Music theory, arrangement, composition, song structure.. What on earth do I start learning first?

[Tapestoppa]

Greets, the past few weeks I've been thinking about the mentioned things listed in the title and what to learn first, theres so much stuff to it i dont know where to start. I never learned how music works, let alone ever touched an instrument as it's point and click until it works. I also noticed that the techincal skills I developed while messing around with synths and stuff covered the fact that I don't know music and I want to fix that.

[TheJayJay]

At 8/11/23 02:35 PM, Tapestoppa wrote: Greets, the past few weeks I've been thinking about the mentioned things listed in the title and what to learn first, theres so much stuff to it i dont know where to start. I never learned how music works, let alone ever touched an instrument as it's point and click until it works. I also noticed that the techincal skills I developed while messing around with synths and stuff covered the fact that I don't know music and I want to fix that.

literally just play around in a DAW or your instrument of choice until you make something that YOU think sounds good. i assume you have ideas for songs in mind already, if you do just try and replicate what you hear in your head.

out of the four things you mentioned i would say song structure is the least-important thing to "learn" as it sorta comes to you as you're composing or playing. i never really learned about song structure, it all came to me from listening to music and playing around in a DAW for a while.

[Notakin]

music theory is for chumps, just go with what sounds good and you be hunky dory

[Thetageist]

Hi! Composer with some classical training here. Posting this under the assumption that you do want to learn, rather than wanting reassurance that you don’t need it, which is what most people here seem to be doing. Different strokes for different folks.

There’s some good places to learn music theory online in a digestible format! These include musictheory.net, teoria.com, and Two Minute Music Theory on YouTube. I’m not sure about how the content on the YouTube channel is arranged, but the websites are arranged in a way that starts with the most basic things to comprehend and builds off of that. These are dependent on reading sheet music, but I’d recommend learning to do so, because it opens the door to not only the stereotypical stuffy classical stuff, but also some new and exciting music that people are writing today.

I also wrote a short document on a basic formula to start with when writing melodies, targeted towards people who are used to using a DAW and can’t read sheet music. I can DM it to you if you’d like!

[LD-W]

FREE Audio Resources List For Composers - 2022/2023

If you scroll down towards the bottom of my newspost linked above, there's a curated list of learning/video resources for you to watch and study to allow you to learn at your own pace.

[Tapestoppa]

At 8/12/23 05:12 PM, Thetageist wrote: Hi! Composer with some classical training here. Posting this under the assumption that you do want to learn, rather than wanting reassurance that you don’t need it, which is what most people here seem to be doing. Different strokes for different folks.

There’s some good places to learn music theory online in a digestible format! These include musictheory.net, teoria.com, and Two Minute Music Theory on YouTube. I’m not sure about how the content on the YouTube channel is arranged, but the websites are arranged in a way that starts with the most basic things to comprehend and builds off of that. These are dependent on reading sheet music, but I’d recommend learning to do so, because it opens the door to not only the stereotypical stuffy classical stuff, but also some new and exciting music that people are writing today.

I also wrote a short document on a basic formula to start with when writing melodies, targeted towards people who are used to using a DAW and can’t read sheet music. I can DM it to you if you’d like!

I will check these out, and please do send that document, It'll be very much appreciated!

[Spaggo]

Idk about music theory i just make what sounds cool

Then again this is coming from the guy who uses dreams ps4 to make his music so take it with a pinch of salt

[SomeGuyMusic]

At 8/12/23 01:57 PM, Notakin wrote: music theory is for chumps, just go with what sounds good and you be hunky dory

You best watch it 👀

[OVERSCORE]

At 8/12/23 01:57 PM, Notakin wrote: music theory is for chumps, just go with what sounds good and you be hunky dory

I’m a chump 😭