Not a complete newbie...

[fluttershyisbestpony]

Hi all!

As the title says, I'm not completely new to making music, but I definitely wouldn't call myself experienced either. I've made one song using LMMS, but it's not the genre of music I would like to make. I really like Foozogz's music and would like to make something similar to that. I normally get a bassline or a melody, but as soon as I try to add something else to it, it just doesn't sound... good.

I guess what I really came here for was some help in making music. I have a general knowledge of things like the circle of fifths and a basic knowledge of chords thanks to band, but I want to know how to make the chords sound good. Any help would be appreciated!

[Versilaryan]

Hi, and welcome to MLR! ^^

Your knowledge makes things much easier to explain. So, all chords in a key consist of triads: a root note, a major or minor third above that, and a fifth above the root. Going up the C major scale:
C E G
D F A
E G B
F A C
G B D
A C E
B D F
C E G again

You'll notice that the chords are all major or minor (not counting that diminished chord at the end). It goes Major, minor, minor, Major, Major, minor, diminished, and then back to Major. So, we'll notate that using numbers. Capital letters mean major, lowercase means minor.
C - I
D - ii
E - iii
F - IV
G - V
A - vi
B - vii(dim)
C - I

In a minor scale, you get:
i (C Eb G)
ii(dim) (D F Ab)
III (Eb G Bb)
iv (F Ab C)
v (G Bb D)
V (G B D)
VI (Ab C Eb)
VII (Bb D F)
vii(dim) (B D F)
i again

Technically, you can get a few more by combining notes in the melodic minor scale (like ii or IV), but those just sound weird 'cause nobody uses them. If you're doing something like progressive house that relies on odd chords, it's definitely something to look into. Or you could just use them anyways and make them work. Whatever sounds good.


Next point: how they work. The first note in a scale is obviously the root (called tonic, if you didn't know) -- it's what key the song is in. The second-most important note is the 7th note, the leading tone.

You'll notice that iii, V, and vii(dim) all contain the leading tone. (So in C major, EGB GBD BDF). Not counting iii (just don't use that one -- it ends up sounding weird most of the time), they all lead into the I chord. If you play it on a piano or guitar, just go G major to C major, or B diminished to C major, it resolves. V and vii(dim) are the dominant chords. I is tonic, and all the rest of them are subdominant.

All chords in a harmonic progression go from tonic to subdominant to dominant back to tonic. If you're a nerd like me and harmonically analyze music you hear on the radio, you'll notice a lot of music doesn't follow that. That's what my theory teacher called a harmonic regression, where you go from tonic to dominant to subdominant just so that your chord structure is really easy to repeat over and over and over again. At this point, it's really up to you, though if you try to write an orchestral piece with a harmonic regression, no composer will give you the light of day.

That being said, what you need to do is once you have a melody or a bassline, figure out what chords fit it and then work the rest of your parts around that. If you have a lot of moving lines, make sure that no two notes are ever a dissonant interval apart (seconds, sevenths, etc), though that could be cool sometimes, depending on how you use it.

If you have examples, I could help point out some things specifically you can improve. Even if it's not theory-related, it's easier to help you if you have concrete things to help with. =P

[Whitetail]

^Useful information, read it

Also if you have an example of what you're working on to show us that could help tool the feedback to help suit what you're actually doing.

[Ed Viper]

In my 8 years of piano lessons, and the music theory class I took last quarter, nobody has ever explained how chords work together in such a simple, easy to understand way. I'm glad I decided to look at this thread - even though I'm not really the one asking for help here ^ ^;.

[PhillyPu]

Holy crap, did Versilaryan just explain the basics of tonal harmony? Eeyup he did. And btw, the V IV I progression HAS been done by common era composers, albeit used VERY VERY SPARINGLY.

But yeah, once you learn the basics (check out Wikipedia, actually, they do a really good job of explaining music theory concepts), it's not that hard to grasp more advanced concepts like secondary functions and modulations and Neopolitan chord and chord borrowings (oh my!)

How to make the chord "sound good" will depend on what you are doing. In the classical choral setting, having the chord sound good usually means doubling the bass (in four-part harmonization), and not omitting notes for a full sound. Similar in orchestral settings, root note is emphasized unless you want the chord to sound a bit unstable.

In electronic music, the same can apply, however, now how a chord "sounds" will also depend on how the track is mixed and EQ'd, and not necessarily on the voicing of the chord itself. For example, you could have three different synths playing C, E, and G, but it will probably sound muddy and stuff, especially within the context of the entire mix. Then you need to cut and reduce certain frequencies for it to sit well with the mix, as it is likely your chord is not sitting in the track by itself.

[fluttershyisbestpony]

Thanks for all the help so far! This is the one song that I made in LMMS a couple of months ago.