what do i got going on here?

So I know very, very little theory. But I like to play, and I'm able to tell what sounds right. Here are two simple little pieces I came up with, but I don't know how to fit them in with bigger arrangements, I don't know what key they're in, or even if they're "real" music, etc... Looking at all the notes of the first one we see:

E - G - F# - D then E - G - F# - C then E - G - F# - B

The only thing I know about determining keys is to look at the first note used. So by that logic, this is in the key of E? I'm assuming if I wanted to do more, I'd have to find something that these notes would pertain to, namely a scale (or a mode, which I know jack**** about). Does anyone know of a computer program that takes a collection of notes as input and outputs a corresponding scale? If not, I'll make one over the summer cuz I won't have anything better to do.


mp3->http://oak.cats.ohiou.edu/~lw241999/misc/song2.mp3

I guess what I'm looking for here, is someone to give me a few pointers on things to look into. If anyone has some free time, I'd appreciate it if they'd let me know where to go with these two little pieces of music. I've got tons more that I come with up, but I'll spare you all the rest :).

The first one you wrote is in E minor. When it comes to putting harmonies over something. You just have to think up something in your mind that sounds good over what you already have. I wrote something for the first tab you gave, you can use it if you want or not, but it should give you an idea of what to put with it. This part is sort of a bass line to go with it. For the most part the part I added is in E minor, except the notes I harmonize over the F# and the ending run which is E melodic minor. What I did with the F# is I took the notes from the F# major pentatonic, and put them in place of the E minor natural notes. Plus it adds to the descending minor sequence that the melody you wrote petrays.


||-------------------|------------------|------------------|----------------------||
||oh5-8-7b8r7--------|h5-8-7b8r7--------|h5-8-7b8r7--------|---------------------o||
||--------------7----|-------------5----|-------------4----|----------------------||
||-------------------|------------------|------------------|----------------------||
||o------------------|------------------|------------------|---------------------o||
||-------------------|------------------|------------------|----------------------||
|
||o------------------|------------------|------------------|---------------------o||
||-------------------|------------------|------------------|-----4-6-8-9-9b10r9---||
||--7-r-6-------7-r--|-5-r-4-------5-r--|-3-r-1-------2-r--|---6------------------||
||o----------------7-|----------------3-|----------------0-|-7-------------------o||

The second one you wrote is in G major or B phrygian, depending on how you use it. BTW, how did you get the written music on your post. I know you used a image src, but how did you get the picture file??

[Edited by noticingthemistake on 06-11-2003 at 06:17 PM]

Oh yeah. To tell what key a melody you wrote is in, just look at the first note you play, then figure out if it fits in with any scale. If your looking at a song, the last note is always to the key. Songs almost always end on the tonic (key note). Whne you find out they are a mode, the key signature that is written is the relative major or minor, depending on the last chord played.

Originally posted by noticingthemistake

BTW, how did you get the written music on your post. I know you used a image src, but how did you get the picture file??

I guess he made a screenshot from Powertab and uploaded it to some webspace.

Originally posted by Azrael
I guess he made a screenshot from Powertab and uploaded it to some webspace.

That's it's exactly what I did. I just had powertab open, hit the print screen button (which takes a screenshot of whatever is on you're monitor and copies it on the clipboard), then opened up a photo editor, cropped out everything that I didn't want, uploaded it to some personal web space, and viola!, the pics are on the post.

Noticing, thanks for the replies dude, about the part you came up with, is there anyway you could post a sound file, I'm having trouble figuring out the timing. If you could post either a midi or an mp3 that'd be awesome, if you can't; then I totally understand. So I looked up the E minor scale and low-and-behold all the notes from that first melody are in there, do you have to look them up all the time, are do you have tons of scales (and their notes) memorized?

What I did with the F# is I took the notes from the F# major pentatonic, and put them in place of the E minor natural notes.

Could you please explain this part again. I may be just too dense to get it at this point, but lemme give it a try. So, I had that F# in the melody, but the key is E minor. But for some added flare, each time the F# was reached, you harmonized (what's that mean exactly?) over the note with a random note from the F# major pentatonic. And then switched back to E minor notes. Is this correct? And what are "natural notes", are there "unnatural notes"?

The second one you wrote is in G major or B phrygian, depending on how you use it.

So all the notes from the second one are found in both the G Major, and B Phrygian scales? What would determine whether I want it to be B phrygian or G major?

So, I've listed all the notes from the second melody:
C - E - G - F# - B - D - A

here's G Major:
G - A - B - C - D - E - F#

and here's B Phrygian:
B - C - D - D# - F# - G - A - A#

I've noticed that there's and E in my melody, that's not found in B Phrygian. Does that break a rule or something? I'm trying really hard to understand all this. I see that G major does contain all the notes however. The phrygian thing is a mode right? Isn't that just a major scale starting on a different note? For instance if you started on the B note or the G major (listed above), I see the B - C - D similarity, but then G major goes to E whereas B Phrygian goes to D#, so I guess my miniscule understanding of modes is wrong, lol.

That is rad! Finally be able to explain ideas with actually written music. You da man, Lee. Ok when it comes to figuring out what scale or key something is it, it's much better to memorize scales. That way in case you need to know you can just look. I don't memorize all the scales, but I do know the major and minors, modes, harmonic and melodic minors, and pent and blues. Those are the most common so they're good to know. When it comes to exotics and other scales I didn't list I usually have to look them up in a little book I have.

On the part about the F#, you got it right. Harmonizing means to play 2 or notes at the same time, like a chord. Melodically is to play notes in a sequence, just in case you were wondering. What I meant by natural notes is the notes that exist with that particular scale like E minor (E F# G A B C D), unnatural notes, also called accidentals, are notes that are not in the scale the song is in.

Now about how I pulled notes from the F# major pentatonic. This is something that isn't done at random, you have to be able to hear what your going to do in a case like this. Understanding the harmony that your going to produce by doing this is the only way it's possible. And practice is the only way to grasp it, because naturally you want to stay in the E minor scale when harmonizing over something in E minor. Now here is the actually music and a midi file to go with it. The first is the harmony in it's natural state (not the one I posted before).

MIDI file http://www.geocities.com/mikelbwv/music01.midi

The second one adds more color to the descending minor quality the guitar part has. Also the first one seems to fall dramatically when you harmonize over the F#, the second is definitely more smooth. Now the first is more pure in it's quality of harmony over the guitar part, but sometimes thats what makes music bland. Harmony is the key and it doesn't always want to be pure, matter of fact there is much more expression if it is unpure. It's up to you on what you want to hear, that's always the right way.

To tell if it's either G major or B phyrgian is the last chord of the song or sequence. I'd say it would work better if you think of it as G major cause that's where it ends. Some may say it's where you begin that indicates the key. Well, that part starts with B so it could be B phyrgian. If you learn the tonalities of scales you make make the choice yourself.

The last post you wrote, I think you have your scales mixed up. It is B phyrgian. The Phrygian is the 3rd mode, starting with Ionian (major). So you just count up to the 3rd note of the G major scale, and it's B. I don't know what scale you wrote. :confused: