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"guessing" melodies
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PaRaNoIk0
I seem to manage to "imaginate" some very good melodies to use in tracks.. but have no idea of how to put the keys in piano rolls! how do you guys do it? can you guys tell by ear if it is an C or C# or D or whatever? I can be like 5 hours trying to guess the keys of a 4 bar melody and I can't do anything.. am I deaf or something? any ideas of how to learn to do it? I know it's something you learn with time.. not in 2 days or something.. but I feel I'm never going to learn

help is needed
brash
Learn relative pitch. Play a note on a keyboard, then try to guess a note above or below it, and then check to see if you are right. Or play a note, then listen to what some note above/below it sounds like. Practice this a lot and you will eventually be able to figure out how far away from the first note the next note is in that melody in your head.
modular
and pray you are not tone deaf..........lol
Flotser
sometimes i can do it.. other times i can't....

should someone have some kinda of musical bacground for it (playing an instrument and stuff)...??
Vizay
to hear what notes that are played demands that you train your ear....I played instrument for like 8 years before I got into trance and producing so I had a good ground there but I think that unless your'e not totaly tonedeaf you should be able to train the skill to recognise notes :)
Dariuzz
quote:
Originally posted by PaRaNoIk0
I seem to manage to "imaginate" some very good melodies to use in tracks.. but have no idea of how to put the keys in piano rolls! how do you guys do it? can you guys tell by ear if it is an C or C# or D or whatever? I can be like 5 hours trying to guess the keys of a 4 bar melody and I can't do anything.. am I deaf or something? any ideas of how to learn to do it? I know it's something you learn with time.. not in 2 days or something.. but I feel I'm never going to learn

help is needed


Personaly I do like this.When I imagine a melody in my mind I record it into a tape by singing it(incase I forget it).Then I grab some kind of instrument and sing note by note ,and play it on my instrument.When I find out the melody on my instrument I put it into piano rolls.
Hope I helped you :)
dj_inferno
I had the same problem when I first learned to play the piano 4 yrs ago(before I heard trance)...but after learning music theory it became much easier...
DJ Dowlz
quote:
Originally posted by PaRaNoIk0
I seem to manage to "imaginate" some very good melodies to use in tracks.. but have no idea of how to put the keys in piano rolls! how do you guys do it? can you guys tell by ear if it is an C or C# or D or whatever? I can be like 5 hours trying to guess the keys of a 4 bar melody and I can't do anything.. am I deaf or something? any ideas of how to learn to do it? I know it's something you learn with time.. not in 2 days or something.. but I feel I'm never going to learn

help is needed


What you are talking about there is commonly known as perfect pitch. It is something which can be both fortunate and unfortunate to possess. Fortunate because you can instantly jot down your melodic thoughts, but trust me, it can be unfortunate at times. Imagine listening to a fire truck going passed and going "that's an Ab". Or hearing a choir sing out of tune!

For composition, the most important skill is not perfect pitch, but rather, as brash pointed out, relative pitch. Relative pitch will allow you to understand the relationships between notes and thus you will be able to compose a piece based on the intervals between each note in the melody.

So may I suggest you learn relative pitch. Start with easy intervals. For instance you might want to remember a perfect 4th as the interval on which almost every single hymn ends "Amen" (plagal cadence).
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