4 ms·

On this note, does anyone know some books in references to applied music theory? I'm a pretty advanced piano player, but a lot of more basic piano players can m

On this note, does anyone know some books in references to applied music theory? I'm a pretty advanced piano player, but a lot of more basic piano players can make up chords to play with with simple tunes that sound pretty good, most of those people seem to know a certain of rules that I don't know. And googling books about piano music on google books or the likes has not yielded any useful results.

vanjajaja1 2y ago
I think what you're describing is the difference between learning by 'top down' thinking (ie. learning what to play) vs learning by experimentation 'bottom up' (ie. mashing random things and making mistakes until you eventually learn to replicate your favourite mistakes) what helped me was to imagine charlie day from its always in sunny in philadelphia saying "idk man, the piano just speaks to me", then I pretend to be a rainman style idiot-savant piano player until it starts to sound good
- ToJans 2y ago
  I'm not well versed in this, but I have the basics down: start by finding the bass notes, and add the melody on top. Most of the time the a musical phrase will end on the note that's in the key of the song. Combine the bass note with the third and fifth, and you're already halfway there... Typical chord combinations are in the 1-4-5-6, so when the key is in C, for the first chord (I) you start on the C, skip one, E, skip one and then G. These 3 notes compose the first chord. To get the second chord, just move your fingers one key to the right. A major scale in C contains the following chords if you move your 1-3-5 grip one key to the right each time: - I: C (C-E-G) - ii: Dm (D-F-A) - iii: Em (E-G-B) - IV: F (F-A-C) - V: G (G-B-D) - vi: Am (A-C-E) - vii: Bdim (B-D-F) Capital roman numerals indicate major chords (happy-ish), lowercase indicate minor (sad-ish). Just try a few combos of I, IV, V and vi with your right hand, while hitting the first note of the chord with your bass. You will instantly come to a few recognisable tunes. Up next is transposing scales: move every note two half steps up to get to a major scale in the key of D for example. Another handy trick is inversions: look at the individual notes in a chord and when switching from one chord to another, minimize have movement by playing some of the notes an octave higher or lower. This is just the start, but it should help you a long way to play list of the simple pop songs.
deleted 2y ago
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nprateem 2y ago
I learnt with a college music theory textbook. Without that, it's all just meaningless rules "just because". Music Theory Remixed by Kevin Holm-Hudson is great, accessible but pretty long. Still, I finally understand music theory more or less.
klimperfix 2y ago
If you want to go in the jazz direction, the Jazz Piano Book by Mark Levine [1] is great! It has everything a jazz player needs to know, from II - V - I voicings to scales, upper structures, etc. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Jazz_Piano_Book https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Jazz_Piano_Book
- nxobject 2y ago
  Oscar Peterson has a nice series of étude books, too – it's not an exhaustive course, but he was a great pedagogue and expositor, and he really did care about the classical training he got as a wee one.
  - rjzzleep 2y ago
    Both helpful, thanks for sharing.
brcmthrowaway 2y ago
What are some good books for composing music using DAWs?
- maiensch 2y ago
  You could take a look at Making Music, partially available (pdf might be free even) here: https://makingmusic.ableton.com/ https://makingmusic.ableton.com/

vanjajaja1 2y ago

I think what you're describing is the difference between learning by 'top down' thinking (ie. learning what to play) vs learning by experimentation 'bottom up' (ie. mashing random things and making mistakes until you eventually learn to replicate your favourite mistakes) what helped me was to imagine charlie day from its always in sunny in philadelphia saying "idk man, the piano just speaks to me", then I pretend to be a rainman style idiot-savant piano player until it starts to sound good

ToJans 2y ago
I'm not well versed in this, but I have the basics down: start by finding the bass notes, and add the melody on top. Most of the time the a musical phrase will end on the note that's in the key of the song. Combine the bass note with the third and fifth, and you're already halfway there... Typical chord combinations are in the 1-4-5-6, so when the key is in C, for the first chord (I) you start on the C, skip one, E, skip one and then G. These 3 notes compose the first chord. To get the second chord, just move your fingers one key to the right. A major scale in C contains the following chords if you move your 1-3-5 grip one key to the right each time: - I: C (C-E-G) - ii: Dm (D-F-A) - iii: Em (E-G-B) - IV: F (F-A-C) - V: G (G-B-D) - vi: Am (A-C-E) - vii: Bdim (B-D-F) Capital roman numerals indicate major chords (happy-ish), lowercase indicate minor (sad-ish). Just try a few combos of I, IV, V and vi with your right hand, while hitting the first note of the chord with your bass. You will instantly come to a few recognisable tunes. Up next is transposing scales: move every note two half steps up to get to a major scale in the key of D for example. Another handy trick is inversions: look at the individual notes in a chord and when switching from one chord to another, minimize have movement by playing some of the notes an octave higher or lower. This is just the start, but it should help you a long way to play list of the simple pop songs.

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

nprateem 2y ago

I learnt with a college music theory textbook. Without that, it's all just meaningless rules "just because". Music Theory Remixed by Kevin Holm-Hudson is great, accessible but pretty long. Still, I finally understand music theory more or less.

klimperfix 2y ago

If you want to go in the jazz direction, the Jazz Piano Book by Mark Levine [1] is great! It has everything a jazz player needs to know, from II - V - I voicings to scales, upper structures, etc. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Jazz_Piano_Book https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Jazz_Piano_Book

nxobject 2y ago
Oscar Peterson has a nice series of étude books, too – it's not an exhaustive course, but he was a great pedagogue and expositor, and he really did care about the classical training he got as a wee one.
- rjzzleep 2y ago
  Both helpful, thanks for sharing.

brcmthrowaway 2y ago

What are some good books for composing music using DAWs?

maiensch 2y ago
You could take a look at Making Music, partially available (pdf might be free even) here: https://makingmusic.ableton.com/ https://makingmusic.ableton.com/