How to Understand Music Notes

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By type3beats
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Music theory is something that trained musicians as well as beginners constantly develop on whether they realize it or not. All artists aim to refine their craft, which means that each piece of work is in effect just practicing for perfection. Training your ear to identify complex chord structures can take years and is very intensive depending on how you look at it. Understanding notes and how they go together is a practice that can be very simple and rewarding.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

An open mind

Step 1

Load up your favorite piece of Digital Audio Workstation software such as Reason or FL Studio. Make sure you have a MIDI keyboard controller or something equivalent connected to make it easier to play.
Step 2

If you do not have any software and use an actual keyboard instrument, such as a Yamaha Motif, Roland Fantom, or Korg Triton, then get that loaded up and ready to play.
Step 3

On the keyboard press 2 notes that are side by side together. You should notice that the sound clashes and does not sound that good.
Step 4

Now press down 2 keys at the same time that are separated by one or two keys. This should sound way better and is the basic building block for a chord.
Step 5

Now you can create complex arrangements and make sure that only keys that sound good are pressed down together at the same time!

Tips & Warnings

Some producers purposely create detune or slide up effects using 2 keys that are side by side. For the most part that always sounds good. The part you would want to be careful with is pressing keys down simultaneously that do not sound good. Another thing is to make sure that one track doesn't clash with another track. Make harmony with your music not noise.

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