Need Some Piano Riff/chord Ideas! (:

[xfantasiix]

So, I'm pretty new to all this but I do have a fairly complete collection of lyrics and a basic idea of what I would like my songs to sound like however I play classical piano so I'm not very familiar with riffs and chord patterns that are played as an accompainment for songs.

I know there ARE people on this site who are good at this so I was wondering if anybody would be willing to share some of their riffs/chord patterns with me. Preferably in a score/sheet music form. Just some simple patterns that can be played "underneath" a melody.

I want to try create my own but I have no idea where to start so checking out other peoples creations would be a massive help for me (:

thanks heaps!

- xfantasiix

Edited August 18, 2012 by xfantasiix

[Rudi]

I cant help with sheet music.

Your melodies:

Chord patterns will need to take account of key.

They will also need to take account of specific melodies, unless the melody is modal (just use notes of a scale with no extra sharps & flats).

Riffs are generally part of the song. I am sure they could be used in other songs but that is veering towards plagurism IMO.

[xfantasiix]

Sorry, I'm not sure I made myself clear enough the first time round. What I meant was, Some chords are broken into repeating patterns that seem to "fit" under a song for example

C major chord can be broken up like C, E, C, G, C, C'...

like wise the G major chord can be broken up like G, B, G, D, G, G'

It follows the same pattern. If using I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII is an easier way of displaying the pattern then I can understand that as well.

Sheet music is simply easier for me since I'm a classical pianist. Doesn't have to be in a specific key, I can transpose. But really, all I need is something to start messing around with, hopefully I won't need it for too long. So if anybody is skilled in this area...please share (:

- xfantasiix

[xfantasiix]

Thanks for the advice Tom! I'll definitely look into covers and I'll definitely be experimenting more...once my exams are over with! (:

[DoctorKeys]

My advice is to choose 2 or 3 tunes specifically to work with, and use them to teach yourself new harmonic patterns. It can seem like a daunting task to look at the world of keyboard accompaniment in one glance, but if you break it down you'll find every song you work with helps you with everything else you come across. That being said, give me a couple examples of what tunes you'd like to play, or artists you want to sound like, and I can easily help you crack their code. I can even send you some sheet music with some great ideas. It's a lot like Beethoven used to do: choose one tune and write variations on it.

[xfantasiix]

Thankyou so much!!!!

Just a tune I'm currently working with

http://forums.songst...midi-seq-v1-ch/

© 2012 by HC

If having the sheet music to it would be easier just let me know ~

I can link you to some other sheet music later but just a list of artists...

Taylor Swift

Jason Chen (a youtube artist)

Megan Nicole (another youtube artist)

Ed Sheeran

Kelly Clarkson

not sure if that will help but please do send me the sheet music

Thankyou again!!!

[BigBubbaBrown]

Stick with what you know. If you know classical piano then you already know more about music theory than a lot of songwriters. I can't tell you how many songs have been inspired by classical music. You can hear hints of Beethoven in quite a few songs and some rap even has a heavy baroque influence.

Play some of your favorites and then break away from the sheet music. Start off making slight changes to what you know. Then make changes to those changes. Before you know it you'll have a completely different song than what you set out playing. There's a lot that can be done with Vivaldi's Four Seasons suite and Bach is a virtual gold mine.

The same can be done trying to learn to play contemporary music. The first song I ever wrote, which wasn't much of anything but had potential if I wouldn't have abandoned it, actually stemmed from an attempt to play the music from the first level of the arcade game Quartet. Started out with the chorus, which was the part I liked (it's odd for game music of that era but it seemed to adhere to the intro/verse/chorus/repeat shortened intro as bridge structure) and by the time I was done it sounded nothing like Quartet.

Easiest way to write a song, actually. Just fiddle around with what you know and let it mutate.