great stuff. i've read books and had lessons on music theory and still didn't get it. after reading this tutorial, it all gelled together. mind you i still have a few questions, but i'm hoping to answer them myself through practice and experimentation.

i made a melody in c major. then i added some transitional notes using sharps. i've disobeyed the key rule because c major has no flats or sharps, but it still sounds good. why does it sound in harmony if i'm not playing in key? has it now become another key because of these sharps? i've tried the white notes for the transitional notes just to stick to c major, but they just don't seem to sound as good. the sharps i've use are D# F# G#

Last edited by NICKSON on Oct-03-2006 at 04:24

c major has no sharps

but c sharp major does

Sticky this sh!t...

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this thread was very helpful. thanks a million!

when i'm writing melodies using the guidelines in this thread, i try stick to all the rules, but once i've hit 'the zone' i end up forgetting all the rules and just resort to simply what sounds good. learning basic music theory helped me get my feet off the ground. as it says, learn the rules, then go off on your own. awesome tutorial.

i just have a question about the example melody that's used (complex + progression). it sounds very filled, like there are no gaps in between in the notes. how is this achieved? is it just the result of transitional notes and inversions put in the right places? or is it the reverb effect that allows one note to linger on until the next one plays? i was surprised when you said that it's just a basic, stock-standard melody, cause i think that could be a tune in itself.

Hey Nickson,

I was reading your comments.

The reason the melody sounds harmonious is that you are using C MINOR not C MAJOR. If you look at D# F# and G#, they are also Eb, Gb, and Ab. C minor uses 2 of those flabs, Eb and Ab. Remember when I said that there are keys with different names? (enharmonic) As for Gb, it's an interval that's outside of the key. In this case it's a diminished 5th (this is not important). When I said it's important to stay in the key, I mean it as a starting point for you guys to understand simple harmony. You can be creative later on.

As for the filling of the melody, it comes with delay and reverb. Maybe a more sustained envelope may help.

I'm glad the tutorial has helped you.

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cheers azn!

i have another question regarding where the melody/melody foot/chords begin.

in the last jpeg of the tutorial, the first note you play is F, but the melody is still in D minor. so as far as i'm concerned, the first note played doesn't need to be D for it to be D minor (same thing applies to other keys). but with the melody foot, have you started it on D for any particular reason? could you have started the melody foot on C, E, or F, and the whole thing would still be D minor?

so ultimately, could you have a melody starting with the note G, a melody foot starting on B (an octave apart), and because no flats/sharps are used throughout the whole thing, the melody is in C major (or A minor)?

i don't know why i find this part confusing, i guess it's because when i look at the MIDI files of well-known tunes, they'll have the melody and melody foot starting on the same note (an octave apart), and this is a common thing.

Last edited by NICKSON on Oct-05-2006 at 03:16

Hey Nickson,

Yes, your melody foot can start anywhere, as long as it is in key. The melody I constructed was from a chord progression. Remember that chord progressions don't always have to start with the 1 chord. Be creative.

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Can someone clear something up for me. The part about scales. It says to pay attention to how many semitones each note goes up in major and minor scales as this is the same for any major/minor.

Does this mean for instance, that from the D major picture I counted that from the first note (d) it goes up 2 2 1 2 2 2 1 in semitones.

So whatever major key I decied to play in, if i count along my keyboard in the above semitones, I will find all the notes in that key and then so long as i use only these notes I will always stay in key.

Is this right?

OPr have I confused everybody else aswell as myself?

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Yes, try to play a scale in D major and move the whole pattern up and down the keyboard...they should all still be in major.

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Nickson

f is in d-minor ,and you dont always have to start or end on the tonic as long as you stay within the seven keys.