The majority of my work has been vocalist writing to my music but i need to shift and write around vocals which is find much tougher can anyone shed some pointers/tips to getting this process down..

Its harder when your not a trained musician etc.. But any tips to help smooth out the curve would be greatly appreciated .. thx

 

Vocals are melody, basically you should learn how to harmonize it.

 

I know how to find the key and scales etc... so it will be just a process of finding what sounds good then structuring it around the vocal and timing everything etc...

 

Since I'm "schooled" I tend to hear what chords will naturally fit the bare vocal line. Improv. I don't have any tricks up my sleeve to give, since there is no right or wrong chord. It's basically up to you to make it work. Some songs just need three simple chords, while some melodies demand (or DESERVE) a better backing.

I just came to think of this again (and it deserves a re-post):

 

You could have a look at this free course https://www.coursera.org/learn/songwriting from Berklee College of Music

 

Also have a look here https://www.hooktheory.com/theorytab/about

You will notice that most songs skip about the chord tones and hover around the tonic, with a few non-chord tones thrown in for good measure. Once you have the key for your melody, crosscheck which notes appear in which chords and take it from there. For example if you are in the key of C and the first part of your melody contains the notes c, d and e, the C major chord may be a candidate as it contains the 1 (c) and 3 (e) chord tones. But you can also try other chords that contain your melody notes until something sounds right. If you want to simplify it use the Nashville number system.

 

You just got to Feel it i have done it a few times i have had a Rapper come in and Recorded Him to just a Click track and then build the song around his vocals

 

Focusing too much in notes/degrees and forgetting about placement (rhythm, where the notes fall) usually leads to bigger frustration than knowing nothing at all.

 

It's definitely feeling, but also a bit of theory as some notes and chords have to match up. But you could get there through trial and error by going through all the chords in a certain key.

I find it useful to record the melody into a DAW and then loop each bar, and cycle through various chords until something sounds good.

 

The lyrics should dictate the rhythm. But you still have to harmonize those melody notes wherever they may fall.

My trick is to transpose everything to the white keys and think in relative terms, as I have memorized every chord extension and inversion in the key of C/Am. I can harmonize a melody, or add a melody to a chord progression in around two minutes for both verse and chorus, and I'm not even a keyboard player. After a while you don't even need to think about it, I is Tonic and V is Dominant.

But Baxter is right, everybody has their own way.

 

Last edited: Feb 18, 2016

That's not the subject I am talking about. Part of harmozing and all that has to do with rhythm (strong vs weak beats) and tones that lead into the chord or etc etc. The positioning of the notes in music (rhythm) is often forgotten and people only focus on degrees/pitches.. that's all I said.

 

That's where the feeling comes into it. It's either works or it doesn't. All art is made in the same way.

 

Last edited: Feb 18, 2016

It's as much feeling as the tables with numbers that you posted.

It has also been theorized and can be studied.

Either way, that was not my point.

 

Thanks for the link something I might look at.. Ive wrote many songs a couple even getting chart success, but usualy write the music by ear first its different for me writing to a melody that someone else has done or vocal, but definitely an area I need to work on.

Thanks. I been studying theory lately and this helps and thanks for sharing this chart.. Quick question how come these charts tend to focus more on major keys than minor keys? Or dont show both? Thanks!

I have done it with rap ton of times also but working with a singer where the key is more important is a little tougher.

I agree. Studying theory i see how this has made me a little slower in my process not so much in a bad way as im learning but question myself in terms of is this correct and if it is , is it too simple. lol

Yea pretty much the process I have come up with also.

 

Is Nashville no. system the same thing as tranposing all the midi notes up or down in a midi roll?

 

I dont think so but I feel you could use it to help transpose your notes to the right key..

 

It doesn't matter if they only focus one or the other because every minor key is the relative minor of some major key. Also, vice a versa. Every major key is the relative major of a minor key. In the words the notes that make up a major scale are the same notes that make up its relative minor. For example take Cmajor = C,Dm,Em,F,G,Am,Bm7b5 and Aminor= Am,Bm7b5,C,Dm,Em,F,G all the chords are the same.
The only difference is, which note is the tonic. The relative minor of any given major scale is the 6th degree. And the relative major of any give minor scale is the 3rd degree.

 

Last edited: Feb 19, 2016

No, people made music in Nashville way before the midi piano roll was invented. It's the numbers in the chart from @Zenarcist above. Each number corresponds to a scale degree. it's just a different way to notate chords on charts.

 

Ah yes I understand, I just wanted to know why most charts were major.. I wanted one with both for reference so we could see the order of the chords in each key.

 

It is as long as you transpose all the notes by the same amount. The relativity between the notes and chord functions will all be kept.