Theory & songwriting

Play from sheet music. Trying to copy chords by ear is for idiots who think they're savants. Get yourself classically trained if you want to have a deeper understanding of theory, you think the members of Queen were all self taught?

How am I supposed to learn theory that I haven't read just by figuring songs that use that theory

Nnnnnnngggggggggggggggggggg

Play a song, and try replacing some chords see what works well, and what doesn't. Theory is just to tell you why things work well.

Swallow a lot of semen.

I said when youre comfortable then you can play along. Its actually a really good thing to do cause it trains your ear. Theory or no theory every player should be doing this. But u answered your own question, “how am i supposed to play theory i havent read?” Uhhh read it. One step at a time. Your not just gona be able to compose queen shit overnight. One day you might be learning the harmonic minor scale, the next day you might just practice picking. Whatever, its baby steps that will eventually turn u into a beast. These type of skills arent exclusive to anyone. But you have to understand that with time and practice youll get there. Before you even know it.

Being classically trained does nothing but prepare you to be a reading machine. Classical musicians cant jam for shit. Unless they studied jazz. What im saying is do both.

Ok but I can't get Killer Queen

Ok but what are the theories in Queen songs so I can look them up?
I already can pick and know the harmonic minor and its modes, though I haven't taken the time to harmonize it since I just see it on the 5th chord of minor keys, but I dunno if you just said that to exemplify.

Start reading books on music theory. I recommend Thesaurus of Scales and Melodies by Nicholas Slonimsky, that'll cover most of what you need to know. Although it's in reference to piano not guitar. But as long as you aren't brainlet who plays by muscle memory you should be able to make sense of it.

You sound like a talentless faggot hack that wants everything spoonfed to him. Kill yourself

Was just an example. You can break down queen songs sure. Thats one way to get there. What am i saying is by continuing to learn music in general you will understand not just queen’s music, But all music. Im sure queen has some common tendancies that you will pick up on by breaking their songs down chord for chord. Theres no specific answer to “what queen does”. They just know music on a certain level. I know it sounds vague but it all comes with time. I bet brian may practiced for hours upon hours a day. I knew guys in school who would practice 8 hrs. Which is rediculous but it pays off

> How do I come up with stuff that's not 4/4

Why do you want to come up with stuff that is not in 4/4? It should come naturally. You can of course write pieces in other time signatures to get a feel for it, and get it under your skin, but just writing something in an odd time signature for the sake of it won't be interesting.

if you're asking then you probably shouldn't do it cos it will probably suck

Maybe not your thing. But just a side note. The album “by the way” by rhcp is a good album for guitar players to practice simple chords with extensions and understand the relationship these chords have with the tonal center of the song. Helped me alot when i was a kid.

I am not talentless, I just developed this frustrated asshole attitude

I'm looking for the Tresaurus book, thanks. Is it based on examples written in sheet music format?

You're totally right. I just want to understand Queen songs because it feels bad not to.

You answered it

Not, I've done that before with simpler bands and got quite far.

Thanks I'll check it out

post your bandcamp

>What is impromptu modulation
Modulate to a different key without any warning, except maybe melodic
>How do I come up with stuff that's not 4/4
Free verse and lyrics first, or just force yourself to do so; the first hundred will be shit
>mixolydian to ionian
b7 is super common, it draws from the blues

>I'm looking for the Tresaurus book, thanks. Is it based on examples written in sheet music format?
Yes it is, and if you can't read sheet music then you really should learn. It's really not any harder than guitar tabs once you get down to it and it gives you a lot more information to work with in terms of how a song was meant to be played. There are plenty of beginner level music books that will explain it to you if you don't get it. I know Paul McCartney made it seem like playing music without a formal knowledge of it was what cool kids do, but that's not something anybody should actually aspire to emulate.

Just have yt sc and insta

>Modulate to a different key without any warning, except maybe melodic
Ok
>Free verse and lyrics first, or just force yourself to do so; the first hundred will be shit
Ok

I tried once with a book and I was really slow reading it

yea link your music

>I tried once with a book and I was really slow reading it
I get what you're saying user, I know it's not fun and it all seems arbitrary and boring. But if you get a handle on it and know your terminology it becomes exponentially easier to interact with music on a technical level. Not to mention that it give you the ability to draw from a much wider variety of sources for musical knowledge.

What you're doing is like someone who wants to become an author but instead of learning to read and write you just listen to audio books and try to recite your original stories verbally.

Learning to read not only makes it easier to understand music directly, it allows you to read ABOUT music and not get lost in all the technobabble.

Yeah but reading music on paper instead of ear is the exact opposite of the writer's case. Lol just kidding

Ok I'll grab that sheet music book again and try to get better at it

Can we keep contact

wow.link/td3
insta and soundcloud links on the about section.

>Can we keep contact
Sure, I guess so. No way I'm putting any personal info in a Yea Forums thread though. So I don't know how you want to do that.

I put mine because I don't care. My contacts are on that link

You're a braver man than I. Sent you an e-mail, that's the best way to reach me.

Thank you

I'm gonna make a new thread with your email this was bait

shit dude you got me good.

This. Brian and Freddy were the heavy lifters in the band, music-wise. Both were classically trained on piano as kids. Because of that, they knew the relationship of notes and chords and had a foundation of musical knowledge they applied to rock music, not the other way around.
May is a bit of a high bar to reach though. The guy is insanely intelligent. He studied advanced math and astronomy, music theory was probably simple to him. And, he has the creative side working overtime, as well, it's rare to find a math brain creating melodies like he did.
But yeah. Theory. Learn it. Start at the beginning. They had the advantage of starting when they were kids, so by the time they hit their late teens it was burned into their brains, so they were able to push past the simpler forms of rock music and apply classical ideas to it. You're older, so it will be harder, but that's the path you have to take to start doing more complex composition, if it isn't happening already.