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S1E25 – Playing Piano as a Beatmaker

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Trying to learn the piano for music production from watching YouTube videos that teach you classical piano techniques? Sadly, these videos/techniques don’t fully relate to us beatmakers playing the piano.

We need to learn improvisation, as well as how to create catchy loops.

In simple terms, a piano works by having the same 12 notes that repeat (octaves). We then pick a key + scale, which will tell us what notes we’re actually allowed to play. Our notes/chords have to have these notes, and you’re on your way to improvising!

Improvisation Melodies MIDI Notes Piano

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S1E25 – Playing Piano as a Beatmaker

  1. Hey, this is Gratuitous. Welcome to Music Production Made Simple, the show that
  2. focuses on best practices about music production, which is based on FL Studio.
  3. If you're wanting to become the best producer you could be, subscribe and listen
  4. weekly. You can also check out my courses, which teach you the principles and basics
  5. of music production that'll get you up and running quickly.
  6. In addition, I also have books on Amazon and tons of music on Spotify.
  7. Always feel free to hit me up at Hi at it'sgratuitous.com.
  8. So let's get into the episode.
  9. Alright, hey, what's everybody?
  10. Welcome to episode number 25. In this episode, I want to talk to you about the piano
  11. and what is necessary to know as a beatmaker.
  12. Okay, your goal as a beatmaker behind the piano is improvisation.
  13. So if you've been trying to learn the piano by watching YouTube tutorials and
  14. they're teaching you from like a classical perspective, or they're trying to teach
  15. you other songs and you're trying to learn chords that way, I'll tell you right now,
  16. you're learning the wrong way.
  17. I will break down, you know, what you want to be looking for to practice the piano
  18. in this episode. I also have a course on this, you know, to learn the piano from a
  19. beatmaker's perspective. It's called Learn Piano for Beatmakers and Producers.
  20. It's been by far my best selling course.
  21. I'll I'll leave the link in the show notes.
  22. As well as I'm gonna be creating a new kind of version two of that course now that
  23. I've gotten all this new gear.
  24. I'll be able to make such a high quality course.
  25. Pretty much on that concept, but I want to go further.
  26. Again, I want to break down, you know, what is a piano, what are octaves, chords,
  27. you know, scales, what notes you're allowed to play, as well as I want to give you
  28. guys examples and things to practice so that you guys can get up and running better.
  29. Before we get into this episode even further, I want to talk a little bit about
  30. behind the scenes things that I've been learning.
  31. So, for those of you who don't know, I use OBS.
  32. So it's open broadcast software, and that's what I use to record all of my courses
  33. and stuff. It's also what a lot of like the popular streamers use.
  34. it's an amazing program that allows you to record your screen.
  35. But I actually had an AMD video card in my computer, and you know, doing
  36. some research and stuff, I found out that NVIDIA, gForce.
  37. Okay, so for those of you who don't really know technology and computers very well,
  38. there's like pretty much two main video card companies, and in the online PC gaming
  39. world, I believe they kind of go by it as Team Red and Team Green, okay.
  40. So there's AMD and NVIDIA. So GForce, Nvidia, the Team
  41. Green, they have actually worked together with OBS, and it's every release after
  42. their 23rd release, okay. So OBS version 23 and forward, NVIDIA actually worked
  43. exclusively with them so that you can use the software better with their video
  44. cards. So I was actually on an AMD, so I was Team Red or whatever, and I was
  45. actually having some problems with that video card.
  46. Like I was able to get you know pretty decent quality in my courses and stuff, but I
  47. actually purchased a new video card.
  48. You know, it wasn't super expensive because I didn't need it for like video games
  49. and stuff, I just wanted it so that I could take advantage of what NVIDIA offers
  50. with OBS. I installed it, tried it out with OBS again, open broadcast software, it
  51. works flawless. The reason why I tell you that is just to kind of give you guys a
  52. little bit of behind the scenes of you know what I'm researching and stuff, so I can
  53. make higher quality courses because this is the problem.
  54. Okay, so when you go to record your screen, there's two ways you can do it.
  55. Okay, so you can actually use your CPU to record your screen.
  56. But the problem is when I'm recording these courses, is I'm using my CPU for my
  57. music production, okay. And with music production, it's solely CPU-based, and
  58. because of that, it's very, very hard on a computer.
  59. Now, if I was only working with like a small project, you know, let's say three or
  60. four instruments or whatever, you know, that isn't too big of a problem to use FL
  61. Studio and use your CPU at the same time to like record the screen.
  62. But where the problem comes in is when a song starts getting really, really big.
  63. So you can actually use your video card to record your screen.
  64. Okay. So instead of it using both the CPU for recording the screen and you know for
  65. music production. Now I can use my CPU just for music production and use my video
  66. card just to record the screen.
  67. Therefore, it's just it's just as as if I was just making music without recording or
  68. anything, which is really really awesome.
  69. Okay. Okay, so let's get into the episode and talk about the piano.
  70. Again, learn piano for beat makers and producers.
  71. The course it's it's it has been my best seller.
  72. Just check the show notes. you guys can learn the piano to improvise and really
  73. learn what is necessary as a beat maker.
  74. So over the years, I've kind of discovered that playing the piano as a beat maker,
  75. there's a few concepts which are fundamental for us, okay.
  76. First of all, we need to learn improvisation.
  77. So we need to be able to sit at this piano and be able to play whatever melodies
  78. over top of the current melodies that we are already have laid down, okay.
  79. It's essential to be a good beat maker so that you can know on the fly how you can
  80. press these keys to make awesome melodies, right?
  81. The next thing is we're all about creating catchy loops, okay?
  82. And you actually have to train your ear to know what's catchy.
  83. Now, this is a little bit of an opinion thing, but as you start to grow, you'll
  84. start to kind of really hear what's catchy and what's not, what's kind of annoying
  85. and what's not. The reason why I say that is because you know, you may create a a
  86. loop and it may sound catchy for like let's say a minute or two, and you're like,
  87. cool, but then all of sudden the song continues and you're like, Do you know what
  88. that loop's actually really annoying?
  89. So as you proceed as a producer, you're gonna start you know realizing what is
  90. actually catchy, which what you know what are you gonna keep within that song, okay?
  91. So again, improvisation and creating catchy loops.
  92. Those are pretty much the two main fundamentals which you need to know as a
  93. beatmaker. And when you're learning, you know, these tutorials about classical piano
  94. off of YouTube, they're only gonna help you so far, and what is gonna happen is
  95. you're gonna get stuck. You don't know where you know, like you don't really know
  96. how to jump to that next level.
  97. Now, again, I can only break this down so far because you're not able to see my
  98. screen, which is why you should check out the course.
  99. So if you have a piano in front of you, that's awesome.
  100. If not, you don't just look up online or whatever if you're if you're able to, you
  101. know, go on your phone and actually look at it right now.
  102. So if you look at a piano, you'll notice that there's actually 12 notes, and that's
  103. one octave, okay? And then it just repeats, it goes, you know, to the next octave,
  104. which and and how that works, and this is important to know as like a mixer and a
  105. mastering engineer, is the octave actually doubles in frequency or it it halves when
  106. you go lower. So, for example, if we talk about A4, the note is 440 hertz, okay.
  107. Now, if we go to A5, that's 880 Hertz.
  108. So it's just doubled, okay. Now, just because you have these 12 notes in an octave
  109. doesn't mean that you're actually allowed to use all of those 12 notes.
  110. This is because you actually have to pick a key and a scale before you start making
  111. that beat. So, right there, that is a huge game changer if you're understanding what
  112. I'm telling you, okay. So, if you type into Google like piano scale helper, there'
  113. theres's lots of different websites where's a piano, you can choose a key, you can
  114. choose a scale, and it going to show you what notes are inside that scale.
  115. Now, what I mean by that is like let's say we pick the key A, okay?
  116. So we're playing A, but now you have to choose a scale.
  117. So it can either be major or minor.
  118. Okay. I'm not going to get too much into that in this episode.
  119. If you look at there, you'll see that you have seven notes that you're allowed to
  120. play. Again, a huge game changer because the biggest problem is a lot of producers,
  121. you know, when you're first starting up, you sit down at this keyboard, you start
  122. hitting some notes, and you're like, okay, I got kind of a cool melody.
  123. You know, let's say you add in a second melody, and you're like, okay, so I'm kind
  124. of flowing. Now you want to improvise.
  125. So let's just say you started with a piano, okay?
  126. You added in some guitar, now you brought in like a synth lead where you can really
  127. create, you know, a really powerful melody over.
  128. How do you approach it? Okay, because if you don't know what I just told you, okay.
  129. So again, an octave has 12 notes, okay.
  130. But when you pick a key and a scale, there's only actually seven notes that you're
  131. allowed to play, which dictate what notes you're allowed to play.
  132. In addition, that also dictates the chords you're allowed to play, because those
  133. chords have to have those seven notes.
  134. And that is honestly as simple as it is.
  135. Now, if you want to improvise on your piano over top of you know that piano and
  136. guitar, like we just said, now you're gonna play like that lead.
  137. Now you know the seven notes you're allowed to play.
  138. And again, from octave to octave to octave, it's all the same note.
  139. It's just you're either higher in frequency or lower in frequency.
  140. And that's really as simple as it is.
  141. Okay. So if you guys want to learn a little bit more about this without taking the
  142. course, you know, again, type into Google piano scale helper.
  143. Pick a key, pick a scale, whether it be major or minor.
  144. A lot of people say major's happy, minor sad.
  145. I kind of disagree with that. The reason why I say that is because it's really how
  146. you play the chords is what the emotion you're gonna get out of those notes.
  147. But once you've picked a key and a scale, you'll see the notes you're allowed to
  148. play. Now it's just up to you to you know make a beat out of those notes.
  149. Again, if you're gonna be playing chords, you have to make sure that those chords
  150. have those notes. Now, again, where it can get tricky if you're just first starting
  151. up, you know, you're gonna be like, Well, what chords am I allowed to play?
  152. Well, you can actually go through that scale helper.
  153. you know, you can just select like the chord and stuff, and it will show you.
  154. but again, if you guys want a full breakdown, I highly suggest checking out that
  155. course. I constantly get five-star reviews from that course.
  156. Again, I released it probably.
  157. I'm I'm recording this in December of 2019.
  158. I released that course I don't even know, maybe 2016, 2015 around there.
  159. In that time, like probably every single month, I have about you know, 20 students
  160. take that course. it brings me in, you know, a decent paycheck every month, and I
  161. get amazing reviews off of it.
  162. And I'm really grateful because it's like I've been able to provide this information
  163. about a piano from a beatmaker's perspective, I guess, in such a simple way that
  164. these people are actually like, thank you.
  165. Like, you know, these YouTube tutorials, they're just not breaking it down, you
  166. know, from what we as a beatmaker need to learn this piano because it's not as hard
  167. as what you really think it is.
  168. again, you just have to understand what notes you're allowed to play for that beat.
  169. Because again, you know, you don't have to always play in the same key and the same
  170. scale. and one of the main reasons why you might want to choose a different key and
  171. scale is you know, sometimes, like especially like more like in a church setting, a
  172. lot of times they change the key or the scale to more suit someone's voice so they
  173. can kind of reach those octaves, you know, those notes a little bit better.
  174. Here's the kind of little pro cool tip from again, like a mixing perspective.
  175. certain keys and scales allow you to hit nice bass lines, whereas other ones they
  176. kind of go a little bit too low, they can sound a little bit wobbly.
  177. so you you can kind of play around with the keys and the scales so that your bass
  178. line sits in a nice, you know, area where you can kind of still hear it on smaller
  179. speakers, but again, when it goes to like, you know, you know, sub and stuff like
  180. that, it sounds really nice and tight, really nice and full.
  181. And one thing that I have liked to do over the years, something that I have found
  182. that's really helped me practice the piano is honestly just learning like one or two
  183. keys and scales and understanding them off by heart, being able to sit here on a
  184. piano and play, because the biggest thing that you'll discover behind a piano is
  185. muscle memory. So, what that means is being able to sit here and play the piano and
  186. you know what notes go together, you know what chords you're allowed to play.
  187. You can literally just sit at your piano and just improvise.
  188. Okay, it's all about muscle memory.
  189. And it's like, yeah, it's cool to you know understand all these different keys and
  190. scales and stuff like that, but at the same time, we also have technology now which
  191. allows us to transpose these notes within our music program if we do want to change
  192. key and scale. Okay. So again, as a beat maker, you don't have to be
  193. spending tons of time learning this piano from a classical perspective.
  194. Like you know again, you know, if you play like a metronome, a metronome is just
  195. something that literally just goes like it just keeps the rhythm for you to follow
  196. with your keys. Now I'm not saying a metronome is bad, okay?
  197. I'm just saying as a beat maker, you just want to focus your time on what's gonna
  198. give you the best results so that you can move forward, okay?
  199. Because being a beatmaker, it's not just about playing the piano.
  200. Once you're done composing your beat, you're on to the next stage of the mixing and
  201. the mastering. And these are all these different aspects that you have to learn as a
  202. beat maker. So by me breaking it down to the kind of this simple way for you to
  203. actually sit at a piano and improvise, it allows you to speed up that process and
  204. you can continually improve. When I first started really understanding the piano, I
  205. practice the piano every single day.
  206. And I even worked up north for a little bit, you know, since I'm an electrician.
  207. I worked at a hospital up in the Yukon, and I actually bought a piano off of Amazon
  208. so I could practice every night still.
  209. currently I've been a little bit slower on the music side for myself.
  210. Just I just been busy, you know.
  211. but still like I I'm still practicing the piano.
  212. Like, you know, I'll still I still will practice maybe once a week or whatever.
  213. just literally sitting down. I actually have a real piano.
  214. it's nothing special. The reason why I say that is because it's kind of nice to play
  215. on like a real piano, you know, away from like a MIDI keyboard and a computer.
  216. but if you don't have a real piano, like honestly, just open up FL keys or whatever
  217. piano plug-in you have, load some reverb on, put some headphones on, and just jam
  218. out for like you know, five-10 minutes..
  219. Do it, you know, twice a week until you start improving, you start getting better
  220. so there's a lot I have to say about a piano, and I can guarantee I can get you up
  221. and running, I can get you improvising on a piano by the end of that course.
  222. again, version two will be coming out here really soon because now I actually have
  223. two cameras. Okay, so I have a nice DSLR high, you know, high quality camera on my
  224. face, and then I also have a camcorder above, which is is it's still you know 1080p,
  225. it's a decent little camcorder, and that's gonna be on the keys.
  226. In addition, I am also gonna be getting a little software.
  227. So I've already downloaded it, I've tried it out, and it shows the keys I'm hitting,
  228. okay. So you'll be able to see my face, you'll be able to see my hands play the
  229. keys, and you'll also be able to see the keys I'm pressing with this software
  230. because that is who I'm talking to, right?
  231. I'm talking to a music producer, I'm not talking to a classical piano player.
  232. There's so much information out there for a classical pianist or someone who wants
  233. to understand the piano, you know, to read sheet music and stuff like that.
  234. As a beat maker, you could make the best beat in the world and not understand how to
  235. read sheet music at all. Okay, so again, just you know, check out the show notes
  236. here. the course is called Learn Piano for Beatmakers and Producers.
  237. I will be recording this new piano course here soon.
  238. I don't have a timeline for when it's going to be released, and also, I just
  239. released my audio interface course on my website.
  240. I have a little chat box. People always ask me questions, and how to use a MIDI
  241. keyboard was one of the most popular questions people were asking me.
  242. So after I finished that course and released it, I actually created this audio
  243. interface course just because I, you know, just for kind of completeness for my
  244. membership. Again, to access the membership, it's either $10 a month or there's just
  245. a one-time lifetime payment. For those of you who don't know, there's also a private
  246. forum where you guys can, you know, ask me any question you want about music
  247. production. I will answer you.
  248. I'm really, really active with you know, with replying and all that kind of stuff.
  249. or if you want to share your music for feedback or whatever, you guys can do that
  250. all inside the private forum if you're a member.
  251. So check the show notes. You know, check out Learn Piano for Beatmakers and
  252. Producers. It has tons and tons and tons of five star reviews.
  253. It's so awesome reading them. but if you have any questions about the piano or even
  254. questions about with the membership, whatever, just contact me.
  255. Hi at it's gratuitous.com and I'll reply back to you.
  256. So hopefully this kind of gave you a little insight to the piano by understanding to
  257. pick a key and a scale, and now you actually only have seven notes.
  258. It's gonna be a huge game changer for you.
  259. And then it's up to you to improvise with the notes and the chords within that key
  260. and scale. Okay. So hopefully it helps you out.
  261. I'll talk to you guys in the next episode.
  262. Thanks for checking out the episode.
  263. If you had any questions, visit it'sgratuitous.com slash podcast, select an episode
  264. and submit your question at the bottom of the page to the contact form.
  265. If you'd like to take my FL Studio courses, see my current studio and podcasting
  266. gear, read my books, or are interested in lessons.
  267. Visit the link it's gratuitous.com slash learning.
  268. That page will redirect you to more info and resources.
  269. I hope the best with your productions.
  270. I'm gratuitous, and I'll see you in the next episode.
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