A NEW way to write Chord Progressions

We've all tried to come up with that perfect chord progression to make our chorus slap, but here's a new way to approach chord writing...ok, maybe it's pretty old, but not a lot of people seem to use it much anymore.
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[@JamesonNathanJones]

Oh here's that eBook if you wanna get horizontal: bit.ly/FREEcompositionguide

[@TraxtasyMedia]

deadmau5 needs to hear this.

[@lewisforsythe1403]

Well... you're helping. Thanks. The ambient synth thing you did on the last vid was so good, too. A little sonic linear journey of sorts.

[@noisemodule]

in which JNJ nonchalantly establishes that he would make an incredibly accomplished Melodic Techno, Ambient House, or Goa Trance producer...

[@BruceBalensiefer]

This is super legit. Sometimes I just write by following the voice leading of each part where it feels like it wants to go, and "discovering" the harmony that way.

[@beatjuggernauts3828]

I was really hoping for something innovative like a blockchain AI creatine infused chord method but I was nonetheless inspired by this video. Good work.

[@JamesonNathanJones]

😂 the “creatine infused” bit got me fam 🤣🤣

[@satanicconservative3935]

Using ai to create isn’t art. It’s a crutch.

[@Herfinnur]

Yeah, and for golly's sake, creatine is for lazy gosh darn dumbdumbs! Edit: Edited to less offensive words

[@docjoesweeney]

​@@satanicconservative3935 I hear that!!!. But, I am so old that I recall the same thing being said about synths! All the tools we use to make music are just that: tools. AI will create new options for experiments for some artists. For many, it will be just be used to deliver the same ol' rehash. Personally, I enjoy learning to do as much by hand as possible, which it why I love modular and custom synth setups. Making it hard makes it fun. But I also think anything that lets people play within music is a positive.

[@MrMattmoffett]

Are you not already using creatine chords?

[@tobytodelafontena]

NO ! I will continue coming up with chord progressions! I live my life as I want, you can't decide for me! Leave me aloooooooooooooooooone !!!

[@J-MLindeMusic]

Four voices? Inversions? Heresy, in metal we only need two. Power chords go brrr. PS: The ending track indeed slaps.

[@SylphDS]

...I was actually reminded of the counterpoints on Opeth's Orchid while watching this video 🤔

[@TraxtasyMedia]

@@SylphDS or deadmau5 Coasted/Saturn

[@scottbyrne5271]

I have a degree in classical composition. The literal first rule of voice leading is aside from parallel fifths (which are fine for pop & contemporary anyway) is that notes should resolve to the nearest member of the new chord and notes should only be added to add 6/7/9 notes. But I guess it’s 2023 and I’m old now. Good chat everyone.

[@Bittamin]

I play a minor 7th, run it through a sampler, then just play E,G,F and instant banger 😂 I also make basic repetitive house tracks so, just found something that works for my novice self 😅

[@gabenght9316]

Would you be willing to point me to some sources on the matter you are talking about, please?

[@foljs5858]

@@gabenght9316 Try a harmony book, e.g. Walter Piston's is a classic one

[@albertoflanolombardo4155]

​@@foljs5858Man, Walter Piston is insanely dense and long for a newbie.

[@gabenght9316]

@@foljs5858 Thank you very much!

[@marcus_ohreallyus]

I'm very new to song composition and I just recently finished my first ambient track. I barely know my way around a physical keyboard and I can play a little guitar. I've found the visual aspect of my DAW to be extremely helpful in writing music, as someone who isn't an expert instrument player. I started to notice that specific shapes of melodies (in the piano roll) were giving me the sound I was looking for...almost to the point where I was kind of painting a picture -- which had a mostly horizontal sweep and direction.

[@Hummelsbusch]

Great video! I am a fan of drastic chord changes to keep it interesting. I often add 4th/7th/11th/13th notes to my chords, delete the root or just add the super tonic and make the chord „diffuse“. Let the bass anker the „feeling“ of the progression. Then it is nice to change the root of the bass while keeping the same chord progression which adds tension.

[@brianlespoir6287]

I remember my first inversions, there was no internet and I didn't know a lot of music theory, I couldn't even remember what musicians tried to teach me, so I did all by myself. It was like playing triads and I wanted the notes closer together, so I started lowering notes. Before I even knew it I was adding bass notes and then I understood what everyone was trying to teach me. It's been a long time I took the time to find something interesting and will dig into these chord progressions, love not so familiar sound of these progressions.

[@normietwiceremoved]

Same here, I experiemented with inversions before knowing what they were when I was trying to play something by ear because I remember everything sounding so unnatural.

[@brianlespoir6287]

@@normietwiceremoved My father and sister are musicians and we had many over the floor, somehow I was deaf for their teachings, but not for their musical tones. I learned everything by ear and when I understood what they where trying to teach me I learned pretty fast. Now It is very easy for me to teach others.

[@stateazure]

Great video...Now I realise, I really need to learn how to write choral music. I feel like it would benefit me a great deal to study this. Thanks to the choral video you showed, I stumbled upon the 'Tenebrae Choir' channel here on YT, and I'm just blown away by how incredible their performances are and really got me thinking about how to bring this style into ambient.

[@JamesonNathanJones]

Highly recommend any and all of the Rachmaninoff Vespers. Some of the most perfect music ever written imo.

[@jscj2066]

I love the Tenebrae Choir!

[@stateazure]

Amazing aren't they? Once I found them, I couldn't stop listening. Some of the most amazing group of vocalists. Their bass singers blow my mind. They have a playlist called 'Calming Music for Sleep' which is just incredible. Forget sleep, I'm studying the shit out of this stuff.@@jscj2066

[@pixelbender5897]

7:40 has to be the coolest chord progression ever - oh how happy to see you toss the auto-chord methods where they belong. that is killing the creative potential of any producer/player behind a keyboard...thank you so much. SO inspired to start using my kicks to alter my pads...and...get a warm lightbulb to create with !

[@WizardOfArc]

I've been writing canons with "normal" instruments playing them- your video is inspiring me to consider writing canons for synths and other non-traditional instruments

[@secretchefcollective444]

Thats cool, I'd just like to point out that synths have been around for about 100 years at this point, when do they become traditional :)

[@XCompWiz]

JNJ: "...the way that choirs work..." Me, a long time chamber choir member, hearing the music in the background: "Wait, that's Bogoroditse Devo." I've only found your channel recently, but I'm loving it. Thank you!

[@ryan.noakes]

My exact reaction!

[@jeedmodorn5494]

Wonderfully instructive. Thank you, Jameson Nathan Jones.

[@alexgrunde6682]

Another great technique as seen in the synth quartet example is, don’t have all the notes of the chord start and stop at the same time. It helps breath dynamics into the song and doesn’t feel amateurish like a series of whole note triads does.

[@JamesonNathanJones]

Yep. More line independence which goes back to making them all feel more like individual melodies. While one voice holds, the other moves and vice versa 👍

[@LP6_yt]

Yup. Dance version slaps like all hell. Fantastic groove with lots of lovely intricate detail. Loved it. This is inspiring.

[@JamesonNathanJones]

Thanks Jim!

[@derrickmickle5491]

A fantastic and engaging illustration of voice leading. Well done!

[@MythMakerMusik]

Oof! So lovely. The American Kiasmos. Lookin' forward to your full-length techno record that I am sure you are working on. Because it would be killer. For real.

[@amsterdamned6209]

Fantastic sounds!!!

[@jasonekratz]

Props for the VOCES8 video for the choir example :)

[@slimyelow]

The Ravel in F is one of my favorites.

[@CapelloProductions]

You're my new favorite content creator. Been loving your videos, your humor is very natural and hilarious. Keep it up!

[@JamesonNathanJones]

Much appreciated, and welcome! 🙏

[@actualkevin]

Also French fried pertayters.

[@goodcircuit4485]

I really love chord progression like that, deadmau5 vibe

[@TreyBruceable]

The shade thrown in this video 🎉 love your stuff!

[@amarug]

very useful tips, especially for a beginner like me who feels kinda lost but knows there is no way to give up :D

[@pick_nark]

You have inspired me. Thank you 🙏

[@jimmyjam-vc6rf]

I am a guitar player and ive watched videos about chord progression changes in things like jazz. I have been thinking about chord progression like telling a story, then something unexpected happens, it gets resolved, etc... Well this is something else entirely and im glad you mentioned the monk chanting chorus. It can create some other worldly sounds, where it feels familiar, like down is down and up is up, but everything else about this world is like anything youve heard before.... Very cool to think about. I think tone is ultimately what attracts us to music and it can be presented in many ways such as simple effects. But i feel that this way of using chord progression also provides tonal structures like syllables in a word or inflection of certain syllables. Interesting to think about indeed!

[@rodrigolaporte274]

This is excellent!

[@jarkkokangas6150]

Really nice concept, thank you! Those choir and string quartet examples helped a lot.

[@tobcom3542]

Fantastico, the final song is great, and i hear the richness of the chord-melody variations. Great

[@nate8lowe]

Thanks again for the insight

[@LondraCalibro9]

a very good lesson, thank you!

[@krnflks]

Reading the section in the beginning of your ebook about voice leading rules brought me to an understanding of it that years of internet traversal could not. I love how in the example in the book (Chapter III) Bach is creating such a subtle bit of contrast by adding that 4th part which was almost like "introed" by the doubling. Looking at harmony with new eyes today because of you. Thanks. :D

[@fentanyljones6956]

Damn, i have a fairly good grasp of theory and this was extremely helpful and useful to me. Subscribing and downloading your book now!

[@rigbyb]

Thank you, this really helped 😊

[@chambre466]

very cool and nice and all the good stuff. Great musician

[@darpsyxer]

Holy ssshhh... , that's a very cool way to teach some chords, from start to finish! awesome man thanks a lot for doing this

[@tonyrapa-tonyrapa]

Yes - that certainly jigged! Very nice work, indeed.

[@BellsCuriosityShop]

I'm no keyboard player. Most of the time I play one note and let the DAW (Reaper in my case) create chords in key, or use Scaler 2 or suchlike (Chord Gun in Reaper sometimes). Occasionally I go into pianoroll and move notes about to change inversions, but not a lot. I like to do it more so when creating parts for an orchestral VST like BBCSO by Spitfire or Synchron Elite Strings by VSL. You've reopened my eyes. I thank you.

[@DEADLINETV]

So good!

[@michaelkonomos]

I spend too much time watching damn gear videos when this is what I should be watching. I have everything I need already to make great music - except the actual musical skills at this level! Thanks, this is super helpful.

[@actualkevin]

(Slaps own hand away from “buy” button again)

[@benjaminleahy2840]

I'm working in ableton and with hardware as well. What are you working in?

[@michaelkonomos]

@@benjaminleahy2840 Ableton also, with a bunch of Arturia VSTs

[@alfasonicstudios]

Great content! Love the mix of Theory, Synths & Humor 👍

[@alexr1632]

this actually is really helpful! I always made chords and then hoped and prayed that they'd work well together, but this is a far more consistent means of confirming that the chords will work together. Thanks!

[@samuelivascu7633]

This takes me back when I was just a beginner on piano and it took me 2 months to get my first Bach piece down 😢 the words "Herliebster Jesu was hast du veebochen" are burned into my mind forever

[@JamesonNathanJones]

It’s a banger 😂

[@marvin902x]

"Herzliebster Jesu, was hast du verbrochen." Sorry, but I am german and your words doesn't sounded right for my german brain. So I corrected it.

[@actualkevin]

You are CORRECT, SIR! (Ed McMahon reference, nevermind)

[@remyvegamedia]

Dang that's crazy. The EDM thing you put together solved my annoyance with that style of music. Same with most electronic instrumental hip-hop. It almost never has any musical development besides dynamic changes. I play jazz music and so much of how I write is thinking of how to blend the harmony I want with fluid melodic lines. I've gotta find a way to do this with a more melodically minded approach like this so I've been studying Ravel and Chopin for the first time in my life. Wish me luck haha. I need help hahaha.

[@JamesonNathanJones]

Love Ravel 🖤

[@DETERMINOLOGY]

True method with coming up with chords. Ear train. That's the best method not to many people will tell you about but they will give you "quick methods" Ear training covers all of that up

[@nicovandenberg_]

This is why I love my Matriarch. Is does a wall of insane analog goodness as well as a light magical arp.

[@Unison_Detune]

This content isn’t available anywhere else….. fantastic!

[@CoffinNachtmahr]

Gonna go make myself use and borrow these techniques thank you 1000 times

[@balbinat]

Nice one! (Again) Thx! Also: can’t wait for next week’s topic!

[@scotty-sh7jq]

Mind blowing

[@RobertoFrobs]

COULD YOU PLEASE RELEASE THIS TRACK FOR THE LOVE OF GOD

[@nathanfinnegan522]

Good old fashioned counterpoint. Love it! 👍

[@CRayBeats]

I like to write a lead over my chord progressions either 4 or 8 bars in length starting on the fifth or 3rd of the scale. I will then will add one or two long legato notes either the root of the scale or any pentatonic note that's in the scale under the lead melody. I will then arpeggiate that. Not the chords itself..

[@andycordy5190]

I came back here, prompted by the end of your more recent video on the Arpeggiator, having forgotten that you'd contextualised this exceptionally well here. Both of these now make inspirational waves for me. I may even set to work😱

[@SonicCartography]

I just wanted to confirm that, yes, that does slap. Great video (and songs)!

[@KirklandWilliamsWorkout3000]

Love the synth Quartet. I grew up playing in sax quartet. This has actually helped me to arrange music on my 4 voice synth ms2000

[@JamesonNathanJones]

Great synth!

[@jaquu]

I understood like nothing said in this video, but maybe I should try to concetrate on thing at the time. And it is good to test these advanced video tips every now and then and some beautiful day it will click!

[@Glandulf19]

That synth quartet reminded me a lot of some organ pieces Bach wrote that my harmony teacher had us study, great work! I don't think I was the intented target of this video, already knew all that, but still loved it and will share for sure ❤

[@Krung0401]

Great!

[@WizardOfArc]

I, too, wondered exactly what you meant when I came to that section of your book

[@kbuks]

This just changed my life

[@chambre466]

yeah slapping

[@mathiasgammelgaard8036]

Tak!

[@kostisv]

driving into the sunrise kind of vibe. cool.

[@panos3246]

Actually THIS is the only way to write music. It has the least friction for documenting what you actually hear in you and the final result that gets into your ears... Excellent video!😉

[@fentanyljones6956]

I definitely need to get my keyboard skills up

[@TrekStar11]

awesome stuff, earned my sub

[@JamesonNathanJones]

Welcome!

[@bretdecelle3717]

This slaps. You just earned a subscriber :)

[@Wolfbabypuppylove]

Really like this content a thinking mans approach to composition/theory/production. You and Venus theory along with Benn Jordan rule the roost bravo excellent work.

[@leadpipejustice9253]

Best music channel

[@fentanyljones6956]

That P12 got me drooling

[@lanierwexford2582]

Loving the click bate title for good old fashion basic information! Also it feels like you are imbeding the normal snark in the demos. Such good delivery!

[@davidmcgirr]

Great, as always. I recently tried to learn four part harmony, got stuck, and just start playing independent lines. According to an analyzer I used a lot of dominant chords.

[@jdanielcramer]

🤠 Dixieland!

[@badaegis]

Slaps; yes. Love that soft riser and that snare; tasty af.

[@dnalyen]

I would buy that track and listen to it

[@francistomalik]

Right,.. you just nailed it like it's nothing 😅

[@suitandtieguy]

This is great. Those of us with SATB experience know this instinctively but these basics of theory and arrangement should be discussed more.

[@dreikycaprice]

Can't wait for your release of more up tempo bangers

[@JamesonNathanJones]

Haha not sure I’ll be making a habit of it

[@jexner]

@@JamesonNathanJones My guess: you are "deadmau5"

[@ashe_]

'yeah but can it slap' - instant sub :D answering the question on everyone's minds!!

[@twocanucksful]

Thanks!

[@JamesonNathanJones]

Thank you!

[@davidpringuer3553]

Great

[@MiloCarrete]

I love you.

[@davidsanfeliumarco9664]

Such interesting!!! Thank u so much!! Have u ever heard the song Saturate by The Chemical Brothers? Reminds me the one you played here 😅

[@Dave-nm8uk]

Reallly interesting. I didn't watch the Melodies video first, but went back to that one - very good. One comment though - why restrict composition to just one horizontal melodic line? That would lead on to counterpoint - but why not. Sometimes just "mashing" two or even more melodies - probably in the same key - actually works. If there are any harmony clashes - well either rewrite or experiment, or just say "too bad that's the way it is!" Your experience as an organist and pianist really shows up here. Your suggestion that Bach didn't really think vertically is interesting - though his compositional methods may not actually have been quite like that. He clearly was very talented, and by the time he moved to Leipzig he was producing so much music that in fact he was really running a kind of music production line - using his students - eventually many of them - to do a lot of the grunt work. It's really worth taking a trip to the Bach museum opposite the church in Leipzig to get just a slight feel for the magnitude of what he was doing.

[@haroldfinch1900]

thanks mate! most of my tracks end like your demo piece :)

[@actualkevin]

My own personal journey in music over the last half century started with SATB choral singing (both Broadway and liturgical) including choral hymn arrangements and eventually reaching into Gregorian Chant, and even a little choral direction. I was also a DJ. I thought that long experience made my understanding dated and worthless… “BORING”. Thank you for vividly demonstrating to me a validation of my own half century seeking musical relevance.

[@ghavinga]

OK OK I will stop arguing with my teacher! Great video Nathan thank you.

[@jponcello]

let me borrow that prophet

[@adijames]

It slapps.

[@AntonMochalin]

What I like with this classical approach is that you can quite often hint at next chord progression step with just two notes or a single note so you can be lazy and nuanced at the same time saving full chords for the moments when you need to be really persuasive lol

[@Jay-ru6kn]

great examples! i do feel like this could be summed up by saying "mind your voice leading"

[@JamesonNathanJones]

Thanks! That would assume that all viewers were well versed in voice leading techniques, or had even heard of the concept before.

[@binarybotany3218]

Would've been nice if all those books that told me to learn inversions, would've actually also taught me why I would do that.

[@DerekPower]

Apologies if this point was made elsewhere in the comment. To be fair, the reason why you have this obsession over chord sequences is that it’s carried over from rock, which uses guitars and guitars employ chords. Furthermore, you have a strain of folk music informing rock and thus the burden is to convey a lot through very little: vocals and guitar. Hence, chord sequences become crucial to the lifeblood of a song. I have found in my own explorations and endeavours that the “complex” chord sequences do indeed arise out of something simple. For instance, I came up with one sequence simply by playing dyads or triads over a bass line I knew I wanted, keeping in mind things like harmonic resolution and such. Consequently, it led to an interesting vocal melody. And yes, I like saying chord sequences rather than chord progressions. I’m somewhat of an Anglophile when it comes to English 😁

[@allenholmankus8880]

Excellent video! How about a lesson on tonal counterpoint as applied to ambient style composition (and for some extra fun) as well as "EDM" music as you've done in this video? Keep up the excellent composing (I've purchased some of your works already).

[@SrNutritivo]

Hey man, thank you for your video. Got inspired and recorded something on the fly, but KZbin keep deleting my SoundCloud link :( Anyway, thank you so much for your amazing content.

[@electrosonicnebula]

Sometimes clever voice leading is correctly ignored because for whatever reason the "color" needed is *not* to employ inversions. Those long leaps can be thought of as just another flavor. Just like a triad can work better than an extended chord. Also, if you're working with modular in particular you might think of your voices as the voices in a choir or a quartet and forget all about chords. You can sit there and analyze it later to see what you've done. Or not.

[@Vallosick]

Very nice video! As always. But I think it would be cool to hear some information about actually coming up with more interesting chord progressions and not just using voice leading to make very simple 3-4 chords stuff sound better :)

[@grimpiece]

Thank God I came with the idea to search for "music composition" instead of "music production" and found your channel. Contrary to most videos on the topic, your are actually inspiring and they don't make me feel like doing math homework.

[@JamesonNathanJones]

Haha glad to hear it! 🙏