Anyone do improv or make their own music? Want to help a beginner

[Anton_Mac]

Hi all. So basically I've been playing keyboard for about 7 months pretty solidly, using the SimplyPiano app. I'm not brilliant but I'm not total crap. I can play the fur Elise to a fair standard (not the insane 2nd part, the main bits everyone knows!), so i do have some idea how to play. I like the idea of doing a bit of improv, making my own little songs etc, so I thought I'd check out some YouTube videos etc. I got some half decent tips etc and they have led me to making the short riff in the video below. It's just a basic C, G, A, F on loop with some basenotes following. A bit of styling added to the right hand. It sounds like a little song/tune. Now I'm struggling to find a way to make it progress at all. I've actually just downloaded an iPad app so that I can hopefully put that all on loop and then try to add more to it, but any advice on how to make it progress or even a video clip of one of you making it interesting would be great. Anything to help point me in some direction.

Here's the vid.

Any advice very welcome.

Thanks

 

[3dc]

I found online apps to be quite useless and uninspiring for learning as they are to robotic. If you can't afford one on one learning then I would strongly suggest online courses.
The best online tutorial for arranger keyboards is from Jeremy See. You can find it here. Its a bit pricey but its the only course specifically designed for arranger keyboards. Also check his YouTube channel for industry news about keyboards and some cool tutorials.
Another way is to learn from Udemy courses but only when they are on sale ( 8-12 USD ). Here are some suggestions:

1. An Accelerated Piano Course for Beginners - Piano Lessons ( great as starting point for absolute beginners )
2. Learn piano or keyboard from scratch - Complete piano course ( walktrough approach )

Also check some free courses and playlists on YouTube. Please do remember to practice every day what you learn. Don't jump into endless tutorials rabbit hole. Hope this helps you a bit. Take care.

 

[Anton_Mac]

Thanks for the pointers, but I'm quite happy with the Simply Piano learning experience so far. Aside from the lessons and songs that teach you how to play, there is a huge sheet music with tutorial section and another app that is dedicated to raw sheet music, all included in the 5.99 a month price. It's perfect for me right now, but thanks anyway

 

[CowboyNQ]

Not sure how far into your theory learning you’ve gotten but it would be worth exploring circle of fifths and scales/modes.

This will teach you various chord shapes and patterns plus the relationships between notes in different contexts that you can experiment with to make a melody.

Then just muck around until you find something that pleases your ear.

Good luck!

 

[Anton_Mac]

Not sure how far into your theory learning you’ve gotten but it would be worth exploring circle of fifths and scales/modes.

This will teach you various chord shapes and patterns plus the relationships between notes in different contexts that you can experiment with to make a melody.

Then just muck around until you find something that pleases your ear.

Good luck!

I just finished watching a video on smooth jazz piano, and that really showed the importance of knowing scales. Something SimplyPiano hasn't touched yet (if it does at all). At the moment I'm kind of torn between finishing the SimplyPiano course first and then branching out into new avenues of learning, or trying to learn other things now. Maybe I should spend just a bit of time each day working on scales, but mainly focus on SimplyPiano. But anyway, thanks for the reply. It has kind of confirmed what had just become clear: Scales are important.

 

[happyrat1]

Take a look at the Music Theory Thread here as well as the Technique and Posture Thread.

If you're serious about learning to play there's a lot of meat in those threads to digest.

Gary