Guys, I'm really struggling with chord progressions for uplifting/dancefloor stuff. I can't figure out what gives a chord progression that energetic feeling. Thinking about tunes like these: Also what synths should be used for those? In this tune it sounds like a synth brass sound combined with a piano, that's all i can figure out. Any ideas? Cheers.
I use a website called hooktheory (http://www.hooktheory.com/trends) to help me create chord progressions. It's a good way to learn the general chord progressions used in modern music. Major keys definitely make things uplifting, but I've found my lead melodies often end up sounding like nursery rhymes when I work in major keys, so uh... have fun with that. I've also found in the past that using more complex chords such as 7th's and 9th's can help create an uplifting feel in tracks. For the song you posted I think the chords are G# A# Cmin from looking at a spectrum analyser and roughing it on my keyboard, not 100% sure though. A trick you can try is to get tracks you like and use a spectrum analyser to look at the sub bass notes being played. Often the bass will be the same as the root note of the main chords being played, so it's a good start to understanding the main chord structure of a song.
uplifting tends to be a combination of Major, Minor and 5ths, or even Minor and 5ths, occasional 7th even (5th and 7th means drop the 5th or 7th note in the scale, so A min 5th chord, instead of being A > C > E would become A > C > Eb ) (technically its not a minor 5th at all, its a diminised 5th...but theres no point complicating it if you arnt interested in music theory, just drop the 5th or 7th note down one semitone on whatever chord you are using, works especially well at the end of a phrase) so you might do something like A min > C Maj > A min 5th > C Maj - C Maj 5th > Repeat (that's a completely arbitrary chord sequence btw, make ur own up...or look up Classic Pop Chord Progressions)
Thanks alot, that page is great. Especially they have this hookpad where you can write your own stuff. Thank you! I should defo learn more music theory! There isn't too much time besides studying and all that stuff, hehe. Maybe my question sounded a bit stupid at the beginning, but you guys really helped me out, cheers.
Take a major scale (e.g. C major) Start on C major chord. Make chords from only notes in the C major scale (e.g. F major -FAC, G major GBD, E minor EGB etc). There are six basic major and minor chords for every major scale- can you find them all? Rearrange them until you find a chord sequence you like (which usually end on chord 4 or 5 (f major or g major) Learn to write melodies and or basslines over chords.
damn being a music writer gets easier every day.....good job theres no automatic mixdown and mastering servi.....oh wait...
Haha yeah I agree. But let's be honest, this trend toughens the competition. And I don't find this "cheating" as there are a lot of complex issues with music production such as mixdowns, arrangement and proper emotion - these will make or break your track in the long run and not how easy is it to create chords or use samples/presets.
Ok but a bit limited. Doesn't do 7ths or sus chords or anything like that, always sticks completely within key (boring!), only writes 4 bar chord sequences and doesn't change the length of any of the chords. The best thing about it is the 'chords in this key' section. That's very very useful for learning theory.
