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hey guys just wondering what you guys think is the best way to write piano notes for dubstep

i use either the white keys or the black keys cos then it sounds good

I just bring up a scale and work from that if I dont know how it is going to sound.

Ayatollah wrote:i use either the white keys or the black keys cos then it sounds good

You need to create a sense of dread. The longer the note, the greater the dread.

A lot of Dubstep is written in minor keys. I've noticed C minor and G minor are pretty popular.

if you dont know any theory
major... T-T-S-T-T-T-S
minor... T-S-T-T-S-T-T

i think, someone correct me if i'm wrong

T-I-T-S-A-N-D-A-S-S

^oh yea thats the one

the most common keys for commercial dubstep are F#m through Am. mainly because this is the frequency range in which the sub will hit the hardest in a club setting.

Minor scales are the most popular in Dubstep. You will find the odd dissonant chord thrown in every now and again to maintain that slightly 'off', edgy feeling.

The handy thing with minor scales is they always follow a very easy to memorize pattern. Check out this link ( http://www.musictheory.net/lessons/22 ) Its the theory underlying Minor Scales. Make sure you take a look at other lessons on that site too, i found it very helpful a while back. When writing a melody Remember things like a ' majour chord' comprises a major third below a minor second, a minor chord would be inverted, so a minor second below a majour third, the outer notes of either making a perfect fifth. So for example a 'c' chord in the key of C would have C as the 'tonal', E as the majour Third of the Tonal and G as the Perfect fifth. So a C minor chord would be C, D#, (sharp) G,. In writing melody its usually good practice to play each individual note of a chord (Chords can be any note on a scale played together, any number from 2 together up to 5 or even 7!, but that won't sound good as a mellody, still good to know though) rather than playing the chord itself. 'Arpegiating' out the notes, as its known, of a chord sounds better when playing a mellody than using chords themselves, but good practice is to play different 'chord sequences' in different variations and really paying attention to how the different chords interact, what 'feeling' do they create, you know, what story do they tell when played in a certain order compared to another. Find one that fits the 'feeling' you want to create, then play around with arpegiating out the notes of each chord in a pleasing manner while retaining the overall chordal progression. Another handy trick is to always start a 16 bar melodic loop on the 'tonal' (the Harmonic frequency of the key, the scale of C has a Tonal note of C e.t.c.) also try and make sure the second to last note of a 16 bar melodic loop is a perfect fifth above or below the tonic, returning the melody 'home' to the Tonic at the beggining of the next measure.

Another Great 'trick' of adding variation and energy to your melody if you've hit a creative wall is the concept of the 'circle of fifths'. I need to go out in a sec so I'll leave you another link to an explanation of the circle of fifths, have a think about how it can add energy and variation to your musicality in a track.

link 1 : http://www.musictheory.net/lessons/56

Link 2 : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circle_of_fifths

In a nutshell, Using the circle of fifths in the interply between Bass and Pads will keep things 'in key' while shifting one or the others up or down a scale according to a given rule, adding energy or tension e.t.c.

hope this helped.

Peace.

wub wrote:You need to create a sense of dread. The longer the note, the greater the dread.

What is that from????? AHH i know it.....

in my mind it is either Peep show or for some reason Forgetting Sarah Marshall...

TELL ME!!!!!

Peep show. Sarah fucking Marshall?!

yea! i watched that shit! hahaha.....

he was going on about long depressing notes in that as well!!

but yea!

hangs head in shame....hehe

d-f-g-a....d-f-g-d

trust

wizeguy wrote:if you dont know any theory
major... T-T-S-T-T-T-S
minor... T-S-T-T-S-T-T

i think, someone correct me if i'm wrong

My theory is very limited but I think what most people refer to as 'minor' is the natural minor but there are other minors too.

TSTTTTS - I think thats melodic minor

TSTTSt+sS - harmonic minor

also the phrygian scale is one of my faves for dark dubstep.

check the bible for scales and shit...

i personally either get a scale in my head and start working with that. or i just randomly start banging out notes that sound good to me...

musical theory musical shmeory

lyons238 wrote:check the bible for scales and shit...

i personally either get a scale in my head and start working with that. or i just randomly start banging out notes that sound good to me...

musical theory musical shmeory

Yeah it's best not to think about theory while your writing the first part of your track I find. Once I've written a melody I'll move up and down the keyboard and find the rest of the notes that sound good with it and then work from there. The benefit of knowing theory is you don't have to spend that extra time feeling out what scale and key you are in cos you should already be able to tell.

paravrais wrote:

lyons238 wrote:check the bible for scales and shit...

i personally either get a scale in my head and start working with that. or i just randomly start banging out notes that sound good to me...

musical theory musical shmeory

Yeah it's best not to think about theory while your writing the first part of your track I find. Once I've written a melody I'll move up and down the keyboard and find the rest of the notes that sound good with it and then work from there. The benefit of knowing theory is you don't have to spend that extra time feeling out what scale and key you are in cos you should already be able to tell.

yeah unfortunately i suck lol so i either keep looking at scales and try to make something within it. or i just completely wing it and do what sounds good to me. completely disregarding musical theory.

btw do you tend to use different types of scales in one song?? like would you ever have like a c major bass line and a g minor melody? or would that just be shenanigans? lol

i usually tend to stick with all minor or all major scales in 1 song depending on what type im going for

therapist wrote:Peep show. Sarah fucking Marshall?!