C = C major
Cm = C minor
C7 = C major 7
b = flat
# = sharp

Learn the notes in a specific key. Learn the different scales/modes and their intervals (ionian/major, dorian, phrygian, lydian, mixolydian, eolian/natural minor, locrean).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mode_(music)
Learn about note/rest subdivisions.

Basically go here and just work/study your way through the sections ("lessons" and "excercises"). It will be worth it, I promise:
http://www.musictheory.net/
Kepp it up!

 

Last edited: Jun 6, 2017

And the links to your 'real' musician, superior songs are where?

 

C7 denotes.. a C dom 7 ( dominant )

Now, let's take the C chord as the title of this post suggests. To play a Cmaj7 we would need 1, 3, 5, 7. The C major scale is C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C. Now we just have to simply count the 1st, 3rd, 5th and 7th note on the scale. That would give us C, E, G, B. Now, find these notes on your guitar. You will eventually find that one way to play a Cmaj7 chord would be like this:


From the diagram above, we can see that the chord satisfies all the notes that would make it a Cmaj7 chord.

http://basicsofguitar.blogspot.com/2010/06/whats-difference-between-c7-cm7-and.html

 

@ zorgbop
I apologise. I was to upset to realize where this will end up. You responded in a very insulting way and didn't even notice that my saucage analogy was just a joke. But I didn't mean it that harsh. Sorry.

All i have to say is: you aren't superior only because of your musical education. Even by chance someone could do better music than someone who can read music from a score. There is no force who decides whats good or not. Its your subjective opinion, nothing more! I can tell you that i also hate most of the mainstream music because of its uniformity. Yesterday i just read an article about Halsey and how unique she seams. But i couldn't even distinguish her voice from all the other female stars nowadays. Its all a big mess of overproduced shit by ... yes, you know what i mean - by highly educated musicians and engineers!

Most of my relatives are musicians. One of them is a professional playing every instrument from drums, violine, guitar, classical piano to every other thing you can imagine. He is the most talented and only needs an instrument to jump in every song and sing along. BUT!! Tell him to write a song or to write lyrics and you will see him rolling on the floor like a helpless child. He is a musical nerd. In Germany we call guys like him "Fachidioten"! In 45 years of his musical life he created exactly one demo tape with own songs and they are ... uhm ... interesting.

Its another example that you can't judge the whole world from your subjective point of view. And if you think most of the so called "producers" are poor losers who don't have the right to ask anything, who gives you the right to distract them from learning? Maybe some of them have enough fire and obsession to take it further, to learn an instrument or create a new music style, because of their unorthodox way to make music. They wouldn't ask if they wouldn't want to learn. Along with your analogy I would have to call my daughters stupid assholes because they think they are dancer or singer but have no corresponding education. But they want to learn and will learn, if they keep their passion alive!

Music is feeling. And even if i don't like trap i have enough imagination to feel how cool those kids think they are hanging around in a club having a good time and never ever waste a thought about how good or bad their music is. Their sound got produced and developed by creatives without a classical education in music. They just put things together to end up with a cool result. In their opinion. And thats what music is about.

Rocker think pop music is shit. Pop music lover think classic is shit. Classic lover think jazz is shit ... got it? Its opinion, nothing more.

 

Last edited by a moderator: Jun 6, 2017

That's what I meant. C, E, G, B. That's how we write it in Sweden (C major, not major 7). We also pronaounce flat and "ess" and sharp as "iss", which is kinda funny. We're not like the others, yet our music export per capita is the biggest in the world.

 

Last edited: Jun 6, 2017

yeah those Abba's greatest hits just keep flooding the world...

I hate to be finger wagging.. but you been here since 2013 ? you oughta know
that kind of abuse is a no go here..... you'll probably be hearing about it further

however people want to approach their musical education is a personal choice..and will stand
or fall on its own merits... trashing other people does nothing to enlighten them..

 

Last edited by a moderator: Jun 7, 2017

All of them are shit except classic and some genres of electronic.

 

I have MIDI pack containing almost all possible chords, but the downside is, it's in polish so you would need to translate few names. Also, in Poland, instead of B we use H and instead of Bb we use B, so yeah, it needs a little of work :P I can still upload it for you if you want

 

Lolwtf?!
Get with the times.

 

nowadays there are quite a few programs out there to convert audio to midi (ableton live does it quite decent)... just do a midi track of the part you want convert and use your ears to filter out everything else you don't need in there..

 

Ahh chords, harmony and arguments.

It helps if you have an understanding of diatonic harmony. IE the notes of a Key and what chords they can form.

If you know the notes of a key. Or even a more unusual diatonic scale. Then you can build all the chords of that key by "stacking the thirds".

Which in laymen terms is EVERY OTHER NOTE.

In C: C - D - E - F - G - A - B - C - D - E - F - G - A - B - C

Triad /(Seventh)

CMAJ (7) C E G (B)
Dmin (7) D F A (C)
Emin (7) E G B (D)
FMAJ (7) F A C (E)
GMAJ (Dom7) G B D (F)
Amin (7) A C E (G)
Bdim (m7b5) B D F (A)

And back to CMAJ7

These are all the chords within the Key of C. Zero accidental notes. Now you can see how the chords are derived from a key (or Scale).

Most popular songs. Dare I say most music... Is built using the chords of a key. You can modulate to other keys which is when you use a chord that is not included in the key. (Although this is a much more complex subject.)

Really I just wanted to give a brief example of how the Chord Names came about (Or rather their structures). Major, Minor, Diminished Triads. And their related seventh chords. m7, Maj7, DOM7 and minor7b5 (half diminished).

The real fun begins when you realise how many different ways there are to voice each one of these chords.

It doesn't end there either. Minor Keys use a different diatonic scale to harmonise. Which gives even more chords. Then there is altered harmony and modes.

And this is all tertian harmony. Harmony built off thirds.

 

Last edited: Jun 6, 2017

OK , let's put it straight :
What i am saying is that producing music without having any musical skills is an absolute disaster for the music world !
"Skills" do not necessary means to know theory and how to read music , OFF COURSE !
Some great musicians do not know how to read music , do not know about theory .One of the most famous example of this fact is the great
Django Reinhardt who was asked once : " you don't know music " , and he answered "but music knows me" !!!

Same about style there is no good or bad style pop , classical , rock , jazz , soul , funk , latin and so on .
What i am saying is that making sounds with samples ( samples of already made music , not virtual instruments !) drag and drop and tweaking etc , without being able to play or write or communicate without some pre made sounds do not make you a musician !

If you can not play , sing , or compose music and are only able to remix beats already made working in a DAW , without knowing what
a chord or a bar line is , then don't call yourself a musician . Just a geek assembling things .
Hendrix , Janis Joplin , John Coltrane , Stevie Wonder , Earth Wind and Fire , JS.Bach , Beatles , Antonio Carlos Jobim , etc ...
What do they have in common ?
They are MUSICIANS !
Then came rave , edm , rap etc ...
What in common ?
Machines , and the use of pre made stuff . And absolute poverty concerning elements of music . The harmonic , rhythmic and melodic
elements are so poor compared to the great artist i was naming !

Now that's enough , listen to this kid :

And this one :

 

Last edited by a moderator: Jun 7, 2017

"And the links to your 'real' musician, superior songs are where?"

They are ALL OVER !
Everything that is made by musicians , not uniquely made by geeks DJ's and "producers" assembling and remixing recorded samples .
GOT IT ???

 

This battle never ends because our minds are being tuned and hardwired in the younger ages to some particular genres or styles or even sounds and are not usually altered. No one can convince and persuade other people with diverse and dissimilar backgrounds to love or hate what they prefer or brush off. For my previous comment, I just joked because naturally and socially we're different.

 

Last edited by a moderator: Jun 6, 2017

That's correct. Ableton indeed is good at it and the OP can also try Melodyne he might get results according to the material.

 

Well actually Hendrix, Jopin, or the doors or bach and today populars groups or artist (in pop "rock", hip hop, electro) have exactly that in common : music. The theory. None is out of keys, none invent new rhythmic rules or harmonic rules. They all are very much in the same discipline using the same notes, the same time values, the same names of chord. They speak the same langage, they just order things differently and at a different pace, etc.
And in Jazz, rock, etc and the names you quoted. Well they suffered the same insults yesterday when they started emerging you are spitting out now towards the new musical genres. "It's not real music", that's what the old farts used to say.
The only difference, objective difference, between the first list of names and the second is your own taste about it. That's all. Even groups from the 60 or 70's used samples. It's the most stupid criteria to differenciate betweeen those individuals. One of the music that uses the most samples today, is contemporary music, a savant music, not a freaking "yo, yo" music.
Anyway. The problem isn't so much what you think of this artist, this genre, or whatever, it's very relative and few people if not none cares about your opinion. It's more about how you formulate things.
@Elisea just responded to your very acid and insulting remarks. Calling people "death people" because you consider the music they listen as "shit" production isn't the best way to get involved in a conversation. Everything you wrote could have been writen in a more diplomatic manner.

 

Last edited: Jun 6, 2017

What most people dont get here if they say there are people that make great music without knowing notes. Everyone that plays a intrument has a decent knowledge of the theory. Maybe some are not aware of what they know but they know and use basic knowledge like this to paly their intrument ...

• C natural minor scale notes: C D Eb F G Ab Bb
• Natural minor key chord sequence: min dim maj min min maj maj

And there is a big difference between knowing the basics of music theory like i mentioned above and reading notes form a sheet. Thats what a lot of EDM producers dont get. I ll go that far that every professional EDM producer (and every decent amateur producer) knows what i wrote above. And the rest are wannabes. Like the OP and should start from scatch.

 

They kind of do. They don't necessarly use an instrument, but by making music, the same way when you play an instrument you incorporate the theory by practicing it, by making music they incorporate the rules. Same principle applies as with instruments players. The problem is to do music, you always end up somewhat on theory if you do.
We're not a blanck piece of paper. The notion of right or wrong note, what sounds right or not lead everyone right where it should lead them : to theory. We reproduce what we hear, and what we hear seats in the realm of the rules
That's where the OP ended anyway. He wanted to play something, the only way to do so is through the use of chords, etc.There you go learn by doing.
No one says that theory isn't necessary, but you don't have to learn to play music. Wether it's EDM or whatever. Making your own music is another matter. But you can get there by playing music. A lot have before even computers and daws were around. Autodidact that never went to music schools, never had a teacher. Just go by what works...Like the first practician of music, who obviously came before theory.
Theory is the fruit of practice and not the other way around (well for most of it, some part of it are purely conventional). It's the language of music that has been done, that has been theorized. No more or no less.

 

This may not be the kind of help your looking for.
If and when i want to play chords from another song i just use my ears.

A couple of years ago some ( schooled) musicians wanted to remake "funkin for jamaica" They asked me to find the chords.
I sat down behind my keyboard, imported the original into my daw. Found the tempo and began playing bar by bar.
These were all 7th chords, mostly inverted ( if i remember correctly).
I didn't get them all correct at the first go. But i started to listen to how the chords made me feel and compared that to the chords i just played.
I am by no means a great keyboard player. But trial and error will get u a long way.

Besides feeling proud of my work i really learned stuff by playing it by ear. Now i remake old songs just for fun, to find out what and how they played it. Most recently i played " i am a ram" by Al Green.
It's not the best i ever did but it's really close.

U know what, i bet i could play almost any song. It might take me a long time to get there. But thats music, there are no shortcuts.
Use your feelings Luke, the force is all around us.