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how close do melodies follow chord progressions?
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| Mossy |
It may seem like a really stupid question, but having written an 8 bar chord progression, I am wondering after toying about with a melody, am I right in the theory that the last few notes of each bar should blend nicely into the current and next chord? Its really hard to explain but whilst I think im on the right lines, my lack of musical theory knowledge means I could just do with a little clarification.
any help appreciated. |
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| alanzo |
| often a note can be used once or twice that is not in the current chord but still in the key/scale.. I can't remember what these are called (transition notes maybe) but your melody should be based off of the chords and use the transition notes when they sound good... |
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| Mossy |
| cheers Alanzo, thats really helpful. I thought thats kinda how it should work but was seeking some confirmation. |
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| Fundamental |
| quote: | Originally posted by Mossy
I thought thats kinda how it should work but was seeking some confirmation. |
Remember, this is music - there are no rules, no right and wrong answers. If something sounds good to you, then that's all that should matter. |
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| kewlness |
There are three types of notes I like to think of them as
Type I: There are the notes that are part of the chord itself
Type II: There are notes that aren't part of the chord, but they are in the same scale as the chord
Type III: There are notes that aren't part of the scale or key as the chord.
Now out of these three types of notes (as I would like to call them), basically the notes that make your melody melodic itself are type I notes. Now, with type II notes, you generally use these notes as kind of notes to fill in the gap... Let's say you want to jump from a C to an E... You could then use a Type II note to "fill in the gap" and place a D in between. Type II notes are also used in suspensions... These are when you have 2 chords, and when you switch chords, one or more notes from the original chord is sustained into the second chord. Type III notes are more tricky and they are possible to pull off but unless you know what you are doing, it is best to stay away from them..
Note: these Type I, II, III notes are just terms I made up to make explanation easier |
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| BetaFactory |
G'day,
I've seen a lot of music theory discussions going on here. During my 5-6 years of composing I've never even had a look at such a thing, but I can of course very well understand that some people will benefit a lot from reading music theory. But from my experience I'd like to say, that it is absolutely not "a must". First use what you've got, i.e. your ears. If it sounds good to you, that's what matters. I know when/where my melodies sound bad/could be made better when I sit experimenting with my keyboard, and I dare say that I do not need music theory telling me how to progress e.g. according to the chords. Many great classic composers have worked directly based on their ears. I'm afraid music theory rules instead of helping you in some cases can lock you inside a small space, which will result in your melodies sounding pretty much the same all the time. I repeat, I do not disregard music theory, I just say that it isn't a must! |
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| Etherium |
Ok, I'm going to politically eschew the importance of theory discussion, but I think I can offer a little theory advice here.
First thing is first, melody notes do not have to mirror chord notes (thank God!). Take a 1 bar measure of C major for example. You might wonder, what notes can I play over this chord that will sound pleasing to the ear? The first three obvious choices are the notes of the C major chord itself, C E G. Of course playing these notes would get boring pretty quick, but it's important to understand exactly what is going on when you do chose one of these notes. What if you choose E, is that as arbitrary as choosing G? No. What this does is places emphasis on a particular interval of the chord. So, playing C major, C E G, with a E on top temporarily emphasizes the third of the chord.
But what if you got all bold on us and decided you wanted to play a D over C major? No problem. D is in the C major scale and just happens to be a 9th of C. So, when you play D along with C major your creating, albeit in a transient manner, the impression of a Csus2 chord.
But wait a minute, don't get too bold. The next example is an F melody note. If you were to play F over C major you would run the risk of creating a jarring sort of beast. Why? The whole tone principle. The whole tone principle states that when you play a melody note a semi-tone away from a note of a chord, the resulting sound will be unnatural to a degree. But, hold on, that doesn't mean you can't use F, but what it does mean is that you should use it for the most part as a node, or transition note. That is, it shouldn't be emphasized unless you are going for a particular jarring harmony. A better strategy is this, play C major and for the melody emphasize notes of the chord (C E G) and notes outside of it (D A) and when you do violate the whole tone principle, do it only as a transition note (Hold D for a few steps, then a quick, furtive F, then G).
So, how does one use all of this knowledge to create an organic transition from one chord to another? Take an example. For the first chord C major will do and for the second the good old G major will suffice.
Legend : | | = 1 bar
| C M a j o r | | G M a j o r |
|C(1/2note) A(1/4note) E(1/4note)| |E(1/2note) D(1/4note) A(1/4note)|
Ok. So, what's going on here? Well, we start off with the C melody note doubling the tonic of the major chord for half a bar, pretty pedestrian, but undeniably harmonious. Then the D for a touch, then the E for a 1/4 note that emphasizes the fifth of Cmajor. Nothing groundbreaking so far, but what about when the chord transitions to G major. Notice the E in the melody at the beginning of the bar. E, if you haven't noticed yet, is the sixth of G major (G B D, one tone up from D). This effect works very well. You have the E at the end of the first bar "anticipating" the Gmajor6 chord and when it reaches the second bar the sounding of G B D and E creates the temporary impression of the sixth. It then goes on to emphasize the 5th of the chord with a D and then to the A. Of course, this is just one small example about how melody can conduct harmony.
But who would actually sit down and work all of this out? Anticipating sixths, yada yada yada. Well, my view is that you should build up your chord progression, lay a melody on top of it. If it sounds right it probably is. But before you call it day on the midi editing screen, do an analysis using the principles illustrated above to see why it works. In many cases, you might find that even though this note sits well here, another one that emphasizes a different, more exotic, or less exotic interval, would be appropriate.
Or, you could just use a step sequeuncer and blindly enter note values ;).
And also don't take what I say as scripture, I've only been studying theory for 6 months or so.
Hope this helps. |
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| enferno |
| quote: | Originally posted by alanzo
often a note can be used once or twice that is not in the current chord but still in the key/scale.. I can't remember what these are called (transition notes maybe) but your melody should be based off of the chords and use the transition notes when they sound good... |
accent notes |
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| BetaFactory |
| And remember to avoid "tritonus", the tone of the devil. ;) I guess that one fits better in horror movies than in trance songs. A tritonus is any chord played with five keys of space left in between, counting both white and black keys, of course. |
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| MadThijs |
Wat do you think about V7 then, if you play those chordnote you got your tritone. Like this:
==E===E===Bfla BflatA===F===F===F
C===C===C===C=== F===F===F===F |
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