Hi,
How can I know the "perfect" chords for a given melody?
Perfect in this case would be sus4, add9, 7th,etc.. (icing on the cake ) and not just regular major's and relative minors.

I don't know how to explain what I wanna say, but still, I'll try my best!
I am working on a Pop Rock kinda song of my friend. Basically, he is a singer - songwriter and has composed a song. He wants me to produce music around his melody. Having the basic chords of the song with me, I decided to go solo with piano in the verse along with vocals.

For a given melody, if the chord progression goes like this: G - Em - C - D for the first line of the verse, how to make out that one could put the chord "G/B" over just G or "Em7" over just Em?

Is there any software to do that? I don't want to solely depend on the software for my song's progression. I just need suggestions or please someone could shed some light on this topic.

Sorry for the pathetic explanation guys but I hope you understand my point.


P.S. I just want to know chords which are commonly used in Pop Rock music.

 

No one can tell you when put G/B over G or Em7 over Em. First because G/B is G chord (G-B-C) in the first inversion (major 3rd on the root B-D-G), second because 7th are for add color to a chord or a chords progression, is up to you to decide if use it or not, all depends by the mood or feeling you want to give to your melody.

Here's a PDF with some chords progressions examples:

Code:

http://www49.zippyshare.com/v/Sv98Dxwm/file.html

 

Last edited: Jan 15, 2016

There are as many ways to add/change chords to fit a melody, as there are ways to change the melody.
Basically, there is no "perfect chord". No "perfect chords".

 

Last edited: Jan 15, 2016

What are you trying to accomplish, and what do you think "music" is?!

Compose from your HEART! Go with what feels most appropriate.

Maybe you should devote some time to studying musi theory, examining others' compositions, and/or listening to more types of music?

Or just copy chord changes from the Beatles?

Or maybe you should just abandon "the music thing" and leave it to people who don't even think of resorting to software for such a purpose?

 

You didn't get my point so your answer is irrelevent to me!
But still thanks for your input!

 

by ear!

 

I 'see' chords [other than a Major Triad] as leaning towards the places between notes. There are a lot of types of chords because there's a lot of possible places between notes. Try them all and see for yourself.

Nothing about what I'm saying is in any book. I just noticed it one day when I was a child.

It might not even be true but I still see it that way.

 

Not really sure what you're saying. But the semichromatic scale is pretty well defined lol.

 

Talking loosely on the subject...

Chords are notes.
Harmony can be depicted as chords or arpeggios.
Paying attention to measures will tell you a lot about chord changes. Studying strong/weak beats, note placement and tension/resolution will solve most mysteries.

Also, you can have harmony within a key. The chords serve purposes (functions...hence functional harmony). You can also have a chord by chord apporach that isn't necessarily functional but if you want a quick fix, don't go that route. Electronic music is more about picking a key and drawing notes, most electronic musicians wouldn't even know what to do if they already had a chord progression that modulated at each chord or something... I am not bashing, just saying that it ain't part of the genre so don't bother with that coz it will only make you sound even further from the electronic pop thing (if that's what you're doing).

 

Try ChordPulse to easily experience the different chord flavors.

 

Last edited: Jan 16, 2016

I started out as and am still a guitar player. In my early years I learned to bend strings to reach those places between the notes. I have never used a tone wheel on a keyboard but I think it does the same thing. I found out later that it is called microtonal.

If you are a guitar player try using a slide to find how the sound seems to pull either up or down when between notes, depending on how far from the fret [note] you hold the slide. It's almost as if the music 'wants' to resolve up or down.

I hear jazz players doing it with chords.

But like I said, that's just how I see it in my musical imagination.

 

Search for:
Harmonization for integral serial music
Harmonization for microtonal music
Harmonizartion i non tonal western music...

Its a cultural/taste thing... A good way To understand well are the courses for 4 part part choral, às most universities do.

 

Fantastic!
This video shows once again that harmonizing is an art, not a formula.
Listen to algorithmic composers and you know why

 

I've asked the same questions and my friend musicians always told me "you can go anywhere there's no limit", as a Songwriter I kept looking for a better answer. (Here's a long explanation of my 30+ years as a Pop Rock musician/singer/song writer)

I must say that first of all Pop / Rock / Country is simple but to sound refreshing and original is not that simple.
Those styles are mostly based on the Major or Minor Diatonic Scale (in Nashville, they convert relative Minor songs to Major and write Numeric Charts) so in a simple major diatonic scale you're left with 6 Possible chords (chords 1,4 & 5 are major and chords 2,3 & 6 are minor and the 7th diminished chord is mostly a passage chord or note) for a Tone Heavy song such as Taylor Swift stuff you stick within the 6 chords because the chords & intervals sound familiar, simple enough?

When I experiment with 4 or 8 bar patterns I like to use different twists like borrowed chords, for example try replacing a minor 3rd by major 3rd (G major to E major sounds uplifting). How will you resolve back to the tonic? (the 2 most popular are resolving from 5 to 1 and 4 to 1) instead of using the regular 4 to 1 (Major to Major) try Resolving 4 major / 4 minor to 1.

I like to mix my intervals, here are some interval ideas (most of you know this already...)
If you resolve from 5 to 1 try a 7th chord on the 5 chord before resolving back to the 1 chord (from B7 to Em) that's a B major with a 7th (5 chord) to E minor (the 1 chord). In a minor diatonic scale the 1 and the 5 are minor, so study "borrowed chords" for ideas. Here's a progression of one my latest Pop Rock Songs. 1, 5#, 4, 5 (D, A#, C, A... try alternating the C with a G) adapt production to sound like 2016 (or not).

Keep in mind that if it's a Pop / Rock / Country flavored song you're writing avoid jazzing the chords too much. Stay within the genre.
Rock Songs often use Power Chords so you don't HAVE TO USE majors & minors 3rds just yet leave the vocalist decide where HE wants to go with the melody, once you have more information about melody you can add the flavors around it, don't over complicate things.

As a good example, Radiohead Creep is a 1,3,4/4min, 8 bar progression (G, E, C/Cmin) Notice the 3rd minor is replaced with major 3rd and then resolves with Minor 4th back to Major 1 chord rather than Major 4 to Major 1 (Major diatonic scale) that's it! Loop those chords from start to finish!

IMO in the Pop Rock arena It's the vocal performance and music dynamics that matter the most, not having 25 chords, that's Jazz!
Nashville Music City Executives say that Lyrics / Word Choices / Story is #1. Nashville still sells the most records in the world and probably concert tickets as well. Nowadays Taylor Swift, Zack Brown Band, The Black Keys, Kings Of Leon and many more stem from that region.

Closing comment. Unless you want to write a Rock song with many moving / tasty chords (Youtube; Thin Lizzy - The boys are back in town) (Note; The tasty chord movement happens in the Verse the rest of the song has more basic chords. Grab a Real Bass for groove and bass line variations, for guitar try different tunings, that helps to think out of the box. Dropped D, Double Dropped D, try a Baritone guitar for lower tunings, THAT sounds different. If you want to sound refreshing and non repetitive you must try various different approaches.

Hope that helps
My 2 cents

 

I created this loop in the key of D. This is one the hundreds possibilities (melody with any chord) but I usually respect the keys in fitting them together for having the maximum musicality unless you work on genres that do not need so musicality. Sorry for bad mastering:

http://www.mediafire.com/listen/ze9a2abt2elk6vs/No+Perfect+Chord.mp3

 

Hmmm, common chords in pop music to me would imply maintaining major and minor chords and not straying too far afield from this basic philosophy. The chord structure that you used as an example has been the foundation of thousands upon thousands of songs in the last 50 or so years. Mega gold and much beloved tunes owe their success to this little, cozy family. The only thing that differentiates one song from the next is of course the melody itself as well as the different orchestrations and the different "moods" that different key signatures can impart on the listener. But when is is it good to throw that 2nd inversion, that G/B that you mention, well, that is a way to perhaps lend a nice, subtle variety to keep it interesting. Really, it is how you feel it out, to create a unique song signature. You might have seen this fantastic musical comedy about that four chord structure we discussed earlier, if not, check it out, you just might well like it.

https://www.google.ch/url?sa=t&sour...omNFgDJVypzw3HOzA&sig2=4JIuSY78uU_T8AKiy6-9ow

 

I would suggest to go listen to some beatles music and then look up their progressions.You will see that there is more than just triads major minor and 7th chords that make a good progression.

 

lol don't know what the Beatles got to do with this?


I guess u are going to program the music in a DAW?
what I suggest that u convert the music or melody u got delivered in notation u are used too.

In my case that would be the fl studio piano roll, so I use Edison for monophonic and Melodyne for polyphonic melodies to convert them to midi, this process isn't perfect but it gives a visual feedback for people like me with no music theory knowledge

 

Good Luck!

 

>Music Theory
>Harmony
>How to Harmonize a melody

Sorry to tell you this but there's no easy way. If your'e making music, or trying to, it's time to put the work into what you love and learn about how to actually do it. I'm sure that will trigger a lot of people but what you're asking is serious business. It's not differen't then asking how to paint the Mona Lisa.

Sorry, but I'm quite serious about this shit.

Just google those things and get to studying. You can avoid site reading and still learn theory.