Thanks, may God bless.

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Psa 32:5 I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah.

[VoHW] (Help needed) [Blog] (Contact) - Truedisciple (mp3)

What you need to know:

Keyboard Scales and Chords

Some Chord Progressions

And.. how to read them..

The keyboard's white keys are arrange as lettered notes from A-G which then repeat. * = Black Key

i.e. A*B C*D*E F*G*A*B C*D*E F*G*A*B ... etc.

The black keys define sharps and flats like this:
The black key between C and D is both C#(sharp) and Db(flat)

btw, trackers only show sharps, you have to mentally convert any flats in your music to the equivalent sharp.

Now...

Reading Chord Progressions

Chord progressions are often written in Roman Numerals. They use CAPITAL and lowercase letters.

Capital letters represent a Major chord.
Lowercase letters represent a Minor chord.
The Roman Numeral represents the position in the scale.
Any other number represent notes added to the base chord.

Let me give two examples:

Let's say we want to write a song in the key of "C" (a good place to start). So, we choose a chord progression from the Wikipedia link.

Using the Virtual Keyboard (link above), we find that the scale(always major here) for the key(root) of "C" is: C D E F G A B C

We want to play a IV (4) chord from our progression. The fourth note in the scale is "F", and since we're using CAPITALS, that is an F Major chord. Again using the Virtual Keyboard, select a root of F and a Major chord. We see that the notes in this chord are F A C.

Now, say we want to write a song in the key of "Ab" (a-flat). So, again, we choose a chord progression from the Wikipedia link.

Using the Virtual Keyboard, we find that the scale(major) for the key(root) of "Ab" is: Ab Bb C Db Eb F G Ab

We want to play a ii7 (2-minor-7) chord from our progression. The second note in the scale is "Bb", and since we're using lowercase, that is a Bb Minor chord. But there is also a "7". So, using the Virtual Keyboard, select a root of Bb and a "Minor 7th" chord. We see that the notes in this chord are Bb Db F Ab. In a tracker this corresponds to A# C# F G#.

Ok, so, now that you have the chords and scale of your song, you need to lay them out with some rhythm.

Here's a starter. A tracker pattern is 64 lines. This can represent four(4) measures of music. So a whole note is 16 lines, a half note is 8 lines, a quarter note is 4 lines, an eighth note is 2 lines, and a sixteenth note is 1 line.

Start with the chord progression as whole or half notes.

Arpeggios and melody as quarter or eighths.

Again, this is a quick jump start to music. While music is mathematical, it is definitely an art more than a science.

So Have Fun! and God Bless!

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Sam Washburn

[This message has been edited by samw3 (edited July 29, 2007).]

God bless.

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Psa 32:5 I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah.

[VoHW] (Help needed) [Blog] (Contact) - Truedisciple (mp3)

God Bless!

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Sam Washburn

Maybe I would understand this better if you could say how to play some chords?

Here's the start of Amazing grace song for with the chords that I was going to use to practice (the chords look simple, don't they?):

E A E
1. Amazing grace! How sweet the sound
B
That saved a wretch like me!
E A E
I once was lost, but now am found;
B/D# C#m B A E
Was blind, but now I see.

So in order to play this would I first have to select/play E from the chord progression? then A, E etc?

In case this is needed here's link to the (apparently) more detailed chords: http://www.igracemusic.com/hymnbook/lead/amazinggrace.pdf

[This message has been edited by jari (edited July 30, 2007).]

Now, about the chords in amazing grace...

The chords you list here are already in a key. "Key", here represents the final point of rest for a piece of music, or the focal point of a section of music.

This is an alternate chording scheme that has low mental processing requirements during performance. Here is how this scheme works:

1. If there is just a letter, assume a Major chord
2. A lowercase "m" means minor
3. The slash "/" means add the following bass(low) note. (a note, not a chord)
4. Also, sometimes, there can be a number at the end like C#m7
5. Note: this scheme is case-insensitive

So, for amazing grace here, the chords would be:

E major, A major, E major, B major, E major, A major, E major, B major with bass(low) note of D#, C# minor, B major, A major, E major.

Are you wanting to encode this music?

Do you know how to read music notes too? Wikipedia has an article about modern musical symbols which describes pretty much anything you will see on a sheet of music.

Let me know if you get stuck anywhere.

God Bless!

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Sam Washburn

[This message has been edited by samw3 (edited July 30, 2007).]

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Howdy all! Check out http://art.twobrotherssoftware.com/shs.html, my latest CD.

If you ain't in the forums, you in the againstums :)

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Sam Washburn

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Psa 32:5 I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah.

[VoHW] (Help needed) [Blog] (Contact) - Truedisciple (mp3)