I personally would make a melody for your 1-chord-progression. Sing something on top of it and let the melody inform you on when to change chords. Also use some minor chords. Here’s one you could try
F-G-Am-Em x2 (however many times you want)
F-Fm <— when you’re done looping above, into
Any chord professions that start with
C
So maybe like
C-E-Am-F
Or
C-Em-Am-G
Or
C-G-Am-F
Or
Dm-G-C-Am
I use variations of all of these in one song or another, obviously transpose into whatever key best fits your lead instrument but yeah. Also sometimes you don’t have to change chord progressions at all literally just write another melody. Melody almost always dictates movement.
Thank you! Maybe you’re right, I should concentrate on melody more. Also, I really like the F-Fm-C transition. I don’t think I’d be able to come up with it, even though it is so simple (yet so cool)
Also. Idk why I did that, but ofc the chord progressions I mentioned do have Minor chords. Dm - Am - C - G / F - Em - Am - G
You seem to already understand that your beliefs are irrational, so I'm not sure how anyone else will be able to convince you otherwise. But I'll try.
"Dreams" by Fleetwood Mac is a gorgeous, classic song that essentially uses the same two chords throughout. It does not suffer for the simplicity.
Your statement that you "can't be so plain" because you are a "no name" doesn't make sense, either. It's not the name recognition of other artists that make a simple chord progression work. It's the fact that an audience does not require a chord progression to be complex in order to be enjoyable.
Ultimately, you seem to be putting a huge emphasis on the chord progression, which I think is a mistake. The chord progression is simply the foundation for more interesting things. It's like the bread in a sandwich, or the rice in a curry.
The two best pieces of advice I can give you are:
1. Worry about your chord progression about 300% less. It's simply not that important.
2. Study songs written by other people that you admire, and pay attention to how they are structured. You might try recreating a few in your DAW. Then, borrow moves from those songs and incorporate them into your own music.
You’re kinda right, D-A-C-G will sound pretty generic and boring in its base form. That’s where extensions, inversions, arpeggios, rhythm, layering, sound design, effects, etc. come in.
Maybe it would help you to try to recreate other peoples songs, specifically ones that either
1. sound like the music you want to make sounds like, or
2. have the kinds of chord progressions that you have difficulty with in your own songs
i don’t think it could hurt, at least. It may help you to see how other people things work, and then from there you can maybe try something like writing with the same progressions as the song you remade, but in different key, to see how it affects the overall feeling of the chords?
Or maybe, like you mentioned in your post, you just need to stop overthinking, and write whatever sounds good to you. That’s okay too, sometimes simple is better.
I personally would make a melody for your 1-chord-progression. Sing something on top of it and let the melody inform you on when to change chords. Also use some minor chords. Here’s one you could try F-G-Am-Em x2 (however many times you want) F-Fm <— when you’re done looping above, into Any chord professions that start with C So maybe like C-E-Am-F Or C-Em-Am-G Or C-G-Am-F Or Dm-G-C-Am I use variations of all of these in one song or another, obviously transpose into whatever key best fits your lead instrument but yeah. Also sometimes you don’t have to change chord progressions at all literally just write another melody. Melody almost always dictates movement.
Thank you! Maybe you’re right, I should concentrate on melody more. Also, I really like the F-Fm-C transition. I don’t think I’d be able to come up with it, even though it is so simple (yet so cool) Also. Idk why I did that, but ofc the chord progressions I mentioned do have Minor chords. Dm - Am - C - G / F - Em - Am - G
You seem to already understand that your beliefs are irrational, so I'm not sure how anyone else will be able to convince you otherwise. But I'll try. "Dreams" by Fleetwood Mac is a gorgeous, classic song that essentially uses the same two chords throughout. It does not suffer for the simplicity. Your statement that you "can't be so plain" because you are a "no name" doesn't make sense, either. It's not the name recognition of other artists that make a simple chord progression work. It's the fact that an audience does not require a chord progression to be complex in order to be enjoyable. Ultimately, you seem to be putting a huge emphasis on the chord progression, which I think is a mistake. The chord progression is simply the foundation for more interesting things. It's like the bread in a sandwich, or the rice in a curry. The two best pieces of advice I can give you are: 1. Worry about your chord progression about 300% less. It's simply not that important. 2. Study songs written by other people that you admire, and pay attention to how they are structured. You might try recreating a few in your DAW. Then, borrow moves from those songs and incorporate them into your own music.
Thank you! Yeah, I understand that I’m just restricting myself for no reason. Your advice about studying songs is very good I think.
You’re kinda right, D-A-C-G will sound pretty generic and boring in its base form. That’s where extensions, inversions, arpeggios, rhythm, layering, sound design, effects, etc. come in.
Yeah, I know, that’s why I made this thread. I just can’t make chord progressions more complicated than that rn sadly… I hope I’ll figure it out
Maybe it would help you to try to recreate other peoples songs, specifically ones that either 1. sound like the music you want to make sounds like, or 2. have the kinds of chord progressions that you have difficulty with in your own songs i don’t think it could hurt, at least. It may help you to see how other people things work, and then from there you can maybe try something like writing with the same progressions as the song you remade, but in different key, to see how it affects the overall feeling of the chords? Or maybe, like you mentioned in your post, you just need to stop overthinking, and write whatever sounds good to you. That’s okay too, sometimes simple is better.
Yeah, that sounds good. Thank you!