alternatives to chord progressions

[leighbeynon]

ok i want to remix a track to get some practise on playing and creating
progressions,

i have a track i want to remix and i know the keys/chords used,

what are my alternatives here ? how can i play something different ?
do i need to find out what key the track is in as its got vocals ?

or can i just play what i want ?

i will post the chords shortly, im not at home right now

[leighbeynon]

chords are

D A C F
G A C F
A G C# E

Any help would be great, thanks in advance !

[llatham]

chords are

D A C F
G A C F
A G C# E

Any help would be great, thanks in advance !

Are you sure about the 2nd chord?

You've got Dm7 - G(m)9sus (or F/G) and A7.

Those chords - in this context - imply Dm.

You've got a Tonic chord, a "middle" chord, and a Dominant chord.

In a sense, you can replace any of these chords with any chord in the key.

THe second chord here is the weakest - the first chord gives us the key, the last chord defines the key. These are pretty "strong" and therefore the more "identifiable" elements (again, in the context given here).

So my first choice of trying other chords would be #2.

The chords in Dm are:
dm
eo
F
gm
am (A)
Bb
C
C#o

and since these are 7th chords (or other bigger chords):
dm7
em7b5
FM7
gm7
am7 (A7)
BbM7
C7
C#o7

So we're looking at:

Dm7 - ? - A7.

Now, one very important thing you haven't told us - is there a melody note you need to keep where the ? is? If so, you need to take that into consideration. Let's assume though that, based on the chords you gave, the F is the top note and that's the melody note you want to keep. Then "?" could be replaced by:

dm (and assume the 7th chord versions as well hereafter)
F
gm7 (specifically)
Bb

Other chords could of course work as well - for example, A7#5 would go.

But, if you're reharmonizing it, you probably are not going to want to have another Dm or A7 there, since those are the neighboring chords (though you could of course).

So, assuming there is no melody note to be concerned about, your options are:

1. Chords that "sound" the same as the given chord:
A. gm(7)
B. F

2. Chords with the same function as the given chord - this chord sits in the "pre-dominant" (also called subdominant or dominant prep) position, and does have scale degree 4 as its bass, giving it a rather traditional T-SD-D (I-IV-V) layout. Chords that have traditional SD functions are:
A. iv (gm)
B. ii (eo) (dm7-em7b5-A7 is a standard jazz progression)
C. VI (Bb)

3. Other chords that are similar to those in #2 above, but have alterations from modal exchange, or are from secondary keys:
A. GM (from Dorian)
B. E7 (from the key of A, where this chord is heading); G#o7 (also from A); em7 (from Dorian - which by the way, might suggest changing the A7 to am7 as well), Eb (the Neapolitan), etc.
C. VI7 (or German+6)

4. Other non-functional chords, or substitutes for functional chords, though at this point we've used pretty much every possibility in the key except for :
A.C (again, modal flavor - could be C7 or CM7 - CM7 implying Dorian).

5. Random chords.
A. AbM, Bm, F#7, etc. Sometimes these are out there, otherwise they provide a nice surprise, other times they provide a chromatic line or a common note between chords (like Dm7 and AbM both have a C).

Now, that's just one chord. Obviously, you could apply these same methods to the first or third chord as well. For example, Dm7 could be substituted with FM7, BbM7, or A7 with C#o7, a Tritone Sub, or any type of altered Dominant. You could even make it more "modal" by changing A7 to Am7, or C or CM7, etc.

You can substitute for one, two, or all three of the chords in this pattern, so obviously there are a practically limitless number of possibilities.

What I'd do, is start by replacing them one at a time and seeing what kind of sounds you get. Then replacing two at a time, then all three, etc. In addition to the methods mentioned above, you might try taking something that would be BbM in the key, and changing it to Bbm (the "Random" category) - but you'd at least be keeping a Root from a progression (not necessarily this progression, but it applies to others as well). For example, "Sleepwalk" by Santo and Johnny uses the ever-famous I-vi-IV-V progression, but they change the IV to iv, making it C-am-fm-G - the fm has the "right" root, but the "color" is "wrong" - of course the correctness of the root makes it "more acceptable" and the "wrong" chord makes it simply sound "fresh" (in a pleasantly surprising way) in that context.

And again, if you've got a melody note to deal with, that can help you eliminate possibilities (or at least try those you think will work more effectively first, since really, anything is possible).

HTH,
Steve

[Odeval]

whaoo! it's not "any help"!
what an awnser!

[jancivil]

chords are

D A C F
G A C F
A G C# E

Any help would be great, thanks in advance !

your basic 'scale/key' is D minor.
your 3 basic chords are:

Dm7
F/G bass, or a '2 chord' on F, the '2' (aka '9') in bass.
A7

...for a not-bad sub for the F2, try a Bb in the bass for that F sonority, or even:
Bb A D F/E {you can 'prepare' that E by including it in the first sonority D (F) A C E}

then, for that A7 try things like:
A G D/C# E