin Timberlake - Still on my Brain I noticed that there are small piano licks in the background. They're usually licks that aren't part of the key but sound perfectly in the song. It just adds to overall ambiance and sound. I just don't know where to start as far as melodies. I've tried a few but they don't work as well as the ones I'm hearing. They sound even too complicated even to try to play it by ear, much like trying to copy live improvisation. I was thinking there might be websites where I might be able to find these licks but all I found were blues improvisation. I know this might seem a bit random, but its something that has really baffled me for many months now. If you guys can help me out and point me in the right direction I'd appreciate it. Thanks.

I also hope you know what I'm talking about lol.

-James
 
You won't find stuff like this on a website. Learn to play an instrument and give arrangements some thorough thinking. Practice, practice, practice.
 
^^^... things like this can't be thought through. You simply have to know how to play the piano, and whenever you feel something, you just record you playing it. That's how the majority of my beats are made... simply by doing what I feel at the moment.
 
Yes they can. If we're talking about complimenting a basic song, there's a whole science to arranging melodies. So if a FP poster thinks a little about what he actually wants acomplish before hitting record, the result will improve. But you still gotta know how to play the piano.
 
-Jay- said:
They're usually licks that aren't part of the key but sound perfectly in the song.
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What makes you think they are "not part of the key"? I'm sure they are in the same key as the song....
 
The tonality is pretty jazzy... isn't not that they are off-key, just using slightly exotic chord extensions and the like.

Try experimenting with pentatonics, the 2 wholetone scales and the Lydian modes and you will get a similar kind of feel. Wiki and Google.
 
PrevisaoDoTempo said:
Yes they can. If we're talking about complimenting a basic song, there's a whole science to arranging melodies. So if a FP poster thinks a little about what he actually wants acomplish before hitting record, the result will improve. But you still gotta know how to play the piano.
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Well it can, but when one's trying to accomplish that feel of the moment, it won't be quite the same. It's like a character in a movie who improvising in their role. Some things are just better when they aren't thought out, and one just lets the heart tell the story. It seems like that's what he's trying to accomplish... making a part of the song that just feels good and nobody knows where that thought came from. Just spur of the moment.
 
music theory is your best buddy. read up on it. play the piano for at least 20 min a day. practice chord progressions. once you know what key and scale you are playing in you can simply ramble through the keys and find something you want to use. if you are good it will sound good and fit to the original melody. if you are not good then:monkey: :( :monkey:
 
Okay I guess you guys didn't understand what I was talking about in the first place. I know how to play the piano.. I've been playing it for thirteen years. I'm talking about the small twinkles in the background, not how to make chord progressions. Its just really small melodies in the background like played in a split second that just adds overall ambiance to a song. I think straypixel knows what I'm talking about.. I think I need to learn the other scale modes for me to play those melodies. Thanks for the help guys appreciate it.
 
ummm.........13 years? you should be telling us what to do.

ok lets see.....how long have you been makin beats? little twinkles should be verry easy at this stage of music. but maby you havnt produced for that long. im use to orchistrating alot of diff melodies so maby i am overthinking it. but them lil diddys should come natural to a piano player.

ps.chord progressions tell you what and what not to play in the song sooo....
 
sellinbeats said:
ummm.........13 years? you should be telling us what to do.

ok lets see.....how long have you been makin beats? little twinkles should be verry easy at this stage of music. but maby you havnt produced for that long. im use to orchistrating alot of diff melodies so maby i am overthinking it. but them lil diddys should come natural to a piano player.

ps.chord progressions tell you what and what not to play in the song sooo....
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I didn't mean to sound arrogant when I said I've been playing for 13 years. I'm a classical player and have only been producing for a year. Its hard for a classical player to go to jazz and hence play those strange melodies. I guess my ear hasn't been trained that well yet. It's not the chord progressions and what scales to play... if you listen to common's new song The People.. there will be a melody played on the piano in the first part of the verse.. It's those small twinkles that I love. It's a really small part of the song but I just think it sounds so soothing. Lol, its quite random but for a pianist like me its so special.
 
Right... I gotcha... sorry if it seemed like an insult to think that you haven't played piano. I understood what you were saying. I just thought that it was an overall "I don't know how to make these sounds actually sound good" type of question. But now that you say that you have an idea of what you're feeling for your beats, and attempt to get them, but you can't seem to get that feel that catches your interest like other songs do. Man.. All I can say is practice and keep on playing with it. You'll find it eventually.
 
i didnt think you sounded arrogant. i just wish i had that exp. but its just a matter of time before you get it. im just wonderin is that common beat all samples? alot of sample based beats have a verry random sequence of clips sometimes which isnt often used in compositions. for me at least.

peace
 
by lil twinkles.. do u mean trills? lol

and yea its all about chord progession.. i kno on the bass/ guitar.. u can play chromatic notes.. and it will sound good even if its not in the same key..

but that all comes natural after awhile.. learn all those big boring scales.. then figure out which notes sound horrible in the key ur playing in and just dont play those notes.. everything else is fair game..

if u play a C minor chord.. i think C, E flat & G.. u can play madddd notes over it.. or lil twinkles like.. B flat, F, D, G sharp... all dat.. its just practice..

but 13 years??.. u should at least have the basic ideas
 
There's a book called "play piano in a flash". It has all kinds of tips for doing filler materials like that. I forget the author's name, but google is good. A book or two on soloing and/or improvising wouldn't hurt either.
 
Darko said:
There's a book called "play piano in a flash". It has all kinds of tips for doing filler materials like that. I forget the author's name, but google is good. A book or two on soloing and/or improvising wouldn't hurt either.
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Thanks man.. I'll definitely check out that book. Do you know where I can get one really cheap? Perhaps I can buy your copy lol? (I'm very cheap) By the way, I like your quote, I am the same way too.
 
hmm yeah i agree. Some of these licks are strictly improv....sometimes they're based off a full or half chord too
 
ok first Justin Timberlake - Still On My Brain, those twinkles are just chimes which is a percussion instrument. Percussion instruments are classified as tuned or untuned. Tuned instruments play specific pitches or notes, just like the woodwind, brass and string instruments. Untuned instruments produce a sound with an indefinite pitch, like the sound of a hand knocking on a door. On Common - The People those are most likey the Rhodes the play a 3 note riff if you want to call it that, which sounds like a sample to me.
 
yea just have to go with your vision and feel for the beat and you got it fam.
 
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