Chord Progression Chart

NavieD

New member
Hey everyone,

I am a sample-based beatmaker and I am recently starting to learn some of the basic compositional skills that I will be needing. Right now I am trying to come up with the best way to come up with a bassline, and I came across a chord progression chart and I would like to know if it is valid or not?

=========================================

To create your own chord progressions use this table:

I........any chord
II.......Iv, V, VII
III......II, VI
IV.......I,V,VII
V........I
VI.......II, IV
VII......I, III

The above are the names of the 7 chords in regular major scale, basically the above is a map for chord progressions. In the first column are the 7 chords, in the second column are chords that sound good after the the leading chord is played, i.e. chord V, sounds best when followed by chord I.

How to do it: Start with a chord, follow that chord with another that is in the second colum (and same row). NEXT, go to that second chords row, and repeat (use a chord from that chords second column) EXAMPLE: start with chord I, column 2 says i can pick any chord, so i pick IV, then column two of IV says i can pick I, V, or VII-i pick VII, then I will repeat with VII, and pick V.

it looks like this I-IV-VII-V that is my progression! now all i have to do is play it, and it should sound good (add a little creative timing and i have a progression) you can get tons of good combos using this method.

=========================================

Right now I am making a bassline underneath a sample and I have the root key as C (or I). The note after this I am unsure of, but the note after that one is a B (or VII). Now my question is, is the only note that will fit in between these two notes a D or F, because according to that chart, those are the only two notes that could lead to a B. I could play the C again, but other than that, do I have to go to D or F by default?
 
Hey everyone,

I am a sample-based beatmaker and I am recently starting to learn some of the basic compositional skills that I will be needing. Right now I am trying to come up with the best way to come up with a bassline, and I came across a chord progression chart and I would like to know if it is valid or not?

=========================================

To create your own chord progressions use this table:

I........any chord
II.......Iv, V, VII
III......II, VI
IV.......I,V,VII
V........I
VI.......II, IV
VII......I, III

The above are the names of the 7 chords in regular major scale, basically the above is a map for chord progressions. In the first column are the 7 chords, in the second column are chords that sound good after the the leading chord is played, i.e. chord V, sounds best when followed by chord I.

How to do it: Start with a chord, follow that chord with another that is in the second colum (and same row). NEXT, go to that second chords row, and repeat (use a chord from that chords second column) EXAMPLE: start with chord I, column 2 says i can pick any chord, so i pick IV, then column two of IV says i can pick I, V, or VII-i pick VII, then I will repeat with VII, and pick V.

it looks like this I-IV-VII-V that is my progression! now all i have to do is play it, and it should sound good (add a little creative timing and i have a progression) you can get tons of good combos using this method.

=========================================

Right now I am making a bassline underneath a sample and I have the root key as C (or I). The note after this I am unsure of, but the note after that one is a B (or VII). Now my question is, is the only note that will fit in between these two notes a D or F, because according to that chart, those are the only two notes that could lead to a B. I could play the C again, but other than that, do I have to go to D or F by default?

Nope you'll find a lot of chord progression break the key that their in. For example the chord progression for Hey ya goes from G Major to C Major to D Major to E major. The Chord Progression Chart is great as guide to making chord progression but I wouldn't use it all the time. Some of the better chord progressions don't follow the chart at all.
 
regarding your help on the bassline riff you might want to consider the notes present in 7th chords. it depends on the type of music you're sampling though. If it's jazz then the next note could be almost anything seeing as how jazz and blues don't follow the normal rules of music theory.
 
Your chart is inadequate. See chordmaps for a better one.

Your bass line C down to G up to B.

Why? C chord has C-E-G
G chord has G-B-D

Using notes from both chords will link this up nicely ~ I am speaking as a very experienced (34+ years) bass player and composer
 
Last edited:
I'm not sure if this will help you but to make a good bass line, I would find out what the key to the song you are making is in and producing a bass line within the scale of the key... I.E: If I made a beat with samples to a song that were in the key of A minor (Which has the same keys as the C major scale*) an easy way to come up with a great sounding bass line will be to plug the bass notes in the scale of A minor (or C major) and the easiest way to do this will to remember this: In my example the song is in A minor (which we figured out) so my Root note is A. now the scale of A (starting from the root note) goes up like this, A,B,C,D,E,F,G, & then back to A (it is the only scale (including C major) that does not have flats or sharps in it). which goes like this (starting on the root note) A - W - H - W - W - H - W - W - A. (W= Whole Step & H= Half Step) on a piano every key is a semi-tone (or Half step*) so if I hit the A key on a piano a Whole step up will be the next white key "B" (a Whole step is 2 Half steps) and a half step up will be the notes right after the "B" which is C so if you start on A and go up the scale like this (AWHWWHWWA) it will go with any music that is in the key of A minor or C Major (because those keys are within the scale) so Since your song is C and you said it definitely has a B in it then it is definitely in the key of C major and any white key you play on the bass plug-in should fit the song in some way if done right. and if your real specific with it and are guessing the note after "A" and before "B" at least you now know it has to be a white key (knowing that the scale C major and A minor dont have sharps or flats (black keys) in their scale) so I hope this helped somewhat lol Also if you understoof the whole step half step trick then you can use the same technique for a major scale. C Major starting on the root note goes like this: C-WWHWWW-C. Now, if you start on the root note and play up the scale of C major qith the whole and half notes you will note that you are only playing the white keys once again. Now make an amazing bass line!
 
It's about interval choice - what notes follow on. Dark usually means using minor intervals, e.g. E up to C or C down to E is a minor 6th, B up to C or C down to B is a minor 2nd, many others as well.

These build tension and expectations. E up to C is usually followed by B or Bb.

Check my sig links for more stuff to help you out in this never ending quest for the"rules" of composition.
 
i need to get 20 posts to see your sig links bad because that sounds very informative...lol. so "dark" music usually follows their own set of rules? same as happy music or inspirational and so on and so forth? im kind of new to music theory and ive been producing music for years and im at the point where i need to learn why i should be doing "this" to achieve "that type of mood"
 
Dark music not so sure.

But minor intervals, like the m2 (1 semitone/halftone (ST/HT)), m3 (3ST/HT), m6 (8 ST/HT) tend to sound more sinister, as do the A4/d5 (6 ST/HT) and M7 (11 ST/HT).

So taking that as a starting point it becomes much easier to write "sinister" or dark music
 
Back
Top