How to Make Chord Progression have more Direction

[caycay]

I've been told a couple times, when I make some tracks, that I'm freestyling a lot when I make chord progressions, and that my progressions could be more "directed" then what they are, when I make music for singers... Also, I've been told that when I make songs for singers that I should make progressions that a melody can "follow" easily, so the singer can sing a melody easily to it.... No one really elaborated on what they were saying, so I was wondering what it meant to have chord progressions that have a lot of "direction", and what it meant to have a progression that a melody can easily "follow"?? Any help appreciated...

 

[The Funk Junkie]

It's possible that your singers are incompetent at writing melodies, I've found quite a few vocalists that have trouble writing parts... do you have a sample of a track where this was said?

 

[Cayden Carrell]

Chords that comes "naturally" from a given chord.
Simple version, play Am-F-C-G. Repeat whole song
More jobby version: Take a look at the circle of fifths. Google that.

For the record; I beat Bandcoach to this one. But I bet he´s gonna answer in more detail

 

[bandcoach]

here's the thing, a progression in and of itself means that there is direction; any other collection of chords is a sequence

Direction means that we would like to hear movement from chord I to chord V and back again to chord I (i-V-i is also included in this statement).

Cadences
Such progressions are based within cadence formulae
Perfect V-I G-C
Imperfect I-V C-G
Plagal IV-I F-C (similar to imperfect but differs in the functional position of the two chords involved)
Half-Close ii-V Dm-G
Interrupted V-anything but I or vi G-F, G-Em, G-Dm, G-Bmb5
Deceptive V-vi G-Am

Possible progressions
Common movements include
I-vi-ii-V-I-V-IV-I ~ C-Am-Dm-G-C-G-F-C

I-IV-ii-V-I-IV-V-I ~ C-F-Dm-G-C-F-G-C

I-iii-vi-ii-V-I-V-I ~ C-Em-Am-Dm-G-C-G-C

These are based on the idea that for some of the time each chord is followed by the chord that is a 5th away

Progression	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th
I-vi-ii-V-I-V-IV-I	-	m3	p5	p5	p5	p4	M2	p4
I-IV-ii-V-I-IV-V-I	-	p4	m3	p5	p5	p5	M2	p5
I-iii-vi-ii-V-I-V-I	-	M3	p5	p5	p5	p5	p4	p5

Cycle of 5ths
by extension then we can use the cycle of 5ths to provide even more direction, and even use subversion (short-circuiting or skipping parts) of the cycle to create directed progressions

The cycle of 5ths is the key to understanding the range of possibilities

I-IV-viib5-iii-vi-ii-V-I ~ C-F-Bmb5-Em-Am-Dm-G-C

looking closely at the 3 progressions above it can be seen that the cycle has been subverted in each (shown in parentheses())

I-(IV-viib5-iii)-vi-ii-V-I ~ C-(F-Bmb5-Em)-Am-Dm-G-C

I-IV-(viib5-iii-vi)-ii-V-I-IV-(viib5-iii-vi-ii)-V-I ~ C-F-(Bmb5-Em-Am)-Dm-G-C-F-(Bmb5-Em-Am-Dm)-G-C

I-(IV-viib5)-iii-vi-ii-V-I ~ C-(F-Bmb5)-Em-Am-Dm-G-C

Analysing these same progressions in terms of the cadences in play we get

I	vi	ii	V	I	V	IV	I
-	half-close	imperfect	plagal
-	perfect	interrupted	-
C	Am	Dm	G	C	G	F	C

I	IV	ii	V	I	IV	V	I
perfect	half-close	perfect	perfect
-	perfect	interrupted	-
C	F	Dm	G	C	F	G	C

the perfect cadence from I-IV is based on the idea that there is a temporary shift to the sub-dominant major (key based on Chord IV) where chord I is temporarily chord V and chord IV is I......

I	iii	vi	ii	V	I	V	I
-		perfect	perfect
-	half-close	imperfect	-
C	Em	Am	Dm	G	C	G	C

Substitutions
then moving on to substitutions (rel major/minor, parallel major/minor, tritone, elisive (3rd above or below), chord tone sub (replace with the chord built on the 3rd or 5th of the chord), secondary dominants) for some chords via the subversion process and we can create progressions that have strong direction and movement

for example taking the 3rd of the progressions above, we can apply the following substitutions

I-V-I-IV-V-I-V-I ~ C-G-C-F-G-C-G-C
I-iii-IV-ii-V-I-V-I ~ C-Em-F-Dm-G-C-G-C
I-viib5-IV-ii-V-I-V-I ~ C-Bmb5-F-Dm-G-C-G-C
I-iii-vi-bVI-V-I-V-I ~ C-Em-Am-Ab7-G-C-G-C
I-V-of-vi-bIII-ii-V-I-V-I ~ C-E-Eb7-Dm-G-C-G-C

I have written in greater detail about these ideas elsewhere on fp

 

[caycay]

Chords that comes "naturally" from a given chord.
Simple version, play Am-F-C-G. Repeat whole song
More jobby version: Take a look at the circle of fifths. Google that.

For the record; I beat Bandcoach to this one. But I bet he´s gonna answer in more detail

I typically use the circle of 5ths for my guitar, gunna start using for piano more, thanks....when you say "Chords that comes "naturally" from a given chord" do you mean chords that are produced naturally from the notes of a given chord??

 

[bandcoach]

I'd hazard a guess that he meant chords that come naturally from a given note; i.e. the notes of the melody will imply a chord for each bar/measure and therefore will also imply the whole progression.

Sometimes, however, we find that the melody remains consistent (repeated small note cell) but that the chords change underneath - this is an example of the chord progression denying the harmonic implications of a melody and actually creating greater movement through the dissonance between the chord and the melody

 

[caycay]

here's the thing, a progression in and of itself means that there is direction; any other collection of chords is a sequence

Direction means that we would like to hear movement from chord I to chord V and back again to chord I (i-V-i is also included in this statement).

Thanks for the info bandcoach....My main problem is, I usually work from the "home" and then do a couple of different chords and then try and find a chord that resolves my progression by ear. I do a lot of deceptive cadences. If I don't follow the traditional "i-v" movement, does it make it harder for a melody to placed on it or harder for a singer to sing a melody on top of it?

---------- Post added at 09:07 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:04 PM ----------

I'd hazard a guess that he meant chords that come naturally from a given note; i.e. the notes of the melody will imply a chord for each bar/measure and therefore will also imply the whole progression.

Sometimes, however, we find that the melody remains consistent (repeated small note cell) but that the chords change underneath - this is an example of the chord progression denying the harmonic implications of a melody and actually creating greater movement through the dissonance between the chord and the melody

Wow, didn't know that, appreciate it

 

[Musnick]

May sound crazy but listen to modern gospel music and gospel piano tutorials. Or neo soul. Chords in these genres will inspire you. Trust.

 

[super supa nasty]

thiz iz true

 

[(R)Con]

Wow, some really good input here. Bandcoach...you know your stuff when it comes to theory. Thanks for the knowledge.