General Music Chat

Hope this helps....



https://songwritingplanet.com/chord-progressions/


How to Create Awesome Chord Progressions for Songwriting

Guess How You Can Write Chord Progressions the will ALWAYS SOUND GREAT with your Melody, and make listeners feel TOTALLY CONNECTED to the song.

How? It’s Simple: DON’T GUESS!

Many songwriters simply guess which chords to use with their melodies; they try a variety of different ones until something sounds right.

There is nothing wrong with using your ear to find good sounds, but just guessing which chords might work with a melody is like trying to find a new car to for sale by driving up and down every street in the city looking for one, rather than simply going to the new car lots. You might eventually find a good one, but you would be really doing things THE HARD WAY.

For Songs, the big car-lot of chords that will ALWAYS SOUND GREAT with your melody will come from the Same Scale. When car shopping, if you want a Chevy you go to a Chevy dealer, if you want a Ford you go to a Ford car lot. It is no different in songwriting. If your melody comes from a D major scale, a G minor scale, or a Bb Blues scale, you need to know the chords in that key to write chord progressions.

This works the other way around also. If you begin with the chord progressions, your melody should come from the same scale that the chords come from.

HOW DO YOU FIND THESE MYSTERIOUS CHORDS?

Let’s quickly go over major keys, and stick to triads (3-note chords) for now to keep this simple. In any major key, which will contain 7 notes, the chords follow the scale tones in this order: I is major, ii is minor, iii is minor, IV is major, V is major, vi is minor, and vii is diminished.

So in the key of C here are the chords: C Dm Em F G Am Bdim.

And in the key of D we get these chords: D Em F#m G A Bm C#dim.

The order of major, minor, and diminished chords will always be the same, no matter what major key you are using.
Here is the BLUEPRINT: If you begin with a melody, determine what scale you are using, know what chords are in that key, and choose from them.

You can also do this the other way around: chords first, melody second. If you begin with the chords, determine what scale they belong to and create your melody from that scale.

This takes less than a minute to figure out, and Everything will match up LIKE MAGIC.

You can always choose a chord or two from outside of the key for Interesting Flavors, but most of the chords and melody notes need to come from the same scale, or song will taste like a Pizza with Tuna and Peanut Butter toppings.

Not everyone knows music theory.


Couldn't hurt

the chords follow the scale tones in this order: I is major, ii is minor, iii is minor, IV is major, V is major, vi is minor, and vii is diminished.

incorrect info alert! the vii is NOT diminished...it's half diminished. AKA a minor b5 chord

So in the key of C here are the chords: C Dm Em F G Am Bdim.

wrong-o. if you played a Bdim chord that'd be B D F Ab....nope, there's no Ab in the key of C Maj if you're sticking w a straightup diatonic scale.

And in the key of D we get these chords: D Em F#m G A Bm C#dim.

again, wrong-o. if you played a C#dim chord that'd be C# E G Bb....and nope, there's no Bb in the key of D Maj if you're sticking w a straightup diatonic scale.

in the example of C Maj that 7th chord is Bmb5 (B D F)....if you want to include the the 7th of the chord it's an A natural...NOT Ab. that makes the correct chord a Bm7b5 (AKA... B half diminished).

another way to look at that chord is to see it as another voicing of the V chord (G7 in the key of C).

so were you to play a Bm7b5 voicing as a sub for a G7...you end up w a chord that includes the 3rd "B". the 5th "D", the seventh "F" and the ninth "A".

and not having the "G" note anchoring the chord...that just garners you hipness points!

this voicing is a great one for comping that's easily moved around. and because it sticks to the middle four strings, it stays out the way of the bass and out of the higher range of the melody instrument(s) or vocals.

here's the shape i'm talking about for a half dim chord (aka minb5 ) that works great as a sub for G7

Bm7b5 (and G7) x 2 3 2 3 x

You know this stuff much better than I .....
but if B D F is considered a diminished triad, what you are saying applies to the dim7th chord, but not the dim triad?

if you're thinking about it in terms of a three note triad Bdim = B D F and yes a B half dim triad also is B D F.

where it comes off the tracks is when you extend things beyond that simple triad....like when you add the 7th:

B dim = B D F Ab
B half dim (Bm7b5) = B D F A

the waters get much muddier when you start thing thinking of these triads or chords and associate the chord w their parent scales.... modes.

all the other examples of chords given in yod's orig post work out fine...

in other words

I CMaj is C D E F G A B
ii Dm is D E F G A B C
iii Em is E F G A B C D

etc, etc, w all the notes of the chord and their respective scale matching up perfectly.

that is until you get to the vii chord and view it as a Bdim.

B dim = B C# D Eb F F # G# A uh oh...trouble!
Something tells me we're not in C Major any more Toto!

BUT... if you view that vii chord as a Bm7b5 (or B half Dim) you get this....

B C D E F G A B and now, diatonically you're right on the money for the vii chord in the key of "C".


but again....IF you're just thinking of the basic triad, yes....you can call that B D F either a straight up Bdim or B half dim.

my mind just automatically goes to the the scale/chord connection and that's why i look at the chord as half dim (or mb5)

Guys w/ bum hands play the triad!!
(or cheat using open notes)

or just two....the guide tones!!!!

hell, freddie green would often comp using ONE note!

Ironically in this case .... (according to Wiki at least)
Bdim, in many modern jazz & theory books, denotes a triad, distinguished from Bdim7.
Yod's example taken as written, could be seen as correct in the context of a modern jazz book.

In most sheet music books, Cdim or C° denotes a diminished seventh chord with root C; but it may also happen, mostly in modern jazz books and some music theory literature, that Cdim or C° or Cm(♭5) denotes a diminished triad, while Cdim7 or C°7 or Cm6(♭5) denotes a diminished seventh chord.

point taken....and conceded!

In rock and roll, you can bend/break all those rules!