ThumbJam Forum

Hey all,

I have no formal musical training, so as a result when I'm making tracks in Thumbjam I kinda have to play by ear, and not neccesarily know which notes sound "good" so to speak in a progression in a particular scale before I play them and hear what sounds best by process of elimination.
I would love to find a website with a guide so I could for example: pick my scale, let's say minor blues, pick my key, and then have a guide to see which notes " flow " better than others... I hope I'm explaining this clearly....


thanks

You should look at SSW (simple song writer) for the iphone. It's excellent for this, will definitely stimulate your thinking. It makes it easy to develop chord progressions which sound great. Tremendous for beginners, but even expert musicians can use it for song ideas.

I will check that out thank you!

I have a similar problem, what chords sound good with what scale vice versa.

What I'm doing is using the 'Guitarist Reference Pro' app in combination with 'iShred' app and 'ProChords' app.

In the Guitarist Reference Pro you can pick a scale and key and see what chords (there's usually more than a dozen) can be played along with the scale or vice versa, you can try out chord sequences in ProChords and test it out with a guitar sound by setting up the chords you want to use in iShred. Though unfortunately you can't multitask on ipod so I resort to using multitracking software to record the iShred and ThumbJam on separate tracks.

Better still, if you have a pc/mac and use the line in on your computer, try using clean sounds on iShred or Thumbjam with Guitar Rig (I'm using demo version) and you'll be amazed and what new sounds you can get.

ElectricAlienCat, which multitrack software are you using? I'm guessing you do it in the computer, because not all of the apps you list, have copy/paste?

I do have the 16 multitrack ipod app (though that only records ipod mic, but can also import audio tracks) but generally multitracking is done on via my pc just cause it's lot more flexible there.

I find this chart useful, along with the whole primer from which it’s taken.
http://www.outsideshore.com/music/educa ... ale-chart/

I do have plenty of musical training but I still have a hard time with Jazz improvisation, which is especially sad for a sax player.
Been thinking about using TJ to train myself.