Bassline chord prog and melody

[Brownz]

Sup, say I play a bassline in c major an arpegiation bass chord prog in my left hand. I have found that e sounds good when play the c major chord prog in my left hand so I play e in my right why is this? Why does e g and c sound good when play a c major in the left hand yet f and b sound rather bad? Do certain chords sound better together in terms of pop/rnb? And can I come back to the I chord at anytime or can only certain chords come back to the I chord. Basically I want to no which chords sound good together and how to return to the I without sounding bad?

 

[mwandishi]

Okay, based on my very limited theory knowledge E-G-C is an inversion of the C major Chord C-E-G. F&B might not sound good because the major chord in the normal progression is F-A-C. G-B may sound better because its part of the G chord. I just think has to do with progressions and inversions. This is just a thought, as I'm sure BC or pump, etc, may offer a better explanation. my 2 cents.

 

[bandcoach]

Sup, say I play a bassline in c major an arpegiation bass chord prog in my left hand. I have found that e sounds good when play the c major chord prog in my left hand so I play e in my right why is this? Why does e g and c sound good when play a c major in the left hand yet f and b sound rather bad? Do certain chords sound better together in terms of pop/rnb? And can I come back to the I chord at anytime or can only certain chords come back to the I chord. Basically I want to no which chords sound good together and how to return to the I without sounding bad?

1. playing a C major arpeggio in the bass means that you can use any note above
2. some notes are more in tune with the C than others, being closer to the C on the harmonic series
   • the note G is the 3rd harmonic
   • the note E is the 5th harmonic
   • the note Bb is the 7th harmonic
   • the note D is the 9th harmonic
   • the note F# is the 11th harmonic
   • the note C# is the 17th harmonic
   • the note Eb is the 19th harmonic
   • the note B is the 15th harmonic
   • the note F is the 21st harmonic
   • the note G# is the 25th harmonic
   • the note A is the 27th harmonic
3. we consider the consonance sequence for C to be (according to Paul Hindemith)
   Most Consonant C-G-F-E-Ab-Eb-A-D-Bb-Db-B-F# Most Dissonant
4. For the C major scale this would equate to
   Most Consonant C-G-F-E-A-D-B Most Dissonant

To your question more specifically:

I think that you need to learn to be more specific and, therefore accurate in your use of language to communicate musical ideas. To whit:
Chord means a collection of tones played simultaneously or one after the other. The triad is the basic chord form.
Tone is for a specific pitch
Note is for a rhythmic duration
Tone/Note are generally combined in such a way that they have become synonomous for the combined value of pitch and duration
Melody for a sequence of tones/notes

You ask about using a note against a left hand C major arpeggio:

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

This shows the left hand arpeggiating a C major chord C-G-C'-E'.

The right hand progresses through the overarching melodic line E-G-C-D-F-A-B-C

As can be heard, the A and B sound more dissonant than the F or D (at least to my ear)

As for using chords - what move to what - see this; Chord progressions in the major some tips and tricks

Melodically, there is no right or wrong note to play against a chord, only those are more dissonant or more consonant.

Okay, based on my very limited theory knowledge E-G-C is an inversion of the C major Chord C-E-G. F&B might not sound good because the major chord in the normal progression is F-A-C. G-B may sound better because its part of the G chord. I just think has to do with progressions and inversions. This is just a thought, as I'm sure BC or pump, etc, may offer a better explanation. my 2 cents.

You describe polychordal concepts

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

In this example the C major arpeggio continues as before in the left hand.

In the right hand we now hear triads played based on the scale degree found in the first melody:

Progression	Em-G-C-Dm-F-Am-Bdim-C
Polychord perceived	Em C	-	G C	-	C	-	Dm C	-	F C	-	Am C	-	Bdim C	-	C
Extended chord	C[sup]maj7[/sup]-C[sup]maj9[/sup]-C-C[sup][sup]6[/sup]/[sub]9[/sub]add11[/sup]-C[sup]6[/sup]-C[sup]maj9add11[/sup]-C

The notes F and B are part of the dominant 7th chord built above G - G-B-D-F, they are also considered to be active tones (high dissonance) requiring resolution by semitone movement: F moves down to E and B moves up to C

 

[MarcDHall]

Basically I want to no which chords sound good together and how to return to the I without sounding bad?

You do what all composers have done for centuries (despite what music theorists might tell you) you play them and see what they sound like.

 

[bandcoach]

This

Progression	Em-G-C-Dm-F-Am-Bdim-C
Polychord perceived	Em C	-	G C	-	C	-	Dm C	-	F C	-	Am C	-	Bdim C	-	C
Extended chord	C[sup]maj7[/sup]-C[sup]maj9[/sup]-C-C[sup][sup]6[/sup]/[sub]9[/sub]add11[/sup]-C[sup]6[/sup]-C[sup]maj9add11[/sup]-C

should read like this

Progression	Em-G-C-Dm-F-Am-Bdim-C
Polychord perceived	Em C	-	G C	-	C	-	Dm C	-	F C	-	Am C	-	Bdim C	-	C
Extended chord	C[sup]maj7[/sup]-C[sup]maj9[/sup]-C-C[sup][sup]6[/sup]/[sub]9[/sub]add11[/sup]-C[sup]6add11[/sup]-C[sup]6[/sup]-C[sup]maj9add11[/sup]-C

i.e the C[sup]6[/sup] should be preceded by a C[sup]6add11[/sup]

 

[Brownz]

Chord	Goes to
I	any chord
ii	IV, V, vii[SUP]b5[/SUP]
iii	ii, IV, vi
IV	I, iii, V, vii[SUP]b5[/SUP]
V	I, vi, IV
vi	ii, IV, V, I
vii[SUP]b5[/SUP]	I, iii

So say i'm in C major scale ohhhhhhh wow wait a minte I think I get it now. So thats why alot of chord progs have IV or V at the end because it goes back to the I and is consistant. But wait what if I put ii or iii at the end of a chord progression or at the end of a melody in my right hand, would that mean that I couldent get back to the I of my chord progression? or does it mean I could but it wouldent sound as good