music theory

Discuss music production with Ableton Live.
Nick the Zombie
Posts: 986
Joined: Wed Apr 09, 2008 8:02 pm
Contact:

Re: music theory

Post by Nick the Zombie » Sat May 16, 2009 12:59 am

giggedy wrote:http://emeraldtablet.vndv.com/

This is a website I made for beginning theory. Everything up to Melodic Minor is up there. If someone starts hounding me to do more, I'd be more than happy to, it's just tough to find time in the day.
Great site, very straightforward and well-explained.

outsidesys
Posts: 400
Joined: Tue Mar 31, 2009 2:26 am

Re: music theory

Post by outsidesys » Sat May 16, 2009 1:32 am

I don't know much about music theory, but I find it very interesting. Everytime I read through threads like this I learn something new, and I thank everyone for sharing.

When I started with my first keyboard/rompler, I only knew about the major/minor scales, how to form a triad on just the white keys, and to always trust my ears. But I felt very limited because I wanted to do more than just play the white keys.

So my solution was to cut a piece of sturdy paper 24" x 2". Then I lined this paper to the edge of the keyboard's keys, and used a marker to create a large dot in the position of each note in the minor scale. I started from the left edge of the paper, and moved to the right. After that, I flipped the paper around, and repeated the process for the major scale.

Now, no matter where I place the paper along the keys, I have the notes for that particular scale. Then I discovered that I could easily create chords that work in the same key by only playing the keyboard keys that had a dot above them, and some of these chords even sounded good in a progression.

For example, if I wanted to play chords that worked in the Gm scale, no problem. I just situated the paper with the minor scale dots up to the keys, and put the first dot on the left above the G key.

This certainly isn't a traditional way of learning chords & progressions, but when you're on your own, and you want some very simple, instant results, it can't be beat.

Nick the Zombie
Posts: 986
Joined: Wed Apr 09, 2008 8:02 pm
Contact:

Re: music theory

Post by Nick the Zombie » Sat May 16, 2009 1:36 am

@outsidesys, I think that's a great way to do things. You'll get music written and absorb the notes of the various scales over time!

- Nick

Tone Deft
Posts: 24152
Joined: Mon Oct 02, 2006 5:19 pm

Re: music theory

Post by Tone Deft » Sat May 16, 2009 2:28 am

Nick the Zombie wrote:@outsidesys, I think that's a great way to do things. You'll get music written and absorb the notes of the various scales over time!

- Nick
yeah, that's a great idea!
In my life
Why do I smile
At people who I'd much rather kick in the eye?
-Moz

outsidesys
Posts: 400
Joined: Tue Mar 31, 2009 2:26 am

Re: music theory

Post by outsidesys » Sat May 16, 2009 4:23 am

Thanks, guys.

On a side note, a few months ago I saw a cheap keyboard at Target that had backlit piano keys. It would light up to tell you which notes to play, and it would also light up all the keys in a scale. I think it was a Casio. Unfortunately, it only helped you learn cheesy songs.

But a cheap backlit keyboard that helped one to learn some music theory...now that's something to have when you're first starting out.

giggedy
Posts: 32
Joined: Thu Jan 22, 2009 10:22 pm
Contact:

Re: music theory

Post by giggedy » Mon May 18, 2009 7:42 pm

If you want to learn the why, I'd check out the website I posed above, it's got a lot of info on it. If you guys bug me enough, I'll start putting pictures of keyboards and guitars up there too.

Post Reply