Q. If I have the right thing.. when writing a song on the piano, and you're in a specific key - for example let's say we're in C major - how do you work out which chords you can use? And it's called chord progressions, right? Please tell me if i've gone off in totally the wrong direction. Thanks.
A. Hope this helps! It did with me because I've been wondering the same thing. Look on the website to see the basic things you need to write a song. It helped me so much!
If you havenât understood anything Iâve said, donât worry. Here are some common keys, the chords you can use if youâre writing in that key, and the number that corresponds with the chord (something youâll need later). Key of C major: C major (1), F major (4), G major (5), A minor (6), D minor (2), and E minor (3). Key of G major: G major (1), C major (4), D major (5), E minor (6), A minor (2), B minor (3). Key of A major: A major (1), D major (4), E major (5), F# minor (6), B minor (2), C# minor (3). Key of D major: D major (1), G major (4), A major (5), B minor (6), E minor (2), F# minor (3). If you donât know how to make these chords on your instrument, youâll need to get a chord chartâtheyâre easy to read and they donât require any knowledge of theory!
One last thing before we move on: time signatures. Most popular songs are in 4/4 or 3/4. The bottom number tells you what note gets the beat (e.g., 4 = quarter note) and the top number tells you how many beats are in a measure. Donât worry too much about the bottom number; just pay attention to the top number. In 4/4 there are four beats per measure; in 3/4 there are three. The first beat is emphasized more strongly than the other beats. So in 4/4 you would count: 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4, and so on. In 3/4 youâd count: 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, etc. "Row, Row, Row, Your Boat" is in 4/4 time. "Amazing Grace" is in 3/4.
Now that youâre thoroughly confused, letâs move on to writing the melody.
Writing the Melody
The easiest way to write a melody is to come up with the chord progression first and write the melody to fit that chord progression. There are a lot of songs out there that only use three chords: the 1 chord, the 4 chord, and the 5 chord. These three chords can be combined in innumerable ways. Here are a few things to keep in mind: the chord progression typically starts on the 1 chord and goes to the 5 chord before resolving back to the 1 chord; the 5 chord creates tension: it makes the listener want to return to the 1 chord. A typical chord progression might look like this: 1, 4, 1, 5. The chord progression for a blues song looks like this: 1, 4, 1, 5, 4, 1, 5. (Remember, you donât have to stay on each chord in a progression for the same length of time.) Hereâs the chord progression for "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" (the chord numbers are in parentheses): (1) Twinkle, twinkle, (4) little (1) star, (4) how I (1) wonder (5) what you (1) are.
Please help me with harmonizing and chord progressions on piano?
Q. Hi =)
I love playing piano, but I don't know the technical terms much lol. Don't say something like play in G minor or refer to the circle of fourths (or fifths?) because I have no idea what that means, except C major--that's the only thing I know haha. I only had piano lessons for less than a year before quitting and that only covered very basic things like how to read sheet music and scales, plus that was 5 years ago..and I was a very bad student. I love music, just not when I'm forced to learn it.. =P
My friends won't teach me either (long story) so I guess try to "dumb it down" for me lol, thanks.
Anyways I need help on how to harmonize, I have no idea..I honestly just play random notes that sound best to me, but isn't there a better way? I like to play by ear a lot, I can find the melody--just not know how to harmonize it with the left hand properly..
Also, what are chord progressions?! When I was looking up videos to help me understand how to harmonize (most of which didn't help..) some people mentioned chord progressions and I didn't know exactly what it was about..?
By the way, I'm not going to major in music or anything so don't lecture me on how I should have learned all this. I like doing things my own way ^^
OK thanks a lot!~⪠=)
@ i. jones: Well excuse me! I've learned much better when I taught myself piano than when I had a teacher! I've had lots of good progress without the pointless lessons, you don't have have to be mean about it. And wow thanks for "answering" my question, Mr. Top Contributor.
A. Alright, here it is down and dirty:
You probably know a chord is three or more notes sounded at the same time. A chord PROGRESSION is switching out certain notes for others. Or just picking an entirely new set of notes to replace your old set with. There are "rules" about these things, but whatever. If you're doing this for fun, those rules really don't matter.
Lets say this is a keyboard (W=white, B=black):
C---------------------------------------C----------------------------------------C
W-B-W-B-W-W-B-W-B-W-B-W-W-B-W-B-W-W-B-W-B-W-B-W-W
Here is an awesome chord to know in C. Let's call it, oh... "One," just for the fun of it. (play the Xs with your left hand. 5=pinky, 4=ring finger, 3=middle finger, 2=pointer finger, 1=thumb):
C---------------------------------------C----------------------------------------C
W-B-W-B-W-W-B-W-B-W-B-W-W-B-W-B-W-W-B-W-B-W-B-W-W
X------------X---------X-----or-------X------------X--------X---------------(x)
5------------3----------1---------------5------------3--------1-------------------
That chord *progresses* really well into this one, which we could call "Four," I guess, whatever:
C---------------------------------------C----------------------------------------C
W-B-W-B-W-W-B-W-B-W-B-W-W-B-W-B-W-W-B-W-B-W-B-W-W
X----------------X-----------X--or----X----------------X-----------X--------(x)
5-----------------2-----------1---------5----------------2------------1-----------
You could run either of those chords into this chord.. It looks like it should be called "five" to me:
C---------------------------------------C----------------------------------------C
W-B-W-B-W-W-B-W-B-W-B-W-W-B-W-B-W-W-B-W-B-W-B-W-W
--------------------------------------X---------X---------------X------------------
--------------------------------------5----------3---------------1------------------
I'm serious, you could run One, Four, and Five together day and night. Lord knows people have for the longest time.
If you get bored of those, try sprucing it up with these:
Instead of "five," play this:
C---------------------------------------C----------------------------------------C
W-B-W-B-W-W-B-W-B-W-B-W-W-B-W-B-W-W-B-W-B-W-B-W-W
--------------X---------X-----------X------------etc.
--------------5----------3-----------1------------etc.
Instead of "four," play this:
C---------------------------------------C----------------------------------------C
W-B-W-B-W-W-B-W-B-W-B-W-W-B-W-B-W-W-B-W-B-W-B-W-W
-------X---------X-----------X-----etc.
-------5----------3-----------1-----etc.
And you know what's awesome!? By knowing Cmajor, you also know Aminor! Take everything I just showed you and move it all back three white keys, and you're playing sad music.
DAAAAAAMNNNNNN SON!
Hahah, and it's both the circle of fourths (or) fifths.. gahhhh, I'm sorry, it just depends which direction you're going.
How to improvise over a four chord progression?
Q. Ive been playing the piano my entire life but only a couple of years ago I started exploring jazz improvisation. As of almost a year I've become very interested. Here's my question, I've become quite good at improvising over charts with, let's say, a higher volume of chords. So for example something like I Got Rhythm is one of my favorites. However, I have a lot of trouble creating melodies and just basically improvising with less chord volume. For example a blues or some of Cole Porter's songs with only 4 or so chords, each being used over several bars at a time. I use the many guide tones between chords to make melodies so when there are less chords it's as if I run out of ideas. Any suggestions, videos or links?
A. learn some theory so that you can substitute other chords in place of the stock chord changes. That's really what jazz is all about. I can't just give you a formula because there are sooooo many ways to do it. So don't set a goal of becoming great at this in a short period of time; instead, enjoy the process, the journey, the reward of each little nugget of understanding that you gain. That's what it's like for me when I learn a cool chord substitution... its a little thing that makes my ear happy, and understanding how and when to use it any time I want to do so makes me happy.
Here are a couple to get you started.
Substitute the relative minor for a major chord.
Ex.substitute Dm for Fmajor.
Substitute the relative major for a minor chord.
Ex. substitute F maj for D mi
So lets say you have a chord progression C F G. You could play C Dmi G, or even C F Dm G
Put "secondary dominant" chord in between two other chords.
Example: say you have the progression C F G C. Put a D7 between the F and the G so that you have C F D7 G C. You can do this to the D7 too: put an A7 in between the F and the D7 so you have C F A7 D7 G C
The explanation for why you can do this is too long to get into. Just build a major chord off the fifth of the chord you're going to. Example An A chord is A C E, so the secondary dominant is E7. Going back to the previous example, you can put that E7 in between the F and the A7 so that it leads into the A7. thus we have C F E7 A7 D7 G C.
Substitute the chord that is an augmented 4th or b5 away in place of the secondary dominant. Going back to our example of C F Dmi G C you can substitute a Db7 for the G7 so we now have C F Dmi Db7 C. Notice how this produces nice chromatic voice leading... D Db C.
Extend chords: make major triads into major 7ths or 9ths. Make dominant 7 chords into 13ths. Example: Cma7 Fma9 D-9 G13 Cma9. Doing this right also smooths out voice leading; for example, the 9th of the D is E and that is also the 13th of the G. The root of the D is the fifth of the G13 and the 9th of the Cma9. So this one note can (and usually should) sustain through all three chords.
BTW a "dominant 7th" chord just has a 7 in the name: C7, G7, A7, D7
A "major 7" chord has "major" in the name: Cma7, Gma7, Ama7, Dma7
Both are built on major triads (example C maj triad is CEG)
The difference is the 7th of the chord. A "major 7th" is further up from the root of the chord than a "minor 7th" is. Example if C is the root of the chord, the ma7 is B and the mi7 is Bb.
so, to spell a major 7th chord, you spell a major triad (CEG) and add the major 7th (B). Thus Cma7 is spelled CEGB.
To spell a dominant 7th you spell a major triad (CEG) and add the minor 7th (Bb). Thus C7 is spelled CEGBb
so thats about two years of music theory in five minutes :-) hopefully it helps more than confuses.
Take a good theory class or take some lessons, there's a lot more where that came from and a good teacher will make it a lot easier to learn
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