I'm probably the dumbest drummer that ever went to a major music school that doesn't know anymore about putting chord progressions together than Roxanne Shante ("Where Da Hell My Phone?") At any rate, if I could get some of you scholars to look at this progression (Attached) I sure would appreciate it. I'm mainly concerned with the Chorus which starts at bar 17, and goes thru bar 34, then resolves on the Amaj7 at 35 and back into a verse, which is truncated a bit. I'm planning to extend it another round (2 bars per chord, just like the 1st verse). Then, at 43 (DMaj7) I want to put a Bridge there that resolves at 51. I like the descension of the DMaj7, C#m7, Bm7, and the resolution to Amaj7. I'm trying to think of a fading Outro, or a sudden full stop. Any Ideas?
Your arrangement (chords) appears to be a good start. Key of A with all the chords being enharmonic (meaning no key changes) or none of the typical substitutions, which I assume is what you are now looking for. Your structure is Intro-Verse-Chorus-verse- Bridge-outro. You may want to start the chorus with the vi instead of the ii - a bit more typical as a starting point. And you might consider adding the chorus again after the bridge (again typical). I mocked this up in BIAB and felt the default extended outro fadeout sounded nice.
Otherwise, don't know what else I can sugest since I don't really know what feel/vibe you are going for. Your reference to "Roxanne Shante ("Where Da Hell My Phone?" goes right over my head. The major and sus chords lean toward a jazz feel, if that is what you are going for try some tritone substituions or the familar major minor modal substitution. No right or wrong way. BIAB 2025 does have a feature to audition chord substitutions. Use that and Let your ear tell you which way to go.
I'm mainly concerned with the Chorus which starts at bar 17, and goes thru bar 34, then resolves on the Amaj7 at 35 and back into a verse, which is truncated a bit. I'm planning to extend it another round (2 bars per chord, just like the 1st verse). Then, at 43 (DMaj7) I want to put a Bridge there that resolves at 51. I like the descension of the DMaj7, C#m7, Bm7, and the resolution to Amaj7. I'm trying to think of a fading Outro, or a sudden full stop. Any Ideas?
It's a bridge, which is generally going to be contrasting material.
You want it to smoothly return to the original key, so that usually means something like at V7-I back into to Amaj7. That could be E7 Amaj7, but that's certainly not the only option.
But instead of worrying about that, I'd figure what key/feel I wanted the bridge to be in, and then work out what shims need to be put in to make it transition back. Heck, you even just do a hard jump back to A major and not worry about the transition at all.
Worry less about the theory, and just find something that you think sounds good. Music theory is most useful when you're stuck and are trying to figure something out, like how to make a modulation work. But it's generally better if you can just trust your ears instead of relying on what amounts to musical cliches.
........................... Worry less about the theory, and just find something that you think sounds good. Music theory is most useful when you're stuck and are trying to figure something out, like how to make a modulation work. But it's generally better if you can just trust your ears instead of relying on what amounts to musical cliches.
This is excellent advice. When I taught music theory to my guitar and bass students I always said "learn music theory but don't let it get into the way of your playing". It can open new doors by learning it and scales, exactly like what David said.
BiaB is a great tool for experimentation. Save/copy your song and then just try adding different chords in your chorus and bridge. Sometimes the most unorthodox chord progressions (that is not so called normal chord progressions) turn out to be the best chord progressions and/or transitions.
Good luck.
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Came upon this item this morning. I thought it perfect to explain to our drummer friend why we apply music theory to our compositions. Sometimes your ear just can not make this stuff up.
OK. guys, really sorry it's taken me so long to reply back. I've just been trying to earn some REAL $$$. Anyhoo, what I've been doing to learn "what sounds good" is find tunes that I like, then go to Chordify, or Ultimate Gtr and copy the chords into an AI site, or come here, and apply whatever style I have in my head. Works pretty well in most cases. I don't have to worry about copyrights, cuz I'm using my own lyrics and groove. But I still haven't quite figured out WHY they sound good. That's why I come here. SeeYa@DaCoda, KC
Hi KC! Your question starts at a position that not all songwriters start at i.e. a chord progression. For me, while there are occasions when I initially start with chords, it is usually accompanied by a rudimentary melody that takes shape as the chords do - one feeds into and inspires the other. Both together start to inform the harmonic idea of the song. Sometimes, this is also accompanied by a lyrical idea.
This question you asked is related to another which is 'What inspires you, musically?' This is a thread with a few contributions and also links to other related threads that might give you some ideas to check out: Inspiration and creativity
The chords you provided in your BIAB chordsheet pic illustrate the problem - I could see the chords for each bar and that the song was in 3/4 time - but nothing more. Is there a melody? What is the tempo? What Style (and therefore 'feel') were you imagining. All of these can inform either directly or indirectly where a song goes to.
In relation to copying chords from another song that sounded good - as the basis for my own - I found I couldn't get the original out of my head, so I've not used this approach anymore. Personally, I like straying outside of the key (modulation, borrowed chords etc.), and I don't like thinking theoretically about this when I use it - just does it sound good?
All of this is to repeat what others have said - just go by what sounds good - but I'd add to put in some of the other fundamentals like tempo, style, feel and importantly, melody, and then you'll start to find your chord progression takes shape at the same time as these other elements that define your song.
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