Basic Music Theory

[Bee Dub]

I've been producing now for over a year and am getting very comfortable with ableton, however I have recently gotten a few new plug-ins (massive, absynth4, FM8, and sawer) and my sound library has grown massively. I typically wrote beats and then found music samples and whatnot, rarely ever writing any of my own 'music' to a track.

I'm very new to playing instruments, I've taken guitar lessons, play some basic bass, and recently bought my first keyboard; an akai mpk 49.

My main focus is playing basic music patterns on my keyboard that i typically loop and then build off of. I am wondering if anyone has any helpful websites (that are easy to understand) so that I can begin teaching myself more theory to create 'better' music. I am at the point now where I can tell when something is 'off key' in my productions, but I'd really like to get a grasp on some basic music notations so that I can develop and grow my sound.

ANY help on this topic would be greatly appreciated.

[soultwist]

I am completely ripping this off from another thread so don't give me credit for this link. But this is a good start for sure

http://www.worldofbryan.com/rsg2mt.pdf

[Bee Dub]

I am completely ripping this off from another thread so don't give me credit for this link. But this is a good start for sure

http://www.worldofbryan.com/rsg2mt.pdf

all good man, prob should just searched, but i appreciate the help! checkin' it out now

[MPGK]

I am completely ripping this off from another thread so don't give me credit for this link. But this is a good start for sure

http://www.worldofbryan.com/rsg2mt.pdf

Nahhh... please no. Get a good book and/or a teacher.
The overall structure sucks for learning, and worse yet, there are mistakes and inaccuracies in there. I would strongly advise against learning with that.

Edit: Okay, correct that. While this Bryan guy might be a nice fellow and a good musician, there are lots of mistakes and inaccuracies in there.
Stay clear of that one and buy one of those books that people who actually studied music theory wrote. You're doing yourself a huge favor, and you're paying respect to people who studied their asses off really learning this stuff instead of just randomly writing down semi-knowledge they picked up on the way.

[markmakingmusic]

I am completely ripping this off from another thread so don't give me credit for this link. But this is a good start for sure

http://www.worldofbryan.com/rsg2mt.pdf

...yea...um I would say just stick to the white keys until you find a good teacher who can explain things properly. Learning music theory from a 45 page PDF overview ain't gonna happen.

[soultwist]

I did say it's a start. For someone who knows nothing about music, a 45 page pdf outlining basic concepts is exactly what you need.

If you have better websites in mind please just post them.

[Bee Dub]

its fine, i understand its not perfect and its not like i've never looked at music, just looking for something that is somewhat organized. i'll check the library, but the guide did have some useful tips...

anyone have any good websites or tutorials on using massive, FM8, or absynth at all??? they seem like the have amazing capabilities with the sounds i've played with so far.

[Tone Deft]

http://www.wholenote.com

Live's scale plug in is really handy for playing in key. when you use it pay attention to which notes are 'doubled up' and BAM! you just learned a scale. then turn it off and try playing the same way.

I wouldn't ask about music theory on this forum.

[Nickswardson]

lol was recommending a book and saw that its the same as the soultwist posted. btw, how do you delete posts?

[heinrichz]

I am completely ripping this off from another thread so don't give me credit for this link. But this is a good start for sure

http://www.worldofbryan.com/rsg2mt.pdf

...yea...um I would say just stick to the white keys until you find a good teacher who can explain things properly. Learning music theory from a 45 page PDF overview ain't gonna happen.

actually i recommend to just stick with the black keys..it's even simpler and you only be dealing with pentatonic scales.

[soultwist]

Oh yea the black keys. F# pentatonic - that's definitely in that music guide.

[crumhorn]

I am completely ripping this off from another thread so don't give me credit for this link. But this is a good start for sure

http://www.worldofbryan.com/rsg2mt.pdf

...yea...um I would say just stick to the white keys until you find a good teacher who can explain things properly. Learning music theory from a 45 page PDF overview ain't gonna happen.

actually i recommend to just stick with the black keys..it's even simpler and you only be dealing with pentatonic scales.

It was good enough for Irving Berlin , he wrote all his tunes on the black keys!

[markmakingmusic]

Awesome, thAnks for the tip!

[crumhorn]

I found this to be a useful site --> http://howmusicreallyworks.com/Pages_In ... ction.html

But some people hate it, others disagree with the basic principals. It takes a fairly musicalogical view of the whole subject which I found quite refreshing. But the writing style is a bit weird.

It's best not to get too hung up on theory though. Do some research into scales and you'll soon discover that just about any series of notes constitutes some type of scale. Find a series of notes that you like the sound of and that's your scale. Find combinations of those notes that sound nice played together and those are your harmonies.

It's useful to understand the basic principals, especially stuff about the harmonic series, the physics of sound, how it is perceived and it's emotional impact. But theory should not be a straight jacket.

IMO

[MPGK]

I did say it's a start. For someone who knows nothing about music, a 45 page pdf outlining basic concepts is exactly what you need.

If you have better websites in mind please just post them.

its fine, i understand its not perfect and its not like i've never looked at music, just looking for something that is somewhat organized. i'll check the library, but the guide did have some useful tips...

anyone have any good websites or tutorials on using massive, FM8, or absynth at all??? they seem like the have amazing capabilities with the sounds i've played with so far.

The problem isn't that it's too short, the problem is that the guy who wrote this script made a lot of mistakes doing so. It's not okay to learn with this. And if it is "a start", I'd say it's a really bad one. Sure, you can read some stuff up in the internet and compare, but remember how, in school, you used to have these stacks of paper, glued or stapled together? Those are called books and yep, they still sell 'em. And most of them are really good and, in this case, written by people with a degree in music science, or -theory, or -education, or something. They know what they're doing and have an editor that will scan the book for stupid mistakes until all you have is a solid foundation of knowledge to absorb and work with. And that's what it should be if you really want to learn and not be one of the uncool nerdy guys with the magazine knowledge.