I feel stupid.
Don’t feel alone on that.
I do to. ;_;
Well I have a LOT of stuff, but not enough that would fit one here. I guess a random tip would be that it’s easier to change to scales which have similar keys by changing on, or to the fifth note or first note of whatever scale your modulating/changing to. If you look on the circle of fifths and start from C major, you can go a perfect fifth (C to G) up and arrive at G. Then in the scale of G Major, G has 1 sharp (F#). Then go a perfect fifth up from that, and you arrive at D, and D has 2 sharps (F# and C#). Generally, it would be easy to go from C to D major like this…
Sections 0, 1, and 2 are in C major. Sections 3 and 4 are in D major. The way I did it so smoothly is because of the tonics and dominants (first and fifth notes in a scale). The chord that was just before the D major chord was C, which is the first pitch in C major, then the next chord was D, which contains the first note of D major (D), which also had the note G, which is the fifth note of C major. And also there’s only 2 sharps separating the scale of C major from D major.
There are of course other ways to effectively modulate to different scales, but using the tonics and dominants of similar scales are the easiest.
Well what really helps the creative process with mathematical things and patterns is organizing and identifying concepts and different patterns. I’ve spent much time simply playing around and just figuring out how certain patterns produce certain sounds that I’ve gotten to know how to actually apply those techniques more, and then on top of that I found a way to organize and identify those patterns even more with music theory.
Yeah. I learned how to make up and down things by placing notes randomly!
Thanks! Do you know any good methods, like pedal notes and suspended notes and stuff?
Pedal notes are just notes that get held down, usually while other notes are playing. Suspended notes however are when you use a note that isn’t part of the harmony but is still involved with a specific harmony, like in this example, I will play a C minor chord, but with a suspended D note.
Generally with suspensions, its best to make a suspended note that goes down a whole step from another note in the harmonic part of a song which could form a triad, it will usually be more easy to make it sound like it’s going somewhere, or in some cases, it will still sound at rest.
guitarskills, you know music theory a lot and probably more than anyone else here
but ur muzik = lol
Well I actually meant tell me something like them that I could use in songs.
(I hate having to reply directly to you but I couldn’t just leave you uncorrected.)
Music theory isn’t everything about making a song, sure melodies and stuff are included but unless guitarskills is getting some master-level lessons there’s a lot untold, you really must experiment yourself and learn through trial-and-error. Music theory is only a basis of what sounds good and whatnot, the real music comes from within. And also a lot of people have done more theory than guitarskills.
Not only that, but what music theory in college tries to teach you is how to hear and recognize chords and intervals simply by hearing them, so that when oyu have a song in your head, you can easily write it down. Otherwise something “like” a suspension is a sub-dominant, but a sub-dominant involves a note that’s in a different scale, also called a temporary key change.
Yes, my teacher keeps telling me that’s what I need to get good at. I hear a lot of great melodies in my head, but I’m nowhere near good enough to write them on paper. I’m think about humming them into a guitar tuner to write them down… Would that work?
Okay, I get what you mean now. [sorry if I seemed like a douche there]
Yeah, I guess.
I usually just jam stuff on a piano if there’s a melody in my head and remember the notes 
I can’t remember melody lines that haven’t been created before. What I was saying was I come up with new songs in my head, But I can’t put them on paper.
What I usually do if I wanted to write down a tune from my head is just try and see if I can duplicate it on my piano and see what the notes are. It takes a bit of trial and error, but as you’re learning music theory (as xenon said) it won’t be that hard.
lol instead of paper use notessimo so you can use what muse said [trial and error]
As I’ve said before, me and Trail and Error do not get along so well.
It’s the only option if you can’t sing.
They way you do it is just to be persistent. You usually need a program or to not know what the chords are going to be. What I suggest you do is ask your music teacher or someone who knows chords to play
types of chords that you know in random orders, then try to guess them. If your wrong, learn from the chord, and study it more. If your right, good for you. In college you have to do things like identify what types of chords everything is down to what inversion it is, then on top of that, you need to use relative pitch to figure out the individual notes of an entire piece. The way you do this is by practicing and testing yourself on identifying chords and intervals, for at least 1 hour at a time, for at least 3-4 days a week. Otherwise, you could try to practice on your own, but its much much more effective to be tested by another person and to try and hear it yourself. After a lot of practice and testing, you’ll be good at figuring out notes and intervals.
Another way you could try to use relative pitch is to study how intervals sound a lot, but you need a starting note. What I suggest is use notes you know from songs, like if you can clearly hear in your head what a note like an F sounds from part of a song, then start from than F and figure out what the intervals are to the next note, then you will be able to identify that next note. I use B and C from the brinstar theme in metroid, and Eb from Aphex Twin’s Acrid Avid Jam Shred in the middle and occasionally the band Muse’s Starlight theme with the piano.
I’m in a college course…
Also, here’s an ear trainer.
and here’s the whole exercise list, allowing you to customize what you want to be tested on.
Akh I hate all those listening related stuff.