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Great morning to you! I have had a very productive week so far. Kind of getting my schedule and routine down as I prepare to start my college courses. I have it just about worked out, and you will see waaaay more post …3 so far this week woo hoo!

I should do ten cartwheels right now! This next tip is what I have been searching for. I’ve gotten a lot of music theory down, but I still struggled with understanding how to fit chords to my melody. I’ve even posted about this before: http://www.mstrismusic.com/2011/05/how-toadd-piano-chords-to-any-melody/. Still hadn’t quite grasped the concept the way I’d like. This musical glitch had me stuck doing chords first almost 90% of the time. I must add, there is absolutely nothing wrong with working chords first. Since I am still learning chords, and only know a few, I was beginning to feel a bit limited.

I guess some days I have to be in the right mind state,today I found a site that seems written for producers like me:
www.how-to-write-music.com

Chip out a block of time for visiting this one. There are tons of tips to help you take your music to the next level..

Here is an excerpt from:Putting Chords to an Existing Melody, the article I am jumping for joy over

What you should get from this section:

After completing this section, you should be able to take an existing melody and put chords, and a bass line to it to create a strong structure.

There are several things you can do to help you put a chord progression to an existing melody that will make your life a lot easier. Here are a few of them:

The first thing you should try to do is work out what key it’s in. This will make it a lot easier, as if you know what key you’re playing in, you can pick chords from that key (see section on theory). How do you do this?

Well, first of all, play the melody. Are there lots of sharps or flats in there? If so, look at the key signatures in the theory section and see what ones match the notes you’re playing. Do they match any particular key? If there are F#’s in the melody, but C naturals, then it might be in G. If there are lots of Bb’s and Eb’s but natural A’s it may be in Bb major.

If that hasn’t helped, then see what note the melody starts and finishes on. Quite often a melody will start and/or end on the note of the dominant chord in the key. So if it’s in A for example, it will quite often start on that note and/or end on that note…………

Click here to read more—>Put Chords To A Melody

You’ll need a little knowledge of music theory to fully understand. Don’t know any?…No problem… the website has all the help you’ll need!

Happy Beat Making To All
Pz Til Later!~

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Great morning to you! I am feeling super Went to StreetLegal Studios last night for an epic session. Six emcees on a fire track I produced. I will surely keep you posted on this one!! …

I’m onto music theory lessons this morning. I have been working on a few pop type tracks for an artist. I am still having a little trouble doing the melodies before chords. So far it’s been easier for me to work, using chords 1st. Sometimes I have an idea in my head and need to lay it down before anything else. I know the only way to really get this down is to learn more music theory.

I found the perfect site that covers songwriting, theory, and song structure: garyewer.wordpress.com. The site theme is “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting”. I’ve read three articles that cleared up some of the chord and theory questions I’ve had for a while. It’s honestly one of the most complete music blogs I’ve read. I’m checking out another article now about What Is The Circle Of Fifths. Not only does author,Gary Ewer, explain theory in an easy manner, he also gives a few chord suggestions to help you understand his post clearly.

Like myself, I know that many of my readers use piano, keyboards, and or keyboard midi controllers. I am sure you will find tons of valuable info atGary Ewer’s blog. Since many aspects of music theory and songwriting are covered; writers, guitarist, and players of other instruments will benefit from the site also.
garyewer.wordpress.com “The Essential Secrets Of Songwriting”

Happy Theory Learning To All!
Pz Til Later!~

Popularity: 9% [?]

I am sitting here in awe. I’ve had this book for over a year and finally picked it up again last Sunday. It is written so clear and I honestly learned to read a basic melody in a couple hours.

Looking at music scores has been the same as looking at foreign language for me. I learned a tiny bit of notation when I was in grade school. After a while I just got off the path and into other things. Since I started the site, I have been studying theory much more. I’ve been learning scales, notes, chords, and key signatures. I haven’t learned to read them on a “stave” (the sets of lines where music is written).

I try to explain what I am learning; here, in a way easy to understand. I also share the books and sites I use most. Most of what I’ve shared so far, only uses the alphabetical letters to write or read music. This is cool, but it really relies on memory or having to have references available. Now that I know some music theory basics, it’s time to take it to the next level, (which should have been the first level). It’s time to “read” and understand all the things mentioned above by learning music notation.

If you have the opportunity, remember it’s best to take a few courses on theory. If you are new to music theory, music notation is the way to start. I skipped around notation for many years, and my musical journey has taken me back.

This book cost around 10 bucks, and you can get from the MsTrisMusic Amazon Store:

Thanks to all who have been supporting the site by purchasing from Amazon through MsTrisMusic links

Happy Learning To All
Pz Til Later!~

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Good Morn to all! We are finally having clear weather today on the east coast. I have a little to business to handle later, it will be good to get out.

I am back on dirty south beats today before heading out. I have so many artist lined up, and I’m in the mood to compose some advanced chord progressions. I am understanding scales and key signatures, but I am still having problems making chords from scales.

For my first track this morning, I am looking in my books. So far I’ve come up with more progressions from studying a few different piano books. Here is one of my favorites “How To Write Songs On Keyboards”:

It’s become my go to book for chord help lately. I’d also like be able to make “advanced” progressions without the book. I found a great youtube channel with lessons on music theory.. Woo Hoo!

For me the lessons are easy to follow. She uses some traditional methods, as well as non traditional methods. The following video got me going in the right direction fast:

How to Make Chords From A Scale

richardjpugh on youtube
click “see all” and scroll through for music theory lessons…
Check out the whole series when you have time, and I’ll add more over the year..

Happy Beat Making To All
Pz Til Later!~

Popularity: 10% [?]

Here I am at the keyboard. I have been studying music theory for a little over a year. I am beginning to understand scales ,key signatures, and I know some chord progressions. The thing I have the most trouble with is understanding which chord progressions go with which scale… ?

I am on a mission this next blog year. I will make it my business to learn theory enough to write a complete song by notes. After doing a little research, I still asked “where should I start?”

right click to download.. I made it for you today
The Circle of Fifths seems to be the answer everyone is telling me. I should learn how to use this after learning the 12 notes of the chromatic scale. From my understanding it will help me understand how to use” perfect intervals” to write music. Perfect intervals occur when notes are closely related in pitch and tone, which makes them sound good together. The Circle of Fifths is made up of notes which go up or down by perfect fifths (7 half -steps apart)…cool. the following video will help us understand this concept:

Circle Of 5th’s – Easy Piano Theory Lessons
video by http://www.youtube.com/user/PianoLessonscom

Let’s learn together on this. DON’T take this one lightly, take time to really get the concept. It’s starting to come together for me after watching the videos… if you have any questions feel free to ask in the comments section:

Using the Circle of Fifths for Major Keys
video by http://www.youtube.com/user/musictheoryguy

Using the Circle of Fifths for Minor Keys

Happy Music Theory Learning To All!
Pz Til later!~

Popularity: 63% [?]

Back to the Bass -ics

Whenever I made a sample beat, I used to make it my business to add a funky bassline. I recently noticed my need to get beats out quickly had me straying from this more. I began to filter the samples high frequencies out instead. This technique works fine, but the beats where I played the bassline sound better in my opinion.

The first beat I made a bassline to, became a local hit in 2005. People still mention this as being one of their favorite tracks:

“When I’m In The Room” by Ogun

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The bassline can drive your beat as much as the rhythm and melody if you choose. You can even start your beat with the bassline and build around it.

Today we’ll explore a few methods of making basslines. When I made an effort to add them, they became part of a signature style for me. Some what like 9th Wonder, he adds really funky basslines over his samples.

I made the “When I’m In The Room” beat in 2004, but listening today reminds me to get back my bass. The videos are for piano or playing bass with a midi controller… Let the bass begin!

How to Make Rap & Hip Hop Beats : Bass Line Tips for West Coast Beats from Expert Village

How to Read Bass on Piano by www.waltribeiro.net

Music Theory – Make Effective Basslines – Warbeats Tutorial

Warbeats.Com

Happy Beat Making To All
Pz Til Later!~

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Good Morning all…how are you? Did you know it’s been almost a year..yes we are coming upon a one year anniversary. I plan to do something special, a few giveaways, and some free stuff … I am open for suggestions..

A quick note about my music theory post:
I am a producer who started off almost 100% sample based. Any compositions made prior to around 06′ were done by ear. As I continue to grow and learn theory, which I should have done yrs ago.. I will share here. I mention this because I really don’t want music teachers,or those who have studied theory for yrs to think I’m avoiding essential steps in theory. I post as I learn, or post things that I think will help others like myself. If you teach theory or have studied extensively feel free to jump in and help, leave comments and links. Help spread the word and make us better musicians ….

Now on to the chords…

photo from www.pdxlessons.com
You hear the terms all the time Major and Minor. If you make music you will use a major or minor something. So you dive in and learn a few chords from a book or the net. This is cool and it gets you up and playing. But what happens if you don’t memorize the chords right away. When it’s time to make your next beat you will have to go back to the books.

I admit I am not fast at committing theory to memory. There are a few ways that will help us all build chords when we don’t have the written music and guidelines at hand.

A chord is made using 2 or more notes. The most popular chords consist of 3 notes and are called “Triads”. The concept covered in the video uses the number pattern 4 + 3 or 3+ 4. The spaces in between notes on a piano will be measured in increments of 3 and 4.

Major Chords from root note have a pattern of 4+ 3 and minor chords have a pattern of 3+4. Let’s look at C major and C minor.
C major:
Starting at C count up 4 notes including the black keys, then 3 notes including the black keys.

Using the technique we end with: C E G

C minor:
Starting with C, count up 3 notes including the black keys, then 4 notes including the black keys

Using the technique we end with: C Eb G

So an important thing to remember is: major=4+3, minor =3+4

The following video will help you get a better idea

Video By Brad99r of mrmusiccanada.com

Aaah now you’ve got it! Continue to find chords using all the keys, and of course practice, practice, practice..

Happy Chord Finding To All
Pz Til Later!~

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