Need some clarity on the theory of Chord Progressions

[Poltergeist]

I've been playing guitar for about a decade now... And I'll readily admit that I've used my ear while composing original music ever since I picked up the guitar... Over the last 3 years I've delved into Music Theory.. I understand scales, know all the modes, know the notes in all 12 keys (rough on the flat keys). But when it comes to understanding chord progressions they just leave me feeling confused on what chords lead to where harmonically.... Does that make sense?

I know the most basic chord progression in western music is the I IV V...

But there's so much abstract music out there and I know it cant all be following this mundane I IV V progression, of course...

Is it all about Cadences? Or how many relative notes each chords share? Do inversions play any role?

I could take a bunch of basic chord shapes within a key, (chosen at random), but it doesn't mean they'll move together in a musically pleasing let alone a unique and original way. Like what about an odd ball progression like a I ii iii ii I
Can you really choose chords at random and make them sound good?

I basically want to understand what to EXPECT when I'm trying to write a chord progression within a specific key...

What chords push and pull or compliment to other chords... And even could pull to another key?

This shit just boggles my mind theoretically..


Is there a simpler way to perceiving all this so I don't have to rely solely on my ear anymore when composing original music?

 

[guitarplayerone]

A lot of what you are talking about is stuff which is addressed in Harmony I and II courses. Voice leading certainly involves using inversions of chords, but my idea is that while it is useful, it rarely means anything for metal.

There are a lot of progressions besides ii V I or whatever, if you find a harmony book somewhere they will have charts in both major and minor regarding chord tendencies. I forget them at the moment since it's been a while...

You can also look into substitutions, extending your chord voicings, modulations, etc. For that you may want to pick up a book on jazz harmony, but I would recommend getting the basics of four-part harmony down as the book will expect you to know them.

I've been playing guitar for about a decade now... And I'll readily admit that I've used my ear while composing original music ever since I picked up the guitar... Over the last 3 years I've delved into Music Theory.. I understand scales, know all the modes, know the notes in all 12 keys (rough on the flat keys). But when it comes to understanding chord progressions they just leave me feeling confused on what chords lead to where harmonically.... Does that make sense?

I know the most basic chord progression in western music is the I IV V...

But there's so much abstract music out there and I know it cant all be following this mundane I IV V progression, of course...

Is it all about Cadences? Or how many relative notes each chords share? Do inversions play any role?

I could take a bunch of basic chord shapes within a key, (chosen at random), but it doesn't mean they'll move together in a musically pleasing let alone a unique and original way. Like what about an odd ball progression like a I ii iii ii I
Can you really choose chords at random and make them sound good?

I basically want to understand what to EXPECT when I'm trying to write a chord progression within a specific key...

What chords push and pull or compliment to other chords... And even could pull to another key?

This shit just boggles my mind theoretically..


Is there a simpler way to perceiving all this so I don't have to rely solely on my ear anymore when composing original music?

 

[Poltergeist]

A lot of what you are talking about is stuff which is addressed in Harmony I and II courses. Voice leading certainly involves using inversions of chords, but my idea is that while it is useful, it rarely means anything for metal.

There are a lot of progressions besides ii V I or whatever, if you find a harmony book somewhere they will have charts in both major and minor regarding chord tendencies. I forget them at the moment since it's been a while...

You can also look into substitutions, extending your chord voicings, modulations, etc. For that you may want to pick up a book on jazz harmony, but I would recommend getting the basics of four-part harmony down as the book will expect you to know them.

Interesting... My knowledge of harmony is very limited, I did managed to dig up some resources on harmony by Berklee College of Music, perhaps that'll be a good starting point...

I need to work on inversions big time...I love really out there chords like suspended chords and 6/9 chords and major/minor 7 add 9's maj7 #11 etc...

Suspended chords make the concept of progressions a bit more strange for me though because they have no maj or minor third in them... so fitting them in harmonically is kinda confusing. I love all these embellished chords but dont know how to put them into motion and make them "gel" if you will, with other chords...

What should I do just record a few bars of a 3 or 4 chord progression in my DAW and go through each Inversion of said chord progression?

How do you guys practice this kinda stuff?

 

[redstone]

I have a system to make predictions with modal (and tonal) chord progressions. Well at least those made of triads.

My four rules for what I call a "perfect modal progression".

Rule 1 - all tonics are on the same scale.
Rule 2 - all thirds are on the same scale.
Rule 3 - all 5ths are on the same scale.
Rule 4 - all triads share a common note with the next one.

Let's put it in practice :

E- B D A- F C- E- B G D A- E- C G etc..

The more you break those rules, the more the progression becomes awkward, but if you don't break it, things don't go anywhere. So you have to find the balance to let the brain get used to the ruptures.

rule 5 - avoid breaking two rules at the same time.

C E- A- B F A- D- E G- C G- B- F A- G# F- C..

Btw, with this system I treat the dim and aug triads as dom7s and -maj7s. But I'm not quite sure about that, work in progress.

 

[80H]

I've been playing guitar for about a decade now... And I'll readily admit that I've used my ear while composing original music ever since I picked up the guitar... Over the last 3 years I've delved into Music Theory.. I understand scales, know all the modes, know the notes in all 12 keys (rough on the flat keys). But when it comes to understanding chord progressions they just leave me feeling confused on what chords lead to where harmonically.... Does that make sense?

I know the most basic chord progression in western music is the I IV V...

But there's so much abstract music out there and I know it cant all be following this mundane I IV V progression, of course...

Is it all about Cadences? Or how many relative notes each chords share? Do inversions play any role?

I could take a bunch of basic chord shapes within a key, (chosen at random), but it doesn't mean they'll move together in a musically pleasing let alone a unique and original way. Like what about an odd ball progression like a I ii iii ii I
Can you really choose chords at random and make them sound good?

I basically want to understand what to EXPECT when I'm trying to write a chord progression within a specific key...

What chords push and pull or compliment to other chords... And even could pull to another key?

This shit just boggles my mind theoretically..


Is there a simpler way to perceiving all this so I don't have to rely solely on my ear anymore when composing original music?

My simple way ->

Every chord is a formation of intervals. Moving from one triad to the next is 3 notes that are resolving to 3 more notes. Technically 9 resolutions happening at the same time if you assume that none of the triads share any notes. A C# E and B D F# for example are the first 2 chords built out of A Major. If you think of A compared to B, D and F#, and then do that with C# and E, you will realize that you are weaving several very simple interval relationships together. Try to see it as 9 resolutions instead of one chord change and you will start to understand chords much better than the average player. Think of mixing red and and blue to create purple versus mixing purple with orange (red+yellow) to create a more complex color. That is pretty much how chord changes work. It's like color theory except apparently every writer ever has an advanced degree in the physics of traveling soundwaves.

If 2 triads have no notes in common, they will create a strong change. If they share 1 note, the resolutions change up enough to be noticeable. If they share 2 notes and you change to another triad, you create the illusion of a change, but the original chord leaves too strong of an impression to be shaken off.


Deeper theory is a lot more to bite off and I recommend reading a lot of different books from a lot of different authors for the deep theory regarding chord changes. It's like this really complex mathematical wavelength ratio system of nonsense and none of the pages make sense until you read the whole thing and even then you're kinda just like "man wtf....wtf." Takes time!

 

[Repner]

To add to Poltergeists question, are there any books on harmony anyone can recommend? I would like to delve deeper into this as well.

 

[Dirtdog]

We'll you asking questions is a good start
A good jazz theory and practice would do you some good
One by Richard lawn is a good one
The I IV V is the daddy of the progressions
But ii V I is a big jazz one along with other variants
I vi ii V I
It's basically how each note moves to the other chords as well as what the root movement is doing
There are modal progressions as well that can be learned

 

[Solodini]

Regarding your confusion on sus chords, the suspended note (2 or 4) is a semitone away from a min or maj 3rd respectively. It resolves to that 3rd similarly to how a Maj 7 resolves to the tonic. As such, you can sort of view sus 2 as a minor chord and sus 4 as a major chord, even though they can be used in place of any chord where a maj2 or p4 would fit around it.

You mentioned liking #11s. If they're used in place of the 5 of a chord, that will resolve to the 5th similarly.

As mentioned above, if you view it as a set of interlocking melodies then you're afforded more freedom. Chords are just shorthand for the relationships taking place between the notes and can be reversed to give you possibilities of accompanying lines for a melody.

I'd suggest writing a melody and writing a couple of counterpoint harmonies to go alongside it. Have a look at what chords seem to jump out of that at you. You could have a chromatically descending bassline which throws up all sorts of altered and extended chords or it could all be pretty standard. Don't just think in terms of key, think in terms of modules of harmony, 3x3: The relationships vertically between the notes now (C# isn't in C major but if you have A and E at that point in time then you might as well try it as you know it'll fit those notes) and the relationship with the notes immediately before and after. You can get some pretty mad sounding stuff out of that but it will usually work, in its own odd way (see Mark Mothersbaugh's music, Zappa, Keneally).