Question about Chords/Keys

S

Sokalm

New member
Hey, i'm new to the forum, but not to making beats usually sampling alot, but i want to broad my experience and i am trying to create original pieces. I have made a couple of beats that were good and got alot of people feedback, but even with my practice i seem to keep coming up with the same progression on Piano Roll when making new material. It all sound the same even when i try moving the length of the note i don't know what going on. So, i was wondering if anyone was willing to guide me threw on how to be a bit more creative and share ideas...

My Style is usually Underground hip hop from Jadakiss, Stack Bundles, Red Cafe ETC.
 
There are a lot of ways to vary your chord progressions. My best advice is to listen to music, and take note of how other people change things up. Here's a tip:

If you're talking in 4's (typical time for beats), you might lay down 4 chords in a progression.. 1, 2, 3, 4. But try using just 3 chords, and doubling one of them somewhere to make it a total of 4. Like 1, 1, 2, 3. Or 1, 2, 3, 3.

Along the same lines, take your first 4 chords, and add more to extend the whole progression to 8 (and vary within). Chord 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, or Chord 1, 2, 3, 3, 4, 5, 6, 6, for example.

Another thing you might want to look up is syncopation. It changes where the accents are, which can give your progression a different feel or rhythm.
 
I try changing the velocity of things and i do know some of the scales not all of them i guess it just me on not knowing how to put chords together properly is probably why. Many youtube video out there don't show you that. When i try to make song in the A Scale

I USUALLY Tend to use 1 note a bar or a block i feel if i squeeze more in there it too much no reason why i do that. But I will try and lay more then two chords on top of each other and see where that goes... If Anyone has skype let me know
 
You should read up on some basic music theory and basic piano techniques.

I went through a similar problem in the early stages of making beats, but learning the major chords and scales on even the piano and understanding how they work helped me tremendously inside and outside of the studio as a musician.

Start with learning the C Major chord and the scale of C Major. You can make endless melodies on the C scale alone, once you get comfortable and know the C scale, move to the next such as D major for example.

Let me know if this helps.
 
Sokalm said:
Hey, i'm new to the forum, but not to making beats usually sampling alot, but i want to broad my experience and i am trying to create original pieces. I have made a couple of beats that were good and got alot of people feedback, but even with my practice i seem to keep coming up with the same progression on Piano Roll when making new material. It all sound the same even when i try moving the length of the note i don't know what going on. So, i was wondering if anyone was willing to guide me threw on how to be a bit more creative and share ideas...

My Style is usually Underground hip hop from Jadakiss, Stack Bundles, Red Cafe ETC.
Click to expand...

Some resources/tools
Band Coach ~ Keyboard Diagrams and related information

Band Coach ~ Common Chord Progressions: Major

Band Coach ~ Common Chord Progressions: Minor

You will need to come to grips with what the Roman numerals mean and how to interpret #'s and b's as they appear in these progressions, but it is well worth the study

Sokalm said:
I try changing the velocity of things and i do know some of the scales not all of them i guess it just me on not knowing how to put chords together properly is probably why. Many youtube video out there don't show you that. When i try to make song in the A Scale

I USUALLY Tend to use 1 note a bar or a block i feel if i squeeze more in there it too much no reason why i do that. But I will try and lay more then two chords on top of each other and see where that goes... If Anyone has skype let me know
Click to expand...

Stacking chords to make polychords or polytonal structures is quite advanced. Stick with the simple triads and basic extensions to the 7th and 9th for now.
 
Take a music theory class. A good course will break down every type of chord there is, chord progressions, cadences, etc :-)
 
or just ask the questions here and get an answer at the time you need it - see my many posts on just those aspects
 
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