ok i understand but i am aware of many professional musicians who can't do that even though they know basic music theory, in an improvising way as i said, in the moment

 

Definitely not. Sorry to be so frank, mate.
I can, but that's because I have studied and trained.
Improvising freely only happens with knowledge and practice.
It's not magic.
So how do you expect to find a backdoor to it? You can't.

Hang on. Let's unpack that sentence...
You are aware of prfessional musos who can't do what exactly?
And then you carry on: comma, "in an improvising way as I said, in the moment"
Sorry but your grammar is terrible and the sentence doesn't make sense to me.
I do not know what you are saying, actually.
Doesn't even fit with my quote you used...

I really want you to study piano for a few months.
You'll be so much happier when you see what it is you are missing due to your approach.
And in just a few months, it will all start falling into place.
And you will see you were looking at things in a slightly obtuse way.

 

Agreed, a bit of practice and learning various chords and progressions is the key here. I mean I respect tools like Scaler and suchlike, but they make way more sense when you already got the scales and chords under your belt. I'm not a keyboardist but learning the shapes which are unlike the ones on guitar helps me on writing tunes a hell of a lot.

Reminds me of one of my favourite music theory books, "The Jazz Theory Book" by Mark Levine which makes the point even though it's aimed at soloists, that most jazz musicians have at least a passing knowledge of the piano and you should too. And I can't really disagree with that.

 

1) If you know the scale your melody is in, use the most prominent notes in your melody to form chords. Split the melody into sections(points at which you feel/want the chords to change) and try and discern the most important notes the melody touches in that section. Use those as guidelines for your chords(assume these notes to be part of your chord's triad). You might not get the most colourful or rich chords, but you will get chords that work with each section for sure. From that point, check if all the chords transition together well, try and transpose some of the notes in the chord if needed, or build a different chord in a section, based on another prominent note in your melody in the same section. This will get you started at creating chords quickly that will work.

2) If time isn't as important, you can also just hum harmonies along with your melody and form the chords that way. Chords are just harmonies, and if you can hum or sing a harmony layer that you think will work in each section, then you can add that note to your chord. This might help you get more colourful chords quicker that the first method, but its a bit more hit or miss. You need to have a good musical sense to be able to figure out harmonies that work well. The rest of the process is the same, split the melody into sections, transpose the chords if necessary and/or try alternate chords.

After this, I would suggest learning progressions. It's a lot quicker to make chords if you have a basic understanding of the chord progressions that JUST WORK, and you can start experimenting with adding more colour to your chords once you have the fundamentals down(borrowed chords, extended chords, etc.)
All in all, just learn some music theory!



EDIT: If you aren't willing to actually sit and learn theory, the best thing you can probably do is use a midi keyboard and play around till you find chords that work. It will take a lot more time(in most cases) but you will have an innate understanding of some theory.

 

Last edited: Oct 2, 2021

You may have just blown his mind!
Don't scare him! lol

Soz, Samsome! Just joking.
I really want you to progress, honestly I do.
I want you to have what I have...
And I've told you how I got there...

 

the answer is correct, and it is a great example of intuition beeing better than using an anlgorithm (making a useful realtime(!) algorithm for that kind of thing is quite complicated)

 

Plus, "Give a man a fish...", innit?
Self-empowerment.

 

This question is like asking "Hey, do you know of a program that can make me a better guitarrist?"

People are so lazy today, they want everything "plug and play" or something like that...

The same happens with amp/drum sims and the presets, or a "ready to mix sound". That is why everyone sounds the same, with same plastic and super polished sound.

Music today is a joke.

 

Unfortunately, this question doesn't have a simple and quick answer at all. A lot of people are looking for answers to this question and test different methods, but in the end they don't find the desired answers. Even if you read theory books, you won't find a convincing and quick answer. If there was a simple answer to this question, everyone could make over 100 tracks in a day.

 

If I can't outline a melody and chord progression in under 5 minutes I have failed

 

OK - I read this and forum users posts. This is a loaded question albeit unintentional.

It would have been easier to answer if nobody had to decipher whether you want an artificial intelligence form of automation to do it for you, or a series of tutorials from an actual performing musician' and their tricks to speed up harmonic composition.

• VST + Automation - Most people have answered, but Gooogle is your friend. It may be possible that the sister site even has the plugins or applications Google finds.
• Music skills - Youtube free training everywhere
• This forum answers - Some here already so rather than repeating like a parrot...
• If you are doing it yourself, play with the bass notes. It is more than likely the bass note you find most pleasing with each sequence, note or phrase, will likely be right and also tell you what the chord is if you know your theory which is recommended above. BACH was one of the fathers of melody and bass note and that goes back centuries and is still relevant today , no matter what style or genre. Start there.

 

By quick I mean under a second. 5 minutes is a lot of time.

 

for someone who plays an instrument, it is as simple as try to play it and don't be afraid to hit a few clunkers while you figure it out.

but at the same time, apple has pumped a few million bucks into Logic...think this works accurately from audio?

 

Systematic thinking about notes is different from trial and error. I bet a lot of the methods that are suggested are based on trial and error. Even I promise you that a lot of music is made by trial and error. 5 minutes that @Zenarcist suggested is the time for doing trial and error. Connection between the notes can not be learnt by trial and error and relying on luck.

 

I always keep track of the tonic and the dominant, so it's never trial and error

 

This video caught my attention while I was still learning, so I took those same 4 chords and practised writing new melodies over and over again, until I no longer had to think about what I was doing. True story

 

Last edited: Oct 4, 2021

From my knowledge, the fastest way to make the chords which follow the melody is to simply press some keys, usually three, a couple of keys apart. Then figure what sounds the best to you. I am actually not joking.

 

Why don't you simply write the melody of the vocals onto the pianoroll and then, try to make chords above that melody-line?

I mean: you write the melody the vocals have (the very keys of the vocals), let's say that melody is (just supossing this is the case):
D-G-F#-A

Ok
Then you go:

1st chord: D-F-A
2nd chord: E-G-B
3rd chord: B-D-F#
4rd chord: F#-A-C#

Those chords will fit your vocals' melody.

 

I don't mean to go back to what everybody else has explained very well so far, but here are a couple of thoughts on this:

1. Professional musicians who "can't" improvise chords over melodies, on the fly? Truth be told, you could be right. When you are jamming/improvising with trained musicians, not only do you rely on the melody, but also you pick basic clues, like how predictable a chord sequence might be, looking at other musicians' hands, or even a pre-configured sequence. In that regard, it's unlikely that true improvisation ever happens. However, if a professional (paid) musician can't pick up the cues and get up to speed in a couple of bars, they won't be hired again. BTW, professional musicians know A LOT more than basic theory.
2. If you are struggling with chords over melodies (and arranging them on the spot) is because chords and melodies go hand in hand. What I mean is that when you think of chords, they dictate the "logical" melody that goes with them. Of course, you will intentionally break that logic to make more interesting ideas, but those "improvising" chops don't come from inspiration but from deep understanding of music theory. Apps like scaler are built with that complex music theory into them, and they might be your solution. However, what really happens is that even when you try and learn to use it, you'll inevitably understand music theory more.
3. You have a melody and you want chords to fit it. In fact, when composing, the process for a lot of people is the other way around: They build melodies around a prearranged sequence of chords, at least at the start.
4. There are very talented people who intuitively hear the sounds in their head and can figure out the sound combinations that go together. These people can indeed do what you ask: think up a melody and it's like they "hear" the chords that go along in their minds. They are extremely rare and indeed totally unneeded. The vast majority of people learn a musical instrument, music theory, and play along with others to grow a skill. The end result is the same. If you @samsome are not that talented, don't feel discouraged. You just don't have it in you (as your multiple posts on the same subject indicate). Just man up and learn the skills needed. The only winner is yourself.

Respect and lots of love, people.

DISCLAIMER: I was the most untalented person ever. It took me two years to learn to tune a guitar. I just couldn't hear the odd vibrations in an out-of-tune instrument, but just like all of you, I love music so much that I wanted to play it no matter what. My brain started to pick up frequencies better when I started to play the bass. Those notes resonated better in my head. Then I understood guitar better.

 

Last edited: Oct 4, 2021

I'm not a mechanic, but the carbarator in my car no longer seems to be working, or so my mechanic says. Can someone give me a fast way for me to rebuild it myself although I don't have any tools? Do I really need tools or can I just kind of glue things together? Thanks in advance.