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That’s not the turning point but I’m sure that revelation didn’t hurt.
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Damn. I actually saw this video before and didn’t put together that it was the omni. Lol
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I think that even if you have to just print out the scale and chords and then learn the inversions, by deliberately writing in a key, you can really up your game. The advanced chords (it’s not like I know every chord and every inversion) but knowing that western chord theory is based on adding intervals of like 7th 11th 13th etc onto major and minor triads, or substitution in the triads, just counting note positions on your fingers you can get it done.
There are even things online where if you figure out a chord you like but you don’t know the scale or key it belongs to, you can enter in the notes and it will give you the chord name, so you can reverse engineer something based on what you hear in your head. It’s not the ideal way to do it, but having a 61 key keyboard and just messing around with printouts helped me, because transitioning from guitar to keyboard (the piano method of composing songs I guess you could say) took a bit of trial and error for me.
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Of course, most people’s opinion is that there is no substitute for music theory, and they’ll be glad to tell you that.
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I have a Theoryboard, but i am a good keyboard player, who understands music well and can read sheet music. But the TB, is useful for me to improve my regular keyboard playing.
Another to look at is the Instachord. My post on it. The nice thing to me about that, is it presents the chord choices in the numbered form, so playing I, V, IV, I is always the same regardless of key. So things like ii, V, I or other chord progression, or chords in minor is a lot easier.
The Instachord is only available bought from Japan, at the moment.
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Thanks bro. That’s the type of information I really need. Just a clear direction to take. Sometimes all this information can be a little overwhelming. For real tho. That sort of info saves a lot of trouble for me.
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Honestly, I know we had the conversation about how you have trouble sitting down in front of something and learning it, but if you have time to buy a real paper book about basic chords and scales it’s a lot easier to learn from a book (in my experience) than from a phone screen. But I’m old, so maybe that’s just me.
The basics of theory like learning the circle of fifths and perfect fourths will make it a lot easier to work going forwards in your learning.
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About to go thru that post too. Looks pretty neat
Any book in particular?
this guy is working on a omnichord inspired controller that looks pretty cool.
there is also this project
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basic shit. hal leonard. go to the store and look at what you can actually get into, having someone recommend a $40 paperback that ends up on your shelf won’t do any good, you have to find what will work for you or you could even take a couple lessons. Some people learn better that way, I’m a self learner. Autodidactic. It’s easier for me to teach myself, but the way I do it isn’t really suitable for everyone, so I don’t assume what works for me is right for everyone.
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Check out the Nopia thread. It doesn’t exist yet, and may never, but is pretty cool and useful design, that is quite musical too.
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ya didn’t ask me, but the most useful tool I’ve found is an app called Complete Ear Trainer. It trains your ear on intervals of increasing difficulty. And once you understand intervals, you understand chords.
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I’m definitely grabbing an Omni when the new ones drop. The Qchord can be found for much less. There are 3 listed in my area for $125-200 right now. Tbh I don’t really like the sound of it but you can just run it through some pedals to improve that.
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Ahh yea. I like that too. For sure will look at this too
Or* midi
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Ite. I’ll try to find a good chord book too
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It doesn’t have to be Hal Leonard but a lot of people find the notation and content easy to process when it’s in picture form, so look at chord encyclopedia type books, it doesn’t have to be this one, just an example.
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My favorite MT learning app is Tonality and Complete Ear Training that someone else mentioned. Super simple.
Scaler 2 is a flat out cheat code whether you know MT or not. One of my favorite apps period.
However, learning to play woodwinds (sax, Native American flute) was the most impactful way i learned to read music because it was fun and simple. Woods don’t play chords but you learn very quickly the foundation of perfecting chords which are scales, semitones, etc. Trains your ear to know which keys go together while also teaching you rhythm and melody at the same time.
Flutes, recorders, and midi digital woodwinds are super cheap these days and very very simple to learn.
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