how to learn chords? noob

Chords, scales, harmony, melody, etc.
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Take a look at this:

http://www.musictheory.net/

And here is a downloadable version:

http://classic.musictheory.net/

It even has a scheme for writing chord progressions. And it's free.

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trewq wrote:Mel Bay books.

Seriously. If you are not familiar with it, check it on Wikipedia.

I got a few of Mel's books when I was starting out. But I don't blame him ;-).


Really good actually - learned a lot. Are the books still around?
Highly recommended.



I posted elsewhere on KVR but just visit http://jguitar.com/ - you can learn about chords you made up and what name/key they are. You can tune your guitar/bass including alternative tunings. You can find scales that go with certain chords. You can look up a name of a chord and find alternative inversions.

It really is a one stop shop for the beginner guitarist. I wish I had had it when starting out. Then again...


;-)

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codec_spurt wrote:
trewq wrote:Mel Bay books.

Seriously. If you are not familiar with it, check it on Wikipedia.

I got a few of Mel's books when I was starting out. But I don't blame him ;-).


Really good actually - learned a lot. Are the books still around?
Highly recommended.



I posted elsewhere on KVR but just visit http://jguitar.com/ - you can learn about chords you made up and what name/key they are. You can tune your guitar/bass including alternative tunings. You can find scales that go with certain chords. You can look up a name of a chord and find alternative inversions.

It really is a one stop shop for the beginner guitarist. I wish I had had it when starting out. Then again...


;-)
That Mel Bay chord encyclopedia sold alot back in the day. I never heard of it until my girlfriend in high school bought it for me - back when I only had one thing on my mind.

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lingyai wrote:Not a substitute, but a supplement

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... _1BgtA_lvo
Bullshit. This is geared for avoidance of musical thought, for people that for some perverse reason are in a hurry or allergic to the work involved of approaching music with their own thought. Anyway as per the OP that is asking about a primer, this will be a crutch before the first steps are taken.

If one needs a program to guess their chord changes, perhaps they aren't well suited temperamentally to the task of writing music.
I said "work" above, but the real interest in how music works would prefigure that this kind of thing is a lot of fun and rewarding per se. If it isn't, I can only guess 'in a hurry' hence a drive to find a way out of doing it yourself.

There is surely a market for this kind of thing today though.

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jancivil wrote:
lingyai wrote:Not a substitute, but a supplement

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... _1BgtA_lvo
Bullshit. This is geared for avoidance of musical thought, for people that for some perverse reason are in a hurry or allergic to the work involved of approaching music with their own thought. Anyway as per the OP that is asking about a primer, this will be a crutch before the first steps are taken.

If one needs a program to guess their chord changes, perhaps they aren't well suited temperamentally to the task of writing music.
I said "work" above, but the real interest in how music works would prefigure that this kind of thing is a lot of fun and rewarding per se. If it isn't, I can only guess 'in a hurry' hence a drive to find a way out of doing it yourself.

There is surely a market for this kind of thing today though.
Hmmm, makes me want to check it out! I look at things now (as I get older) in a way that I can't do everything; I write my own songs but not with any real music theory other than what I learned from HS band; I play what sounds good to me. I look at it like this...I can't be an expert at everything or even study / become very proficient at everything I want to do in life; learn music theory, guitar, bass, DAW, effects, synth programming, tennis, homebrewing, motorcycle riding, studying the bible, making wine etc. etc. I only have so much time to do all these things!

What if you found out that your favorite song ever was written by a songwriter that didn't know much about music theory...would you not like it anymore? I think the final result (if it's legal) is what's important.YMMV. :wink:
John
"B4serenity"

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b4serenity wrote:
jancivil wrote:
[anger]
...

I play what sounds good to me.

...


What if you found out that your favorite song ever was written by a songwriter that didn't know much about music theory...would you not like it anymore? I think the final result (if it's legal) is what's important.YMMV. :wink:
But I think this is the point. If you play what sounds good to you, then why would you need a program to tell you what to play?

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Well it would be an easy way for me to add color (variations of chords) that I might not use normally. Kind of like collaborating with a virtual songwriting partner/piano player. I wish I could become better at all the things in my list above, but I don't want to give up even one of them so I have to spread my time around to have some semblance of a balanced life. I still spend most of my time on my songs but I can't finish things from fear of judgement (I really have to get over that!) or not enough time before the next big idea comes along!
John
"B4serenity"

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JumpingJackFlash wrote:
Perricone wrote:How do you know what chords can be played in a certain scale?
Check out my Introduction to Music Theory.

To put it simply, you build chords using the notes of the key. So, in C major you have C,D,E,F,G,A and B to play with; no sharps of flats.

Chords are usually constructed in thirds; that means there is a third between each note. (C to D is a second, C to E is a third for example).

So, stacking thirds in this way on each note of the scale gives you:
C,E,G
D,F,A
E,G,B
F,A,C
G,B,D
A,C,E
B,D,F

In any major key; chords I, IV and V are major chords. Chords ii, iii and vi are minor, and chord vii is diminished.

If I was in G major for example, I have an F#, so that means I use D,F#,A and B,D,F# (instead of D,F,A and B,D,F)
If I was in F major, I have a Bb so I use G,Bb,D and Bb,D,F.
And so on.

Your post really explains a few things I never understood and ties some other things I did together. THANK YOU!

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Nanakai wrote:
jancivil wrote:
[anger]

Nicely summarized. :hihi:

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