Melody/chords/music theory

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BeatBassBanger

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Reading music theory has confused me tremendously, not so much as that I don't get it. But in terms of Melodies and chords.....

My question is can I create a melody with out using a "specific" scale? I know chords can create melodies.....and there are major and minor chords....

But what if I intuitively create a melody not using a chord is that plausible? Music theory is confusing this for me
 
Of course you can do whatever you want. Music theory is just a set of guidelines, not rules.
 
Of course you can do whatever you want. Music theory is just a set of guidelines, not rules.
Click to expand...

That's what I figured, I got this Melody, but it doesn't follow a Major or Minor chord, I randomly put a few sounds together on the piano roll that sounded good to my ear. It doesnt go up every third for example (1-3-5) its all over the place but its cohesive to my ear, it skipped more than 2 or 3 white keys in some spots. I know chords can create melodies to, I'm learning little by little, right now I am using Fruity DX10, I have a idea of what the modulation does, but why is it split in to 2 modulations?
 
Well, in addition to melodies not having to follow chord structure at all - nor even scales for that matter, there of course are a lot of other chord combinations than just major and minor...

Tabel+Acorduri+Bun.jpg


As for the DX10, "modulation" is a bit different than what it usually means when talking about synth - normally, modulation simply means that one parameter is affecting another one. In the case of the DX10 though, it has to do with how FM synthesis works (in a very rought simplification, one waveform modulates another to create new timbres), but with somewhat simpler (and unusual) controls than what's usually found on a FM synth. You might want to read up on FM, because the FL help files and videos don't do a very good job at explaining what the controls actually do.
 
oh dear, I am also not a fan of theory, I am doing it like Tiesto does: pressing buttons, if it does sound good, it´s good, if not, delete and try again xD

if you have a melodie that sounds well, there is no reason to check if there is actually a scale for it, I am pretty sure there is one weird scale for it, because if this melodiy wouldn´t work, you probably would instantly hear it :D.
But simple music theory can be very handy during production, which chords would work to this and that vibe, how to add little melodies for the background that do fit the chords and the main melody etc.
Just make sure not getting too confused by theory :D
 
Hey BeatBassBanger,

I think you are really confused about what it means to write with scales or chords.

Let's get the most important thing out of the way first: A melody doesn't only follow a chord if it plays the notes of the chord. Melodies can do whatever you want. They can play all the notes between the notes of the chords if you want. What music theory tells us is how the melody then RELATES to the chord and what kind of emotion is created depending on the notes you're using.

When I write melodies (especially jazzy or orchestral pieces) I very rarely only use the notes of the chords. A jazz musician calls only playing the notes of the chords "not playing anything at all", because you're not playing anything that's not already there.

In simple words: Playing the chord notes will sound very pleasing and simple, playing anything but the chord notes is more interesting and colorful (which all of jazz is based around - a very complex subject known as "upper structure")

If you want to understand the relation between melody and harmony better, I suggest you read these 3 articles from my blog:
Alternative Approach To Chords 1
Alternative Approach To Chords 2
Alternative Approach To Melody

Let me know if you have further questions :)
 
BeatBassBanger said:
Reading music theory has confused me tremendously, not so much as that I don't get it. But in terms of Melodies and chords.....

My question is can I create a melody with out using a "specific" scale? I know chords can create melodies.....and there are major and minor chords....

But what if I intuitively create a melody not using a chord is that plausible? Music theory is confusing this for me
Click to expand...

What if..?
 
Hey BeatBassBanger,

I think you are really confused about what it means to write with scales or chords.

Let's get the most important thing out of the way first: A melody doesn't only follow a chord if it plays the notes of the chord. Melodies can do whatever you want. They can play all the notes between the notes of the chords if you want. What music theory tells us is how the melody then RELATES to the chord and what kind of emotion is created depending on the notes you're using.

When I write melodies (especially jazzy or orchestral pieces) I very rarely only use the notes of the chords. A jazz musician calls only playing the notes of the chords "not playing anything at all", because you're not playing anything that's not already there.

In simple words: Playing the chord notes will sound very pleasing and simple, playing anything but the chord notes is more interesting and colorful (which all of jazz is based around - a very complex subject known as "upper structure")

If you want to understand the relation between melody and harmony better, I suggest you read these 3 articles from my blog:
Alternative Approach To Chords 1
Alternative Approach To Chords 2
Alternative Approach To Melody
Click to expand...

I am, but I feel like I am confusing myself....the music theory is handy though, but I feel I am more of a hit some keys and if it sounds good roll with it. The melody I made doesn't follow a chord, at least I don't think it does, but it sounds good its all over the place on the piano roll. I'll screenshot it?
 
Hey BeatBassBanger,

I think you are really confused about what it means to write with scales or chords.

Let's get the most important thing out of the way first: A melody doesn't only follow a chord if it plays the notes of the chord. Melodies can do whatever you want. They can play all the notes between the notes of the chords if you want. What music theory tells us is how the melody then RELATES to the chord and what kind of emotion is created depending on the notes you're using.

When I write melodies (especially jazzy or orchestral pieces) I very rarely only use the notes of the chords. A jazz musician calls only playing the notes of the chords "not playing anything at all", because you're not playing anything that's not already there.

In simple words: Playing the chord notes will sound very pleasing and simple, playing anything but the chord notes is more interesting and colorful (which all of jazz is based around - a very complex subject known as "upper structure")

If you want to understand the relation between melody and harmony better, I suggest you read these 3 articles from my blog:
Alternative Approach To Chords 1
Alternative Approach To Chords 2
Alternative Approach To Melody

Let me know if you have further questions :)
Click to expand...

Nice website by the way, straight to the point and easy to understand
 
BeatBassBanger said:
My question is can I create a melody with out using a "specific" scale? I know chords can create melodies.....and there are major and minor chords....

But what if I intuitively create a melody not using a chord is that plausible? Music theory is confusing this for me
Click to expand...

Whatever melody you create will be contained within a scale or a combination of scales...
Just because you don't use theory doesn't mean the theory is not in use.

Theory is inescapable. It's up to you whether to pay it any mind.

If you're creating melodies at all; with or without any basic understanding of music theory - then you're winning.
 
Well I think that since you are a beginner in music.. you should at least start by learning some scale.. start with the C major and A Major (im just suggesting) and get used to it, and then learn how to use the scales with the their corresponding keys. I think that since you are starting, you should learn these two things at first, and then after some time you will get used to it(also with other scaLES)that you wont have to follow the "music theory" rules
 
Great tracks to listen thanks for the share here, its awesome one
 
BeatBassBanger said:
But what if I intuitively create a melody not using a chord is that plausible? Music theory is confusing this for me
Click to expand...

Do you mean creating a melody using notes not from a chord? That's perfectly do-able and pretty much encouraged in music theory.

A C major chord has three notes (CEG) but when writing melodies you can use any note at all.

However,
- the notes CEG will be used the most often
- the melody will usually keep 'coming back' to one of these notes (CEG)
- Most of the other notes used will be from the C major scale (C E G F G A B C) but you can use other notes in various situations which I'm not going to explain now.
 
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Great muscial theme shared here thanks a lot for the cooperation
 
Thank you BeatBassBanger!

I'm sure your melody DOES follow your chords (there's more notes than just the chord notes itself that fit a chord). :)
 
I made a new melody, but there seems to be a skipping or clipping noise, I thought I put the right buffer settings in for fl studio, I'm using the 64 it version
 
Is your synth attack/release set very short? Sometimes that causes clicks
 
Is your synth attack/release set very short? Sometimes that causes clicks
Click to expand...

Possible, I did my setting so it wouldn't click fixed the buffer, and took off the triple buffer so there was least possible latency. This is the first melody it has happened in, I will check it out
 
QUOTE=BeatBassBanger;49987293]Possible, I did my setting so it wouldn't click fixed the buffer, and took off the triple buffer so there was least possible latency. This is the first melody it has happened in, I will check it out[/QUOTE]

Generally speaking if you're getting crackling/clicking, you should increase the buffer, not decrease it.
Having a bigger buffer makes it easier on your processor (I think it's the processor anyway, I'm no PC expert), at the expense of a slight delay, called latency.
 
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Thank you BeatBassBanger!

I'm sure your melody DOES follow your chords (there's more notes than just the chord notes itself that fit a chord). :)
Click to expand...
Ran in to a minor confusion, I was reading my music theory for dummies 2nd edition today and on chapter of chord progressions (chapter 10) I got to the section about common chord progressions. The chord was I-IV-V...cool start reading the section on this chord and I come to this. Now I am assuming they are talking about this chord from a Guitar perspective as its mentioned in the section.

This didn't make sense to me when I tried to figure out how I would do this on a piano roll in FL Studio 12.

There are many different variations on the I-IV-V progression. You can leave the out the IV and, insert an extra I between the IV and the V, and even tack on another I-V at the end to wrap things up with a perfect cadence. You can also vary the number of beats and measures you devote to each chord.

One example of I-IV-V in a FOUR-MEASURE phase might look like this, IN THE KEY OF C

C /// C /// F /// G /// (The slashes represent one beat and the spaces in between are measures)

How would I play this on a Piano Roll? That is what confused me....would I fill in one C note then next to it on the 2nd beat put the C F G on the piano roll?
 
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