KVR Audio

Arcane Master · Post by **Arcane Master** » Wed Jun 10, 2015 7:22 am

Hi all,

I'm currently composing a song and I'm at the end of it, but I need some assistance smoothly leading back to the intro (the song is going to loop). The song starts in B minor and and the first chord is Bm and the last chord is currently D major 7. The chord before that is F# major. I just can't figure out how to smoothly lead back to a Bm chord.

ATS · Post by **ATS** » Wed Jun 10, 2015 7:35 am

do what I do and just try different stuff till you find something that works. Sometimes you find something interesting that does not follow the rules so much and you end up with something nice.

wonshu · Post by **wonshu** » Wed Jun 10, 2015 7:38 am

Good tip by ATS.

Also: if you`re in B- then just from music theory an A major chord will lead back nicely to it. But it really all depends on context, harmonic rhythm and melodic direction.

Trial and error sometimes is the best.

For inspiration you might want to read up on cadences http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cadence_(music)

Best, Hans!

skipscada · Post by **skipscada** » Wed Jun 10, 2015 8:17 am

Play single notes stepping down from one of the notes in D maj 7 to the bass note of the Bm.

Roman Empire · Post by **Roman Empire** » Wed Jun 10, 2015 9:01 am

So you´re having a harmonic dominant, then tonic parallel 7 and want to get back to the tonic.

I think we´d need to hear the melody so far with chords to figure out what´ll be sounding good. The A7 is dominant in D, the parallel key so yes - that should work but totally depends on the context. Equally, if you have room for two chords, you could try with

either Em or E and then F#7
or
Em then either F#7 or F#m

before the Bm.

Best Regards

Roman Empire

wonshu · Post by **wonshu** » Wed Jun 10, 2015 9:25 am

You wouldn`t really need the A chord to be a dominant seventh chord in order to lead back. Same goes for the F# major.

Dominant 7th to me always sound very "classical"... but then again, we`re getting into taste and also into how cleverly you manage to move the notes.

Best, Hans!

Roman Empire · Post by **Roman Empire** » Wed Jun 10, 2015 11:36 am

You´re absolutely right Hans. I like to use the dom/7 because it takes extra effort to make it not sound too silly, hence always a good challenge cause if I achieve that, it´s going to give an extra something to the music.

But well, we do not know what the guys song sound like so it may or may not fit in.

Best Regards

Roman Empire

Arcane Master · Post by **Arcane Master** » Wed Jun 10, 2015 12:13 pm

Thanks for the responses!

Here's the B section (which will go straight back to the intro which just starts with a plain Bm chord) with the Piano handling the melody and strings taking on the harmony (it's a straight export from the notation program).

In the meantime, I'll try out some of the things already mentioned and play around with it a bit!

Roman Empire · Post by **Roman Empire** » Wed Jun 10, 2015 12:20 pm

Looking forwaard to hear that, will do so later when back from work.

Best Regards

Roman Empire

Roman Empire · Post by **Roman Empire** » Fri Jun 12, 2015 11:14 am

Argh, forgot all about this - will get to it during the weekend!

Arcane Master · Post by **Arcane Master** » Fri Jun 12, 2015 11:44 am

No worries! Alright

Roman Empire · Post by **Roman Empire** » Sun Jun 14, 2015 12:38 am

I just had a listen to this, and I find it hard to hear it as going back towards the beginning at this point at all. It seems to be on its way to something more dramatic and moving than the Scarborough Fair ish theme it starts with. It feels like in the middle of the song, where there´ll be a part different from the rest.

I noticed that there are 12 measures, so you could cut out the last four and just loop after the first 8. The 4 remaining are the ones giving you the feeling that it´s really not gonna loop at all

I hope this was a bit useful...

Best Regards

Roman Empire

Roman Empire · Post by **Roman Empire** » Sun Jun 14, 2015 8:34 am

Something went wrong with this message, check other one

Roman Empire · Post by **Roman Empire** » Sun Jun 14, 2015 10:17 am

I just had a listen to this, and I find it hard to hear it as going back towards the beginning at this point at all. It seems to be on its way to something more dramatic and moving than the Scarborough Fair ish theme it starts with. It feels like it´s in the middle of a song, where there´ll be a part different from the rest.

I noticed that there are 5 measures, so you could cut out the last one and just loop after the first 4. The 1 remainingis the one giving you the feeling that it´s really not gonna loop at all

Then use the 5th measure later to create that new part which is different from the rest.

I hope this was a bit useful...

Best Regards

Roman Empire

Arcane Master · Post by **Arcane Master** » Tue Jun 16, 2015 11:29 pm

Yeah, I've pretty much came to the same conclusion. I've been thinking about redoing that entire section. I'll try cutting out the last measure and then using it again later before I do that, though.

It was indeed useful. Thank you very much for the assistance! I appreciate it!

Cheers!

Assistance With A Song