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However, ... I notice that just by playing the real tracks Bass,Piano,Drums it sounds the way I think it should. My question is, is this a musical arrangement even though I'm not playing a melody per say? I mean would you just play this in any setting where people would come and listen. Are these just chords being played or are they individual notes? I hate to appear so stupid and ask such a question, but it sounds fine to me.Does a song have to have a melody to be considered a song or can you just play chords? Thanks for any and all input.



You answered your own question when you said, "...but it sounds fine to me". What you are "hearing" in just playing the chords, are ALL the possible melodies hidden in the harmonies created by the chord intervals, chord voicings and rhythm patterns. So what you actually hear is whatever the harmonies and rhythms are implying to you. In this way no specific single melody has to be played since it is implied. Good players can go a long way with simply riffing on the chords. This is what allows multiple melodies to be played over the same chord charts (which is very common). It is also at the heart of improvisation since the soloist is creating a melody from the chord tones. There kis actually a term "reharmonization" which is a technique to create unique melodies from common chord structures. All way cool.

BIAB – 2025, Reaper (current), i7-12700F Processor, 32GB DDR4-3200MHz RAM, Motu Audio Express 6x6 - My SoundCloud (Tip: No need to create a SC account to hear music - just hit ESC ).