Lead Synths and Riffs/Notes

[SimonT]

Hi!

If you're writing a lead riff for a dance track, do the notes of the melody have to be in the key of the song for it to work. If I have some chords for instance, what I usually do, is just hum a lead melody over the top, the first thing that comes into my head, maybe with a few tweaks after. I was just wondering though, I saw an interesting video a while back of a quick an easy way to find the key of a song by humming over the chord progression. Then it was a case of working out if it's major or minor. Anyway, once the key is found, would the lead notes in a lead melody always be in that key then? So then will the only notes that work over the chords be the notes in that key or scale for that key? Are there any exceptions to this rule, any techniques that might be applied to add variety or harmony or such like that might make it more catchy or better?

If this is the case, I was wondering if once the key was found, it would simply be a case of then finding the notes in that key and finding a good order then to make a melody and it would always fit. I read something online just about (riffs for guitar in this case) using notes for the riff in the relative minor scale or something is good.

I had a song when I first started learning to sequence 2 years ago with a lead melody over the chords, and someone said 1 note in the sequence didn't fit. It annoyed me cause changing that one note, changed the way the melody would go after that note as the note directly after didn't fit and thus then that had to be changed and then basically, the melody went pear shaped lol!

 

[Nexosaur]

It should be in the same key (or the relative minor possibly), but you can leave the key for some notes. It's all based on what the chords are. You can have the melody in the key of Eb or whatever if your chords are, but your lead can leave the key if it sounds nice.

 

[SimonT]

Thanks mate.

I've been watching some videos on you tube and it's amazing what you can learn about chords and bass lines. Simple things can sound amazing sometimes.

 

[SimonT]

What I meant in this thread btw, just read it back and it sounded a bit confiusing, was lead notes over a bunch of chords. If I was to find the key of the chords I've already created, would the lead melody need to be the notes in the same key then?

 

[Pumpthrust]

What I meant in this thread btw, just read it back and it sounded a bit confiusing, was lead notes over a bunch of chords. If I was to find the key of the chords I've already created, would the lead melody need to be the notes in the same key then?

If you don't know what you're doing-yes, group the chords in your progression by key center and play over them with the corresponding scale. Use your ears to figure out what "out of key" notes are good to use on what chords.

Example: Progressions (Cmaj7)(Cmin7-F7-Bbmaj7)(Bbmin7-Eb7-Abmaj7)
The three key centers are C major, then Bb major, then Ab major.
For the Cmaj7-use the C major scale.
For the second progression, use the Bb major scale.
Then, for the last progression, use the Ab major scale.

Also, I recommend studying these charts:

 

[Nexosaur]

If you don't know what you're doing-yes, group the chords in your progression by key center and play over them with the corresponding scale. Use your ears to figure out what "out of key" notes are good to use.

Example: Progression (Cmaj7)(Cmin7-F7-Bbmaj7)(Bbmin7-Eb7-Abmaj7)
The three key centers are C major, then Bb major, then Ab major.
For the Cmaj7-use the C major scale.
For the second progression, use the Bb major scale.
Then, for the last progression, use the Ab major scale.

Also, another good thing to do, since in EDM, most of your chord progressions won't be as "complex" as that, you can solo only using the scale that corresponds to the key of the track.

 

[Pumpthrust]

Also, another good thing to do, since in EDM, most of your chord progressions won't be as "complex" as that, you can solo only using the scale that corresponds to the key of the track.

First of all, those progressions I listed aren't complex at all. Basic as hell, actually, which was the whole point.
Second, if he's asking about how to play over a "bunch of chords", then he probably doesn't know how to figure out what key he's in to begin with, hence why I gave him those two charts.