MUSIC theory

hoochsta

spor is god in music
Joined
Jan 2, 2008
anyone know of a decent website with basic music theory, like chords etc..


finding that i can get the sounds i want off the rack but finding it hard to get the actually notes sounding awesome together
 
Ya go to the library and pick up music theory for dummies. It has it all in there. Or just google for a while.
 
just mess about! alot of keys on the keyboard if you play atleast 3 of them together they will most likely allways sound good. make up your own chords and make em fit. its not hard atall aslong as u jus mess about for ten mins or so.

i have no prior experience playing the keyboard and i never have or i never intend to. I find the easiest way to come up wih a good score is jus mess about, change keys around and see what fits.

Daps
 
Get a book called the AB Guide to muisc theory part 1.

I picked it up for under a fiver and read through it, and have a grade 5 theory exam in a week lol.

It's a bit of a headbake at first, but it'll have everything you need in it
 
Basic theory has its merits but don't take it as everything... if you only produce according to basic theory then no doubt your basslines, chords, riffs etc will sound old and just like every other tune - I spent a year of composing guitar music like this! to really get a 'different' sound you'd need to have a much more advanced theoretical knowledge, or just experiment!
 
Basic theory has its merits but don't take it as everything... if you only produce according to basic theory then no doubt your basslines, chords, riffs etc will sound old and just like every other tune - I spent a year of composing guitar music like this! to really get a 'different' sound you'd need to have a much more advanced theoretical knowledge, or just experiment!

I dunno man, i wouldnt say thats entirely true.

Learning the basics gives you the chance to know roughly what you can and cant do and what will sound right / good together.

Better a little understanding that none imo.

I am a musician and have had to do theory for around 15 years and if i didnt know ANYTHING, i think i would struggle more
 
yeah man, its ironic that during some of the earlier jungle days, dnb became the music for producers who were "non musicians" who would experiment with makin beats, sampling etc and a lot of the guys didn't have any classical training at all. now, as the music has spread into so many sub genres theres some guys out there with classical training (guys like John B, London Elektricity etc) who have combined their knowledge of classical music with today's production techniques have taken things to the next level :D

ofcourse its the guys who have classical training in music AND know their production techniques who have the biggest advantage over everyone else (if only i learnt more about playing instruments / reading music when i was young! lol oh well)
 
I've got my grade 5 music theory and I'd say that definitely helps me when composing.

If you just want to learn the essential bits then just use google to find out about key signatures and basic harmonies (that'll help you with chords) and know that the main chords in any key are I, iv and V.
 
I've got my grade 5 music theory and I'd say that definitely helps me when composing.

If you just want to learn the essential bits then just use google to find out about key signatures and basic harmonies (that'll help you with chords) and know that the main chords in any key are I, iv and V.


Yeah same here man, Grade 5 theory and Grade 8 Trumpet!

Without any of the knowledge i have learnt from these i wouldnt be making half a good beats imo
 
Yeah same here man, Grade 5 theory and Grade 8 Trumpet!

Grade 8 trumpet! Gotta hear that one. I would love to play some of the jazz trumpet tunes I've heard, and sax too, they're quite similar in respects.

I'm grade 8 piano, which helps a lot for midi keyboard stuff. But the oral part of the exam kinda sucked, then afterwards I found out I could've whistled the tune instead of making a tit out of myself with all those la, la, la's. Great. Its really quite easy to play tunes that sound good without many keyboards skills.

A crash course in one quick paragraph. You can easily look up what notes are in a key online. Whatever key the song is in, say A minor, the main tune will usually use the notes A (of course), B, C, E, and occasionally add in a D and a G whenever the tunes heading that way. To make it bluesy add in a D# (the one inbetween E and D), and just generally use the blues scale A, C, D, D#, E, G and A. Find a good chord progression based in A minor for your left hand and just piss about with those notes and you cant go wrong. A couple of classic chord progressions, Aminor, G, F, E, for the lowering pitch bass sound, or the happy sequence Amin, F, C, G, or the power sequence (used by High contrast in Days Go By, etc) Amin, Amin, F, G, or you can mix it up and go Amin, G, F, G or wotever, those three chords sound good in any sequence pretty much. And if the chord sequence breifly goes into F say, you can add in an F to the tune and this will sound okay, but dont add extra notes unless they're part of the current key in the chord progression, or they'll just clash. Just learn a very simple progression with your left hand until you dont have to think about playing it, you can just use one note if you want, and jam away with your right hand on your midi keyboard. And the beautiful thing is that you can then use this technique in any other key, if u wanted to use it in C (three notes up from A) just move every note I listed above up three and it'll all be fine.

And thats it. You've mastered keyboard playing :)
 
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now, as the music has spread into so many sub genres theres some guys out there with classical training (guys like John B, London Elektricity etc) who have combined their knowledge of classical music with today's production techniques have taken things to the next level :D

Got ne more names to add to that list? I would add high contrast and noisia, but I'm always looking out 4 artists that know their chord prog's and a fair bit of music theory, U can always tell in the tunes by the way they structure their music. They're always the best ones in my opinion.
 
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hahaha yeah i whistle the tune back to them during aural exam part!!

Alwyas have cos i dont like singing :)
 
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