You have to first be able to "hear" where/when a chord change "should" come. There are literally hundreds of possible chords that will harmonize your melody without clashing. The majority of them may be very jazzy. Who's to say what the right ones are? But then again, there's nothing inherently "wrong" with dissonance. It all depends on what you want.

If you gave an indication of where you "hear" a chord change/changes, it would become "possible" to write a progression, but impossible to write the one you hear in your head.

There is no C major chord (even with extensions) that contains ALL four notes. That flatted 3rd leans inexorably to a minor chord. A tonal center C chord that will abide all those notes *C D Eb F* is a Cm11. Staying in the Cmajor key, you might also try an F7/6. That's an extension chord off the 4, I think. It might be odd, but not unheard of, to start a progression on the IV chord. Both of those assume that C is your tonal center AND that all four notes are "important".

But who knows if that will work in the larger picture? Do you only "hear" one chord under that measure? Only the shadow knows.

In BIAB try it out with the key set to Cm. See what happens. There is also a function under "soloist" on the top menu that will allow you to chose a scale in a couple of different varieties to play over your chord sheet. It may give you some idea switching between C and Cm just what notes are "important"--especially between the D and Eb--hearing them in the context of the two scales. I'm not suggesting you change the melody (there's a way to harmonize everything), but it may give your ear a hint as to the function of each note. Are you "landing" there, or just passing through.

In BIAB you can change chords every beat in a 4/4 measure, or on any beat in a 4/4 measure.



Last edited by Tangmo; 02/06/20 02:00 AM.
BIAB 2021 Audiophile. Windows 10 64bit. Songwriter, lyricist, composer(?) loving all styles. Some pre-BIAB music from Farfetched Tangmo Band's first CD. https://alonetone.com/tangmo/playlists/close-to-the-ground