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I just bought a Roland JD-XI and not having an understanding of music theory I was looking for anything that talked about What Sounds Good and Why. I'd like to

I just bought a Roland JD-XI and not having an understanding of music theory I was looking for anything that talked about What Sounds Good and Why. I'd like to read more without really diving into music theory too far.

empath75 10y ago
If you want to make music, but don't care about music theory, get a book called The Art of Mixing. It won't tell you how to write a song, but it'll start you with a solid foundation for music production. You can start by just finding loops and samples online and putting tracks together that way. Then you can start replacing bits with original music. Think of it like learning how to program by cutting and pasting code from stack exchange. https://www.amazon.com/Art-Mixing-Recording-Engineering-Production/dp/1931140456 https://www.amazon.com/Art-Mixing-Recording-Engineering-Prod...
spudlyo 10y ago
I enjoyed reading the HookTheory[1] eBook and got a lot out of it. It illustrates its numerous examples using a neat colored notation visualizer, and does a great job explaining melody and functional harmony. It plays simple piano midi to illustrate concepts using popular songs. There were quizzes every few pages to test your knowledge, which I found fun. There are some insights to be found here based lots of data they've gathered from analyzing popular song chord progressions. My only complaint is that the audio playback has annoying zero-crossing pops. [1] https://www.hooktheory.com/music-theory-for-songwriting https://www.hooktheory.com/music-theory-for-songwriting
stephenboyd 10y ago
It's an endlessly expansive topic, but usually people start out with: 1) Lessons or books on how to play a specific instrument. The good ones will cover the most relevant basics of music theory--stuff like chords, scales, keys, and voice leading. 2) Learning how to play your favorite songs. Copying performances and then experimenting with variations on them is essential for getting an intuitive sense of how it all works.
tzmudzin 10y ago
For the general understanding please check "How Music Really Works" by Wayne Chase. Given your instrument choice you might also be very well served by the "Music Theory / Harmony / ... for Computer Musicians" series by Michael Hewitt.
zubat 10y ago
Try books on "design" topics more generally. Visuals, storytelling and UX are unrelated to music at the surface but they allow you an in to grounding your abstract thoughts and finding a thing that the rest of the work is derived from. It's the thing artists always talk about in interviews where they're like, "it was about this one time in my life where..." That may seem disconnected from the sounding good part but it's what gives you a core to build on. You can take the thought and express it in a very simple, low-fi, minimalist way, or go all out and build a huge arrangement and smother it in production. That's something that is better to decide upon by design than by trial and error.
estefan 10y ago
Melody in Songwriting is a fantastic book. I can't recommend it highly enough. It covers rhythm, phrasing, melodic stability, melody as it relates to harmony (chords), melody as it relates to bass, melody & harmony & bass. It's especially good when paired with the Coursera songwriting course. The author covers lots of ground this algorithm seems to ignore. I wonder what sort of music a program that used these suggestions could make.

empath75 10y ago

If you want to make music, but don't care about music theory, get a book called The Art of Mixing. It won't tell you how to write a song, but it'll start you with a solid foundation for music production. You can start by just finding loops and samples online and putting tracks together that way. Then you can start replacing bits with original music. Think of it like learning how to program by cutting and pasting code from stack exchange. https://www.amazon.com/Art-Mixing-Recording-Engineering-Production/dp/1931140456 https://www.amazon.com/Art-Mixing-Recording-Engineering-Prod...

spudlyo 10y ago

I enjoyed reading the HookTheory[1] eBook and got a lot out of it. It illustrates its numerous examples using a neat colored notation visualizer, and does a great job explaining melody and functional harmony. It plays simple piano midi to illustrate concepts using popular songs. There were quizzes every few pages to test your knowledge, which I found fun. There are some insights to be found here based lots of data they've gathered from analyzing popular song chord progressions. My only complaint is that the audio playback has annoying zero-crossing pops. [1] https://www.hooktheory.com/music-theory-for-songwriting https://www.hooktheory.com/music-theory-for-songwriting

stephenboyd 10y ago

It's an endlessly expansive topic, but usually people start out with: 1) Lessons or books on how to play a specific instrument. The good ones will cover the most relevant basics of music theory--stuff like chords, scales, keys, and voice leading. 2) Learning how to play your favorite songs. Copying performances and then experimenting with variations on them is essential for getting an intuitive sense of how it all works.

tzmudzin 10y ago

For the general understanding please check "How Music Really Works" by Wayne Chase. Given your instrument choice you might also be very well served by the "Music Theory / Harmony / ... for Computer Musicians" series by Michael Hewitt.

zubat 10y ago

Try books on "design" topics more generally. Visuals, storytelling and UX are unrelated to music at the surface but they allow you an in to grounding your abstract thoughts and finding a thing that the rest of the work is derived from. It's the thing artists always talk about in interviews where they're like, "it was about this one time in my life where..." That may seem disconnected from the sounding good part but it's what gives you a core to build on. You can take the thought and express it in a very simple, low-fi, minimalist way, or go all out and build a huge arrangement and smother it in production. That's something that is better to decide upon by design than by trial and error.

estefan 10y ago

Melody in Songwriting is a fantastic book. I can't recommend it highly enough. It covers rhythm, phrasing, melodic stability, melody as it relates to harmony (chords), melody as it relates to bass, melody & harmony & bass. It's especially good when paired with the Coursera songwriting course. The author covers lots of ground this algorithm seems to ignore. I wonder what sort of music a program that used these suggestions could make.