How do I find suitable chords for a melody or a song? Or How do I come up with chord progression?

Question

I have spent some time reading a book that taught me different types of chords and different scales and I understand them very well. But the book didn't really expand on how to actually use these chords to write your own music. How do you find the right or suitable chords for a melody you have written, is there any rules I have to learn? When coming up with a chord progression for example, is there any rules I have to follow?or is it just what best fits and sounds right. If this is a topic that needs a lot of explanation then I totally understand. I just need to know what I should do next (get another book to learn about it, read examples to gain more experience, etc..) I know this question might have been asked a lot but in my case I don't think I need any further knowledge on more types of chords for now but just want to use apply the chords I have learnt to write my own music.

Answer 1

Hello,

This is where the scales you learned come into play. There are many chord progressions that come into play and since you have learned chords, the next step is to learn how the chords fit in a scale and then you will be ready for chord progression.

Say you are in the key of C Major:

The scale would be:

C D E F G A B C

The Chords in that scale would be:

C major | D minor | E minor | F major | G major | A minor | B diminished | C major

I ii iii IV V vi vii dim I

These chords are represented by roman numerals I put them under the chord names.

There are many chord progressions used for songs. One of the most popular is the ii V i progression.

Look at the above information and see if you can figure out the chords using the roman numerals ii V i

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Answer is below:

C major | D minor | E minor | F major | G major | A minor | B diminished | C major

I ii iii IV V vi vii dim I

Looking at the key above : ii V i progression would be D minor G major C major

Play that on an instrument and see how that sounds. There are many chord progressions and how they work with melodies is a series of lessons that would better prepare you for writing songs.