Q. so I have the vocal part of a song written but I'm having a hard time coming up with the accompaniment. It's a quite rhythmic song so I feel weird just using plain chords. Anyone have any ideas?
A. Try to imagine you're playing drums and/or strumming rhythm guitar when you're playing the chords. Start out simple, and remember what sounds or feels good to you and build from there. Try alternating your left hand with your right hand rhythmically for variety. Try playing arpeggiated chords instead of block chords.
There's no rule. Just try stuff until something sounds good. Just make sure that what you play doesn't get in the way of or clash with the vocal. You'd be surprised at how many professionals do exactly that: They just try different stuff until they come up with something that sounds and feels good.
How do they name chords?
Q. I have a book that shows all the chords on the piano but I have no idea where they got the names from. I understand what inversion means by looking at the patterns but I have no idea what the other stuff is. Like Csus4, C6, C7,C(degree sign)7,C minor 7 flat 5. What does the sus mean? What do the numbers mean? What does 7 flat 5 mean?
A. Chord Naming
http://www.standingstones.com/chordname.html
Usually the lowest note played becomes the letter the chord is named after (there are some exceptions eg inverted chords and slash chords but that is not important right now) - the other notes determine what "type" of chord it is.
So say the lowest note I play is A, I know it is an A chord of some description (well almost always) and I can work out what type of A chord from the other notes if I know my major scales and my chord formulas.
If you skip ahead in PMT a few pages you will note that major chords have the formula 1, 3, 5 - minor chords have the formula 1, b3, 5 - this is consistant and you might see or hear of them referred to as a triad.
So say I'm playing a chord but don't know what to call it - the way to work it out is to identify the notes I'm playing. For the example, if the lowest note is A and I also work out that I am playing C#, E - I align that to the A major scale and I would see that I am playing the 1st, 3rd & 5th notes of the scale so therefore I would call it an A major chord NB in tabs a single letter eg "A" really means A major but by convention it isn't stated as such.
If I discovered I was playing A, C, E - I would still call it an A chord but when I compared it to the A major scale I would see that C would actully be a flat 3rd - so this would make it a minor chord and I would call it Am
Note the 3rd controls the character of the chord i.e. whether it is a major or a minor - straight 3 = major, b3 = minor
Often when we play major or minor chords we actually play more than 3 notes but that is because we duplicate some of the notes - take A major for example, we play the A open string (which gives the chord its name), E on the 4th string, A again on the 3rd string, C# on the 2nd string and the open E on the little e string but essentially all the notes are A, C#, E
Now for lots of other chord types we add in a fourth note (a quadad). So when you see D7 it really means D dominant seventh (not a minor seventh, a major seventh, or a diminished 7th) the formula for a dominant seventh chord is 1, 3, 5, b7
So in this case we use the D major scale and see that 1, 3, 5, b7 are the notes D, F#, A, C and we call this D7
If we played D, F#, A, C# that would equate to 1, 3, 5, 7 of the D major scale and that would be called a D major 7 chord.
D, F, A, C would be 1, b3, 5, b7 of the D major scale and would be a D minor 7 chord (note the b3 is calling the shots on it being a minor)
And so on, and so on - this is the same for all chords - as long as we know the chord formulas for the different types of chords and we know how to relate that to the relevant major scale then we can work out what notes to play if we see a chord on a tab but haven't learned that chord shape yet simply by applying the formula. Alternatively if we are playing a chord shape that someone has shown us but are not sure what to call it we can work it out, again by seeing what the notes are and seeing which formula it fits.
Now onto your Cadd9 - that just means add the 9th degree of the C scale to your C major chord - so instead of playing 1, 3, 5 or C, E, G we add in a D NB not the D at the 2nd degree of the scale but an octave higher at the 9th degree.
Sometimes you will see a "sus" chord - either a 2 or a 4. That just means suspend the 3rd (take it out) and replace it with the 2nd or the 4th. So this chord is neither major nor minor but is a sus chord.
All the common chord formulas are in PMT
How to make Piano Chords Sound Interesting?
Q. So when I get chords from a website like http://tabs.ultimate-guitar.com they only give you the basic chord. I want ti make it sound more interesting and more like the backing of a song rather than just playing the chord then waiting till the next chord comes in, any ideas?
A. Use chord inversions. If a D7 chord consist of DF#AC experiment with putting any of those notes in the bass with your left hand. You can take the F# and use that as the bass note. You would have this F#ACDF# You can rearrange these notes anyway that you like but start by using the 3rd and 5th of the chord as bass notes. If you want to use inversions effectively it would be good to use them to get to the next chord. For example if the chord progressions goes ||:D G Bmi E7:|| you could spice it up by adding inversions. Try Playing the D chord and then invert the G chord. Put the third in the bass so you get a G chord with a B in the left hand. It will set you up for the Bmi without ever having to move your left hand because B is the Root of Bmi and guess what it will also sets you up for the E7 because B is the Fifth of E7 so your automatically inverting the E7. Research "Voice Leading" Hope this helps!
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Title : Piano accompaniment ideas?
Description : Q. so I have the vocal part of a song written but I'm having a hard time coming up with the accompaniment. It's a quite rhythmic so...