How to play with both hands, and maybe how to use chords ?

[Gps]

Let me try to explain what I mean.

Can somebody point me to some music theory site, were they explain the relation between the left and right hand.

Is there always an octave or octaves difference between the notes played left en right ?

The part I think i get, is the right hand playing the melody, and the left hand a kind of bassline.

The part were I get totally lost, is that usual the left hand hold the keys much longer then the right hand.
I most be overlooking something, because when I try to do this in lmms, it always sounds awe-full or just not nice.

Then I see a lot of tracks created in daws, were three ( or more) notes are played at ones, but the difference between the three notes is not constant, during the melody. Is that what they call chords ?

Is it enough to set a scale in lmms and just try what sounds nice ?

[Eino]

Here is a video on matching up cords to match a melody.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wtvuNGtHLw

Here is a piano lesson for beginners.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKItFkQIf-M

[slipstick]

If you look at some of the simpler sheet music you have, like that "I feel love" you posted in your General Music thread, you'll see plenty of chords. When several notes are printed on top of one another you play them at the same time and that's a chord. And above the staves you'll see things like Cm, C5 and C printed. They're the names of the chords that a guitarist would play at those points. The name tells you what notes are in the chord. There are loads of sites on the web that can translate chord names into groups of notes (some have 3 notes, others have more) e.g. http://www.8notes.com/piano_chord_chart/

Learning what chords go with what melody notes is not easy but start by knowing what KEY you're playing in. E.g. in C (all the white notes) the most common chords are C, F, and G7. One of those will fit fairly well with many melodies. In fact there are dozens, probably hundreds, of pop songs written that only use those 3 chords

Steve

[Gps]

Thank you guys, this was exactly what I was looking for.
I already noticed one thing, I was doing wrong. The chords played are never three keys right besides each other.

And A minor might be my favorite, it did not seem to use black keys, in the chords.

I don't know yet, if I really want to learn to play (life), but I want to understand at least the basics for when I am composing.

I am very easy in just putting some notes together in the piano roll, but time and time again, I notice some things are nice while others are making me twitch.

If I had a perfect or very good musical hearing, I could do prob without all the theory, but I don't.

First song ever, I made in lmms, I was totally confused, why notes in some places did not sound nice.
Of course the solution was simple, move them.
When I had finished this song, some people told me that some notes were out of scale.(still)
I am not 100% tone deaf, but I don't have (yet?) a good enough musical hearing either, to do it just by ear.

I do notice I am making progress, when I play back a piece I composed in the piano roll, some notes are obvious wrong to my ears. (and this happens more and more) Then I check my notes, and as you prob already guessed, the mark current scale tool, shows I am out of scale.
I also notice though, that with some notes, I don't hear they are out of scale.

I also struggle still, when I listen to a piece of music, to determine if a second note after a previous note is higher or lower, especially when the difference is small. I do hear they are different, but if you ask me if its lower or higher.....

I am still optimistic that more practice will solve most of the issues I have, but for now I will need the theory.

[Snarf]

Yeah, being a piano player has helped me with LMMS and music in general so much. I would definitely recommend learning piano at some level because knowing chords and their relation with the melody is super helpful with composing, in my opinion. Obviously, being able to visually recognize chords is very helpful when using the piano roll.

A relative of mine taught me piano a while ago and I've since stopped taking lessons, but learning the basics shouldn't be too hard if you put some effort into it. Honestly, nowadays I mostly just play empty octaves or power chords in the left hand and do melody + harmonic chords with the right. For LMMS, being actually skilled at piano is very unnecessary (of course you don't need to know any music theory really) but it is definitely fun to play around on the keyboard to come up with ideas, or even arrange LMMS music for the piano. Just my 2¢.

[Gps]

After watching the vids, that guy of piano lessons for beginners drives me insane.
He keeps talking but does not come to the point. After two of his vids, I want to strangle him
And I did not come one step closer to what I wanted to know.

But I might have found a way to cheat ? At least concerning lmms.

I set scale to mayor, then chord to major. Then draw the first chord.

Then I use the mark scale tool, and copy a chord, which of course makes one of the three notes go of scale.
I then just correct that one note.

Is this a right way to cheat chords ?

It sounded great to my ears.... But that does not mean I am doing it right.

[musikbear]

this is funny in a almost scary uncunning way - yesterday i made a tut about the relationship between chords scales and chosen key.. Its almost as if i 'knew' this question ... brrrrr :ugeek:
6 sence hits lmms .. :p nahh rubbish, but when it gets up, i will chime in :D

[slipstick]

I set scale to mayor, then chord to major. Then draw the first chord.

Then I use the mark scale tool, and copy a chord, which of course makes one of the three notes go of scale.
I then just correct that one note.

That sounds interesting but I don't understand much of it, mainly because I've never heard of a "mark scale tool". What is it and where can I find it ?

If you start with a Cmajor chord (in the key of C) and just copy it up to F or G it will be fine with no changes. If instead you move it to say D or E then one note will need correcting so it fits. Is that what you mean ?

Steve

[musikbear]

Tutorial up
http://youtu.be/ZEgx-_hMFYg

[Gps]

@Musik bear, LOL, looking foward to you next vid.

@ spilstick. ( yes that's what I mean)
Piano roll top of the windows, you can set, zoom, the note length, then another box about note length, then the last two boxes.

First box to set scale, second one to set a chord.

Nothing will happen though, but when you go to the piano keys, and then right click on them, you can choose.

Mark/unmark current semi tone ( don't ask me yet, what that means) but below that you can choose mark scale and mark chord, and unmark all.

For those who do not yet understand scales, don't make the mistake I made, by right clicking on any key. If a piece is written in c, or you want to compose in c, right click above a C.

Same for chords, but I have to figured that out in detail, myself yet.

After thinking about my question last nite, I think I should have formulated my question better.
My question is not about actual playing with two hands, but what keys to hit, with the left hand.
Then I wondered, if something is written is C, the first key to hit is a c.
So I assume, if both hands start to play at the same time, they both will hit a C first.
Or this another thing were music becomes complicated ?