I’m tired of programming or using crutches like scale or chord mode to play my synths. Whenever it comes to laying down chords or pads I have tended to use samples, but I’m tired of doing that (my current workflow is to create a chord set in Ableton and then make a sample chain of said chords). I have no inspiration to be a good keys player but I would like to be able to twiddle around with a sound on my synth, create a chord progression and then sample those chords into my sampler of choice. I can play to an intermediate standard on guitar but it’s by ear and I don’t know any musical theory (I’m not averse to learning though).
So, where do I start? Learning chords by memory? Learning scales? Learn the chords of a specific key and then transpose that key? What would you suggest?
Unless you get some pretty significant keyboard playing skills it won’t really help your music theory very much. If you don’t have any current keyboard playing skills I would go with an isomorphic grid controller like a linnstrument. It makes everything music-theory related much easier to put into practice. Then just get a music theory book and with the power of those two combined you should be able to make significant progress.
this is exactly how I describe my keyboard experience! I couldn’t make my music without one, but I can’t play anything live.
But my general feeling on it is that it really helps to learn some of the theory, not just memorizing scales and chords. Let the keyboard be a tactile, visual tool; putting physical shapes to the chords and melodies helps the theory set in your brain. And something you might overlook in just memorizing chords is the huge number of ways you can play even a single chord (different range, order, spacing of the chord tones), immediately accessible on a keyboard with two hands.
Unfortunately, I’m pretty far removed from introduction music theory, so I can’t share any good resources off the top of my head. But there’s tons, and also many valid approaches, so you can find something that clicks with you personally.
Let me offer you a shortcut that won’t limit you like the scale or the chord mode do.
An isomorphic keyboard means that you don’t have to learn every scale. You learn one major scale, it applies to any note. One natural minor, it applies to any note. And so on.
No limitations, you can play any note out of the scale as long as you know what you’re doing. It won’t let you skip learning music theory, but it will let you skip a lot of practice.
It really helped me with improvisation. I have basic piano skills, but on an isomorphic keyboard improvisation feels much more natural. It’s connected to my brain after hours instead of hundreds of hours of practice.
Yes I still suck at timing, I don’t really play live, but I can finally improvise a lead line until I’m happy with it, then I either record and quantize or input it manually.
And if you want chords, the Linnstrument will give you way more space for that.
But the Linnstrument is pricey and hard to obtain in most countries. The Launchpad X can be found for less than $100 used, and it’s awesome. The Launchpad Pro mk3 is more like $300 used, but it packs a sequencer and can be your DAWless brain if you want.
But again, an isomorphic keyboard still requires you to learn the theory. It just makes it way easier to apply it.
I can play piano without looking at the keys. Someone correct me if I’m wrong but a flat-profiled isomorphic keyboard requires focusing on it, right? And what about reading music while playing? And playing with other musicians, where you need your eyes to stay with the ensemble?
Another big difference between a piano and an isomorphic layout: Making parallel motions on a piano ends up modulating the harmonies in a modal fashion (e.g. motion from a C major triad up one step to a D minor triad)…but on an isomorphic layout, a parallel physical motion results in parallel musical motion (e.g. a C-Major triad moving up to a D-Major triad). This attribute makes me suspect that isomorphic layouts may actually interfere with the learning of music theory.
Of course, it needs to be added that classical music theory is very “piano-centric”.
Like Daniel Fisher, i kinda new this too, but here is someone actually stating it clearly.
Play any three different notes, ( without dups in the octave ), and no more than three notes, most often they are slightly spread out, and occasionally every measure or two change one of the three, perhaps a couple of notes up or down, and on occasion more than that up or down. That’s it.
This creates a chord progression that is at least partially grounded in, dare we say, music theory.
Any three notes you play doing this, will be part of at least one legit chord. Most often it is more than one. ( A major triad, is also 3-5-7 of a different minor seven chord for instance. ) Since you only change one note at a time, every new chord will always be related to the last chord. ( You may be doing things like changing keys, and such, if you are looking at the super-structure, but that’s OK. )
As Fisher says, if you listen closely enough you can hear which of the three note to move, and how, to fit into your musical sense of creation. This will build your musical ear.
Video queued to where Daniel Fisher explains the “rules”.
This also works for two or three people playing together, as long as there is some queue, as to who changes the one note and when.
This also can work well on a “pad” keyboard like the Hydrasynth Desktop for instance.
Do not flame this.
it’s not instant-gratification. If you think somehow that it is, then here’s the thread for that.
This all is based in music theory,
Extra points if you have enough music theory knowledge and cunning to be able to look at the three notes and be able to recognize and name a chordal progression. Good practice if you are so skilled.
I know just enough theory to find grid controllers deeply frustrating. I constantly want to play an occasional note out of the current scale, or to change between major, minor or blues scales in the current key. I found grids made this really hard. A keyboard suits me better. However, I also suck at playing and practicing.
I have noticed that when I do practice scales, I get better in moving around keys and trying out key and mode modulations I havn’t specifically practiced. I suspect practicing scales helps embed the relationships between keys in you body/muscle memory, so you don’t have to think about them… they just flow. It’s actually magical.
Years ago I got a book on composition, which I’ve not finished reading. The first two chapters basically just list all the typical chord progressions. I’ve tried to learn them “theoretically” before, but it rarely sticks. So my plan for when I next feel driven to start regular practice is to repeatedly play all the common sequences in a few keys, and see how that changes my improv and composition.
I played piano for a long time and an isomorphic layout in no way interferes with the learning of music theory and it actually makes it much easier to actually use it in practice. It took me literally one day to learn the major and minor scales and I can play it in any key, no learning the same thing 24 times lol. And I feel like I can already improvise chord progressions much better than I could on a keyboard. Same shape everywhere in any key and not only that but inversions and extensions are infinitely easier, and doing things like secondary dominants etc. takes almost no thought.
I don’t know if you have to look at it or not, guess it depends on the player, but for people making electronic music I don’t think this is an issue. I really don’t think the OP is wanting to play piano from sheet music or in an ensemble.
But then I also think that electronic musicians should not be afraid to whole-heartedly embrace the many “traditional” ways to make electronic music–like step sequencing. You can learn music theory just fine without knowing how to play any instrument and programming in music is different, but not inferior to playing it in. I also don’t think scale and chord more etc. are “crutches” like the OP suggested, they are just tools to use as you want.
Pick a song that you like. Learn the melody and chords for that song. This is an approach that has been proven to work for aspiring composers and performers alike.
No shame in using a sequencer to help you recreate the song as you figure out the melody and chords.
The melody will probably be in a certain key - like C, F, Bb or whatever. Try to figure out what the key is.
Also try to figure out which chord is the 1 (“one”) chord. Much of music theory uses some kind of number system for chords.
First thing that I would say is learn your scales! Being able to instinctively know what keys in a given octave are a part of each key. Practicing scales is exceedingly boring and repetitive, but the goal is to build muscle memory to go with the knowledge of what notes are in each key. It was the ticket for me developing improvisational skills. Then I would learn the standard chord shapes and develop the muscle memory to play those. Transposition on keys is easy so once you know the shapes its applicable to all keys.
Once you have mastered playing scales and the basic chord shapes, your understanding of chord progressions will have more context for you now.
Steps to take after these skills include switching between a key and its relative minor, and then developing your left hand skills.
The easy way to get started in playing two handed is think of your right as the lead and your left as the bass. You can begin by simply playing the root note of the chord that your right hand is playing.
If you can really get confidant doing these things you will have a more than a necessary level of skill to “organically” compose at a keyboard without referencing a sequencer or computer too much!
It is also a matter of efficiency. Sure, learning scales and chords in every single key is a great drill. And it takes away a LOT of time. So, when time is scarce, it is best to learn only the relevant scales and chords in the key you currently need.
These things look way more confusing than a standard keyboard to me. I’d think this stuff would wreck your muscle memory for chords or melodies because the lights (i.e. notes) can shift around. Learning to play the Linnstrument or other such isomorphic boards seems like spending time learning a very specific, non-transferable skill.
If the OP wants to learn keyboard, is suggest learning to play in one key. Learn the major/minor scales in that key, then the triads, practice the inversions up and down the board, then learn to do all that with your eyes closed. Then do it all over again for a new key
If you don’t wish to engage a teacher, I would suggest looking for courses on Udemy or getting a method book (eg. Faber has some for adults). But they may be oriented towards learning staff notation (not necessarily a bad thing).
Failing that, I would start with learning 1) interval names and 2) chord qualities (and associated chord symbols). Each has its own Wikipedia page, eg.
For example, a dominant 7th chord like C7 has a root, a major third (M3) a perfect 5th (P5) and a minor 7th (m7) (all measured from the root). In this case, C-E-G-Bb. eg. C to Bb is the minor 7th.
Note, there are also upper extensions like 9ths and 11ths to enjoy later.
Then chords are voiced ie the order of notes is changed, some might be doubled, some might be left out. i.e from low to high, E, C, Bb, G is still a C7 (one way to play it). When composing you might strive for smooth voice leading ie each note moving by a smallish amount.
Linnstrument can be “tuned” to guitar layout, so the OP would have the advantage of being able to port his guitar skills over to the synth world, albeit at the cost of money instead of time. The alternative is spending a lot of time. If you learn theory on the Linnstrument, this skill can also be more easily ported back to the guitar, if needed.
Linnstrument certainly does not wreck your muscle memory because of the lights. The markers are fixed, unless you change them. The transpose function and chord&scale modes on any instrument do usually wreck muscle memory or ear.
I was in a similar boat about 8 years back. So I took an online music foundations course, and learned basic music theory which included scales, keys, circle of fiths, chords etc. It was very useful. Im no keyboard player, but I really enjoy playing things into a sequencer, rather than programming. So thats how I work now.
Hardly any of my learning is memorised, I still have to refer to notes, or look up a scale from time to time. Doesnt bother me at all. Once Im in, Im in. And I can fly around a scale on the keyboard quite comfortably. Mind you, its all one hand. I only write basslines anyway. Most of my music is bass, chords and really simple melodic hooks.
Invest in some learning time. Learning keyboard skills will be of great use.
I can’t speak of the Linnstrument (technically I own one, as I asked my friend to buy it last year, but he failed to ship it and now it’s stuck in the US indefinitely), but the Launchpad has tiny bumps on some pads, think of F and J on a computer keyboard. Personally, I’m not good enough to play without looking, but it shouldn’t be an issue for a more experienced player. After all, you can attach guitar straps to the Linnstrument, and overall you can consider it an 8-string guitar.
But then again, @Thespa is interested in something for composition purely, and I’ve found an isomorphic keyboard (a Launchpad in my case) to be extremely helpful in connecting your brain to your fingers quickly. I’m not sure how the amount of practice needed for realtime “blind” performance compares to the one for a piano, because I never reached that level on either.
As you can light up a major scale, for example, as a beginner you will clearly see that a D Major triad would include “dark” notes, and a D minor triad would fit perfectly. You’d have to change the chord shape from major to minor, but other than that slight hindrance, I don’t see how it would interfere.
That said, I mostly learned music theory on a traditional piano layout, but I don’t think one would have any issues learning on an isomorphic keyboard, as long as they think in chord numbers rather than particular chords for a particular key. The biggest challenge would be the lack of educational materials focused on isomorphic keyboard, but I’d say for Western music theory you have to know the piano layout even if you’re not playing it, and even an isomorphic keyboard won’t change that.
They don’t have to. First, you can just keep it in C Major, with dark notes being the black keys. Even if you don’t, when you’re switching from C Major to C minor, the notes themselves don’t shift around. Only the lights do, to show you which notes fit C minor.
It may be easier to understand if you view it as an 8 string guitar (or an 8 string bass guitar to keep the intervals the same, but I think it has a guitar layout as well).
Should be transferable between it and a guitar, a lot of guitarists seem to find isomorphic keyboards familiar from the beginning.
This doesn’t sound like it’s teaching anything, just training you to hit the buttons that light up. Seems like just another crutch to make you think you understand something that you don’t. If the goal is to learn theory, study theory then put it into practice.
Not really. The lights help you see the key pattern, but with practice you get it in your fingertips. Lots of players play with lights off or with lights only on the root. What makes it different is that you only have to practice one pattern for a major key, not twelve.
Again, it’s not for skipping music theory. While it may be helpful for learning it, due to the logical and intuitive way the notes are arranged, you still absolutely have to learn it.
The whole point of isomorphic keyboards (at least in my experience) is that they make applying what you’ve learned much easier.
I’m an untrained player who has got more into keys and learnt to play - a little - enough to fool people who can’t play themselves, but not enough to fool real players .
Anyway, gaining just a little competence on keys has been extremely valuable to me compositionally. The key thing for me is that it lets you try out ideas very, very quickly. Entering notes into a sequencer, playing them back, and editing the sequence is painfully slow compared to playing them with your fingers and getting immediate feedback. To make that work, you need two things: familiarity with where the notes are (which is not too difficult on a keyboard) and a mental construct that lets you hold ‘sequences’ in your working memory while you write them.
For me, intervals have been the key. Intervals are useful melodically, because all melodies are a series of intervals spread over time; and they’re even more useful harmonically, because chords are a collection of intervals played simultaneously. That’s how I think of songs anyway, as a intervallic relationship between (usually) bass and melody, so knowing the intervals kind of is knowing the song.
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