melody crash course for beggginners
- Thread starter MFCS
- Start date
bandcoach
Zukatoku - Mod Scientist
It is dangerous to say you are dealing in practicalities not theory and then rely on wikipedia to give you two fundamental definitions of what music theory is all about: Scales and Chords.
Within the wikipedia community there is an ongoing debate about whether to recognise diads (two note intervals) as chords or implied chords, this is because in the pre 20th century theory sense, you only needed two notes to determine a chord in use. Unfortunately, there is a lot of 20th and post-Romantic period theory that insists that you need three notes to determine a chords name and quality and more than 3 for any other type of chord.
A diad can be part of at least two chords (triads) and can be a part of at least three 7th and 6th chords, and as such we usually say that a diad implies a chord but is not of itself a chord.....
A chord requires three different notes to actually sound as a specific chord.
For example
In the C major scale C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C, the notes C-E are found in the following triads and tetrads:
If we extend our chords up to five notes (9ths, 6/9) we get the following chords using these two notes
Other chords within C major that can contain these two notes are
As for this being a crash course, I agree. The people who look at this and try to follow it, will most likely crash and burn, rather than thrive and prosper, as you have failed to provide any telling ideas on how to construct a melody.
I have written about this at length here on fp, so suggest only that you search for basic ideas of direction and repetition....
Within the wikipedia community there is an ongoing debate about whether to recognise diads (two note intervals) as chords or implied chords, this is because in the pre 20th century theory sense, you only needed two notes to determine a chord in use. Unfortunately, there is a lot of 20th and post-Romantic period theory that insists that you need three notes to determine a chords name and quality and more than 3 for any other type of chord.
A diad can be part of at least two chords (triads) and can be a part of at least three 7th and 6th chords, and as such we usually say that a diad implies a chord but is not of itself a chord.....
A chord requires three different notes to actually sound as a specific chord.
For example
In the C major scale C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C, the notes C-E are found in the following triads and tetrads:
| Triads | Notes | 7 ths | Notes | 6ths | Notes |
| C major | C-E-G | C[sup]maj7[/sup] | C-E-G-B | C[sup]6[/sup] | C-E-G-A |
| A minor | A-C-E | Am[sup]7[/sup] | A-C-E-G | Am[sup]6[/sup] | A-C-E-F |
| - | - | F[sup]maj7[/sup] | F-A-C-E | Em[sup]6[/sup] | E-G-B-C |
If we extend our chords up to five notes (9ths, 6/9) we get the following chords using these two notes
| 9ths | Notes |
| C[sup]maj9[/sup] | C-E-G-B-D |
| F[sup]maj9[/sup] | F-A-C-E-G |
| Am[sup]9[/sup] | A-C-E-G-B |
| Dm[sup]9[/sup] | D-F-A-C-E |
| C[sup][sup]6[/sup]/[sub]9[/sub][/sup] | C-E-G-A-D |
| Am[sup][sup]6[/sup]/[sub]9[/sub][/sup] | A-C-E-F-B |
Other chords within C major that can contain these two notes are
| Chord name | Notes |
| Em[sup]13[/sup] | E-G-B-D-F-A-C |
| G[sup]13[/sup] | G-B-D-F-A-C-E |
| Bm[sup]7b5b911b13[/sup] or C[sub]/Bm[sup]7b5[/sup][/sub] | B-D-F-A-C-E-G |
As for this being a crash course, I agree. The people who look at this and try to follow it, will most likely crash and burn, rather than thrive and prosper, as you have failed to provide any telling ideas on how to construct a melody.
I have written about this at length here on fp, so suggest only that you search for basic ideas of direction and repetition....
Last edited:
kebeats
New member
Lmao. I'm bouta check it out now.. Wish me luck!
---------- Post added at 07:50 AM ---------- Previous post was at 07:38 AM ----------
Are you promoting some kind of files? Words of advice, because I see alot of videos like this where the people teaching hardly know how to use the program theirself. Idk why you've made those files first off, you can simply right click the pencil tool & the menu to pick any chord/scale will easily pop up. I don't use it although I'm aware of it, & when you bring that menu up you'll see the shortcut to easily turn off whichever one you selected, or you can almost just as easily right click the pencil tool again & select none, which is where you'd see the shortcut to right of it anyway. Also I see everyone copying & pasting, press Ctrl + B & it'll clone your midi data, all if none highlighted. Ctrl + Up/Down will move all your data, if none selected, an octave up/down suprisingly.
You mentioned ghost notes, if this is truly geared towards beginners, I guarantee most have no idea where to actually enable this option. I'm pretty sure it's under Helpers in the Piano Roll options. As far as the chords go, the fact you didn't mention inversions at all says alot. I could say alot more as far as the shortcuts go, but I'm obviously aware that many people aren't as in tune with their DAW as me. Simply put, you should really consider going back to the drawing board. I totally agree with BandCoach's statement. I won't lie & act like I didn't learn anything. The emphasis of ending on the tonic was good enough for me.
MFCS
New member
yeah I probably should've added a different source for reference... first off I appreciate you taking the time to watch and review my video. Also thank you for posting music theory stuff its always helpful for people to run into this stuff; however, with this vid I was trying to avoid all that technical stuff.. my main goal was to show ABSOLUTE newcomers that:
-FLStudio provides reference scales for you to use
-Scale chosen affects the mood of your beat
- Chords can be formed from the notes on the scale
If you think anything I say in there is misleading feel free to correct me in the comments, so that newbies can get the right information.
bandcoach
Zukatoku - Mod Scientist
Agreed, ke, but finishing on the tonic is a very small idea in the grand scheme of composing melodies, mainly because for every time that you do finish on the tonic, there will be at least 10 times that you don't need to, mainly because the finishing chord does not contain the tonic.
Classical melodic construction insists that you vary your end of phrase note from the tonic to the supertonic to the leading tone to the dominant to the tonic or any other note that is appropriate for the chord progression in use...
in C major these would be C-D-B-G-C.
In addition to the tonic note against the tonic chord you can also have the mediant and dominant
Language Lesson
Arranging the major scale so that we can see the impact of these names on note position
Classical melodic construction insists that you vary your end of phrase note from the tonic to the supertonic to the leading tone to the dominant to the tonic or any other note that is appropriate for the chord progression in use...
in C major these would be C-D-B-G-C.
In addition to the tonic note against the tonic chord you can also have the mediant and dominant
Language Lesson
| Word | Meaning | In C major |
| Tonic | The home note | C |
| Super-Tonic | The note immediately above the tonic | D |
| Mediant | The note half-way between the Tonic and the Dominant | E |
| Sub-Dominant | The under dominant, the note 5 tones below the tonic | F |
| Dominant | The note 5 tones above the tonic | G |
| Sub-Mediant | The note half way between the Tonic and the Sub-Dominant | A |
| Leading Tone | The note immediately below the Tonic | B |
Arranging the major scale so that we can see the impact of these names on note position
| Sub-Dominant | - | Sub-Mediant | Leading Tone | Tonic | Super-Tonic | Mediant | - | Dominant |
| F | G | A | B | C | D | E | F | G |
| 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
MFCS
New member
Hi I'm not promoting anything, those files are actually native to Fl Studio... as far as right-clicking the pencil I think I ran into that a long time ago and completely forgot, thanks for bringing it up! I don't see any issues with using or not using shortcuts in these kind of videos. If I wanted to teach shortcuts I would make a separate video all together related to that.
I'm glad you learned something at all, and as far as inversions that is just another concept I wasn't going to cover EVERYTHING.
thanks for the constructive criticism and I am aware that there is a lot more things I can teach, should I take it down and re-upload with more information?
bandcoach
Zukatoku - Mod Scientist
I'd redo it so that you avoid basic mistakes as already mentioned.
Also show the shortcuts and the location of the actions in the menu - this is a good way to get people knowing what you already know.
The first thing that you learn as a teacher is that if you don't understand how something works, you need to learn it first to teach it to someone else.
Additionally, the best way to know that you know something is to teach it to someone else, only then do you understand the tricks, the catches and the real meaning of what it is you know....
Also show the shortcuts and the location of the actions in the menu - this is a good way to get people knowing what you already know.
The first thing that you learn as a teacher is that if you don't understand how something works, you need to learn it first to teach it to someone else.
Additionally, the best way to know that you know something is to teach it to someone else, only then do you understand the tricks, the catches and the real meaning of what it is you know....
mwandishi
New member
These discussions are so useful to me. I knew what the tonic, dominant & subdominant notes were, but the rest of these terms were new to me. Thanks bc! Does this terminology hold true fore all major scales?
To mfcs, thanks for the effort. Maybe a few a caveats next time, in terms of basic suggestions, will prevent certain responses.
kebeats
New member
Hi I'm not promoting anything, those files are actually native to Fl Studio... as far as right-clicking the pencil I think I ran into that a long time ago and completely forgot, thanks for bringing it up! I don't see any issues with using or not using shortcuts in these kind of videos. If I wanted to teach shortcuts I would make a separate video all together related to that.
I'm glad you learned something at all, and as far as inversions that is just another concept I wasn't going to cover EVERYTHING.
No problem. If you'd like too. All I ask is that you put more effort into it, as far as planning goes, for every video. Kinda outline sketch what you're gonna do. Seems like you did, but all in your head, & it shows. It's just the information is rendered useless w/out some sorta basic foundation. Pen & paper should do my frend. Glad ta see you're helping just ta help though, I thought you were tryna sell those files or something at first. Lmao #1 reason I see ppl make poor videos just tryna get money. We need as many ppl puttin quality info out there as we can.