Hello. I have a problem...It seems to me that I can come up with some stuff that sounds good in my head (epic, sad, etc.), but I have trouble translating it into the musical language. Will extensive music theory help me overcome this, or is there some other method to transcribing what you hear in your head to musical notation?

Music Theory would probably help, that is if you are studying chord progressions etc.
But yeah learning Music theory would help immensly....

yeah it would help a lot. the first thing it would do is help you understand what key of music you are coming up with..and with music theory, there are different basic chord progressions for different genres of music. so yes, it would help a lot.

the funny thing about learning the theory, is you could sit there at the keys and come up with progressions that sound good. If you are making a pop track, you might make a IV-V-I progression without even knowing it.

What you need to look into is modes. different modes of a scale have different feels. The most common mode is Ionian, more commonly known as Major. The second most common is Aeolian, also known as Minor. After you figure out what mode you like, you can make variations to that mode. (There are 3 common Minor variations). Check Wikipedia for more info.

Home Work: Go to the keys and i want you to play scales. Listen to how it sounds. Play a 'C' and play up using only white keys until you hit the next 'C' and come back to the first 'C'. This is Major. Now start on 'D' and do the same thing using only white keys. Notice how it sounds different? This is Dorian. (one of my favorite for sadish angryish music. Kanye's "Welcome to Heartbreak: is in 'C' Dorian, I believe.) Keep doing this with every white note. Remember, only use white keys. Each scale will have a different feel to it.

^some1s been studying there theory

but yea, if you can write down music without an instrument, you'll be better off, because as soon as you start playing the notes your playing will mess with whats in your head

(offtopic, lil buddy, check your PMs)

what also helps is practicing your improv
make a really simple beat, and take a sound like a piano, string, synth lead etc. and just start playing around with it untill you find something good
then add other stuff onto it like chords, bridges, things like that and just do that for a good 20 minutes
if you do that 20 minutes each day, in a year youll be alot better at it, cause itll be more natural to you, and youll automaticly start learning notes by head

ps: check out a lil bit of music theory before doing that so that youll know about what schales you can use

Okay...those are all really helpful suggestions! Also, I plan on purchasing a starter piano (Yamaha PSR-E223), and I was wondering if learning to play that would help too...Would it?

^yea of course. essentially a $50 keyboard is the same as a $5000 one. the notes are in the same place and create (roughly ) the same noise is produced and the same notes

master a PSR and your a master of a grand piano

Ok...Thanks for all of the help! ^_^

only difference between the 50 dollar keyboard and the 5000 dollar one as far as learning how to play it goes...would prolly tbe the number of keys and the weight of the keys...thats about it.


and i'm going to my pms. now

Ear training software would probably help too. Its a good complement to any theory training you do on paper