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Hi,

I've started to realise I don't use chords in my music, simply due to the fact that I don't know how... when I'm making a track I usually just fiddle around with the keys until I get a nice melody, but I want to make my sounds more filled out.

I know how to play a chord, the bit I find hard is leading that chord onto another chord and making a melody that I like out of them.

Is this a lack of piano lessons? Surely I'm not the only one on here who hasn't had extensive piano lessons, if any at all.

Please discuss how you all learnt chords and shiznat.

Thanks a lot

Tonespace. You must download the vst called tonespace. It's just midi. But it has all kinds ofdifferet chords and different scales you can switch between.

All a chord is is 3 or more notes played at once. If you want a chord to sound good, you should make the chord up out of notes that are in the key that your melody is in. So if you want to make chords to a melody, the easiest way (without knowing much of anything) is to just take the notes you used in your melody, and use those to make a chord. There ya go.

So if like, your melody had the notes C, A#, G, and D# (not in any order, it doesn't matter), then you could make a chord up of any of those notes. Like a chord that has the notes C, G, and D#. or a chord that has the notes A#, G and C.

ChadDub wrote: So if like, your melody had the notes C, A#, G, and D# (not in any order, it doesn't matter), then you could make a chord up of any of those notes. Like a chord that has the notes C, G, and D#. or a chord that has the notes A#, G and C.

Ah ok, so you 'could' make a chord out of them, thanks that's very helpful, does that also mean you should NEVER use notes that aren't in that key in your chords, or can it sometimes sound good?

It can sometimes sound good, but I don't really try doing it. I'm boring like that lol. It could make the song sound all spooky and stuff if you do it, idk mess with it

ty mate

look up chord progressions and incorporate those into your melodies.
use chords in your pads and layer it with other things.
you can use notes outside of the key you're working in depending on how your melody goes/ how you want your tune to "feel"

i learned how to use chords by spending countless hours on guitar on piano playing literally EVERY MAJOR AND MINOR CHORD transitioning into EVERY OTHER MAJOR AND MINOR CHORD... once I heard which chord progressions I liked, I started using maj7s, dominant 7s, 9s, minor 9s, minor 7s, sus4, sus2, major add 2, yaddaa... then once I got bored with western harmony, I started studying eastern music. that's a whole other story.

there's really no quick fix if you wanna actually learn ....

Experiment. do whatever sounds good. But remember the lowest note in your chord is the base note you should have your sub at. Well there are no rules but I think that's the general idea.

epochalypso wrote:Experiment. do whatever sounds good. But remember the lowest note in your chord is the base note you should have your sub at. Well there are no rules but I think that's the general idea.

see i dont get this, so are you saying your chord progression has to follow the subs melody? wouldnt that just sound a bit boring?

skimpi wrote:

epochalypso wrote:Experiment. do whatever sounds good. But remember the lowest note in your chord is the base note you should have your sub at. Well there are no rules but I think that's the general idea.

see i dont get this, so are you saying your chord progression has to follow the subs melody? wouldnt that just sound a bit boring?

Yeah, it is a bit boring now, since that's what everyone does, but if you want your sub and chord synth to seem like they're one, then that's what you do. I'm working with different notes for the sub than the chord, learning the theory that is attached to it (like, inverted chords and w/e). It's tight.

I'd suggest trying to learn maybe one or two scales with notes you know you use in them, for me its Dmin and Cmaj. Just learn the notes in them and start playing about with chords in that key Also worth learning about the significance of the first fourth and fifth chords, and when to use sevenths etc

http://www.pianoworld.com/fun/vpc/piano_chords.htm



Chords are just more than one note in a scale playing at the same time. If you have a bassline and a lead synth playing over eachother in key, they are unavoidably making chords.

"Chord progressions" are based on this, they follow the same melodic progression rules building a melody uses. Using the tonic, fourth, fifth and octave as the main intervals and the rest as accidentals, but this time using the base note of a triad as though it were the single note hitting the scale intervals and placing the major/minor third and fifth on top of that for each 'note'. so you could play I, VI, IV, V as a chord progression instead of a melody progression and it would still work.

Once you've done that you can play about with the basic progression, using different instruments to play different notes for each note of the chord (bass, lead, pads), adding a 13th (or whatever) to other bits, removing the middle note of some of it (so its just a power chord) e.t.c. e.t.c. e.t.c.

remember to add rhythm differences to each bit and you can switch up using certain notes as different elements of different chords, so have a certain note 'play through' being the tonic of a certain chord, then maybe the fifth of another, while having 'melodies' playing around those notes, creating harmonic relationships (chords).

that sorta stuff

epochalypso wrote:Experiment. do whatever sounds good. But remember the lowest note in your chord is the base note you should have your sub at. Well there are no rules but I think that's the general idea.

Well not if your using inversions… but you will probably hear if your sub is out of key.

ChadDub wrote:All a chord is is 3 or more notes played at once.

Two or more notes played at once, not three.

Easiest way to start messing with chords is to start writing with power chords. In piano roll you simply have a note 7 steps higher playing at the same time. Then make progressions with that structure of chord. When u stumble across something you like experiment by changing the octaves of different notes and then u can add notes to build the chords, guided by whatever sounds good.

I found this helpful and easy to understand

http://www.tranceaddict.com/forums/show ... genumber=1