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Home Labwerks Experimenting with progressions

Experimenting with progressions

How much do chord progressions determine melody?

This corner of the lab is looking at chord progressions. Some are so distinctive that they practically dictate the melody. A good example for me is Something by George Harrison:

Chords for Something:
Intro: F Eb G C
Verse: C Cmaj7 C7 F F/E D D7 G Am Am/Ab Am7 Am6 F Eb G C
Bridge: A Amaj7 F#m F#m7 D G A A Amaj7 F#m F#m7 D G C

Here’s a much simpler progression played on piano and acoustic guitar:

The chords in this progression are: G D | Em | C | D7 | G D | Em | A7 | D7 | G | G7 | C | Cm | Cm | G | Em | Am | D6 | G, which is a pretty standard 16 bar sequence, with a hold for an extra bar on the Cm.

Setting aside the tempo, rhythm and choice of instruments in this demo, I’m interested to see how far this, or any other progression of chords influences the finished composition. So, I’ve composed not one but two different melodies to this sequence and added them to the end of this section. Sorry, you’ll just have to wait.

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