Chords and Pop/rock music... help please

hello.

I'm new to this, both the forum and composing. I've played piano since I was three, and sing competitively. I played clarinet for 4 years, and am starting guitar next week (just got a fender telecaster for my birthday ;))

I've written a few SUPER easy classical piano pieces, but this is my first time trying to write a contemporary piece. I've got lyrics, but i can't seem to write a piano accompaniment.

This would not be a problem, except I NEED to write this piece. I need to make this music, get it out to the open air. The piece I'm writing is for my boyfriend (who is an EXTREMELY talented musician). I know I won't be able to write anything else until I set these lyrics to music.

I've pinpointed my problem to a lack of understanding of chords. I've done my piano theory and technique, but don't understand how chords (dominant 7ths, diminished 7ths etc.) are used in composition. Equally puzzling to me is the mystery of creating chord progression to suit a melody. I also don't know how to (for lack of better words) play variations on these chords to create the accompaniment.

If anyone could help me learn how to write music, I would be most grateful.

well, that's what we're all here for - to learn.

We can't just tell you how to write music. What we can do is give you specific advice for elements of music composition that you can work with. The first thing I would suggest is getting a book of theory or even just going online to some basic theory sites so you can understand how a chord works and how melodies go over them. Probably some of the conservatives here will tell you to get a teacher or a book, but really, if you just want to know a bit about chords to write pop music, try Ricci Adams' Musictheory.net, or teor

My advice is to listen to a lot of music, and if possible, study some scores. You can see first hand what you are hearing, and it helps bridge the gap between the ear and the page.

Thanks so much everyone!

just thought i'd mention something i forgot: I have taken theory, LOTS of theory, it's just the theory i've done was very classical, and taught me about chords, just not how to USE them in music. just thought i'd clarify so i didn't seem like an idiot :P

Harmony, counterpoint, chordprogressions, motive-variations and whole lot more contains knowledge you can get akwainted with in order to understand and structure music for the intelligent side of music. In oder to make(your own) music is just plain creativity. It realy helps to learn about all subject involved in creating what you want to create, but eventualy it comes down to what is in your heart.

Oh my gosh, I know exactly what you mean when you talk about how you need to finish the piece... there are days where I feel sick to my stomach because I am unable to put the emotions and experiences I want to express into lyric or music or art.

Regarding writing the piece... perhaps you're worrying about it a little too much :]. Sometimes it is most beneficial not to sit down and write something great, but rather to simply sit down and write. I haven't composed much... so take my words with a grain of salt... but the absolute best stuff that I have ever brought to music came not from me sitting a wracking my brain for brilliant chord progressions, but from humming a tune in the shower or from messing around on my instrument. One light rock song I've composed has a melody that I wrote (not on page, mind you...) as a 5th grader. Just sit down and let the music flow... if you try to grab it and confine it to logic and theory and page, it will always seem a little lifeless.

It's very important to have chords in your song that help move it along, and add to the mood/tone of the piece without simply serving as music underneath. But, don't forget how important melody is. I know this sounds like a really dumb thing to say, but I've heard a lot of songs where the melody doesn't really move, it just sits nicely on top of the chords, and that's not interesting at all. That's not a melody, as far as I'm concerned.

I'll tell you a little bit about how I write, because I write more of this kind of music than classical music. Everything with me starts with lyrics, usually. Every now and then a melody will pop into my head first. I try to write both pretty simultaneously, but invariably, the lyrics get ahead of me.

Then I come up with a melody and sing it over and over and over. I go to the piano to write it down, melody only. I don't know if this term is used in classical music, so pardon me if it sounds like I'm talking down to you; I don't mean to. What you're creating is a "lead sheet." Once I have the melody on paper, I go back to fill in the chords. I find my chords will lead in more interesting directions if they're fully supporting a melody. There are times, of course, when a chord will want to go somewhere really interesting that doesn't support the melody, so often, I'll then change the melody. I write the chords in above the melody, and then without worrying about an arrangement, I basically have a song. There's a melody, there's a harmony, there are lyrics.

Often when I'm writing a song I'll have a bit of a groove in my head, and then I'll pencil that in under the melody, but I don't worry about it too much til after I have my lead sheet. Then I find a groove I like, and start playing with the chords within the groove. Where I want the chords to land in the groove, and I want them to transition within the groove. I used to write thinking so much about melody that EVERYTHING else came secondary. I finally learned (thank goodness) how important a bass line is to a song. With your lead sheet, if you just add a bass line to that, the majority of people won't know that it's not a "complete" song.

But the arrangement gets written into the groove of the song. The bass line often leads the groove, and many of your chords go in the treble. I suggest taking a look at a piece of pop or cabaret music to see what I mean. Jason Robert Brown is a perfect example of groove and fantastic bass lines. And a lot of his music is printed.

I hope this helps!

thank you everyone, your advice has really helped.

you said you just don't know how to use the chords...i suggest you do harmonic analysis of pop songs; you'll find some very sophisticated stuff in Brian Wilson, The Beatles, Stevie Wonder, etc.

Yeah but how do people get their hands on lots of music?

Limewire.

:unsure:

~Kal

Limewire is for the computer illiterate. =/

um... What do you mean you don't understand chords? You have a "rich" musical background but don't understand one of the fundamental building blocks of music?

You don't need to understand chords to use them either... Most songs are basic on 3 chords and almost all western music is built from those 3 chords. And what are those 3 chords???? The tonic dominant and subdominant.... or in the key of Cmaj, Cmaj Gmaj and Fmaj.

Don't worry about other chord types. Just play with those 3 chords. Once you can make songs with them then you can worry about embellishing them and inserting other "chords"(which are actually one of those in disguise).

So you might have

C F G C = I IV V I... one of the most common progressions and found in almost every piece of western music.

C F C G C = very similar to above

C G F C = not common in cpp but if you make those dom7th chords(i.e. C7 G7 F7) you get part of the basic 12-bar blues.

Then once you get your head around those you can use other diatonic chords such as Am, Dm, etc... Then you can use diminished chords, augmented chords, augmented 6ths, extensions, suspensions, etc... but don't worry bout it now.

Soulseek is what I use, combined with Allmusic.com, which isn't the best source, but its good for getting ideas.

Wikipedia's got a few basic analysis articles of a few jazz tunes and whatnot too.

find and keyboard and transcribe the chords yourself, it's good for developing your ear too