Pitch Relevance

Due to the way the keys are setup in the game, it can somewhat resemble a piano, which makes pitch relevance a great basic technique to use in order to help determine the positioning of notes and establish a melodic contour.

What is pitch relevance? The basic concept is similar to that of a piano. You place the high-pitched notes toward the right side and low-pitched notes towards the left. Notes can be placed to the left or right if the relative pitch of the previous note is lower or higher, respectively.

Of course, this is usually not possible to do perfectly, and it is generally not a good idea to attempt to do this either. For most songs/melodic lines, a simple option would be to try to maintain pitch relevance for most of the phrase, the parts that are important. This generally includes the downbeats, accents, and highest and lowest pitches within a melodic phrase. However, don't be afraid to break the pattern where necessary to make more room without messing up the overall flow of the chart. A key concept to remember is that the point of pitch relevance is not to directly and accurately emulate a piano, but simply to make the notes generally match the melodic contour. Pitch relevance helps make patterns more fun to play, but it is merely a technique to facilitate an end goal.

There is no reason to follow pitch relevance strictly if you do not wish to, or if it conflicts with techniques that have higher priority, but it is still a basic skill that is very effective by itself and when combined with other techniques. Getting a good grasp with the different patterns and phrasing when using pitch relevance will greatly improve your work, both in organization and flow.