Playing Eastern melodies on pianos

12-28-2005, 08:51 PM

I've got an electric keyboard, and I've been using GarageBand to make some crap of my own with it. I was just wondering if anyone had any tips for playing some simple Eastern or Middle Eastern sounding melodies, or links to sites where I could find out more.

Any help is appreciated.

Seafroggys · 12-28-2005, 11:34 PM

eastern and middle eastern are two different regions of cultures altogether

the cheap and easy way to produce eastern music is to play entirely on the black keys, since a lot of asiatic cultures had a 5 note musical scale, as opposed to the western 'standard' of 7.

an easy way to get middle eastern sounds is to use the harmonic minor scale.

moogoogaipan · 12-29-2005, 12:47 AM

Just play a pentatonic scale.

tonic - maj.2nd - maj.3rd - maj.5th - maj.6th - tonic
tonic - min 3rd - maj 4th - maj 5th - min 7th - tonic

also, parallel 4ths are very oriental and eastern sounding.

12-28-2005, 08:51 PM	#1
BlindWriting Guest Posts: n/a	Playing Eastern melodies on pianos I've got an electric keyboard, and I've been using GarageBand to make some crap of my own with it. I was just wondering if anyone had any tips for playing some simple Eastern or Middle Eastern sounding melodies, or links to sites where I could find out more. Any help is appreciated.

Thread Tools
Show Printable Version Email this Page
Rate This Thread
Rate This Thread:

12-28-2005, 11:34 PM	#2
Seafroggys Truffula Hugger Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Edge of Nowhere Posts: 15,041	eastern and middle eastern are two different regions of cultures altogether the cheap and easy way to produce eastern music is to play entirely on the black keys, since a lot of asiatic cultures had a 5 note musical scale, as opposed to the western 'standard' of 7. an easy way to get middle eastern sounds is to use the harmonic minor scale.

12-29-2005, 12:47 AM	#3
moogoogaipan MXDP Weed Enthusiast Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Anywhere and Nowhere Posts: 5,641	Just play a pentatonic scale. tonic - maj.2nd - maj.3rd - maj.5th - maj.6th - tonic tonic - min 3rd - maj 4th - maj 5th - min 7th - tonic also, parallel 4ths are very oriental and eastern sounding.