Basslines and leads

I am creating trance music and was wondering, does your lead usually have to be in the same key as the main bassline? Or do people just say this

Usually,a piece is in a key.That means everything.

Except atonal stuff.

But anything goes. (in Bb).

Does that mean that the root note, should be the starting point? And the note that you build other notes upon? I haven't quite grasped notes and keys and what the difference is

Does that mean that the root note, should be the starting point? And the note that you build other notes upon? I haven't quite grasped notes and keys and what the difference is

 

You don't have to start on the root note. Any part can play any note in the key signature at any time, pretty much. As long as the notes are part of the same scale, they are the same key (essentially).

 

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scale_(music)

 

It's good to know this stuff, but at the end of the day your ears will be the judge.

Does that mean that the root note, should be the starting point? And the note that you build other notes upon? I haven't quite grasped notes and keys and what the difference is

 

In Western music the percentages are something like this:

 

A song starts on the root CHORD of the KEY (aka "i", e.g. A minor chord with an A in the BASS) about 90% of the time. In most of the remaining 10% the root CHORD is set up by a cadence (e.g., E7-Amin).

 

A song starts on a NOTE IN the root CHORD of the KEY about 90% of the time. E.g., for a song in the KEY of Am, Am is the root chord and your first meaningful note will usually be an A, C or E.

 

A song ends on the root CHORD about 99.9% of the time. E.g., for a song in the KEY of Am, it will end on the root CHORD of Am.

 

The next to last chord of a song is the DOMINANT about 98% of the time. E.g., for a song in the KEY of Am, the next to last CHORD will be an E or an E7.

 

A song ends on the root NOTE about 97% of the time. E.g., for a song in the KEY of Am, it will end on the A NOTE.

 

 

----

 

Now I used a minor key for this example because I read that Trance is mostly in minor. Music is about tension and release. Here is how you write a Trance tune.

 

1) Start on an Am chord (note A, C, AND E). Your bass will be an A note.

 

2) Have the most meaningful lead/melody note or notes during that first chord be an A, C OR E.

 

3) Go crazy using only the white keys on your keyboard. If it sounds good, it is good.

 

4) When you need a climax, play an Emajor or an E7 chord (ie the notes E, G#, B and optionally for extra tension D). Your bass note will be an E. (Whenever I say a chord, the BASS NOTE is the the root note of the chord, so Am has an A BASS and E7 has an E BASS).

 

5) Follow that climax with an Am chord. Here you are resolving the tension

 

6) As you move from step 4 to step 5, have your melody/lead do one of the following just as you resolve the tension: a) notes B to A, b) notes G# to A, c) E to A. So your chords will resolve and your melody will resolve (and even your bass will resolve, but we don't have time to go into that.) Mastering this step will really set you apart from the posers.

 

7) If you get bored of that key, use a transpose feature to change all the notes up or down. Gershwin wrote all his music in one key and then transposed it. He had a fair bit of commercial success.

 

8 Print out this post and tape it to the wall above your keyboard. Reference it every day.

 

I have known professional violinists who don't understand these basic facts. They are very good at playing the written notes, but seem to have no idea whatsoever how or why music works. Music is just tension and release, like sex. Chords resolve, melodies resolve, and bass lines resolve. Anything less is just erectile disfunction or premature ejaculation.

 

Judging by the theory discussions I have seen among electronic music people if you follow these guidelines, you will be well ahead of your competition. Most important step is 3. That step is akin to pickup lines and foreplay.

Thanks for the posts, i do understand scales, and that certain scales have certain notes within them. But some people say key signature is different.

 

Thanks jster for that funny and informative post, i will definitely refer to this post again

In Western music, there are 24 keys, 12 major and 12 minor.

 

Every key signature has two keys associated with it, one major and one minor. The keys of C and Am have the same key signature, for example.

 

Any set of notes forms a scale. There are more scales than there are names for scales. 12 major scales, 36 minor ones, 12 pentatonic ones, 12 pentatonic minor ones. diminished scales, etc. And how you count them depends on the context.

 

Now if I tell you play in A minor, then you are going to play in the key of Aminor and you will use one of the three A minor scales, usually you will start with A natural minor. The A natural minor scale is all the white keys. But when we get to the climax and that E chord, we are going to quickly jump out to A harmonic minor (replace the G by a G#). We get more tension that way. Staying with our analogy, it is a bit like using some lube. A natural minor doesn't have enough resources to have a good climax, so we need to add a note, that G#. That NOTE resolves to the NOTE of A (our home note) better than any other note. So even though it isn't a white key, we use it for a bit. You don't bring out your lube early! Save that G# for when you really need it.

haha ill keep that in mind, cheers