Ableton Forum

Just curious as to how the other members of this board taught themselves notation, chord progressions..etc.

I'm a long time drummer but have never played a "tonal" instrument. This has really slowed me down in my pursuit of becoming a one man band with Ableton.

I know there is no fast and easy way to learn and I've been at it for some time now. I get better everyday but I was just wondering what methods you guys/gals used to learn.

I learned most things I know from my guitar teacher.

i think the best way to learn is to find a few people who are at around the same level as you in ability, and then start a band!
Playing covers and your own songs, even if you can hardly play guitar/keyboard/bass, is proberbly the best way to learn.

I've actually taught myself alot using chord finders and harmonic mixing charts..lol. I noticed the keyboard started opening up when I found out what notes went together.

Funny thing about keyboards is, even if you know where to go musically if you don't know proper fingering technique your own hands start getting in the way..lol.


I would love to work with someone else, but unfortunately noone around here is into the same kind of music as me. None of my friends even know what Ableton is.

It really is ironic that I started doing my own stuff because I got tired of the egos in a live band but now I'm yearning the input of other people.

I was 12 years old and wanted to be able to play wild thing and stairway to heaven on guitar. So I got a guitar and learned it. Then I learned other songs one at a time for a few years. I also got a book to teach myself all the chords. It all came together when I took lessons in mid highschool though. Because then I learned scales and keys and all that and you really understand how it all works. The human interaction is pretty key if you ask me because you get inspired by someone else's ability. For the last few years I've been teaching myself keyboard. It's a lot easier with a music background though.

I suggest getting a book with scales and chords. Learn the basics by yourself and then maybe take some lessons to really accelerate things. Also, it would be worth checking out some interactive keyboard lesson software. That's the great thing about the midi/keyboard setup, you can learn from the computer. Do a google search, there's tonnes.

good luck,

grb

Thanks for the reply's. I'm sure I will learn if for no toher reason than I'm damn determined to do so..lol. @Glitchrock, I did recently purchase a cd-rom lesson and am currently working my way through it, we'll see if it helps.

With the guitar I spent years asking questions at http://www.wholenote.com, learned a ton of theory. I spent time writing out scales and chords by hand to learn them and I put together notes of everything I learned. Also I would put on albums and play along with them, as I got better I'd turn the album down and my guitar up. Jamming with friends is also good.

There's no substitute for daily practice though, it's all about muscle memory.

I'm musically a bit of a dunce but get by with what I know. I ditched the piano lessons when I was 13 because they weren't manly ! damn, what an idiot.

but I'd like to say that although I had all the Led Zep tab books in my teens and could always comp stuff crudely on the keys I didn't really understand anything from simply copying other bands (other than e min goes with dmaj or whatever), but I didn't know WHY.

I think that's the main drawback of learning by playing along, or playing in bands. Well, anyway, the bands I played in no-one knew any theory that's for sure - we didn't need it (!).

But it certainly comes in handy now, it helps to know a little theory when you are thinking " this song needs to go to a kind of mellow, slightly sad yet uplifting turnaround" ... you could copy from someone else and transpose ... but it's like working blind.

I don't know much now, but I first got a lead on 'working modaly' from a hammond session player. After that I realised what modes really were, I worked backwards and realised how all the keys and chords interlocked and why the various chordal changes had the effects that they did.

I still limp along though, learning all the time.

Long live the scale plugin

I still got much background to catch up on. But the scale plugin is keeping me pretty satisfied!

What's funny is I spend all my time learning production. Be it music, mastering..etc. I have all the effects tricks and mastering down pat. I've become a hell of an engineer. Now if I can just figure out two cords that go together...lol.

Piano lessons, and LSD of course.

Find a teacher, learn an instrument, learn to read notation. YOU WILL MAKE BETTER MUSIC IF YOU DO THIS, NO MATTER YOUR STYLE! Seriously. Spend a year or two on it, if nothing else. The physical interaction you get with a real musical instrument will be something you can apply to your electronic music. Don't underestimate it... IMHO it's wrong to think as computers as an instrument with you as the performer. The computer is an orchestra, and you're the conductor. This is a much better analogy... And there isn't a conductor on Earth who can't play at least a little!

lsd...but of course damnit that is it!!!.....

@noise that's what I plan on doing, no matter how long it takes!!!

Voodu wrote:@noise that's what I plan on doing, no matter how long it takes!!!

That's good! You say you're a drummer... Sometimes I wish I was, as I know that the drumming books I've studied have made me so much better at programming drums!

I can't stress the "get a teacher" bit enough though; one of the richest music traditions the world has even seen, the pre-colonial north Indian one, is based entirely on the pupil-guru relationship. The pupil would live with the master for years, cooking his food and sweeping his floors in exchange for lessons... this would teach them discipline as well as knowledge and appreciation of the tradition they studied. All of those are essential to breaking the mold - and God knows my music suffers cos I lack these things!