the benefits of playing slowly:  During your improvising — whether you're thinking “classical” or “blues” or “jazz” or “rock” or “  ?  ” or you're using another type of strategy (e.g. with imagery for thinking-and-feeling)* to stimulate creativity — you may find (as I have) that slow experimenting often is productive.  Your slow playing can help you break out of familiar habit-ruts, because you have more time to intentionally try unfamiliar sequences-of-notes (by playing-with-thinking and also playing-without-thinking, because both ways to play can be productive) so you're using the notes in new ways, and this makes it more likely that you'll discover new ways to make music.  And playing slowly can help you convert your understanding (of theory-principles) into your playing (with theory-principles).  But you shouldn't play only slowly, instead alternate between slower playing and faster playing, perhaps while using a metronome (or a backing track) that motivates you to make quick improv-decisions so your playing stays on-tempo and in-rhythm.

* You can use imagery by “thinking      ” where "     " is your imagery when you "play by thinking-and-feeling (for yourself) and/or communicating (for others) your musically-metaphorical ‘imagery’ for the atmosphere-character-flavor-mood of the music, for the ways you're thinking & feeling.

links & ideas:  You can learn more – and improve more – by alternating between playing slow and fast, by thinking and not-thinking, while seeking new adventures, and aiming for high quality of learning and/or performing.  There are connections between improvising and composing when we view the skill of composing as slow-motion improvising with a preserving of results that can be easier when you play slowly and record your improvisations so you can listen-and-preserve later.     { synonyms: This page is about improvising melodies, but verbs that usually have similar meanings are composing, inventing, making, creating, and playing melodies. }

iou – Soon (in the last week of March 2024) I'll develop these ideas that now are in my older page:  When you're cooperating with other musicians, you want to be consistently decisive in doing something that is rhythmically compatible with what others are doing.  Practicing with a metronome – and with “backing track” videos – can help you develop the self-discipline of being rhythmically consistent, of being in-synch with the timing of your fellow musicians.  I'll be learning more about this from others (e.g. pros & cons of using a metronome) and then will write about it.

If you “play through” perceived mistakes, by yourself or others, you can develop and sustain a continuity (for the melody, rhythm, and harmony) that keeps the music flowing through time.  And you can learn for the future, making it better by using the “master skill” of learning from experience.  Ben Sidran describes the musical skill of graceful recovery from perceived mistakes, of responding in a way that is musically productive, that contributes to artistry & enjoyment for you, your fellow musicians, and those who are listening.  He explains that "You have to fail at something first – which is not a failure, but an opportunity.  They say jazz is the music of surprise, because you want to play what you don’t know, which means you have to make mistakes, and then recover from them.  Music is the act of recovery."

  And from a Detailed Table of Contents,

Musical Imagery:  While you're playing or singing, feel (for yourself) or communicate (for others) your musically-metaphorical “imagery” for the atmosphere-character-flavor-mood of the music, for the ways you're thinking & feeling.     { full section }

Musical Mystery:  Usually, music that is interesting and enjoyable is semi-predictable, with some surprises.  Why?  Because when we hear music, we intuitively follow the flow of what has been happening, and “predict” what will happen.  If there is too much sameness, we become bored.  But we get frustrated if the music is too difficult to predict.  We tend to enjoy an in-between mix, with frequent confirmation of expectations along with some surprises, in a blend that is interesting rather than boring or frustrating.     { full section }

Musical Tension:  In the music we enjoy, one aspect of artistic semi-mystery arises from creatively mixing consonance (sometimes) and dissonance (other times).  To do this, a common strategy is moving away from the home-chord (or home-note) of a key, and then returning to it.  In this way and others, musicians can produce tension (in their chords and/or melodies) and then resolve the tension.     { full section }   { using home-chords in a chord progression }

Aleah and Halle:  Below most of the ideas are less interesting, and soon will be more-revised.

use two scales:  While you're inventing a melody with mainly red notes, "all non-red notes – both scale notes (white) and non-scale notes (black) – can be useful" in different ways, because each produces distinctive “sounds” in melodies.  I enjoy making both kinds of melodies, so I sometimes “think classical” or “think blues” to inspire different ways of playing.  While “thinking classical” I play mostly in-scale notes (white), and “thinking blues” is useful when I want to include more out-of-scale notes (black).     { two ways to use a “blues scale” – that has some black notes, but not all – when playing blues }     Here are the two scales, with 7 notes (only white) and 12 notes (all of them - 7 white, 5 black):
  the diatonic major scale of C is “C  D  E F  G  A  B C”
  the chromatic scale of C is “C Db D Eb E F Gb G Ab A Bb B C”,
and other scales are diatonic minor, pentatonic minor & pentatonic major, minor blues & major blues & blues,

All of these ways to “mix chord-melodies with scale-melodies”  [[in the examples I composed]]  use non-chord notes that are in the diatonic scale (CDEFGAB) of C Major;  they use non-chord white notes to form diatonic scale-melodies.   But you can...

also include non-chord black notes to make chromatic scale-melodies.  How?  Here are a few examples, among the many that are possible, using any of the notes (either white or black) of the keyboard.  You can play 1-2-b3-3-5-6-8 (where "b3" is a flatted-third, is the black note below 3, is the note between 2 and 3);  or (3-4-b5-5-6-b7-7-8) or (8-b7-6-6b-5-3-4-b5-5-6-b7-9-8 or ...5-6-7-9-8 or ...5-6-b7-7-8) or

        (1-3-5-6-b7-5-3-4-6-8-9-b10-9-8-6-5-7-9-10-11-10-9-7-8-6-5-3-1-...etc) with chord changes shown by color changes and underlinings.  In this example (and all others) you can modify my melody to produce other melodies.  The multiple possibilities are indicated by "...etc" in its ending, but of course other options are possible — and you will think some are better than my original melody — for every example you see in this page.

 

during a Chord Progression

with red-blue-green chords,

play Chord-Based Melodies

by mixing Chord Notes and

non-chordal Passing Notes:

red, blue, and green:  During a chord progression when the chords are changing — when they sometimes are red, but other times are blue or green — you can improvise melodies that are “mainly red-chord notes” and “mainly blue-chord notes” and “mainly green-chord notes”.  How?  The strategies for playing mainly-red melodies – by using home notes and passing notes while experimenting – also are effective for improvising melodies that are mainly-blue and mainly-green.

two times:  You can use passing notes artistically, with creativity & taste, during the long time while a chord is being played, and then during the short time when the chord changes, for a skillful transition from what you have been playing (during the first chord) to what you will be playing (during the next chord), with melodic continuity.

But instead of playing “mainly chord notes” it's easier to begin with “only chord notes” by improvising melodies with only-red, only-blue, and only-green.  To illustrate, I've composed a melody for the common progression of “red-blue-green-red” that in the Key of C is “C-F-G-C” and generally (in any key) is “I-IV-V-I”.  Using ten notes in the Scale of C (0123456789), one chord-based melody (among the MANY that are possible) is “1585351_4164864_5279520_1358531_” where during each chord the first six notes are one beat, and the final note (1_ ,  4_ ,  0_ ,  1_ ) is two beats.  Of course, you can modify this melody (in many creative ways) to make other melodies.

After you've played red-blue-green melodies using “only chord-notes” for awhile, and you're comfortable doing this, you can begin playing “mainly chord-notes” by using the ideas above and below.

principles and intuitions:  This long section (beginning with Passing Notes and continuing thru Musical Mystery) describes practical strategies – using musical principles, growing intuitive ways to think & play – that may help you develop your skills of creatively inventing melodies that are “mainly-red and mainly-blue and mainly-green” during a chord progression.  Throughout the section, if you find a strategy that is helping you, use it.  If not, ignore it now, and maybe return to it later.

scaffolding & heuristics:  You can use a strategy (for making melodies) as educational scaffolding that "breaks learning into bite-sized chunks so students can more easily tackle complex material [like the many ways to make melodies], building on old ideas and connecting them to new ones" by "providing students with a framework for learning as they build and strengthen their [cognitive-and-functional] understanding [and skills]."  The strategies can function as practical heuristics that are useful ways of "helping to learn, guiding in discovery," with "mental shortcuts that allow people to... make judgments [about which notes to play while making melodies] quickly and efficiently."     { quotations:  A  B  C  D }

use rhythm in melodies:

What?  One way to make a melody be mainly red (with red featured) is by using rhythm.  How?  For each melody in my examples (and those you invent), try different rhythms and you'll find that the melody sounds much better with some rhythms than with others.

What?  Earlier I describe how to "briefly play" chord-melodies and scale-melodies, with vague "briefly" timings, but this vagueness is only temporary.  In order to make music that's more enjoyable-and-interesting, with experience you'll develop musical intuitions for converting vague “brief timings” into precise “for exactly-this-long timings” so your melody-notes and melody-rhythms will more effectively cooperate, and this will help your improvising be more smooth and musical.

How?  Creatively “do experiments with rhythms” and see what happens.  Try things you think might be interesting, and have fun!     {some ideas for "experimenting with rhythms"} -- Aleah/Halle, I've moved it to here:

experimenting with rhythms:

When you "try different rhythms [while improvising a melody] you'll find that a melody sounds much better with some rhythms than with others."  For example,

During a chord progression, two ways (among many) to emphasize chord notes so your melody sounds mainly-red {or mainly-blue, mainly-green} are to play red notes for longer times, or in “rhythmically strong” time-locations like the first beats of measures.     { Of course, you also can emphasize some notes by playing them louder, and in other ways. }

But occasionally – to add some spicy surprise! 🙂 – you may want to rhythmically emphasize non-chord tones.  Or begin a melody at a time that isn't the 1-beat of a bar.  Or be surprising in other ways.

Creatively “do experiments with rhythms” and see what happens.  Try things you think might be interesting, and have fun!  You can...

     Play more notes (faster, shorter) or fewer notes (slower, longer).  Or mix fast & slow (short & long) in different ways.
     When you listen to musicians who are skilled in the style you want (whether it's rock, jazz, blues, country, or classical) it will help you develop an intuitive “feeling” for the rhythms that work well.
     Do “different things” for the on-beats (1 & 3) and off-beats (2 & 4).
     Instead of splitting quarter-notes evenly to make two equally long eighth-notes [as in a timing of 3-and-3, if a quarter-note is “6”] you can split them into uneven triplets [4-and-2] to make the music “swing” (as in a “shuffle” rhythm for 12-bar blues).    { The “swing” of uneven triplets is explained in words and music - plus diagrams - and illustrated with guitar & saxophone. }
     With some instruments (although not a keyboard)* you can slide from one note to another – as with a trombone, violin, steel guitar, or voice – instead of making a time-separation between the notes.     {* unless it has a pitch-bend wheel, 1  2  3  4 }
     Change the tempo so it increases or decreases.  Or vary it, alternating between slower & faster (like in songs by Chopin) if you're playing by yourself, or you're in a group that has a way to “change together” with coordination.

     Inspirations:  If you listen to music from a variety of cultures, you'll hear a variety of rhythms, and you may want to use some of these rhythms (as-is or modified) in the music you're making.

use home-notes in melodies:  In the examples above, notice that red notes are featured;  they are target notes, typically are used for beginning or ending a mini-scale, or as a turning point between upward & downward.  More specifically, Key-of-C melodies often use C as the home-note(s) during a C Chord, to play a mainly-red melody;  but use F as home-note(s) during an F Chord, to play a mainly-blue melody;  and use G as home-note(s) during a G Chord, to play a mainly-green melody.

use the different chord-functions:  In the Key of C, its three main chords (the home-chord C, plus F & G) have different functions in chord progressions to produce-and-resolve tension in "music that is interesting and enjoyable, is semi-predictable with some surprises... in a blend that is interesting rather than boring or frustrating."  And the key's three main 1-Notes (its overall 1-Note of C, plus F & G) have different functions as home-notes in melodies, because typically the C-Notes are used as permanent home-notes throughout a song (and especially when a C-Chord is being played), but F-Notes or G-Notes are used only as temporary home-notes during the time when an F-Chord or G-Chord is being played.

use the scales of each chord:

Earlier, the center diagram (of three one-color diagrams) shows that in the Key of F Major, the F-Scale has Bb (it's called B-flat because it's “flatter” than B, by one semitone) instead of B, because this change is necessary to produce a correct-sounding Major Scale, as shown in this table.  Similarly, in the Key of G Major the G-Scale must have an F# that is F-sharp, is “sharper” than F.     { flats and sharps }

If you play a melody in the Key of F, this F-Melody usually will sound musically strange if you use B as a passing note (between A and C) instead of Bb.  For the same reason, when playing a song in the Key of C an F-Melody (that's played during an F-Chord) almost always sounds better when Bb (not B) is used as a passing note.

But if you play a G-Melody (in the Key of G, or during a G-Chord) and use F instead of F#, this usually will sound less strange, compared with the strangeness of an F-Melody that uses B instead of Bb.  And in some musical situations, you may think the F sounds better than F#.  In fact, a basic G Chord (playing GBD) often is supplemented to form a G7 Chord (playing GBDF) and F becomes a Chord Note, instead of being a Non-Chord Note that also is a Non-Scale Note.

This sub-section is limited to The Key of C Major.  More generally, in all other keys a Major Scale requires playing one or more flat-notes or sharp-notes.  If you want to know the what-and-why, you can learn how The Circle of Fifths is constructed by using The Logic of Scales.

new melodies plus old melodies:  You'll add interesting ingredients to your musical mix when, in addition to the new melodies you're inventing, your improvising also includes old melodies that already exist in a familiar song.  This blending of old with new is a popular way to improvise, because it works well.  How?  By alternating times of old with new, and retaining some connection(s) with the old song.  When you're "doing old" you can alternate times of using old melodies as-is, and modified to form semi-old melodies that are slightly-unfamiliar (with some unpredictable Musical Mystery but not too much) so your variations can be recognized as variations of the old melody, but not totally different.  And when you're "doing new" you CAN be totally different in the new melodies you're inventing — perhaps by alternating times when the focus is chord-notes (in chord-melodies) and is scale-notes (in scale-melodies) — IF your new melodies "fit well" with chords in the chord progression of the old song.  In these ways you always can retain some connection with the old song, either with similarity that is only-harmonic (if your new melodies are totally unrelated to the old melodies) or is harmonic-and-melodic (if your new melodies are connected with old melodies);  when doing this the strategy is to sometimes play new melodies (with only harmonic) and sometimes play old melodies (with harmonic plus melodic).

if your new melodies are recognizable variations of old melodies

or includes a song-melody (or modified variations of it);  or you can use all three strategies in creative ways, by alternating them and/or blending them together.

With three strategies for improvising you can improvise melodies where the focus is chord-notes (used in chord-melodies) or scale-notes (used in scale-melodies), or includes a song-melody (or modified variations of it);  or you can use all three strategies in creative ways, by alternating them and/or blending them together.

play “blues melodies” by using

“blues notes” and blues scales:

How?  You can...

1.  use blues notes:  When playing “blues melodies” (during 12-Bar Blues or in “jazz blues” or “blues rock”) a common melody-making strategy is to use “blues notes”.  These are minor notes from a minor key — a flatted-third (b3) and flatted-seventh (b7) — while playing major chords in a major key;  this is one way to play Minor-within-Major.  Another useful “blues note” is the flatted 5th (b5) because even though this note isn't in the Minor Scale, it lets you play melodies with a pair of minor-sounding “flatted chord notes,” as with a flatted-E (the Eb that is b3) plus flatted-G (it's Gb, is the b5).  And b7 actually IS a chord-note in the 7th chords (1,3,5,b7) that usually are played in Blues Progressions.  These three notes – b3, b5, b7 – are useful for playing chord-based melodies (mainly-red, mainly-blue, mainly-green) with a “blues” sound-and-feeling.  How?  During a C Chord you can play chord notes (C,E,G) and also non-chord notes with blues-notes (b3,b5,b7 - Eb,Gb,Bb) featured;  during an F-Chord you play chord notes (F,A,C) and also non-chord notes with blues-notes (Ab,Cb=B,Eb) featured;  during a G-Chord, play chord notes (G,B,D) plus non-chord notes with blues-notes (Bb,Db,F) featured.

2.  use blues scales:  Musicians think about “playing blues” in many ways.  One way (using blues notes) is to play melodies that include notes with a “minor sound” (b3,b5,b7) in the scale of each chord (I,IV,V - C,F,G).  Another way, popular among musicians, is to “play blues” by using a Blues Scale.  The most common – so it's often called “the Blues Scale” – is a Minor Blues Scale (1-b3-4-b5-5-b7) that is a Minor Pentatonic Scale with b5 added;  it includes b3,b5,b7 but excludes four notes (2,3,6,7) that are in the Scale of C Major.  Or they use a Major Blues Scale (1-2-b3-3-5-6) that is a Major Pentatonic Scale with b3 added.  Or they use both scales, alternating between them.  Or the two scales can be combined into a Hybrid Blues Scale (1-2-b3-3-4-b5-5-6-b7) that includes the 9 shared notes;  it's a Minor Blues Scale with extra notes (2,3,6) that give a player more flexibility, making this a useful scale for improvising melodies.     { note:  The term scale has two meanings so it's important to recognize that a blues scale is "a group of scale-notes that can be played in any way [with creative flexibility]" and is not the rigidity of always "playing all of the scale-notes in consecutive sequence without skipping any." }   /   * You also can think about a 9-note Hybrid Blues Scale (1-2-b3-3-4-b5-5-6-b7) as being formed by combining Mixolydian Mode (1-2-3-4-5-6-b7) with a Minor Blues Scale (1-b3-4-b5-5-b7) to form a Mixo-Blues Scale that has the same 9 notes, but with a different way to "think about the scale."

use the same scale during all chords:  I was surprised to discover that some musicians sometimes play a C-Based Blues Scale – Minor, Major, and/or Hybrid – during C-Chords (as expected) but also during F-Chords & G-Chords, instead of changing the scale when the chord changes, as described above.  But even though the scale never changes, they can “musically adjust” by playing a C-scale in different ways during each of the three chords.

choosing your strategies:  I don't understand why musicians would "use the same scale during all chords" to make melodies.  But I would like to know why — and to know if I'm ignoring a valuable strategy for making melodies — so I want to learn more about it.  I'll be learning by reading pages and hearing videos, and sometimes using the strategy while playing.  Currently this melody-making strategy isn't “a way I think” while playing blues, but it's a way that evidently is common among experienced musicians, because it helps them skillfully improvise blues melodies.  And it's often recommended by teachers.   /   As a musician-and-teacher, here is my view of strategies:  if any “way to think about playing” is a practical heuristic that helps you play well, probably you should choose to use it.  Or if you think it might be helpful, try it so you can discover whether it really does "help you play well."  Feel free to try multiple strategies, and you may find that different “ways to think” are helpful in different ways.

Part 1A has more about playing melodies & chords with the red-blue-green of C Major.

This page contains sections that originally were part of the main page but (to make it shorter) the sections have been moved here.  Soon, in mid-May, the explanation below – "These sections originally were in Part 1B.  I think..." – will be moved from where-it-is into this paragraph.

APPENDIX for Part 1B

These sections originally were in Part 1B.  I think some parts will be fascinating for some readers, but “too much” for others.  Therefore they've been moved into this appendix, out of the main flow, so you can decide.  For a particular section, maybe you'll be fascinated and the ideas will help you understand and will stimulate your own explorations.  Or maybe not, and you can ignore them.

Some parts of the original 1B Appendix — the mental benefits of organization - The 50s Progression - comparing Major Chords with Minor Chords - 7th Chords - a dog story — remain in the main page, and others are now here.

pentatonic scales

When you play only black notes you cannot “make a melodic mistake” and anything you do will sound fairly good, so just relax and experiment with playing the black notes in different ways.  But you'll think some ways-to-play are more enjoyable (for aesthetic appeal, personal expression,...) so listen for these, and have fun exploring the melodic & rhythmic possibilities.

One way to explore is commonly used – in fact, you probably have been doing it already – because it's musically useful, and is intuitively simple.  To do it, you can learn by discovery with studying the keyboard and playing its notes.  First, study this keyboard by noticing that its left-half has 5 black notes (arbitrarily labeled V-W-X-Y-Z) that form a pattern, and in the right-half this pattern repeats, except its V-W-X-Y-Z are in a higher octave.  Second, choose one kind of black note — either all of the notes I've labeled "V" or the W's, X's, Y's, or Z's — and use it as the home note(s) that you will “musically emphasize.”How can you musically emphasize?  Perhaps by starting on a V and occasionally returning to it (or to another V), doing whatever you want — moving leftward & rightward, playing all consecutive black notes or skipping some — and ending on any of the W's that are in your home-note(s) group.

After awhile, shift to another "kind of black note" (to W, X, Y, or Z) and use it as your home-note(s).  Continue shifting, and listen to the different sounds of the music you make when you use each of the five notes as a home note.  Each of these five ways-to-play is a different pentatonic scale, with each scale having five notes. {penta means five}   Are there any scales that you think sound especially interesting and pleasing, thus more musically valuable?    { two scales that most musicians think are especially valuable and more about pentatonic scales – when using only black notes, or in the key of C Major. }    {singular-yet-plural:  Yes, my mixing of these – as in "home-note(s)" and in other ways – is grammatically illogical, but is musically logical due to octaves. }     { more about using home notes in pentatonic scales }

simplified comparisons:  You also can "listen to the different sounds" by using simplified melodies with less musical complexity, by comparing the five easily-repeatable scales* – each with consecutive notes, starting on a different home note – being played upward (it's 123451 with "1" being either V,W,X,Y, or Z) or downward (154321) or both (12345154321 or 15432123451) as described here.    {* scale is a term with two meanings}

experimenting with rhythms:

When you "try different rhythms [while improvising a melody] you'll find that a melody sounds much better with some rhythms than with others."  For example,

During a chord progression, two ways (among many) to emphasize chord notes so your melody sounds mainly-red {or mainly-blue, mainly-green} are to play red notes for longer times, or in “rhythmically strong” time-locations like the first beats of measures.     { Of course, you also can emphasize some notes by playing them louder, and in other ways. }

But occasionally – to add some spicy surprise! 🙂 – you may want to rhythmically emphasize non-chord tones.  Or begin a melody at a time that isn't the 1-beat of a bar.  Or be surprising in other ways.

Creatively “do experiments with rhythms” and see what happens.  Try things you think might be interesting, and have fun!  You can...

     Play more notes (faster, shorter) or fewer notes (slower, longer).  Or mix fast & slow (short & long) in different ways.
     Change the tempo so it increases or decreases.  Or vary it, alternating between slower & faster (as in songs by Chopin) if you're playing by yourself, or you're in a group that has a way to “change together” with coordination.
     Do “different things” for the on-beats (1 & 3) and off-beats (2 & 4).
     Instead of splitting quarter-notes evenly to make two equally long eighth-notes [as in a timing of 3-and-3, if a quarter-note is “6”] you can split them into uneven triplets [4-and-2] to make the music “swing” (as in a “shuffle” rhythm for 12-bar blues).    { The “swing” of uneven triplets is explained in words and music - plus diagrams - and illustrated with guitar & saxophone. }
     With some instruments (although not a keyboard)* you can slide from one note to another – as with a trombone, violin, steel guitar, or voice – instead of making a time-separation between the notes.     {* unless it has a pitch-bend wheel, 1  2  3  4 }
     And use silence.  It's one artistic way (among many) to produce fascinating mystery by not playing constantly, with “rests” that let the sound be on-and-off.

     Inspirations:  If you listen to music from a variety of cultures, you'll hear a variety of rhythms, and you may want to use some of these rhythms (as-is or modified) in the music you're making.

two pentatonic scales:

Earlier I describe pentatonic scales and ask "are there any that you think sound especially interesting and pleasing, thus more musically valuable?"  Although all five scales can be useful, the two that usually are considered most musically valuable are Minor Pentatonic and Major Pentatonic — in the keys of E-Flat Minor Pentatonic and G-Flat Major Pentatonic — using the set of "minor" home-notes, or the "MAJOR" set of home-notes that you see below:

During improvising that is unstructured, one way to be more creatively free — trying to play without structure, by ignoring chords and pre-existing melodies — is to freely experiment with a pentatonic scale when using only black notes.If you want to preserve an improvised melody that uses only black notes (typically it's in the key of E-flat Minor Pentatonic or G-flat Major Pentatonic) you can transpose this melody into a white-note key (A Minor or C Major) and use it during another kind of music-making strategy.But even though it's more generally-useful to play pentatonics in C Major (and musicians often do this) to improvise scale-melodies, it's easier to be unstructured when you play only black notes due to the visual simplicity (leading to mental simplicity and freedom) because all notes that are black – no more, no less – are in the pentatonic scale, so it's easy to intuitively know all notes that ARE in the scale (they're black) and ARE NOT in the scale (they're white), and you can focus your full attention on using the black notes to creatively make music.

comparing patterns:  Earlier I ask “are the three note-patterns (for red notes, blue notes, green notes) similar?  Are they identical in all ways?”  Yes, they are very similar, and are exactly similar for the spatial relationships (and interval relationships) of chord notes.   No, they're not identical, due to differences for non-chord notes  When comparing the patterns of a C-Chord and F-Chord, the most important difference is that (as described above) in a C-Chord the 3rd (E) is followed by a white note (F) that's the 4th note of a C-Scale, and a C-Melody (played during a C-Chord) often uses this note {F} as a passing note;  but in an F-Chord the 3rd (A) is followed by a black note (Bb) that's the 4th note of an F-Scale, so musicians typically use this note (Bb, not B) as a passing note when they're playing an F-Melody during an F-Chord.   /   In a similar way, the green-note pattern is different, although instead of adding a flat (Bb) you must add a sharp (F#) so you can play the 7th note in a G-Scale.

 four ways to improvise music:

U – You can improvise freely with Unstructured Improvisation by “just putting notes together” in any way you want.  In an effort to be “more free” so whatever you invent will be “more new” you can try to ignore chords and pre-existing melodies.

VM– You can improvise a Variation Melody by modifying the notes of a pre-existing Melody, as described earlier.  This is a common way to improvise a new Melody.

CPM – You can improvise a Harmonious Chord-Progression Melody when you know each chord that's being played (i.e. whether it's made from red notes, blue notes, green notes, and/or other notes) and you sequentially play its chord-notes along with some non-chord notes.  You are using the structure of a pre-existing Chord Progression, using its structure as a framework to guide you in sequentially playing chord-notes (plus non-chord notes) to improvise a Melody that is based on the Chord Progression.

CP – You can improvise a Harmonious Chord Progression by simultaneously playing chord-notes, and occasionally changing the chord.  For example, Part 1A encourages you to improvise a Harmonious Chord Progression by alternating time-periods of Chords that have only red notes (played simultaneously) and only blue notes and only green notes, by "changing the chord-color whenever you want, to whatever new chord-color you want" so – with your choices of whenever and whatever – you are improvising Chord Progressions.  Or you can begin with an old CP, and change it into a new CP.    {more about CP}You also can do musical improvisation in other ways that move beyond basic chord-notes (1,3,5) in the main major chords (I,IV,V) and melodies using chord-notes. Now each description above is expanded, especially for the “harmonious improvising” of CPM and CP.

update:  The rest of this Appendix – with expanded descriptions – has been moved into a separate page.

Strategies for Making Music

( this is an older "long version" )

[[ iou – This section originally was in the main page.  Soon, maybe March 21, a new version (much shorter) will be in the main page, and there will be some revisions in this longer version, especially near the end where you'll see additional iou's. ]]

For most musicians the main music-making strategy — so it's what I'm teaching in this page, and is the main way a colorized keyboard can be musically useful — is...

Using Harmony to Make Melodies with

Harmony Changes in a Chord Progression:

What?  A chord progression is a sequence of chords.  This is the most common way to make music, whether it's classical, popular (in all areas), or jazz. 

Why?  Because we enjoy hearing two kinds of harmony, when the harmony either is only-simultaneous (in chords) OR is only-sequential (in melodies).  We also enjoy BOTH together, and this combination happens when musicians are playing melodies that “fit well” with each chord in a progression, so we can enjoy harmonies that are simultaneous-AND-sequential, with Harmonious Chords AND Harmonious Melodies.  During a chord progression, we hear many kinds of harmonious interactions, of Chords with Chords, and Chords with Melodies, and Melodies with Melodies.  Using a chord progression is an effective way to combine harmonies-and-melodies, to make music that is enjoyable (because people enjoy hearing harmonious chords and harmonious melodies) and is interesting (due to the harmony-changes when chords change, and when chord-based melodies include some non-chord notes instead of only chord notes).

play chord-based melodies

by using Chord Notes plus

non-chordal Passing Notes:

What?  During a chord progression, sometimes a red chord is playing, and – if you want to cooperate with the chord's harmony – you can improvise a “mainly-harmonious melody” that is mainly-red (instead of only-red in a “totally-harmonious melody”) by playing mainly red notes but also some non-red notes.  And when a blue chord {or green chord} is playing, your melody can be mainly-blue {or mainly-green}.

Why?  Compared with only-red, playing a melody with mainly-red is more interesting because more notes are being used in a melody.  And it's more enjoyable because people enjoy music that is semi-predictable. ..... [iou – to be continued soon, March 16].

This diagram shows notes (1-2-3-4-5-6-7) in the Scale of C Major.  The non-chord notes (2,4,6,7) are gray, to highlight the chord notes (1,3,5) that usually are featured when improvising melodies during a C Chord.

But even though the red notes "usually are featured," all non-red notes – both scale notes (white) and non-scale notes (black) – can be useful for making melodies by playing mainly red (instead of only red) so you're making melodies that are more interesting, with more variety.  The melodies will be mainly-harmonious (instead of totally-harmonious) and will sound good, if the improvising is played well.

How do you play it well, with skill?  The main way you develop skill is to learn-by-doing:  do experiments (try new ideas) so you can listen-and-learn.  A process of creative experimenting is described in Part 1A's Stage 1 — "try different ways to play only-red, by changing directions (go up for awhile, then back down, and up,...) and skipping some red notes" — along with a principle-based strategy of using red notes as home notes by “musically emphasizing” them.

This section adds another strategy that is useful in a transition from playing only red notes — it's a great starting point for improvising, but isn't a good ending place — to playing mainly red notes.  When you move from only-red to mainly-red a valuable principle-based strategy is to...

use passing notes:  By creatively using non-chord passing notes (both white and black) you can move between chord notes that are target notes — so you're passing from one chord note to another chord note (it's a target note) — in ways that are smooth and musical.  When you “experiment, listen and learn” another valuable principle-based strategy is to...

use two scales:  While you're inventing a melody with mainly red notes, "all non-red notes – both scale notes (white) and non-scale notes (black) – can be useful" in different ways, because each produces distinctive “sounds” in melodies.  I enjoy making both kinds of melodies, so I sometimes “think classical” or “think blues” to inspire different ways of playing.  While “thinking classical” I play mostly in-scale notes (white), and “thinking blues” is useful when I want to include more out-of-scale notes (black).     { two ways to use a “blues scale” – that has some black notes, but not all – when playing blues }     Here are the two scales, with 7 notes (only white) and 12 notes (all of them - 7 white, 5 black):
  the diatonic major scale of C is “C  D  E F  G  A  B C”
  the chromatic scale of C is “C Db D Eb E F Gb G Ab A Bb B C”,
and other scales are diatonic minor, pentatonic minor & pentatonic major, minor blues & major blues & blues,

during a Chord Progression

with red-blue-green chords,

play Chord-Based Melodies

by mixing Chord Notes and

non-chordal Passing Notes:

red, blue, and green:  During a chord progression when the chords are changing — when they sometimes are red, but other times are blue or green — you can improvise melodies that are “mainly red-chord notes” and “mainly blue-chord notes” and “mainly green-chord notes”.  How?  The strategies for playing mainly-red melodies – by using home notes and passing notes while experimenting – also are effective for improvising melodies that are mainly-blue and mainly-green.

two times:  You can use passing notes artistically, with creativity & taste, during the long time while a chord is being played, and then during the short time when the chord changes, for a skillful transition from what you have been playing (during the first chord) to what you will be playing (during the next chord), with melodic continuity.

But instead of playing “mainly chord notes” it's easier to begin with “only chord notes” by improvising melodies with only-red, only-blue, and only-green.  To illustrate, I've composed a melody for the common progression of “red-blue-green-red” that in the Key of C is “C-F-G-C” and generally (in any key) is “I-IV-V-I”.  Using ten notes in the Scale of C (0123456789), one chord-based melody (among the MANY that are possible) is “1585351_4164864_5279520_1358531_” where during each chord the first six notes are one beat, and the final note (1_ ,  4_ ,  0_ ,  1_ ) is two beats.  Of course, you can modify this melody (in many creative ways) to make other melodies.

After you've played red-blue-green melodies using “only chord-notes” for awhile, and you're comfortable doing this, you can begin playing “mainly chord-notes” by using the ideas above and below.

principles and intuitions:  This long section (beginning with Passing Notes and continuing thru Musical Mystery) describes practical strategies – using musical principles, growing intuitive ways to think & play – that may help you develop your skills of creatively inventing melodies that are “mainly-red and mainly-blue and mainly-green” during a chord progression.  Throughout the section, if you find a strategy that is helping you, use it.  If not, ignore it now, and maybe return to it later.

scaffolding & heuristics:  You can use a strategy (for making melodies) as educational scaffolding that "breaks learning into bite-sized chunks so students can more easily tackle complex material [like the many ways to make melodies], building on old ideas and connecting them to new ones" by "providing students with a framework for learning as they build and strengthen their [cognitive-and-functional] understanding [and skills]."  The strategies can function as practical heuristics that are useful ways of "helping to learn, guiding in discovery," with "mental shortcuts that allow people to... make judgments [about which notes to play while making melodies] quickly and efficiently."     { quotations:  A  B  C  D }

use Chord Notes and Non-Chord Notes,

mix Chord-Melodies with Scale-Melodies:

In one strategy for inventing melodies of mainly-red {or mainly-blue, mainly-green} that are mainly-harmonious and are interesting, you can...

alternate chord-melodies with scale-melodies and skip-melodies:  One way to explore musical possibilities is to briefly play a chord-melody (with only chord notes), and then use passing notes to briefly play a scale-melody that's a mini-scale (i.e. it's a partial scale that is less than a full octave of 12345678) by playing all consecutive white notes while moving from one red note to another red note.   /   flexible timings:  You can "briefly play" for a time that's very short (with only a few notes) or is a little longer.   /   flexible melodies:  Don't interpret these “two kinds of melodies” literally, instead view them as practical heuristics that can be useful as scaffolding that helps you discover a variety of ways to improvise melodies.   /   terms:  My terms (chord-melody & scale-melody) are not commonly used when describing melodies, although the actions are common when playing melodies. 

three kinds of melodies:  Another useful strategy is what I call a skip-melody.*  It's useful to think about two differences.  First, a chord-melody has only chord notes (as in "135"), but a scale-melody also includes at least one non-chord note (as in "345" or "123456").  Second, a scale-melody has consecutive scale-notes, but a skip-melody uses non-consecutive scale-notes.  There are two ways to make a skip-melody;  you can skip between chord notes, in a chord-melody (as in "15");  technically this is a “skip melody” but I limit the term skip-melody to when one of the two notes (first or second, being skipped-from or skipped-to) is a non-chord note, which occurs in a sequence of "14" or "24" or "25", but not in "35".

* My own terms (chord-melody, scale-melody, skip-melody) are not commonly used when other musicians describe melodies, although the actions are common when we play melodies.

These three melody-making strategies are illustrated in the following examples that are intended for teaching, to help you convert abstract ideas (in your thinking) into concrete reality (in your playing);  i.e. I'm not trying to compose “hit songs”, 🙂.   Instead my goal is educational, to show you how music-making strategies can be used to make music.  Within each example every “melody” (whether it's a chord-melody, scale-melody, or skip-melody) is brief, is just a mini-melody that is part of the longer melody in the overall example.

Here are examples of how to...

    • use all three melodies:  With ten notes in the Scale of C (0123456789), you can play-and-hear "135864321" and "135856798", using chord-melodies (1358 and 13585), scale-melodies (4321 and 567, 98), and skip-melodies (864 and 79).  Notice that during each transition (from one kind of melody to another) one note is involved in both melodies;  e.g. you see these overlaps when 135864321 is formed by combining 1358, 864, 4321.

    • use rhythm to make a phrase:  In "135_851_" each "_" shows that these notes (5_ and 1_ ) last two beats instead of the one beat used for the other notes.  This timing produces the rhythmic units of 4 beats per bar (in 135_ and then 851_ ) that's used in most of the music we hear.  The brief melody of "135_851_" is an 8-count phrase, with phrase defined as "a series of notes that sounds complete, even when played apart from the main song."  Another way to form an 8-beat phrase (by combining two 4-beat phrases) is illustrated by "1353651_". 

    • use home-notes:  We typically hear "135_851_" as two units (135_ and 851_ );  after the first half (ending on 5_ ) there is a feeling of "not yet home " but the second half (ending on 1_ ) produces the musical satisfaction of "coming home" by ending on the home-note of 1.  And we see this in "1358645_1358678_ because 8 also is a home-note, due to octaves.     { moving away from the home-note and then returning to it }

    • use rhythm in a melody:  1358756352431_ _ _ or (with same beginning but alternate endings) ...5243201_ _ _ (with 43 replaced by 4320) or (with "0" eliminated to produce 432) it becomes ...524321_ _ _ .  Play each of the three endings, trying to figure out how you can "fit all notes into the available time" and make it sound musically pleasing.  You should be able to find three ways (maybe more) to make the timings of 432 sound rhythmically musical.  Then read my explanations below to see if they match what you've been playing.   (to be continued)

    • use rhythm in a melody (continued):  How can you make each of the three endings — with ...52431 and 5243201 and 524321 — sound musical?  Compared with 43 there are twice as many notes in 4320 so they must be played twice as fast.  If the rhythm of 43 is symbolized by 4-3- the second rhythm (with note-timings half as long) is 4320.  The "in between" melody with 432 is more complex;  three rhythms that can make it sound musical are 4-321 and 43-21 and 432-1.   /   With experience you'll develop musical intuitions for "fitting notes into the time that's available" so the music flows and is musically pleasing, so your melody-notes and melody-rhythms are cooperating more effectively, with improvising that is more smooth and musical.

• use neighbor notes:  You already have heard these in many melodies, including "the three endings" above, plus 5240121 and 5240321 that are variations of 5243201.

in "1354201_" and (similar but a little different) "1354021_".  Also similar are 1342021_ plus 1356421_ and 1356401_ .*   Each of these melodies uses neighbor notes (aka neighbor tones) that are "a little below" and/or "a little above" the home-note (1).  Due to octaves, an earlier example (135856798) also uses neighbor tones (79) and ends on another home-note (8).   /   * A "non neighbor" way to approach the home-note is 1356431_ , using the short chord-melody of 31_ .

Also play-and-hear 1365021_ and 1342021_.  Each of these melodies uses neighbor notes (aka neighbor tones) that are "a little below" and/or "a little above" the home-note (1).  Due to octaves, another home-note (8) also has neighbor notes (7,9) as in this melody-phrase, 135856798 or (using either neighbor alone) ---- or ----

1342021_

135313201_ and 135364201_ and

1365401_

In these melodies, two notes (0,2) are neighbor notes that are "a little below" and/or "a little above" the home-note (1) that is the ending-note of the phrase.  Due to octaves, another home-note (8) also has neighbor notes (7,9) as in this melody-phrase, 135856798 or (using either neighbor alone) ---- or ----

#BB0000

where "_" is a rest, with the final note lasting for two beats.

fragments of a coherent melody, combined to make a phrase that's in these phrases:

1342021_ - 1365021_ -

, to show how you can

that itself is only a phrase, defined as "a series of notes that sounds complete, even when played apart from the main song."  // use my description of "intuition developing with using rhythm" that I would illustrate in-person coaching, but trying to do it in web-page

"a phrase is a series of notes that sounds complete, even when played apart from the main song." https://www.musictheory.net/lessons/55

For the paragraphs below, you can use stop-and-go reading;  play each melody, before moving on to the next.  Or you can just “read through it” to get the main ideas, and then (if you want) return later to play the melody-examples.

Of course, there are many ways to mix chord notes with non-chord notes, including (1354321) & (135854321 or 1358567898) — for each melody, try different rhythms and you'll find that some rhythms sound much better than others — plus (123454345) & (1234543213201 or ...134201 or ...134021) & (54345854321) & (5678765343201 or ...43021) & (1358678) & (8579851) and MANY other combinations.  These examples use scale-melodies that are short or long, are “directional” upward (for some part of 012345678) or downward (for part of 9876543210), plus “direction changes” with up-then-down or down-then-up;  and multiple consecutive chord notes, or multiple consecutive non-chord notes.

All of these ways to “mix chord-melodies with scale-melodies” use non-chord notes that are in the diatonic scale (CDEFGAB) of C Major;  they use non-chord white notes to form diatonic scale-melodies.   But you can...

also include non-chord black notes to make chromatic scale-melodies.  How?  Here are a few examples, among the many that are possible, using any of the notes (either white or black) of the keyboard.  You can play 1-2-b3-3-5-6-8 (where "b3" is a flatted-third, is the black note below 3, is the note between 2 and 3);  or (3-4-b5-5-6-b7-7-8) or (8-b7-6-6b-5-3-4-b5-5-6-b7-9-8 or ...5-6-7-9-8 or ...5-6-b7-7-8) or

        (1-3-5-6-b7-5-3-4-6-8-9-b10-9-8-6-5-7-9-10-11-10-9-7-8-6-5-3-1-...etc) with chord changes shown by color changes and underlinings.  In this example (and all others) you can modify my melody to produce other melodies.  The multiple possibilities are indicated by "...etc" in its ending, but of course other options are possible — and you will think some are better than my original melody — for every example you see in this page.

 

use rhythm in melodies:

What?  One way to make a melody be mainly red (with red featured) is by using rhythm.  How?  For each melody in my examples (and those you invent), try different rhythms and you'll find that the melody sounds much better with some rhythms than with others.

What?  Earlier I describe how to "briefly play" chord-melodies and scale-melodies, with vague "briefly" timings, but this vagueness is only temporary.  In order to make music that's more enjoyable-and-interesting, with experience you'll develop musical intuitions for converting vague “brief timings” into precise “for exactly-this-long timings” so your melody-notes and melody-rhythms will more effectively cooperate, and this will help your improvising be more smooth and musical.

How?  Creatively “do experiments with rhythms” and see what happens.  Try things you think might be interesting, and have fun!     {some ideas for experimenting}

 

use home-notes in melodies:  In the examples above, notice that red notes are featured;  they are target notes, typically are used for beginning or ending a mini-scale, or as a turning point between upward & downward.  More specifically, Key-of-C melodies often use C as the home-note(s) during a C Chord, to play a mainly-red melody;  but use F as home-note(s) during an F Chord, to play a mainly-blue melody;  and use G as home-note(s) during a G Chord, to play a mainly-green melody.

use the different chord-functions:  In the Key of C, its three main chords (the home-chord C, plus F & G) have different functions in chord progressions to produce-and-resolve tension in "music that is interesting and enjoyable, is semi-predictable with some surprises... in a blend that is interesting rather than boring or frustrating."  And the key's three main 1-Notes (its overall 1-Note of C, plus F & G) have different functions as home-notes in melodies, because typically the C-Notes are used as permanent home-notes throughout a song (and especially when a C-Chord is being played), but F-Notes or G-Notes are used only as temporary home-notes during the time when an F-Chord or G-Chord is being played.

 

use the scales of each chord:

Earlier, the center diagram (of three one-color diagrams) shows that in the Key of F Major, the F-Scale has Bb (it's called B-flat because it's “flatter” than B, by one semitone) instead of B, because this change is necessary to produce a correct-sounding Major Scale, as shown in this table.  Similarly, in the Key of G Major the G-Scale must have an F# that is F-sharp, is “sharper” than F.     { flats and sharps }

 

C Scale:

C

C#

D

D#

E

F

F#

G

G#

A

A#

B

C

F Scale:

F

Gb

G

Ab

A

Bb

B

C

Db

D

Eb

E

F

G Scale:

G

G#

A

A#

B

C

C#

D

D#

E

F

F#

G

 

If you play a melody in the Key of F, this F-Melody usually will sound musically strange if you use B as a passing note (between A and C) instead of Bb.  For the same reason, when playing a song in the Key of C an F-Melody (that's played during an F-Chord) almost always sounds better when Bb (not B) is used as a passing note.

But if you play a G-Melody (in the Key of G, or during a G-Chord) and use F instead of F#, this usually will sound less strange, compared with the strangeness of an F-Melody that uses B instead of Bb.  And in some musical situations, you may think the F sounds better than F#.  In fact, a basic G Chord (playing GBD) often is supplemented to form a G7 Chord (playing GBDF) and F becomes a Chord Note, instead of being a Non-Chord Note that also is a Non-Scale Note.

This sub-section is limited to The Key of C Major.  More generally, in all other keys a Major Scale requires playing one or more flat-notes or sharp-notes.  If you want to know the what-and-why, you can learn how The Circle of Fifths is constructed by using The Logic of Scales.

 

new melodies plus old melodies:  You'll add interesting ingredients to your musical mix when, in addition to the new melodies you're inventing, your improvising also includes old melodies that already exist in a familiar song.  This blending of old with new is a popular way to improvise, because it works well.  How?  By alternating times of old with new, and retaining some connection(s) with the old song.  When you're "doing old" you can alternate times of using old melodies as-is, and modified to form semi-old melodies that are slightly-unfamiliar (with some unpredictable Musical Mystery but not too much) so your variations can be recognized as variations of the old melody, but not totally different.  And when you're "doing new" you CAN be totally different in the new melodies you're inventing — perhaps by alternating times when the focus is chord-notes (in chord-melodies) and is scale-notes (in scale-melodies) — IF your new melodies "fit well" with chords in the chord progression of the old song.  In these ways you always can retain some connection with the old song, either with similarity that is only-harmonic (if your new melodies are totally unrelated to the old melodies) or is harmonic-and-melodic (if your new melodies are connected with old melodies);  when doing this the strategy is to sometimes play new melodies (with only harmonic) and sometimes play old melodies (with harmonic plus melodic).

if your new melodies are recognizable variations of old melodies

or includes a song-melody (or modified variations of it);  or you can use all three strategies in creative ways, by alternating them and/or blending them together.

With three strategies for improvising you can improvise melodies where the focus is chord-notes (used in chord-melodies) or scale-notes (used in scale-melodies), or includes a song-melody (or modified variations of it);  or you can use all three strategies in creative ways, by alternating them and/or blending them together.

 

---

 

play “blues melodies” by using

“blues notes” and blues scales:

 

How?  You can...

1.  use blues notes:  When playing “blues melodies” (during 12-Bar Blues or in “jazz blues” or “blues rock”) a common melody-making strategy is to use “blues notes”.  These are minor notes from a minor key — a flatted-third (b3) and flatted-seventh (b7) — while playing major chords in a major key;  this is one way to play Minor-within-Major.  Another useful “blues note” is the flatted 5th (b5) because even though this note isn't in the Minor Scale, it lets you play melodies with a pair of minor-sounding “flatted chord notes,” as with a flatted-3 (the Eb that is b3) plus flatted-5 (it's Gb, is the b5).  And b7 actually IS a chord-note in the 7th chords (1,3,5,b7) that usually are played in Blues Progressions.  These three notes – b3, b5, b7 – are useful for playing chord-based melodies (mainly-red, mainly-blue, mainly-green) with a “blues” sound-and-feeling.  How?  During a C Chord you can play chord notes (C,E,G) and also non-chord notes with blues-notes (b3,b5,b7 - Eb,Gb,Bb) featured;  during an F-Chord you play chord notes (F,A,C) and also non-chord notes with blues-notes (Ab,Cb=B,Eb) featured;  during a G-Chord, play chord notes (G,B,D) plus non-chord notes with blues-notes (Bb,Db,F) featured.

 

The following examples of passing notes that are useful for playing blues melodies during a chord of C Major.  {to understand better, you should play these on a keyboard - or another instrument - so you can hear them}   Although some of the non-chord passing notes are in-scale white notes, many are non-scale black notes that are named as flats (b) or sharps (#). You can move between chord-notes (1 3 5 1) with... 1-3b-3-5 or 1-3-5b-5 or 1-3b-3-5b-5 or 5-5b-4-3-1 or 5-3-3b-2-1 or... any of the many possibilities for ascending from 1 thru 3 to 5, or descending from 5 thru 3 to 1. You can move from 1 thru 3 to 5, or instead you can skip 3, as with 1-5b-5 (ascending) or (descending) 5-3b-1.   Or moving upward from 3 thru 5 to 1 (an octave above 1), you can play 3-5-6-1 or 3-5-6-7-1 or 3-5-5#-6-1 or 3-5-7b-1 or 3-5b-5-7b-1 or (to descend) 1-6-5-3 or (by combining down-movements with an up-movement) 1-6-5-3b-3 or 1-7b-5-3b-3 or 1-7b-5-5b-5 or 1-7b-5-3b-3-5b-5.  Or moving an octave downward from 1 to 1, play 1-7b-5-4-3b-1 (using the notes of a minor pentatonic scale) or 1-7b-5-3b-3-5-6-5-3-1.  Or from 1 up to 1 and back down to 1, with 1-3-5-6-1-6-5-3-1 or 1-3-5-6-7b-6-5-3.  The final example intentionally has one less note (the 1 is missing) because this allows a smooth transition from mainly red (during a C Chord) when it's followed by mainly blue (during an 4 Chord), as when 1-3-5-6-7b-6-5-3 is followed by 4-6-1-9-10b-9-1-6, to form a classic blues-rock riff.   /   Of course, all of these “passing note” ideas — and other ideas, because these are only a few of the MANY ways to use passing notes — can be adapted for use during any chord, whether the chord is 1, 4, 5, or Am, Dm, Em, or another.   Here are the same two paragraphs, but with melody-notes described by letters (CDE...) instead of numbers (123...): You can move between chord-notes (C E G C) with... C-Eb-E-G or C-E-Gb-G or C-Eb-E-Gb-G or G-Gb-F-E-C or G-E-Eb-D-C or... any of the many possibilities for ascending from C thru E to G, or descending from G thru E to C. You can move from C thru E to G, or instead you can skip E, as with C-Gb-G (ascending) or (descending) G-Eb-C.   Or moving upward from E thru G to C (an octave above C), you can play E-G-A-C or E-G-A-B-C or E-G-G#-A-C or E-G-Bb-C or E-Gb-G-Bb-C or (to descend) C-A-G-E or (by combining down-movements with an up-movement) C-A-G-Eb-E or C-Bb-G-Eb-E or C-Bb-G-Gb-G or C-Bb-G-Eb-E-Gb-G.  Or moving an octave downward from C to C, play C-Bb-G-F-Eb-C (using a minor pentatonic scale) or C-Bb-G-Eb-E-G-A-G-E-C.  Or from C up to C and back down to C, with C-E-G-A-C-A-G-E-C or C-E-G-A-Bb-A-G-E.  The final example intentionally has one less note (the C is missing) because this allows a smooth transition from mainly red (during a Chord) when it's followed by mainly blue (during an F Chord), as when C-E-G-A-Bb-A-G-E is followed by F-A-C-D-Eb-D-C-A, to form a classic blues-rock riff.   /   Of course, all of these “passing note” ideas — and other ideas, because these are only a few of the MANY ways to use passing notes — can be adapted for use during any chord, whether the chord is C, F, G, or Am, Dm, Em, or another.

 

2.  use blues scales:  Musicians think about “playing blues” in many ways.  One way (using blues notes) is to play melodies that include notes with a “minor sound” (b3,b5,b7) in the scale of each chord (I,IV,V - C,F,G).  Another way, popular among musicians, is to “play blues” by using a Blues Scale.  The most common – so it's often called “the Blues Scale” – is a Minor Blues Scale (1-b3-4-b5-5-b7) that is a Minor Pentatonic Scale with b5 added;  it includes b3,b5,b7 but excludes four notes (2,3,6,7) that are in the Scale of C Major.  Or they use a Major Blues Scale (1-2-b3-3-5-6) that is a Major Pentatonic Scale with b3 added.  Or they use both scales, alternating between them.  Or the two scales can be combined into a Hybrid Blues Scale (1-2-b3-3-4-b5-5-6-b7) that includes the 9 shared notes;  it's a Minor Blues Scale with extra notes (2,3,6) that give a player more flexibility, making this a useful scale for improvising melodies.     { note:  The term scale has two meanings so it's important to recognize that a blues scale is "a group of scale-notes that can be played in any way [with creative flexibility]" and is not the rigidity of always "playing all of the scale-notes in consecutive sequence without skipping any." }   /   * You also can think about a 9-note Hybrid Blues Scale (1-2-b3-3-4-b5-5-6-b7) as being formed by combining Mixolydian Mode (1-2-3-4-5-6-b7) with a Minor Blues Scale (1-b3-4-b5-5-b7) to form a Mixo-Blues Scale that has the same 9 notes, but with a different way to "think about the scale."

use the same scale during all chords:  I was surprised to discover that some musicians sometimes play a C-Based Blues Scale – Minor, Major, and/or Hybrid – during C-Chords (as expected) but also during F-Chords & G-Chords, instead of changing the scale when the chord changes, as described above.  But even though the scale never changes, they can “musically adjust” by playing a C-scale in different ways during each of the three chords.

choosing your strategies:  I don't understand why musicians would "use the same scale during all chords" to make melodies.  But I would like to know why — and to know if I'm ignoring a valuable strategy for making melodies — so I want to learn more about it.  I'll be learning by reading pages and hearing videos, and sometimes using the strategy while playing.  Currently this melody-making strategy isn't “a way I think” while playing blues, but it's a way that evidently is common among experienced musicians, because it helps them skillfully improvise blues melodies.  And it's often recommended by teachers.   /   As a musician-and-teacher, here is my view of strategies:  if any “way to think about playing” is a practical heuristic that helps you play well, probably you should choose to use it.  Or if you think it might be helpful, try it so you can discover whether it really does "help you play well."  Feel free to try multiple strategies, and you may find that different “ways to think” are helpful in different ways.

 

[[ iou – during late-March, I'll be revising (or deleting, or moving into an appendix) the paragraphs in this purple box, and deciding “where to put them” in the sections above. ]]   [[ iou – What I'll say about "the functions of chord-notes" will depend on what I learn-and-conclude about "scales during chords" in the section above. ]] different functions of chord-notes:  In the Key of C, each Major Chord (C,F,G) is identical in its construction (because each is formed using 1-3-5 Notes in the Scale of C or F or G) but the Chord Notes (C,E,G & F,A,C & G,B,D) are not identical in their musical function within the Key of C during a Chord Progression.    How are they different?  It's because in the Key of C the home-chord is a C-Chord, but an F-Chord and G-Chord are not home-chords.   Why are they different?  A strategy of using Musical Mystery and Musical Tension is common because "music that is interesting and enjoyable is semi-predictable, with some surprises... [is] an in-between mix, with frequent confirmation of expectations along with some surprises, in a blend that is interesting rather than boring or frustrating" and to produce mystery-with-tension " a common strategy is moving away from the home-chord (or home-note) of a key, and then returning to it, moving away (with F & G) before returning (to C).     {one example is the "satisfying conclusion" of C-F-G-C different functions as home-notes:  When playing in the Key of C, every C is a special note — in the I-IV-V diagram this is symbolized by a white bar inside its red bar — and typically the C's are used as home-notes (1-notes) that are “musically emphasized” when playing melodies in the Key of C.  Typically the C-Notes are used as permanent home-notes throughout a song, but F-Notes or G-Notes are used only as temporary home-notes during the time that an F-Chord or G-Chord is being played.   [[ maybe the next two paragraphs aren't necessary here?  or it should be condensed & put into "different functions of home notes" instead of "...home-notes"? /   Earlier I describe the benefits of "specializing in C [Major]" and I used to claim [skip this, just describe now] that "doing this well requires that you also develop skill in the keys of F (to make melodies during an F-Chord) and G (to make melodies during a G-Chord), plus C Minor (to play melodies with a ‘blues sound’)."  With a change of mind, now I think that – When playing in C Major – it isn't necessary to "develop skill in the keys of F and G" because this would require skills with Bb-Chords (for Key of F) and with D-Chords (for Key of G), but these skills aren't needed for playing in C Major.  Instead a player only needs skill in making melodies with F-Chords (using F-Scales) and G-Chords (using G-Scales) while playing in the Key of C. C Minor plus C Major:  But I do think a full mastery of C Major "requires that you also develop skill in C Minor (to play melodies with a ‘blues sound’)" and also to contrast the differing “sounds & feelings” of C Major and C Minor.  But "require" might be too strong, because even if you don't “play in C Minor” you can develop skill with “blues sounds” by playing chromatic scale-melodies with black notes and by using blues-notes or musically using the pentatonic scales of C Major.   Later I describe modes-of-thinking (or maybe they're modes-of-imagery?) when I'm “thinking classical” or “thinking blues,” and in these two modes each of the two scale-strategies can be useful.  How?  I've noticed that it's useful to "mix chord-melodies with diatonic scale-melodies (using in-scale white notes)" while thinking classical, and to "include black notes [chromatic notes] to make chromatic scale-melodies (with some out-of-scale black notes)" while thinking blues.   /   The paragraph about “thinking blues” explains principles for improvising “blues melodies” during a chord progression of 12-Bar Blues.  Its focus is a diagram showing three notes that are especially useful.  They're three flatted-notes (b3, b5, b7) in the scale of the chord (C or F or G) that is being played.    Here are some miscellaneous ideas. with multiple strategies:  You can “play musical games” with passing notes being used (as described below) to form scale-melodies, and with other strategies for inventing mainly-red melodies.  Music-making strategies – like those below, by mixing chord-melodies & scale-melodies, with creative rhythms – can be useful if they help you explore possibilities. with strategies for all colors:  Of course, strategies for playing mainly-red also are useful when — during a chord progression that mixes red chords with blue chords and green chords — you sometimes are playing mainly-blue or mainly-green. use contours-shapes, up, down, up-then-down, down-then-up, move in steps and leaps

 

Part 1A has more about playing melodies & chords with the red-blue-green of C Major.  And from a Detailed Table of Contents,

Musical Imagery:  While you're playing or singing, feel (for yourself) or communicate (for others) your musically-metaphorical “imagery” for the atmosphere-character-flavor-mood of the music, for the ways you're thinking & feeling.     { full section }

 

Musical Mystery:  Usually, music that is interesting and enjoyable is semi-predictable, with some surprises.  Why?  Because when we hear music, we intuitively follow the flow of what has been happening, and “predict” what will happen.  If there is too much sameness, we become bored.  But we get frustrated if the music is too difficult to predict.  We tend to enjoy an in-between mix, with frequent confirmation of expectations along with some surprises, in a blend that is interesting rather than boring or frustrating.     { full section }

Musical Tension:  In the music we enjoy, one aspect of artistic semi-mystery arises from creatively mixing consonance (sometimes) and dissonance (other times).  To do this, a common strategy is moving away from the home-chord (or home-note) of a key, and then returning to it.  In this way and others, musicians can produce tension (in their chords and/or melodies) and then resolve the tension.     { full section }   { using home-chords in a chord progression }

 creative uses of passing notes

(to pass between chord notes, 

and to move between chords)

[[ iou – Later this section will be revised and condensed.  Why?  Because originally this section was in the main page where, to describe its goal, I said "ideas in this section are developed & illustrated by showing the mutually supportive interactions between cognitive knowledge and functional knowledge that occur when a student mainly uses their functional knowledge, and mainly uses their cognitive knowledge.  Then after awhile I thought “this is useful but is too much for the main page” so I'll move it into an appendix-page, and will revise it to make a new version that's shorter & better.  I will do this but haven't done it yet, so here is the original version: ]]

Earlier I say "all notes – the scale notes (white) and non-scale notes (black) – can be useful for making melodies that are musically interesting-and-enjoyable when you add variety by playing mainly red [or mainly blue or mainly green] instead of only red ... so you're passing from one chord note (i.e. target note) to another, smoothly and musically, ...when you're changing from one chord to another chord during a chord progression."  Your ability to play high-quality music will improve when you creatively use non-chord passing notes (aka passing tones) to move between chord notes (from one to another) and between chords (from one to another) during a chord progression.

How?  By using your cognitive-and-functional knowledge.  Of course these two ways to learn-and-do (with cognitive knowledge & functional knowledge) are connected.  During your inter-conversions between the ways (to convert cognitive-into-functional, and functional-into-cognitive), slow playing plus faster playing can be very useful.  The balance between cognitive and functional tends to change with speed, with cognitive being more-used in slow playing, and functional more-used in faster playing.  Let's look at some details of...

using your cognitive-and-functional knowledge:  Your overall knowledge of music theory (I'm calling it cognitive-and-functional knowledge) will improve when you actively use both kinds of knowledge, because they're mutually supportive in ways that are mutually beneficial, musically and educationally.  Below, I describe two methods of learning.  By mainly using functional knowledge, your cognitive-and-functional knowledge (what is this?) will improve when your functional using-of-theory (to artfully use passing notes between chord notes) leads to improving your cognitive understanding-of-theory.  But the interactions between cognition and function are mutually beneficial, because you also (with another method-of-learning, by mainly using cognitive knowledge) can use your cognitive knowledge to improve the functional knowledge you're using to play music.  When you use both methods of learning, your improved cognitive-and-functional knowledge will be actualized in the music you're making, to improve the quality of your music.    { an option:  If you're in the mood for action, now you can skip ahead to strategies for action – by “thinking classical” and “thinking blues” while you're making music – and then read the next two paragraphs later. }

• mainly using your functional knowledge:  How can you "artfully use passing notes" during a chord progression?  One method-of-learning is to just “experiment, listen and learn” so you can intuitively improve your ability to play notes that “fit” with the chord progression — especially during each chord change, when you're moving from one chord to another — to make music that sounds good, is interesting-and-enjoyable.  At first you probably will find the “fittings” easier if you play only the note-colors that match the chord being played;  during the 4 measures of CCCC play only the notes in a C-Chord (CEG), then during FF play only the notes of an F-Chord (FAC), and so on.  As you continue learning from your musical experiences, you will discover the kinds of note-sequences (the kinds of melodies) that sound good during each chord.  And you will develop intuitive skills for merging your melodies (using only chord notes) with the changing chords in the 12-bar pattern, so you make smooth transitions from one chord to the next chord.  During your experimenting, when you begin playing mostly chord notes but also some non-chord notes you will find additional ways (that you may think are better ways) to make smooth transitions.   { terms: When they're creatively used in this way, the non-chord notes are called passing notes (aka passing tones), and the chord-notes are target notes. }   For example, during a C Chord you play mostly chord-notes (red C,E,G) but also some non-red white notes (blue or green) that are in the Scale of C, and some non-red black notes that are not in the Scale of C.  During all chords (C,F,G and others) these passing notes (both white & black) produce melodic variety that make your melodies more pleasantly interesting, more fun-to-hear for you and others.    {more about passing notes}

• mainly using your cognitive knowledge:  There are mutually beneficial interactions between functional knowledge and cognitive knowledge.  In two ways to learn, the interactive cause-and-effect relationships differ.  In one method-of-learning (described above), while you're using theory (by mainly using your functional knowledge of theory) to help you more effectively “experiment, listen and learn” you'll be making music and also learning theory (to improve your cognitive knowledge of theory).  During this process your learning of cognitive knowledge (a benefit) is caused by your using of functional knowledge.  And you also can use your cognitive knowledge to cause an improving of your functional knowledge (a benefit).  How?  Above I say "one strategy-for-learning is to just ‘experiment, listen and learn’ so you can intuitively improve your ability to play notes that ‘fit” with the chord progression.  But you also can cognitively improve this ability, by learning & using theory-based principles.  You can learn effective theory-principles (for artfully moving between chord-notes while a chord is playing, and during the brief transition when the chord is changing) from experts — for example, in the sophisticated music theory that musicians have developed for classical music and jazz music — and with your own creatively-logical thinking you can discover effective theory-principles.  By consciously using these principles (of cognitive theory-knowledge) you can improve your functional theory-knowledge so you can improvise music more skillfully and artistically.

This section originally was in Part 3 (near the end of Combining Different Methods) in the main page.

IF your main educational goals are to help students (who are many kinds of learners) play music and understand music, you can focus on Benefits A-C — helping them experience the satisfaction of success in making melodies, with time-efficient learning in two keys, improving their cognitive-and-functional knowledge of music theory — along with some of the keyboard skills in Benefit D, then the rest of this gray box becomes less important.   /   But there is more to consider IF you also want to help students (some or all) become proficient in traditional two-hand playing;  for this I think – AFAIK now (with my current limited knowledge) – playing a colorized keyboard will have minimal effects on traditional two-hand playing, at least for novices who later will be developing their “two-hand playing skills” with...

    • independence of hands:  During the complex skill of "using 10 fingers for two independent musical purposes (usually playing chords & playing a melody)" each hand does something different.  This is like “rubbing your stomach while patting your head” but is much more difficult.  Doing it well requires lots of independence-directed practicing – as described in these videos and pages [iou - soon there will be links] – in order to pursue (i.e. try to achieve) this goal, along with music-directed practicing that helps the hands work together artistically.
    • spatial knowledge of keyboard:  Traditional two-hand playing is done mostly by using spatial skills, with a learner knowing “where the notes are” and “where their fingers are” so they can play all of the notes they want to play, in chords & melodies.  This spatial knowledge is actualized in real-time by using the “spatial aspects” of interactive memories (visual, muscular, cognitive) that have been "formed when they play while looking at the keys, and while they're not looking."  How?  In a progression of “spatial challenges” that increasingly place more demand on spatial skills (to make them become stronger), a learner can play a colorized keyboard – and then a non-colorized keyboard – while looking;  and with only peripheral vision, without direct looking;  and (for maximum challenge) without any looking, with eyes closed or in the dark.   /   I said this playing "is done mostly [not totally] by using spatial skills" because often a player can use some direct vision (focused on one part of the keyboard) plus their peripheral vision (for other parts of the keyboard, or for all of it when there is no direct "looking"), so their skills often are “spatial plus visual,” not “spatial instead of visual.”  But skillful playing can be non-visual (with no visual cues) – not just semi-visual (with reduced visual cues) – as with a blind player (e.g. Ray Charles or Stevie Wonder) or when a player is looking only at the notes on sheet music.    { there are some similarities between the coping-skills used during semi-look keyboarding and semi-look juggling }   /   * Regarding the overall skills of Benefit D, a learner can use colorizing to help improve some spatial skills (with visual-spatial skills that become part of their cognitive-and-functional knowledge of music theory), and also use other methods – like those described in these useful videos and pages – to improve other spatial skills.  By combining methods, we combine “what can be learned” from each way to learn.
    • using effective technique:  In traditional playing it's important to use effective technique with arms-hands-fingers (especially) and also with other parts of the body.  In this page I don't say anything about techniques now, but later (after learning more) I may add some basic ideas about it.  For now, I'll just suggest that a student should learn effective techniques from a teacher — maybe online with videos & pages [iou - later I'll make links], but ideally in-person so a teacher can demonstrate techniques, then observe the student and provide useful feedback — and practice these techniques.
    • playing in many keys:  One major benefit of a colorized keyboard is the life-value of using time efficiently by focusing on 2 keys instead of 24 keys.  But for various reasons,* most skilled musicians want to play well in many keys, not just two.  With an electronic keyboard, playing "in many keys" isn't necessary because a person can “play in 2 keys” yet “hear in 24 keys” by using the transposing feature. /   * One practical benefit of “playing in many keys” is being able to make fast transitions from one key to another during a song.  Although this can be done with a keyboard's transposing, usually (unless it has a transposing option it should have but most don't) it's tough to quickly make some changes-of-key.    [ iou – probably I'll find links for videos & pages. ]
    [[ iou – Later I'll examine transfers of learning, will describe the many beneficial transfers (from "colorized playing" to "non-colorized playing") that seem probable, plus the possibility of some non-beneficial transfers. ]]