Post
by Idonotlikebroccoli » Sat Apr 02, 2016 12:23 pm
How-to
Here's my approach:
1. Start with a simple chord *, with a bass note one or two octaves lower
2. Duplicate it, and move the 2nd chord up and down until the two sound together **
3. If no combinations work, change one of the chords from minor to major or vice versa.
4. Also try moving only the bass note. C-E-G sounds quite different with A as the bass note.
5. Repeat until you have 4/8/16/x bars of chords that sound good together.
6. If it's still rubbish, say fuck it, load a bunch of trap samples from TriSamples, and crank up the BPM and limiter on the master channel, and start a new project. Making music shouldn't be too serious.
* I'm very fond of 7th chords (c-e-g-b or c-d#-g-a# for example).
** Do chord inversions if needed (shift+arrow). Individual notes can be moved in octaves, and it's still the same chord.
What to do with all the failed attempts?
Even after all these years, I'd say only 5-10% of the chord progressions I come up with are good enough for released songs.
However, the process is always very rewarding, and each attempt is one small step closer to something really nice.
Shitty chord progressions are great for fun/weird experiments, which definitely influence later tracks. You can always sample your crappy 4 bar loops and twist them beyond recognition in better tracks.
There is no one method
Different things work for different people. My dad tried teaching me music theory, but I prefered goofing around in Dance eJay. I've never had the patience to learn music theory beyond the basics, I've never looked at the circle of fifths, I can't read notation, and I never think about which scale/mode I'm in.
There are lots of talented people with poor understanding of theory, and I've met lots of theory experts whose tunes were bland rubbish. However, I'm sure a lot of the talented people have a very good understanding of theory, so it's not black and white.
In the end, making music says more than a thousand forum posts.
