Guide-lines for creating a simple chord-progression?

Question

I am working on a computer program that generates a simple melody, based on a simple chord progression of four chords taken from the 7 triads of the C Major scale. The program is also supposed to generate the progression.I was looking for an algorithm that will allow my program to discover chord progressions that sounds at least 'decent', and distinguish them from those that don't.However, as far as I understand, this algorithm doesn't really exist in a simple enough level.So what I'm asking, is for general guidelines for increasing the chance of knowing whether one chord is going to sound 'okay' (or even good) next to another chord in a progression.This way I can use these guidelines in my program, to lower the chance of two chords that don't sounds good together, be put next to each other in a progression.

Answer 1

Hey there,

Man, computers and "sounding good" haven't always been the best of pals. Playing a C7(#9b13) on a keyboard sounds a lot better than on a computer, so the concept of "sounding good" is difficult for an algorithm to pick up on. As humans, to figure out what chord we should use next we have a few tools we can use to figure out which next chord we should use.

Melody

Bassline

Counterpoints

and Repeated Notes

All of those things can affect which chord should be the next one. As a composer, all of those things should effect how you are to score your music.

There are some basics to writing chords for music though. Mostly, it goes...

Tonic -- Subdominant -- Dominant -- Tonic (or minor)

Even in the most ludicrous, modern, atonal music, composer often follow this formula. Oftentimes, this creates a lot of conventions, which I would be happy to share with you ( I - IV - V - 1, ii - V7 - I, vi - V - I, ii7(b5) - V7(b9) - imin7, ect...), but each of those has a different "personality" to them. My suggestion is try them out in different keys to figure which progression you enjoy the most with the music that you are creating. Just because one progession works well in one song does not automatically mean it'll work in yours.

Alright man, hope that helps!