quote:

Originally posted by sixofour.604 Well I can learn melodies from songs now, but it takes an hour and many replays. But this could be useful for me taking lessons. Do you have a messenger? [AIM, MSN, ICQ etc etc]

i will PM you my msn.

___________________

quote:

Playing the piano with two hands. There are SOOOOO many EDM artists who play "fake piano" and just use their controllers for sampling for the most part and do all the writing with the mouse. I've been watching so many gear videos lately, and I see these guys just doing unbelievable things on a keyboard. I know its years, and decades of experience that allows them to do this, but I am a patient person. I don't live in the microwave world. I just need to know a good formula for learning this. I know practice is the key, but I don't know what to practice!!!!!

Well here is my advise go to your local music store and ask if they do piano lessons. Take a lesson a week to learn to play the piano proficiently and learn to read sheet music.
If you do one lesson a week it wont be that expensive. I know there are books with cds or tapes (remember those?) but the fact of the matter is that nobody is disciplined enough to do this on his own.
You will need lessons with another human being. It is like learning a new language. You need somebody to answer questions and guide you through. Once you learn how to read sheet music you can download the files of your favorite songs print them out and practice all day.

Once you are at the point were you can look at a sheet of music and turn it into music as you go along it really becomes fun more than work.
You can play any melody that exists you can think of or come up with new ones.
You will be able to express your self musically 100%.

But forget all that...

All that is for old people, Jazz musicians ect and will make your music sound boring and generic.

Don't believe me?

Well let me wikipedia some bullshit to convince you...

Jazz absorbed and transformed influences from a diverse range of musical styles however in my opinion it cannot be considered musically interesting because it shifted the approach from a linear succession of musical tones perceived as a single entity to the use on simultaneous pitches.

And that is where the problem with Jazz lies...

See... see...

The real way to produce and express yourself to the fullest is to got to forget all those jazz music limitations that come with traditional training and go to http://www.nonstop2k.com/community/ and download other peoples trance sequences.
You can then import those midi files into your sequencer and do interesting things like change the notes of the file from half notes to 16 notes or change the key move them in different positions ect.
Make sure you find the files that have labeled all the tracks (like bass, pads, drums, lead ect) otherwise you will have to listen to the tracks and pick out the elements and label them yourself. Too much work.

Then after you are done ripping off something else you can assign those files to your cracked copy of trilogy, atmosphere and the other various plug-ins that come with your fruity loops sequencer & start building the drums.

Don't just sample something from another record and build your own library of sampled one shot sounds (that is morally irresponsible) instead buy or torrent the vengeance cds that sample other peoples records but run them through the software version of the 1176 and turn all the knobs to the right to assure there is absolutely no headroom left.
Find the drums you want to use and re compress them to assure that by the time it hits the limiters between the club PAs crossovers and the club PAs horns it will really sound like absolute shit.

Hit bounce and name the track as something different and you are on the way of becoming a millionaire producer. You will live in a huge Beverly Hills villa with three swimming pools drive a ferrari and have parallel relationships with 5 supermodels.

I met peter Peter Gabriel a few years back and he was kind enough to share his secret with me. ''Tiesto beats'' he said. ''If it wasn't for those tiesto sequences on trance 2k midi I wouldn't get these movie soundtrack deals.

''Me Stevie Wonder, Brian Emo'', he said, ''we all download these tiesto midi files on trance 2k and remix them in fruity loops. ''That is the secret to our success.''

Last edited by Existo22 on Aug-06-2009 at 20:24

quote:

Originally posted by sixofour.604 Do piano lessons help you learn to "play by ear".. Meaning you hear a melody, and you can recognize the notes being played, and play it back?

piano lessons dont necessarily help you learn to play by ear.

i was playing the final fantasy 7 theme on the piano 5 years before i ever took a lesson LOL.

but lessons do indeed help with form & how to approach playing by ear.

but a HUGE part of it...is your ears, and their ability to recognize tones & pitches.

quote:

Originally posted by Nightshift but a HUGE parts of it...is your ears and their ability to recognize tone's pitches.

...and intervals.

___________________
cryophonik.com | facebook | soundcloud

Sonar Platinum | Ableton Live 9 | Logic Pro X | Access Virus TI2 Keyboard | Kurzweil PC3X | Nord Lead 4R | NI Maschine

quote:

Originally posted by cryophonik ...and intervals.

+1 for DAve



But playing by ear is heavily dependant on if u can distinguish these things. Acting on them is where piano lessons come in handy by learning form.

If you are tone deaf, from what I know you have no hope.

I'm not sure if you can ear train someone out of tone deafness.

What is "Tone Deaf"?

___________________
E = mc²/2

E = mc² is the optical illusion of E = mc²/2

Click me to find out why.

quote:

Originally posted by sixofour.604 What is "Tone Deaf"?

Unable to distinguish differences in pitch in musical sounds when producing or hearing them.

So when certain people try to sing and they sound incredibly off, this could be attributed to tone deafness? I'm looking into this because I am trying to make a lead for a track, using a short clip of my own voice, but I can't seem to get the tone of my voice right.

___________________
E = mc²/2

E = mc² is the optical illusion of E = mc²/2

Click me to find out why.

quote:

Originally posted by sixofour.604 So when certain people try to sing and they sound incredibly off, this could be attributed to tone deafness? I'm looking into this because I am trying to make a lead for a track, using a short clip of my own voice, but I can't seem to get the tone of my voice right.

It can be. I haven't heard you try to "hit" a note. Get a piano sound, hit a note. Can you hum that note in "perfect pitch"? (at any octave) Record your self. If you can't, you're tone deaf.

Singing is another matter.

I can do that thing where you hold a note and hum at the same time and it goes into unison. I guess that's it.

It sounds kinda nice actually, I wonder if you can get that into music.

___________________
E = mc²/2

E = mc² is the optical illusion of E = mc²/2

Click me to find out why.

quote:

Originally posted by DjStephenWiley What are your opinions on self teaching? Positives? Negatives?

I agree with those suggesting to take lessons. I can tell you from experience, speaking as someone who did take lessons for over 10 years, that it is incredibly difficult to break habits acquired over months or years of sloppy practicing, and bad habits can seriously hinder your ability to progress further.

This is just the technical element. There is also the "musical" element that Richie talks about, and again, trying to acquire this without any real guidance often amounts to pissing in the wind. You don't want to be guessing when it comes to understanding the composer's intent.

I know a few self-taught players and they usually top out at what would have been a grade 2 or 3 conservatory level (out of 10). They have neither the ability nor the desire to really improve.

Which brings me to the last point - an instructor is a little bit like a personal trainer. Even if you have bales of intrinsic motivation, there are going to be weeks when you feel like you're just too busy or too tired to practice, and having that lesson looming overhead where you're going to have to show some improvement, it helps to keep you on a somewhat steady schedule.

For those saying that lessons won't help you with ear training - if you're taking lessons for the purpose of taking an exam, then actually, yes they will, because exams all involve some amount of ear testing (identifying intervals, replaying melodies, etc.) In fact, as you progress to the higher levels, these can get really difficult because you not only need to be able to recognize the notes and chords, you need a very sharp short-term memory just to be able to retain the information long enough to play it back.

This is just my experience/opinion. Every teacher is different, every "student" is different, and even the conservatories and exams and institutions are different in every geographical area.

___________________
My party schedule:
2009-02-21 - DJ Attention @ I'm So Popular
2009-06-18 - DJ Annoying @ People Need To Know Where I'll Be
2012-11-32 - DJ Insufferable ɸ Or At Least the Stalkers I Complain About
2048-06-66 - Spastic & Whocares ¶ Although I'm Actually Flattered
9999-45-81 - Tweaker Gimp ☼ I Probably Won't Even Go To This But I Have To Make Sure I Fill Up All The Available Space Here

quote:

Originally posted by Existo22 Well here is my advise go to your local music store and ask if they do piano lessons. Take a lesson a week to learn to play the piano proficiently and learn to read sheet music. If you do one lesson a week it wont be that expensive. I know there are books with cds or tapes (remember those?) but the fact of the matter is that nobody is disciplined enough to do this on his own. You will need lessons with another human being. It is like learning a new language. You need somebody to answer questions and guide you through. Once you learn how to read sheet music you can download the files of your favorite songs print them out and practice all day. Once you are at the point were you can look at a sheet of music and turn it into music as you go along it really becomes fun more than work. You can play any melody that exists you can think of or come up with new ones. You will be able to express your self musically 100%. But forget all that... All that is for old people, Jazz musicians ect and will make your music sound boring and generic. Don't believe me? Well let me wikipedia some bullshit to convince you... Jazz absorbed and transformed influences from a diverse range of musical styles however in my opinion it cannot be considered musically interesting because it shifted the approach from a linear succession of musical tones perceived as a single entity to the use on simultaneous pitches. And that is where the problem with Jazz lies... See... see... The real way to produce and express yourself to the fullest is to got to forget all those jazz music limitations that come with traditional training and go to http://www.nonstop2k.com/community/ and download other peoples trance sequences. You can then import those midi files into your sequencer and do interesting things like change the notes of the file from half notes to 16 notes or change the key move them in different positions ect. Make sure you find the files that have labeled all the tracks (like bass, pads, drums, lead ect) otherwise you will have to listen to the tracks and pick out the elements and label them yourself. Too much work. Then after you are done ripping off something else you can assign those files to your cracked copy of trilogy, atmosphere and the other various plug-ins that come with your fruity loops sequencer & start building the drums. Don't just sample something from another record and build your own library of sampled one shot sounds (that is morally irresponsible) instead buy or torrent the vengeance cds that sample other peoples records but run them through the software version of the 1176 and turn all the knobs to the right to assure there is absolutely no headroom left. Find the drums you want to use and re compress them to assure that by the time it hits the limiters between the club PAs crossovers and the club PAs horns it will really sound like absolute shit. Hit bounce and name the track as something different and you are on the way of becoming a millionaire producer. You will live in a huge Beverly Hills villa with three swimming pools drive a ferrari and have parallel relationships with 5 supermodels. I met peter Peter Gabriel a few years back and he was kind enough to share his secret with me. ''Tiesto beats'' he said. ''If it wasn't for those tiesto sequences on trance 2k midi I wouldn't get these movie soundtrack deals. ''Me Stevie Wonder, Brian Emo'', he said, ''we all download these tiesto midi files on trance 2k and remix them in fruity loops. ''That is the secret to our success.''

LMFAO