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orpheon7 Online
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- Posts: 113
- Joined: Mon Jan 24, 2011 4:41 pm
Mon Oct 29, 2012 12:49 pm
Think in terms of intervals and in terms of paths.
If you don't plan on changing the root chord, then it gets a lot easier. Say you choose a root like Am (freely changeable). You now can use Am, G, F, Em, Dm, C and Bdim.
You usually begin with the root chord, and then you can choose a path. Think of the path from the point of view of the bass. And then from that path, you choose the chord position.
For example, say you start with A. Since the whole thing is in Am, you can already ignore all notes which are not in Am. A possible path would be A -> C -> D -> E -> A (not considering minor or major). Try playing those notes on a keyboard, it "makes sense" to have E follow after D and C because that's what we expect (which makes it sound good). Why from E to A, that's because E is the dominant, more on that later.
Another really obvious progression is A - G - F - E - A. The pattern is obvious here, this is a prime example of how you build a chord path.
Once you have your path, construct the chords a few octaves above it. Try to use inversions in such a way that there is 1. As little change as possible, 2. Movement that follows a path and 3. That movement is the opposite to the movement in the bass (priorities in that order).
In this example, I'd do this: First A-C-E (A minor), then G-C-E (C major), F-A-D (D minor), E-G/G#-B (E, whether minor or major doesn't matter here, because again, it's the dominant.), C-E-A. You'll end up almost an octave below, which is not ideal, but something in this style is what I usually aim for.
A few words about the dominant chord, it's always the 5th chord from the root note, and it often "points" to or leads to the root note. It usually "should" be minor, but putting in major makes it sound good as well, so this is simply experimenting. Also a great "pointer" to the root chord is the 7th chord, try it!