Honestly, the theory courses here on ToneGym aren't that great. I mean, some of the content in isolation is pretty good, but it's not very well-organized into a systematic course of study. Like, throwing 20th-century harmony at you before laying sufficient groundwork.
Here's a free online theory course I found to be very helpful. It's a nice, broad survey from the basics to modern.
Hey! I've been playing every day for a few weeks now. I'm getting slightly better and I feel like I'm noticing some strange changes. For the past week or so it feels like all the music I hear has a similar foundation or possibly I'm registering a particular note. It's making every song I hear sound very similar to one another.
Has anyone else ever had this sensation? I'm getting the feeling like oh i know that song but I feel that with every song and definitely for a lot of music I've never heard. I'm not sure if it's a frequency or pitch recognition and I don't think these songs are all in the same key.
That is interesting! Sometimes I can hear bits that sound similar. Because all (western) music is made up of just 7 notes that is not all that surprising.
There are certainly things that have a characteristic sound and that are very common, and once you hear them, you hear them everywhere. I-IV-V progressions are very common, for instance -- perhaps you were kind of taking them for granted before, but now you hear those similarities. Taylor Smith is known for recycling a particular chord progress, but so do blues and blues-rock musicians, for that matter (the ubiquitous 12-bar blues). Or, as another example, introducing the flatted 6th in an otherwise major key -- often by moving from the IV chord to the iv chord -- is pretty common and has a distinctive sound.
guys, there's something I may be missing here... how am I to learn the chord progressions if I've got no clue whether they are played with an inversion or not? do you have some suggestions as to how to develop my ear in a gradual way as I currently feel like I am thrown in the deepend...
Uff! There's a lot! But if you're having lyrical writers block, then one thing that helps is writing from theme. First write down the emotional message of the song e.g.: “I thought I was lost, but someone helped me feel hopeful again.”
Then I break that into themes for each section: • Verse 1 = I hit rock bottom • Pre-chorus = I meet someone positive • Chorus = I feel hopeful about the future • Verse 2 = I’m scared to depend on someone again, but I want to trust it
Once you know what each part means, the lyrics come easier and stay connected. Hope that helps!
I am only a beginner. .. have had some success with the following.
Write a song about something that touches your heart - it is a much easier place to start!
With a piece of paper and pencil - do a brain dump for 15 min. Write down every phrase every word that you can think of in relation to the subject - no filtering!!!
Then look at what you have written down and pull out the words for the main themes
Write them across the top of a page and underneath the theme words write rhyming words
Now you are probably ready to start writing your song - think of the form .. of the song you want to write Ie verses, chord, bridge etc. try and keep the song under three minutes if possible. Will be longer than that after a musical intro , etc
Many other things to think about but it’s a good place to start if you are new to song writing - Have fun with it!!
Keep a notebook of ideas and cultivate a rich, thoughtful inner life. As you're going about your day and you come across some turn of phrase that strikes your fancy -- from your own inner musings, from your conversations with others, whatever -- write it down. If you feel inspired to develop it further right then, great! If not, you can develop it later. Periodically go through your notebook and see what might be crying out for further development. I've had lyrics where I've gone years or even decades between jotting down that initial idea in a notebook and developing it into a full lyric.
The same sort of things can be used for musical ideas as well as lyrical ideas. In my case, I don't usually use a notebook for that, per se. Most of the time, I'll either record the idea on my phone, or I'll jot it down in Musescore.
When I've got either a full lyric that needs music, or vice versa, I'll go through my cache of ideas to see if anything seems like it might fit with further development.
I would also recommend Jeff Tweedy's book, How to Write One Song.
Hello there. In sound we have 3 fundamental aspects of a wave - pitch, length(time), and timbre. (maybe there are more?)
I have a belief that a rhythm training is heavily overlooked in training musicians. I personally struggle to get better with timing on an instrument and making my tracks groove well when I produce electronic music. When I record myself, my timing is all around - behind or rushing the click, it's embarrassing to see myself play something that bad.
How should an aspiring musician and producer approach hearing timing, rhythms, playing in the pocket?
It's an open ended type of question, just want to hear your thoughts about training rhythm, timing, setting time based effects.
@Question Toothbrush I have done it a few ways. I use an app called Pro Metronome which is a well made metronome app in my opinion. You can set a slow tempo, like 30 bpm and make the metronome play 16ths, so its giving you 120, then you set it to 8ths and you get 60, then back to quarters and you are at 30. After that you can use the app to take beats out, so get rid of 2 and 4 then you are at 15bpm, then take out 3 and you are 7.5bpm.
Another way I have done it is to make a tempo map in a DAW and play along with that. If I want it to be automatic so I don't have to stop playing and fiddle with an app, I do it this way. Most DAW's will let you go super slow too, so it works well.
Indeed, rhythm is more important than pitch. It's what structures the song and the audience will hear timing errors more readily than they will hear pitch errors.
Practice with a metronome, of course, because even if you want to take a rubato approach, you first need to feel the time in order to stretch it. Or if you just want to play by feel with others, you still have be able to listen and follow the groove that you're hearing from others. If you can't follow a metronome with it's clear, unchanging cues, you sure as heck won't be able to follow others during live play with its more subtle cues and shifting rhythms.
But you should also be breaking down interesting rhythms that you hears and trying to figure them out, especially syncopated, funky rhythms that encourage you to subdivide the beat. Cultivate a habit of count-singing -- 1-e-and-uh-2-e-and-uh for subdividing into 16ths, 1-and-uh-2-and-uh for subdividing into triple meter, etc. You want to get to the point where you have an internal clock running in the background of your mind, subdividing the beat. The nice thing about this is it can be done whenever or wherever you are listening to music. Why is this so funky? Let me count-sing it a bit. Oh, they're hitting on the 'uh' of 3, anticipating beat 4 by a 16th.
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