The best chords for R&B

hezekiah

Soulful Keys
I started playing the piano with zero theory and worked everything about using my ears. That became an issue when trying to play with bands, so I went away and learn most the common chords.

As my genre is Neo Soul / R&B / Funk / Jazz, I have found a common structure pattern.

R&B and Soul producers / musician tend to use chords within the following scales.

Eb maj(or C min) - mirrored keys
Fmaj (or Dmin)
Bb maj (or Gmin)
Db maj(or Bbmin)

Most of my chord progressions are based around these keys and I often alternate switching keys. E.g. go from a Bmin7th (Db maj key) - down to the Gmin7th (Gmin key)

 
This is wrong. No key is better for any genre.

In fact, no key is better than any other full stop- apart from some keys being easier to remember/ play in for some instrumentalists.

Try transposing some of your chord progressions into a different key and you'll see they sound the same.
 
I like to think of keys as different flavors. No flavor is better than another, but they all have different qualities. Certain ones are better suited to genres, but its more of a guideline than a strict rule to follow. Anything goes, long as it works. In terms of chords, minor fifths are my favorite i believe. (Not the best with musical jargon but based off memory thats the name of the chords that I like). Pretty much, I just like the bluesy jazz feeling chords.
 
In theory yes, but in practice no. There are certain factors that will make a certain chord change sound difference if played in different key due to physics, sound frequencies / wavelength and the harmonics.
I make a little track the other day and had a singer try to sing over it. she was having difficulties and wanted me to lower the key.
My original composition had Major then 1/2 step back into another major and sounded really soulful.
The key change version had the same major to major step but in a different key, it did not sound soulful at all - completely different in the other key. The harmonics and the tension was just not the same in the other key, even the Japanese singer said so - in Japanese (キーが変わったら感じが違うね) - translates to "Changing the key, changes the whole mood / feeling"
 
This is wrong. No key is better for any genre.

In fact, no key is better than any other full stop- apart from some keys being easier to remember/ play in for some instrumentalists.

Try transposing some of your chord progressions into a different key and you'll see they sound the same.

Wrong. Each key triggers off a chemical reaction in your body, henceforth the practice of Sound Therapy. You won't really get chill results in RnB with e.g a G# scale which by nature is super angry, or, C# ..
 
Sound Therapy.

I am 99.9% less likely to believe you if you cite pseudoscience like sound therapy as evidence.

G# isn't a real key, it's technically Ab. (Ab major is Ab, Bb, C, Db, Eb, F, G, Ab. G# major would be G#, A#, B#, C#, D#, E#, F# G#, which contains B# and E# which are sort of the same as C and F but it's easier to write it in terms of flats)
I suppose these
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=my5OSmQZjns

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-Ne6HjoCqY

Are super angry sounding? Seeing as they're in G#/Ab major?
 
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