How To Find The Right Chords For A Song

Chords need to do 2 things: 1- Support the melody, and 2- set and strengthen the key ._____________Download Pack of 6 eBooks “Basic Secrets of Composing”, and learn 11 principles critical to any musician’s success._____________ Read: how to find the right chords for the song Read more: how to tell if lava particles are real or notThis is a follow-up to the previous post, “Create chord progressions by categorizing them”. In that article, I gave a few examples of progressions that represent the three standard types of chords. But knowing how to classify chords doesn’t necessarily tell you how to create a chord progression that works for your tone. So what do you need to know to get the tune right? If you already have a song melody, but you don’t know how to back it up with chords, try these steps:

Sing your tunes over and over and set the keys. That may seem like an obvious step, but it’s very important. When you sing that tune, you’ll find that most of the tunes already include the most meaningful chords. For example, if your melody starts with the notes C and E, you can easily strum a C chord as your chord. Other chords will work with those two tone notes: Am, Fmaj7 or even Dm9. Getting to know the tune is an important step. Usually, identifying the last note of the melody will give you the key.

Define an active harmonic rhythm. Harmonious rhythm is simply a term that refers to the number of beats you will strum a chord before moving on to the next. There’s no one right answer to this, but as you sing your tunes, you’ll know when chords can change. For example, if your tune starts with C moving to E, then D moving to F, you know that C and E easily belong to the same chord, while D and F imply a new chord choice. . Many songs change chords every 4 beats, but some will change after 2, 8, or even 16.

Once you’ve chosen a basic harmonic rhythm, find a chord that fits most of the notes.. Let’s say you feel right to change chords every 4 beats. Find a chord that matches most of the notes of the first 4 beats, keeping in mind that your chord choice should emphasize the main point of your song. If the first 4 beats of your tune use these 4 notes – CEGF, you’ll find that choosing C makes sense, even if the F note is the “odd man”. But as we all know, harmonizing sentences can be a bit more confusing, so don’t be afraid to experiment with something more creative: perhaps Am7, or Fmaj9.

Move on to the next 4 beats and choose a 1- that matches the melody and a 2- that matches your chosen key. As I’ve mentioned in many previous blog posts, chord progression feels powerful if the roots of adjacent chords move by the 4th or 5th second.