Zaytoven Piano

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daviddavid123

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Hello everybody! I know theory a little bit but my piano playing could use serious improvement. Could anyone with a good amount of piano experience check out this video




And give me some advice for getting a melody like that main piano. I mostly program all my melodies as opposed to recording live. Is it like a few chords going through a progression with a lot of "decorative" notes around? Or what?
 
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Sounds to me like they're going through a few different scales like you would in a jazz solo: there's a blues scale in there at some point, maybe some arpeggios, major scale. Nothing really odd, but a couple of different related scales. It also seems quite 'horizontal' not 'vertical'. Horizontal is where you choose a scale or two that fit and play those scales throughout ignoring the chords, vertical is where you stick very closely to the notes in the chords and follow them.

You could assign a progression, but I don't think he's thinking about it that way.
 
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in the intro there is definitely a chord progression based on iv-i sounds like Cm7-Gm7 to me

this progression continues throughout

scale sound like C Dorian blues: a composite of the Dorian mode on C (C-D-Eb-F-G-A-Bb-C) with the blues scales on C (C-Eb-F-F#-G-Bb-C) - C-D-Eb-F-F#-G-A-Bb-C
 
Ok thanks guys. Here's a follow up question. What specifically should I be practicing on the piano to get to the level of being able to make a melody like that,
 
daviddavid123 said:
Ok thanks guys. Here's a follow up question. What specifically should I be practicing on the piano to get to the level of being able to make a melody like that,
Click to expand...

Hey bro, you'll want to practice scales, specifically the notes that Bandcoach posted would be a great start for what you are trying to do. I highly recommened starting with the basics though so you don't have any real gaps in your playing ability. But, if you're just trying to accomplish this stuff and don't want to learn the basics, just know that all of the stuff you like comes from a scale and you can break it down just like Bandcoach did. I think I heard a part in the song where the melody was actually just coming straight down the scale. For example, that would be C, Bb, A, G or a variation of that. (I just used those notes as example). Coming up with melodies like the one in the song is probably not that far out of reach for you bro! :)

Also, scales may seem boring at first, but they are definitely NEEDED!!! Most songs use very simple melodies that you can easily detect and already know how to play from listening sometimes! Idk if I worded that right lol But, for example, I play keys in churches and gigs and when I'm learning a song or even just casually listening, my ear will pick up stuff and already know how to play some of the song I'm listening to based on common patterns and scales! Again, that may sound confusing or out of reach but its really not! Be blessed man.
 
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Thanks bro this is very helpful. I've actually been practicing my scales using circle of fifths for a few months now and I'm at the point I can go through any scale just by the memory in my hands alone (if that makes sense) and agree 100% scales help so much. I just get intimidated when melodies are so fast and well layered lol but your right it's probably closer than i even know, thanks for your help and inspiring words
 
the idea is to not only practice scales but variations on those scales, both in terms of rhythmic ideas and interval ideas as well as a range of tempi (the plural of tempo). You should also practice with either hand. The examples given below cover a single octave of the scale from above - you can extend these to two or three octaves as you wish

e.g.

interval variations
straight up down
C-D-Eb-F-F#-G-A-Bb-C-Bb-A-G-Gb-F-Eb-D-C - note that Gb=F# going up it is F# going down it is Gb
in ascending 3rds
C-Eb-D-F-Eb-F#-F-G-F#-A-G-Bb-A-C-Bb-D-C-D-Bb-C-A-Bb-G-A-F#-G-F-F#-Eb-F-D-Eb-C-D-Bb-C
in ascending 4ths
C-F-D-F#-Eb-G-F-A-F#-Bb-G-C-A-D-Bb-Eb-

rhythmic variations
2 notes per beat
straight 8ths
triplet 1/4-triplet 8th
triplet 8th-triplet 1/4
dotted 8th-16th
16th-dotted 8th
3 notes per beat
triplet 8ths
8th-16th-16th
16th-8th-16th
16th-16th-8th
4 notes per beat
straight 16ths
triplet 8th-triplet 16th-triplet 8th-triplet 16th
triplet 16th-triplet 8th-triplet 16th-triplet 8th
triplet 16th-triplet 8th-triplet 8th-triplet 16th
triplet 8th-triplet 16th-triplet 16th-triplet 8th
6 notes per beat
triplet 16ths

you can extend the above with 32nds (triplet and dotted), dotted 16ths and even slow it down so that you have these phrases over 2 beats instead of 1

Tempo variations
work at everything from 48bpm to 136bpm in increments of 6 to begin and then increments of 4 later

48bpm, 54bpm, 60bpm, 66bpm, 72bpm, 76bpm, 80bpm, 84bpm, 88bpm, 92bpm, 96bpm, 100bpm, 104bpm, 108bpm, 112bpm, 116bpm, 120bpm, 124bpm, 128bpm, 132bpm, 136bpm
 
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I'm just gonna add that I swear I heard that crazy piano riffs in steinberg's hypersonic 2 before. I'm pretty sure. My old business partner and I used to discuss the piano in his beats back in '08-'09 like how da hell he's playing these keys so fast lol and then yrs later I found piano arp that sounded just like his
 
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