How to now what chords to play in a specific scale?

[haartbrejker]

For example: Lydian Minor Scale: C,D,E,F#,G,Ab,Bb

What chords to play and in what order?

[JumpingJackFlash]

For example: Lydian Minor Scale: C,D,E,F#,G,Ab,Bb

What chords to play and in what order?

Look it up?

You mean 'notes' not 'chords'.

This might be a useful starting point:
Scales, Modes and Chords


Edit: Apologies, I misunderstood the question. Please disregard.

[Harry_HH]

For example: Lydian Minor Scale: C,D,E,F#,G,Ab,Bb

What chords to play and in what order?

This depends on many different aspects:

- how the melody goes
- the type of the music
- the rhythmic patterns

The most important one: what sounds good.
Basicly the notes inculuded to the chords should follow the notes in the melody or scale (sometimes some notes in melody are out of the scale) But the chords can also add some new color to the tone, i.e. the
chords can include some surprising notes, which can add new flawor
but of course this should fit the general mood of the song.

You can use simpy triads but also more complex chords, once again depending
on the type of the music. The bass line is one which sometimes defines the
best sounding chord.

The degree of freedom is rather wide: you can play the same melody
with different chords which are all "right". But again: what
sounds good and fit you purposes what you will express with song,
defines what is good.

Harry

[haartbrejker]

I better ask like this instead: I like to make a house track.


Lets say i play the bass in Lydian Minor Scale.

I play the same scale for the melody.

And now I want to play some chords, where to begin?


/// Thanks

[Harry_HH]

I better ask like this instead: I like to make a house track.


Lets say i play the bass in Lydian Minor Scale.

I play the same scale for the melody.

And now I want to play some chords, where to begin?


/// Thanks

Depends on the aspects I mentioned above.
First of all: how the melody goes and in what key it goes?
The first note of you key defines the first degree in your chord structure.
E.g. if your melody goes in the key of C in the Lydian mode, the first
degree in the chord pattern is based on C (e.g. triad c-e-g), the second degree is D (d-f#-a), etc. (Lydian minor second degree D triad is D flat fifth
i.e. d-f#-ab).
According to the melody find out the best chords, best places for the chord changes, use chords that include the melody notes. Find out the most suitable chord pattern and degrees.

Read a couple of music theory books.

Harry

[haartbrejker]

OK, Thanks!


Do I have to play chords in that exact order For example: Lydian Minor Scale: C,D,E,F#,G,Ab,Bb

First Chord with the note C in
Second with D in
Third with E in, and goes on and on

[Harry_HH]

OK, Thanks!


Do I have to play chords in that exact order For example: Lydian Minor Scale: C,D,E,F#,G,Ab,Bb

First Chord with the note C in
Second with D in
Third with E in, and goes on and on

No. Depends e.g. on your melody. Lets say that your melody starts with
the notes G, Bb, D, C (in the of C Lydian minor). The first chord
could be either C7 or Edim (notes G and Bb) and the second chord could
be either Db57 or C9 (notes D and C). Several other "right" options exist.
Very ofter the first chord of the song is put on the first degree (in this case C) but not nearly always - as said, everything depends of what chord
structure sounds good, supports best your melody and/or other artistic purposes. Harry

[diijay]

For example: Lydian Minor Scale: C,D,E,F#,G,Ab,Bb

What chords to play and in what order?

Once you have the notes of the scale, I have a simple method to find out the chords.

Just skip one, like so:

C,E,G,Bb that's a C7 chord, from C you skipped D, reach E, from E skipped F#.
If you continue with this process you will have the tensions as well.

Like C,E,G,Bb(7th),D(9th),F#(11th),Ab(13th).

Staring on D: D,F#,Ab,C = D7b5
Staring on E: E,G,Bb,D = Em7b5

Using those chords to harmonize a melody, just use a chord that have the melody note as a chord tone or as a Tension(7th,9th,11th,13th).

Ex: If the melody is Ab, you could use the C7 chord, but I would not use the fifth,G, depending in the style of music, in order to avoid the semitone interval between the 5th of the C7 chord and the melody.

So the chord would be C,E,Bb with the melody Ab on top, a C7#5 chord, there's dissonance in the harmony so you might prefer to use a D7b5 chord isntead since Ab is a chord tone.

[radarKW]

Read these books ?

Modal Music Composition by Stephen M. Cormier
and
The Music of Miles Davis: A Study & Analysis of Compositions by Lex Giel

[shanecgriffo]

or just loop bits of your project and play around with the notes from that scale, building chords from those notes, a bit of cut paste and voila!
Also there are some 'constrain to scale' midi vst's around i think. Ableton has one.

[haartbrejker]

I use Ableton and the scales function, but i want to use the chord function in Ableton to, but the presets are like shit.

[trewq]

I know its too much info here, and A# and G# is supposed to be Bb and Ab, but this gives you what it contains, and a chord list view of the scales symmetry.


A# C D E F# G G# -C LydianMinor

C E G -- C M
C D G -- G sus4
A# D G -- G m
A# E G -- E dim
D F# G# -- D b5
C E F# -- C b5
A# D E -- A# b5
C D G# -- G# b5
A# C F# -- F# b5
A# E G# -- E b5
A# D F# -- D #5 A# #5 F# #5
C E G# -- C #5 G# #5 E #5
A# D F# -- D #5 A# #5 F# #5
C E G# -- C #5 G# #5 E #5
A# D F# -- D #5 A# #5 F# #5
C E G# -- C #5 G# #5 E #5
C D E G -- E m7#5
A# D E G -- E m7b5
A# C E G -- C 7
C D F# G -- G M7sus4
C D G G# -- G# M7b5
A# C D G -- G msus4
C E G G# -- G# M7#5
A# D F# G -- G M7b3
C D F# G# -- D 7b5 G# 7b5
A# C E F# -- C 7b5 F# 7b5
A# D E G# -- A# 7b5 E 7b5
C D F# G# -- D 7b5 G# 7b5
A# C E F# -- C 7b5 F# 7b5
A# D E G# -- A# 7b5 E 7b5
A# C D F# -- D 7#5
A# C E G# -- C 7#5
A# D F# G# -- A# 7#5
C E F# G# -- G# 7#5
A# D E F# -- F# 7#5
C D E G# -- E 7#5
A# C D E G -- C 9
A# C D G G# -- G# M9b5
C D E F# G -- E m9#5
C D E F# G# -- D 9b5
A# C D E F# -- C 9b5
A# C D E G# -- A# 9b5
A# C D F# G# -- G# 9b5
A# C E F# G# -- F# 9b5
A# D E F# G# -- E 9b5
A# C D E F# -- C 9b5
A# C D E G# -- A# 9b5
A# C D F# G# -- G# 9b5
A# C E F# G# -- F# 9b5
A# D E F# G# -- E 9b5
C D E F# G# -- D 9b5
A# D E F# G -- E m9b5
A# C E F# G -- F# 7b5b9
C D E G G# -- E 7#5#9
A# D E G G# -- E 7b5#9
A# D F# G G# -- G M7b3b9
A# C E G G# -- G# M9#5
C D E F# G G# -- D 11b5
A# C D E F# G -- C 9#11
A# C D E F# G# -- D Wholetone C Wholetone
A# C D E G G# --A# Prometheus

[jancivil]

if you look at that scale, it's a whole tone scale with an addtional perfect fifth, eg.,the G from the tonic C.

that is going to impart a character to melodic lines (even if by avoidance). If you're going to really exploit that particular scale, that's an important thing to notice about it. [C D E F# Ab Bb]. Vertically this produces augmented triads and redundancy. There is an 'out' to that, the G.

you can list occurrences out of it in vertical terms all day long, but after a point that's pretty academic. How much is useful and why should be looked at, in terms of what the character of that row of tones is.

it has both the floating, unrooted aspect of the whole tone scale and/but the rootedness of the P5. And that G has chromatic neighbors on both sides. There is a LOT of interest without resorting to chords yet.

The first thing a lot of people do is form a great list. Try and observe the inherent interest of a scale this exotic, or you can easily obviate the idea of using such a scale, missing the forest for the trees kind of thing.

[jancivil]

you see in that one list a lot of b5 phemomena.

first of all there is that, lydian character; and owing to the whole tone scale it contains, that character from more than one potential 'root'.

when we look at triadic constructions, it's interesting to note the concurrences every third. A chord a third from the other chord can often be considered as a 'substitution'. Here, ask if that actually is a kind of redundancy.

D F# A# C
{F# A# C E}
Bb D F# C
{C E G# Bb}
E G# Bb D

Ask yourself: what is the important difference betwen these? and how is it particularly going to enhance what happens in a line?

This degree of similiarity is a feature of that scale.

IE: exhaustively listing triadic outcomes is not the most compelling exercise here in my estimation.

[jancivil]

now, if you get into triad construction beyond four tones, you get into an area of complexity, of dissonance I wouldn't recommend for a noob. I think that scale is biting off a lot already if one is unclear on finding triads.

but just to explore it... you'll notice I avoided that G and went for the triads out of whole tone idea exclusively. OTOH:

Ab C E G: "#5 ^7"
E G# D G: "7 #9"

G Bb D F# "min ^7"

another level of interest.

but what's the line? this scale is so interesting you can just start running arpeggios and get very colorful lines, that's true.
'what chord to use', well my POV is how useful is it to color a line, the melody. How often do people go around singing 'the chord changes'?

'What chords for this tune' rather than 'this scale', is a more focused question.

how important is this naming process in your musical thought really?


we're in an odd area here... what's missing is context, what the implication of such a chord is. These are jazz type chords. 'Min/Maj 7'. '7 Sharp 9'. These have different functions in tonal music. Tonal music isn't the idea of that scale... that's a perverse kind of scale a jazz or edumacated person comes out with to be super-interesting in an 'outside' manner. We're in a peculiar area here as far as applying the information.

'min. ^7' is 'moody'... It's the default i7 chord if your scale is harmonic or melodic minor. Your scale is harmonic minor because that's a mood you're after... a melodic consideration. So, where will it impart that certain poignant but mysterious thing in some music? At what point is the interest of the vertical really the interest of the horizontal?

7 sharp 9. That could be a V chord. It could be the I chord in Foxy Lady. Abstractly you could consider it a major/minor chord with a minor 7.

Too interesting.