Help with progressions and putting down whats in my head

[Makaveli777]

I have been trying to figure this out forever and im not getting any closer to figuring it out. My problem is I can come up with a chord progression in my head and then when I go to put it together in Fl Studio's piano roll I cant put what I hear in my head down. I usually end up spending way to much time constructing chord after chord in the piano roll trying to find the chord I want and then eventually I get frustrated because I cant find the right chord and quit for a while. This happens a lot, plus there are so many ways for me to voice the chords especially with chords like minor 9's and sometimes when I try crunching the chord it changes the sound and its leading me to really not getting anywhere at the moment, my methods not working so im trying to find a new way or atleast some tips to get me closer to where I need to be. Thanks ahead of time.

 

[bandcoach]

you need to practice an adjunct skill-pair

- chord identification and
- chord progression transcription

the first will let you transcribe the exact chord type - basic tonality plus extended tones and inversions (what you called crunching the chord) -
whereas the second puts your progression into the context of a functional sequence or directed progression - i.e. you learn to hear your progression as sequence of chords within a given key

you can practice both at teoria.com.

Remember, to get past your current problem you need to do focused practice in the recognition of chord type and chord function.

Do type recognition to begin with and then commence working on progression recognition once you have a few chord types memorised....

 

[SiL_en_ce]

Nice Site bandcoach! And Makaveli777, if you haven't already, checkout Lypur on youtube. He gives free music theory lessons on youtube.

 

[Desire Inspires]

Check this out...

 

[G.E.PRODUCTIONS]

What Bandcoach said plus.....from what I understand you try to find the chords only by experimenting in the piano roll without playing on your keyboard.Until you get good at chord identification it will help you if you actually play them on your keyboard instead of drawing them in the piano roll.And at least it will make the process much faster.This is what I do.

 

[bandcoach]

Check this out...

so, yes, I like the presentation although it is a bit pedestrian in chord voicings - they are all root position triads (three finger chords).

This could be so much more interesting if done as follows

Gm-E[sup]b[/sup]-Cm-D (i-[sup]b[/sup]VI-iv-V)

Chord	Given Voicing	1	2	3
Gm	G-B[sup]b[/sup]-D	G-B[sup]b[/sup]-D	B[sup]b[/sup]-D-G	D-G-B[sup]b[/sup]
E[sup]b[/sup]	E[sup]b[/sup]-G-B[sup]b[/sup]	G-B[sup]b[/sup]-E[sup]b[/sup]	B[sup]b[/sup]-G-E[sup]b[/sup]	B[sup]b[/sup]-E[sup]b[/sup]-G
Cm	C-E[sup]b[/sup]-G	G-C-E[sup]b[/sup]	C-G-E[sup]b[/sup]	C-E[sup]b[/sup]-G
D	D-F[sup]#[/sup]-A	F[sup]#[/sup]-A-D	D-A-F[sup]#[/sup]	D-F[sup]#[/sup]-A

[td=colspan:2][/td][th=colspan:3]Alternate voicing[/th]

alternate voicings 1

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

alternate voicings 2

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

alternate voicings 3

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