r&b melodies/chord progressions!!!

M

mylesp510

Member
[FONT=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]does anyone have tips on creating r&b melodies/ chord progression? i know what sounds to use but i'm lacking when it comes to chord progression. any tips/videos would be very helpful. i have octavian on my iphone so i can figure out scales and chords, but i dont know. im not too good at chord progression. [/FONT]

[FONT=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]something along the lines of this.[/FONT]

The Making of "Hush Hush" by April Nhem (Beat Making) - YouTube


 
So the chords he is playing in this are F-Am-Em7-F

Which makes this some sort of modal adventure, most likely F lydian - i.e. F-G-A-B-C-D-E-F (1-2-3-#4-5-6-7-1) - all the white keys

So there is one tip to making soulful beats: use a modal center

next thing is the chords are played with a syncopated rhythm

1234
1+2+3+4+1+2+3+4+1+2+3+4+1+2+3+4+
FAmEm7Em7F
[

[mp3]http://www.bandcoach.org/fp/audio/rnbTips-01.mp3[/mp3]

rnbTips-01.png



Tip 2: use a syncopation based on the 3-2 or 2-3 clave or similar (3-2 and 2-3 tell us the order and the number of accents) - this will make the beat seem more fluid and lifelike

3-2
12
1+2+3+4+1+2+3+4+
3-2XXXXX

[mp3]http://www.bandcoach.org/fp/audio/rnbTips-09.mp3[/mp3]

2-3
12
1+2+3+4+1+2+3+4+
2-3XXXXX
[mp3]http://www.bandcoach.org/fp/audio/rnbTips-10.mp3[/mp3]


Tip 3: percussion
Vary your percussion a little bit to make it less repetitive and boring
drop instruments out
add extra hits on an instrument

Tip 4: Melody
Melodically, fewer notes and a small interval range usually work well - this is because the average untrained voice can cope with about a half an octave and only moving by step (tone or semitone up or down) or single skips (m3/M3 up or down) - usually the home key note and the notes above and below - might skip out to 5th above/4th below if being adventurous.

Tip 5: Bass line
Bass line will be rooted to the root of each chord with maybe a small scale run or chord run (arpeggio) to join chords together. It will also be strongly tied to the rhythm of the kick.

Tip 6: Pads
Things like string synth lines should be long held notes that tie over as many chords as possible.

In the case of the track you mention, if I were writing a string machine part, I would use the notes A-A-G-A or A-A-B-C or F-E-E-F above the treble clef (above C[sub]4[/sub]).

[mp3]http://www.bandcoach.org/fp/audio/rnbTips-02.mp3[/mp3]

rnbTips-02.png


[mp3]http://www.bandcoach.org/fp/audio/rnbTips-05.mp3[/mp3]

rnbTips-05.png


If I strongly felt the need to provide a second line to this part it would probably be something like

[mp3]http://www.bandcoach.org/fp/audio/rnbTips-03.mp3[/mp3]

rnbTips-03.png


or

[mp3]http://www.bandcoach.org/fp/audio/rnbTips-04.mp3[/mp3]

rnbTips-04.png


or

[mp3]http://www.bandcoach.org/fp/audio/rnbTips-06.mp3[/mp3]

rnbTips-06.png


or

[mp3]http://www.bandcoach.org/fp/audio/rnbTips-07.mp3[/mp3]

rnbTips-07.png


or

[mp3]http://www.bandcoach.org/fp/audio/rnbTips-08.mp3[/mp3]

rnbTips-08.png


usual caveats about fl not using standard note numbering (add 2 to the fl subscript and you will have the same notes as I indicate above: C[sub]3[/sub] in any other Daw === C[sub]5[/sub] in FL and BiaB)
 
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