Did music theory help you much with chords etc?

[isuckatproducing]

Hi,

I did music production for a decade or so as a hobby, but I never felt like learning music theory.

I'm not very talented and for example making a MIDI of a song I hear or a bassline is VERY hard for me. As you can imagine I struggle a lot with nice chord progressions as well.

I wonder if music theory is going to help much or I shouldn't bother in this case
I'm also going to learn mostly basics as don't have a time to study it for months/years.

Cheers

[original flipper]

Hi

'I'm also going to learn mostly basics as don't have a time to study it for I'm also going to learn mostly basics as don't have a time to study it for months/years'

If you don't have time for: 'months/years' of study how do you think you are going to learn anything of worth?

I am no expert at musical composition OR theory in general, but I do know that unless you are happy with an absolute minimum amount of very simplistic knowledge there is no quick fix to what you ask.

What might make the trip a bit easier or fun would be to learn an instrument at the same time - just learning theory in isolation will IMO just compound the problem because it will be hard to relate it to producing music - if you have a midi keyboard then you already have an instrument, so go from there.

BTW I am leaning the Guitar for the last year - practice almost every day for 30 min - 3 hours, I am an oldie so things come to me slowly, my knowledge of theory comes as part of the learning process and not in isolation - if you are younger and can regularly practice/jam with others you can make much quicker progress.

[isuckatproducing]

If you don't have time for: 'months/years' of study how do you think you are going to learn anything of worth?

Some people say learning basic chords etc can help, and I don't think it takes years of studying obviously.

[nix808]

I can try to help with my cheats,
u want me to try here?

[isuckatproducing]

I can try to help with my cheats,
u want me to try here?

Sure

[nix808]

ok-
so in every key there are 7 consonant/harmonising notes,
I suggest u learn D minor key and play it's scale so it becomes muscle memory to play the correct keys.
From D Minor, in MIDI, we can transpose to damn near every other key by adding or subtracting semitones

-if u do this on piano, or in piano roll, u can write music that works in a little time, with a little effort

I do this with MIDI guitar, I used to write with a piano roll, but I just play guitar these days, coz I like to sorta dance with my hands freestyle noodling to backing tracks

pls any questions r welcome

[Jafo]

Yes. Absolutely. Much more effective than hitting random keys or frets (which can also0 lead to cool things).

[nix808]

nice to hear it's not a bad shortcut perhaps

yes twiddly enharmonic jazzy bits are good too
-experimentation is to be encouraged
there's no wrong sounds really imo

[sraymar]

Easy guitar jazz chord - play A major at the fifth fret unbarred. Move first finger down one fret(Amaj7b5). Move it down one more fret and you have a Holdsworth chord.

[jeromejenkins]

I have heard many successful and even platinum selling Hip Hop producers say they just learnt how to play one Major scale (C Major typically as its all the white keys) and one Minor scale (C Minor is good aswell or A Minor as it is also all the white keys) on the keys and then whenever they wanted to play in a different key they just just used a pitch/transposition plugin in there DAW to shift the scale up or down as many semitones as needed.

This can fast track you to playing many different scales and minimize your learning time if you just want to get going making great music. It can take you really far if you just want to work in typical Major and Minor scales which is a very high percentage of modern music today. As I mentioned Platinum selling producers have used this method. So many Hip Hop producers on Youtube talk about getting up and going with music theory quickly. So many great tutorials on Youtube for that stuff.

When learning to play piano which inherently involves music theory, I found the online program Pianote very good.

Just depends what your goal is really.

[jaydog4]

Hey thanks for that site! I think im going to try it out

[BBFG#]

It's all theory whether you study it or just fall into the easiest ubiquitous form of mass delusion that you're being different.
If you've bought the ticket, you might as well take the ride.
I remember doing overtone series in High School and Hindemith harmony studies in college and at the time, didn't think much of them. However, in the last few years of my own production, the understanding has manifested in a more effective process with far less trial and error involved.
When I first started listening to Tyner and Bartok, it took time to acquire a more than academic taste for them.
However, they've been some of the best investment of my time for keeping things interesting and not just another droll in idioms and subgenres. Of course, the problem being that most of what floods the business is exactly just that. Droll at best, but mostly just boring.
I've been semi-focusing on Axis Theory this last year and wish I really knew about this 45-50 years ago.

Exploring theory is an investment into your self exploration.

[kvotchin]

Some theory is “emergent” or after the fact, as it were. In other words, people played some stuff they thought sounded cool, and years later, theory geeks came up with names and frameworks for it, even though the OG would’ve had no idea why their playing “worked” - it just did.

Other theory is “formative” (i.e., theory geeks came up with this stuff, and thereafter musos have used the heck out of it, to the benefit of, well, many). Of course, emergent theory can become formative too, in time. So, at that point, there might not be much difference, or any.

Anyhow, yes, it’s worth some time and effort to learn some of it. How much is up to you, naturally. But indeed, it will only do good for anything musical you might engage in.

The internet is full of free information and lessons - search and you shall find.

[tehlord]

Music theory is the 'blah blah' side to actually learning to play.

If you learn to play (a slow process), it will be multiple times more useful than learning theory.

Learning theory is like reading how to drive a car. It has some usefulness in terms of knowing what the controls do, but you'll still stall first time you try a hill start as you don't have the muscle memory.

It's very hard to explain until you know how to play an instrument, but once you do, it becomes extraordinarily easy to write music.

[SHall1000]

…..but once you do, it becomes extraordinarily easy to write music.