How to find the melody?

[scannie]

It's easy to select a style or registration.
But how do I find the melody line and chords?

Maybe a simple question, but I'm a newbie.

[Michael Trigoboff]

I think that the style is supposed to be the backup band, and you are supposed to play the melody.

[scannie]

I understand, but how do I find out the correct notes for the melody?
Same for a registration.

[Fred Smith]

It's easy to select a style or registration.
But how do I find the melody line and chords?

Maybe a simple question, but I'm a newbie.

You get the sheet music for the song.

Cheers,
Fred

[scannie]

That's my question.
How can I get these sheets?

Download, buy, it's included in the style?

[Divemaster]

Hi Scannie

There are several solutions to your query, but appreciate that all of them take time to learn.

EZ Play and Easy Play books are available on these forums, to registered members. Scroll to the bottom of the Category lists.
These are aimed at complete beginners or those who can't read music in the form of a score or who prefer larger notes. They also contain easy to follow instructions

Playing by ear.... If you can hum a tune, then you can play it! If you can play by ear then you have one of a musicians greatest gifts! Just match the notes to what you are humming or what's in your head.... Without being condescending in any way, try something like 3 Blind mice, or a song you really know and like.  Obviously don't choose Bohemian Rhapsody!!

YouTube.... There are literally thousands of tuition posts on YouTube. It may help

Tuition. Take some basic lessons from a tutor. Money well spent. A lot of tutors like AndyG on these forums can help you. Many courses are available online these days.

Reading the dots. It is Essential to at least know the names of the notes you are playing. Practice some simple scales and chords with your left and right hands. There are many books and charts giving you this information.

Forget the accompaniment. Play the Melody over and over until you can play it note perfect. Then try it with a suitable accompaniment. SLOW the accompaniment with the Tempo buttons to get a speed you can cope with. Build it up as you become more confident. Trying to match a "too fast" accompaniment rarely/if ever comes off well.

Finally.... Don't get disheartened. Learning to play music takes time, effort and above all lots and lots of practice. Accept that, and you're halfway there.You've got to walk before you can run.

Never give up..... It will be worth it.

Hope that helps.
Good luck my friend.

[scannie]

Thank you Keith,

This is a push in the right correction.
And I knew already, it need lots of time.

[BogdanH]

hello scannie,
I agree with what Keith (above) said, however I would like to add something to:

...
Never give up..... It will be worth it.

-there's no guarantee for that.

We must be objective to our self and recognize where our limits are. I think that at least minimal talent is needed for being able to learn playing music. That talent includes basic ability to hum, whistle or sing the melody, and to have sense for harmony and rhythm. Btw. one of the famous opera singers that didn't have all that, was Florence F Jenkins (this movie recommended).

I'm pretty sure, that the big majority of hobby musicians actually started playing by ear and many of them with good results. Afterward, to make a step forward, they started to learn musical notations.

I don't wish to discourage anyone.. is just my observation.

Bogdan

[Jørgen]

That's my question.
How can I get these sheets?

Download, buy, it's included in the style?

Try http://www.jososoft.dk/yamaha/sheets.htm
You will find links to music for your lifetime...
Jørgen

[Divemaster]

Scannie

Do you have any friends nearby who play keyboard or piano? 
Ask them to help you.
There is nothing to match personal one to one tuition.

Keith

[mikf]

Scannie
You are starting from ground zero and there are a lot of steps to go through. Lead sheets are a simplified version of sheet music, easier to read and play than standard sheet music, but you still need to learn how to read music and chord symbols, and to play them.
There is an even easier version of lead sheets called EZ play, which may suit you best to get started, but even then you need some knowledge of music and chords. The advice to start with lessons is best. There are some internet lesson courses you can check out.
To be honest, even on these arrangers, very few start with as little musical knowledge as you seem to have, so you have a long road. Good luck.
Mike

[Lefty]

But how do I find the melody line and chords?

Maybe a simple question, but I'm a newbie.

Hi Scannie.  I have a completely different take on how to begin, since you seem to be a complete novice.

Do not turn on accompaniment.  Just choose a voice, like piano or electric piano that you like.
Ignore notation for the moment.  Perhaps later...
Don't play the melody, just hum it.
Learn songs with only a few chords in the key of C
Learn the chords in your right hand, then later add the root note (bass) with your left hand.
Learn to use the sustain pedal with your chord changes.

Starting simple this way is just basic accompaniment you play yourself.  You can play like this on any keyboard, not just arrangers.  These very basic skills will serve you well.

Just my humble opinion,
   Craig

[mikf]

The truth is that when someone knows so little we cannot teach them how to play in a few posts. They need to start by accessing a teacher, a friend who knows, or an internet course etc.
Mike

[scannie]

I started Simply Piano this month.
I'm surprised about the results.

I tried Flowkey before.
But for me it wasn't the help I needed.

[Gunnar Jonny]

Hi scannie
.
Maybe if you do a search at YouTube about learning keyboard some useful will show up?

Btw.
Heidrun Dolde / SoundWonderland have something that may be for great help as well:
https://soundwonderland.de/pages/en/shop/learning-packs.php

Just don't loose faith, as soon as you've cracked the code or gotten 'a hole in the ice', it usually gets better and better.
Music is fun, and not to forget, pure medicine for body and mind!   

[pjd]

I started Simply Piano this month.
I'm surprised about the results.

I tried Flowkey before.
But for me it wasn't the help I needed.

Hi --

Hang in there! I keep a stack of "fake books" by my keyboard. Fake books contain "lead sheets". A lead sheet has the basic melody line and the chords.

For popular music, I like the Hal Leonard Real Book, Real Pop Book and Real Blues Book series. Starting out, maybe play a single note melody for a few songs that you like and have heard a zillion times? Concentrate on pitch first, then get the rhythm. Once you're confident with the melody, just play the root note in the chord. Then add a few more chord notes when you feel like it.

I believe in the "less is more" philosophy. One doesn't need to play all the notes (right away) to make music! Start small and easy, have fun, and you'll be motivated to continue.

All the best -- pj

[mikf]

I don't think fake books and lead sheets will be very useful unless you start to understand the fundamentals - key, key signature, scale, how to read notes on a music staff, what a chord is, what notes make up a simple chord ......
Unless of course you want to do everything by 'ear' which is a different skill that not everyone has, and even then you still need some scale, key, chord fundamentals.
Mike

[pjd]

Hi Mike --

In the long run, I agree with your comments about basic notation and theory. I bless the day that my piano teacher started me on chords and the basics of harmony.

My response comes from a different place -- the human desire to just get started making music. It reminded me, intuitively, of teaching Intro CS and programming. Students need to know so many things to get started that they get discouraged.

Maybe the OP should concentrate on tapping out a melody from a G-clef staff. Get a sense of how the notes on the staff relate to the notes on the keyboard. Starting with a very familiar melody helps with timing (note value) and all that.

Our arrangers do have one finger chord mode. So, hopefully the OP can trigger basic chords relating the chord root note to a left hand key.

Yeah, this is not the right way™ But, sometimes people just want to have fun! 

Best wishes to everyone -- pj

[Michael Trigoboff]

Sorry, I thought you were asking a much simpler question then it turns out you were.

You may have the latent ability to play "by ear". When you have heard a song a few times, can you hum it or whistle it? When you hit a key on the keyboard, can you tell if it's the note you wanted or some other note? Can you tell if it's higher or lower than the note you wanted?

If you can, then you could try picking that melody out on the keyboard.

Once you get the melody key sequence and the timing right, you can find the chords for that song, which are easily found on the Internet for any reasonably popular song.

Using your left hand, you can then get the Style's backup band to play the chord progression, using the Genos' easy one-key method.

Have fun!

[scannie]

Right now I'm trying to move forward with Simply piano. So far I am positively surprised. I like the combination of learning to read notes and play.

I limit the possibilities of the keyboard by only taking these ' lessons' right now. I play the notes C to G with each finger. I also understand which note to choose when I see the note. But that doesn't come naturally yet. It's reading, thinking and then pressing the right key. Because of this, I get stuck when the tempo goes up.
And pressing the E and G together with middle finger and little finger doesn't really work yet either. But I keep practicing.

For now, I don't choose the easy way and want to play the chords with several fingers.

I do wonder already how the advanced musician plays the music. Do you memorize the songs in your head by practicing it? Or by reading the notes?

Thanks for all your support.

[Toril S]

If you can hum a tune, you can eventually play it on the keyboard. That is how I do it. I play "by ear." Just be patient. And if you have someone you can show you a little on the keyboard, that would be very helpful. Don't give up. It takes time. But that is why we have a hobby, something to do to make the hours fly! Good luck!

[Jørgen]

...It's reading, thinking and then pressing the right key. Because of this, I get stuck when the tempo goes up....

We have all been there... but in some time you will not have to look at your fingers...
Just kerp practising...
Regards
Jørgen

[Michael Trigoboff]

I do wonder already how the advanced musician plays the music. Do you memorize the songs in your head by practicing it? Or by reading the notes?

Thanks for all your support.

For all but the most complicated songs, I can just hear a song a few times and then sit down and figure it out.

For more complicated chord progressions, I look the song chords up on the Internet. But I frequently find that they don't have exactly the correct chords, at least according to my ears. At that point, I experiment with different chords until I find one that sounds right in that place in the song. It took me years to figure out a particular chord in the Grateful Dead's Black Peter.

For some really complex songs, I record them into my Cubase DAW software, and then play them back at a very slow speed.

When I really can't figure out a song, I can use SpectraLayers to separate individual instruments out of an audio file, and then Cubase can extract MIDI notes from that instrument track. I haven't yet gotten very useful results from doing this, but it's a kick to try it and see what might be possible in the 21st Century.

Probably not something you want to try right away, but maybe someday...

[mikf]

I do wonder already how the advanced musician plays the music. Do you memorize the songs in your head by practicing it? Or by reading the notes?

All the above. Plus some have the ability to "play by ear", which is where they can go straight from hearing the song in their head to playing it in real time. But all of it needs good grasp of music fundamentals, at the very least the concept of keys, scales, chords, harmony etc.
And you need to develop subconscious control of hands, feel and where the notes are without too much conscious thought - what people often refer to as muscle memory - by practice, repetition, experience ......even for the ear players it doesn't just happen. Arrangers make this process much easier, but even on an arranger it takes some effort, time and dedication when you are starting from zero.
If you have that built in ability to play by ear you will start to notice that yourself. But to be honest, nothing I am reading from your posts indicate that is likely, so you probably will have to go the  'read the notes, practice, memorize' route -  so you will definitely have to learn to read music.
The good players usually can do both anyway.

Mike

[scannie]

I also tried playing on the ear. Before that I used midi files where I turned off the melody. That works quite well. With some songs, it seemed like some notes were not occurring on the keyboard. I couldn't get them to be found 
Other problem is that you also have to learn all the songs and keep them in your mind.
I think I was on the wrong track with this and so I went the way of reading notes.
If I forget something I can easily find it back.

But I see many people here who play purely by ear. Then you have to store everything in your mind. Every note ....

[BogdanH]

...
But I see many people here who play purely by ear. Then you have to store everything in your mind. Every note ....

Let me tell you (not really) a secret... For videos that you can see on Youtube (including mine), a song is usually practiced many times before it's ready for publishing. And many times, if we don't continue practicing some particular song, we will slowly forget how to play it. And at the end (speaking for me) we are able to perfectly play "by ear" only those songs which we really like and play frequently enough.

Bogdan

[mikf]

Actually true playing by ear does not really involve memorizing anything. It is a combination of experience, musical knowledge and a  skill, acquired or natural.
Top ear players don't need to have seen notes, or even have played the song before.. Unless it has a difficult to remember melody, or an unusually complex chord structure I can just hear it in my head and play it in real time., and not just on an easy play chord /melody mode like an arranger. But fully improvising a complete solo arrangement across both hands on a conventional keyboard.
Of course if I practice the piece I might play it better,  but on a simple song, it would still be good enough first time. And I might glance at a lead sheet if it is a song where I am not too sure I remember the tune exactly. But you could throw at me a song like for example My Blue Heaven, which I know so I could hum the tune, but don't think I have ever played,  and I could play it immediately especially if I choose a simple key., without seeing music, chords or even spending time thinking. I just play and it all happens naturally.   But then so could nearly all of the experienced musicians I have played with over the years. And many of them much better than me, in any key.  That's  what playing by ear is about.
Mike

[scannie]

@BogdanM: I saw your youtube video, playing the song 'Monja'.

I also played the song 'Monja' by ear. However, the melody part only playing one note at a time. I can't play the chords by ear because I don't know them. I need to learn the key combinations for a chord first. Then I can find it by ear hopefully.

[BogdanH]

hi Scannie
Yes, Monja is a good example of melody that I play by ear on this video -I mean, everyone knows this simple melody. Btw. I played it in C key, so everyone can easily learn it. It's interesting... this Monja video has more views than all my other videos together -it seems that majority likes simple well known melodies.
There are a lot of videos which explain the basics of chords in an easy to understand way... you just need to break the ice 

Bogdan

[scannie]

I'm trying to break the ice but it need some time 
But for my feeling it's melding and that makes it easier.