adding more melodies

[PrOLifiK]

This is a hard q;s to explain I was trying to find a good song example if I do ill post it on here, and I feel like this is what my tracks are lacking. I can make a nice melody with whatever sound but how do I add other melodies so that it sounds like it fits together. What is this called....is it chord progression?? Im trying to learn to play the piano/keyboard but my oxgen 8 makes it hard with its limited amt of keys. How did u guys learn this cuz I know someone out there has this sam problem

 

[KurtisRich]

I know what you're talkin about. It's like when you find a sample with a nice melody or maybe a dope bassline in it... you just want to add more. What I do sometime is just play around with the keys and once I have a melody that sounds good and think that it'll fit the track, then I'll use it.

 

[J Cro]

im pretty sure u not only need a sound that compliments the sound your already using. but you probably need to write your accompaning melody in the same key and scale and all that.

sorry for lack of a completly str8 forward answer. im still learning this shit myself.

 

[nonie]

Yeah, Lawtown has the right idea. Just mess around with the keys in that same range and once you find that hot spot see how it sounds with the original melody you composed. What I usually do is let loop a pattern, set that tone, and then get into it and then jam out on the keys until I find something that goes nicely with the main melody.

Check this out too https://www.illmuzik.com/forums/showthread.php?t=12099

It might help some.

 

[MarkN]

this is a pain in the ass lol im a sampler for the most part but after lots of persuading from everyone ive started to learn music theory and learn to play the piano its hard work but the benefits are good its just practice just practice adding melodys learn wot works and doesnt theres no easy way just keep trying im doing the same thing at the moment !

 

[classic]

What is this called....is it chord progression??

Nahh What your talking about is called harmony or counter melodoy....
CHourd progession are the acutally note intervals 3rds 5ths 7ths, that compliment the notes of the melody.... (Gmajor 7th, to Dmajor 7th etc..)

If you know your intervals, u can make anything harmoinze, if your trying to compose over the sample u have to get it intune first then play over it in the key of the sample...

How did u guys learn this cuz I know someone out there has this sam problem

years or training and pratice, but most importantly developing an ear for spoting out those intervals i was talking about. As with anything it talks ALOT of pratice and if u havent done it before its not gonna happen over night. You also have to take into account natural abilitiy.. some people are just better then others

Hope this helps

class...

 

[J Cro]

as stupid as this sounds i suggest gettinthe complete idiots guide to music theory and the complete idiots guide to music compisition. these r fantastic books and r only 20 bucks a peice.
i have read about 19 music theory books and only thing i learned was how to read a staff but since i got these books i have learned alot. they explain it in a way that is easy to understand and show you examples that really help you get it. but it is in no way for idiots. the name is kind of misleading.

 

[JPeg]

All them books ur reading about music theory, u dont need to know all that shit for hip hop just put 2gether sounds that sound good to ur ear play around with different sound untill u find something that sounds good.


sometimes it aint another melody thats needed maybe just some random sounds in the back.

 

[classic]

All them books ur reading about music theory, u dont need to know all that shit for hip hop .

Depends on what type of hip hop ur trying to make.... if your going for more musical stuff then that aint gonna cut it,... you need some sort of foundation..

 

[MarkN]

maybe you need it maybe you don't that depends but at the end of the day what have you got to lose ........

 

[J Cro]

i don wanna limit myself to one certain type of shit. i listen to all kinds of musc. if i know theory ad become a good writer i can write anything. i doing this shit because i wanna make a carer in music and im not gonna limit myself and try t be the next big hip hop producer. i dont care if im an engineer o ifi write jingles for commercials. as long as it pays my bills ima be happy

sorry for the fucked up typing my wireless needs new batteries

Depends on what type of hip hop ur trying to make.... if your going for more musical stuff then that aint gonna cut it,... you need some sort of foundation..

exactly. besides why spend an hour fuckin hittin random shit hoping for a miracle when u can know exactly what to hit to make it sound good. why waste the time fuckin with nonsense? thats how i look at it

 

[Hypnotist]

Okay music theory can be some complicated shit, but to start off as a beginner, instead of talking about harmonic 5ths and 7ths, etc, try this...

Make it fit to what you've already played. I'll spell it out for you. Say you played a real simple piano piece with the notes C, G, the next C, G, then back to C. Basically your "C" note is your <i>home key</i> and it's what you <i>should</i> come back to in your bass line. (But not always). Try to make the bassline with EXACTLY the same notes, and play EXACTLY the same thing. This sounds too layered, but it works. Sometimes it's a good start, if you're going to add more later. Now, play the same exact notes, but play a different rhythm than the piano part, still coming back to your <i>home key</i>, which would be "C". Now add a violin or synth, and sustain a "C" in the upper region of your keyboard. This is a basic harmony that is REALLY simple.

Bass lines are usually more simple than the accompaniments that are played on higher octaves, but you can always make funky shit and have a crazy bassline, with everything else simpler.

I would tell you that "it just comes natural to some people to have the ear for it, and to others it just doesn't" but that's pessimistic of me. There is a way you can learn, and it's through time and practice. Try writing down the exact notes you use when you create your first melody, and then structure around that.

Sometimes it's better to loop your first melody and not even touch the keyboard, and hum to it. It may sound better when you hum a bass line, record it, then find the exact notes you hummed later, once it's been recorded for notepad purposes. Sometimes when you touch a key or two, it messes up what was in your head when you thought a second ago "I'm gonna add some SICK shit to this!"

Be patient with it. You'll find a way to do it.

 

[J Cro]

Make it fit to what you've already played. I'll spell it out for you. Say you played a real simple piano piece with the notes C, G, the next C, G, then back to C. Basically your "C" note is your <i>home key</i> and it's what you <i>should</i> come back to in your bass line. (But not always). Try to make the bassline with EXACTLY the same notes, and play EXACTLY the same thing. This sounds too layered, but it works. Sometimes it's a good start, if you're going to add more later. Now, play the same exact notes, but play a different rhythm than the piano part, still coming back to your <i>home key</i>, which would be "C". Now add a violin or synth, and sustain a "C" in the upper region of your keyboard. This is a basic harmony that is REALLY simple.

thats good advice IMO


check this song i made awhile back just tryin to fuck wit chords and learnin some theory. its all in one scale and done musically. its boing as fuck but it helped me learn. altho i forget what scale and notes and all that shit hahaha

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/songInfo.cfm?bandID=112769&songID=795970

 

[JPeg]

maybe you need it maybe you don't that depends but at the end of the day what have you got to lose ........

sometimes u can get too much info which can obsucre the creative process cos ur always tryn make waht ur working on fit inside the rules of musical structure when all u should be asking urself if this sounds dope.

As for having a musical base, when dudes like RZA was making classic early WU stuff he aint have no knowledge of music structure and he was making classics when he learned all that deep music shit his beats got worse go u figure it out.

It aint about knowing exactly what will sound good u can feel ur way thru it just use ur ear i neva play around with a sound for hours i can tell within a minute or too if shit is gonna work.

 

[MarkN]

sometimes u can get too much info which can obsucre the creative process cos ur always tryn make waht ur working on fit inside the rules of musical structure when all u should be asking urself if this sounds dope.

As for having a musical base, when dudes like RZA was making classic early WU stuff he aint have no knowledge of music structure and he was making classics when he learned all that deep music shit his beats got worse go u figure it out.

It aint about knowing exactly what will sound good u can feel ur way thru it just use ur ear i neva play around with a sound for hours i can tell within a minute or too if shit is gonna work.

i tired to tell myself the exact same thing but at the end of the day if learning basic music theory and more importantly basics of playing sumthing like the piano is never going to limit you, i had this argument with classic for months he thought id should learn to play a bit and i thought exactly the same thing as you but ive started learning theory and piano only very recent but its definately going to help not hinder ! its a lot easier to be able to think of something then play it rather than sit there for hours trying to figure out what to do, another point is that people like premo etc have there high and low points when boom bap is in then premo is in demand as soon as it has a dip in popularity he gets less work but producers like storch, dre, neptunes can just adapt all the time it gives you so much more flexibility ! its not like you have to be a classically trained pianist coz they can be restricting but just learn basic playing and theory !

 

[Chrono]

i agree completly. Learning theory really allows a musican to visualize the beat/melody in their head and know how to create it in your head. Now when I listen to peoples beats or songs I can visualize which octave (c2, c3, c4, c5) the notes are in an even begining to visualize the notes within the clefts. It is learning a new language so it does seperate the serious from the fad mobbs.

but ive started learning theory and piano only very recent but its definately going to help not hinder ! its a lot easier to be able to think of something then play it rather than sit there for hours trying to figure out what to do

 

[classic]

sometimes u can get too much info which can obsucre the creative process cos ur always tryn make waht ur working on fit inside the rules of musical structure when all u should be asking urself if this sounds dope.

As for having a musical base, when dudes like RZA was making classic early WU stuff he aint have no knowledge of music structure and he was making classics when he learned all that deep music shit his beats got worse go u figure it out.

It aint about knowing exactly what will sound good u can feel ur way thru it just use ur ear i neva play around with a sound for hours i can tell within a minute or too if shit is gonna work.

You sound threatend by it , cats fear what they dont know or understand.

Before u make a decision on something u should know more about it, if you did you would realise theory dosent hender anything if you use it correclty, theory aint gonna make you dope overnighteither.. its just a more efficent way of making music. And it usually takes a good amount of time before u see its effects in the music

Also you have to distingish the differnce between learning music theory and learning how to play an instrament, they are too seperate things. It does help when you learn both at the same time

class..

 

[J Cro]

Also you have to distingish the differnce between learning music theory and learning how to play an instrament, they are too seperate things. It does help when you learn both at the same time

class..

i used to play some of my fav metal riffs on guitar. but all i was doin was playin somebody elses work. it meant nothing. if i learned theory then too i would know why im playin what im playin and understand it and be able to write simaler music.

when i sample now i find that somet8imes i only got a good loop and i wanna add shit to it and knowin theory and developing a good ear for it will allow u to figure out the tones of the sample loop and play a melody along to it or a bassline or whatever more easily because u can identify what scale and mode etc was used. thisway u kno your composed peice will fit with your sample. and to me this blurs the lines of perception as u may use a loop thats semi played out but then u write this whole other shit over it and can reinvent a dope sample from back in the day. or maybe u found a cool 1 bar piano loop but its boring now u can throw your own variations on it much more easily and to me thats a much better advantage than just random playing.

 

[Hi-Lo]

exactly. besides why spend an hour fuckin hittin random shit hoping for a miracle when u can know exactly what to hit to make it sound good. why waste the time fuckin with nonsense? thats how i look at it

no book will teach you that...that is talent. a book can give you an understanding of how to put sound together, not tell you how to do it...

 

[J Cro]

no book will teach you that...that is talent. a book can give you an understanding of how to put sound together, not tell you how to do it...

thats partially wrong. sounding good and making something amazing is 2 diff things.
to be amazing u need talent. to sound good u need practice and knowledge.