Is 2 chord progressions killing electronic music?

[RABid]

Every where I go on YouTube electronic musicians seem to get stuck on 2 chord progressions. Oh, they sound really good for a bit, then it seems like they don't know where to go next. Someone needs to release an online series of lessons on how to compose. Or....

 

Hey Craig, I have an idea and title for your next book. 100 Chord Progressions Suitable for Electronic Music.

[KuruPrionz]

It's more about arrangement and how you treat the entire composition than the number of chords. 

There are some brilliant one chord songs - from Who Do You Love by Bo Diddley to Show Biz Kids by Steely Dan (yes, Steely Dan wrote and produced a one chord song).

Variations in beat, texture, tension and release, these are our tools. One chord or a dozen, without variations in beat, texture, tension and release it all gets pretty dull. 

 

Yes, flatlining anything will make it profoundly boring. I think you could make an excellent 2 chord piece of electronic music if you put your mind to it. 

[Anderton]

11 hours ago, RABid said:

Hey Craig, I have an idea and title for your next book. 100 Chord Progressions Suitable for Electronic Music.

 

Well, the blues did okay with three chords. But why bother with any more than four chords? This video is really fabulous, and explains everything!!

 

 

[analogika]

11 hours ago, Anderton said:

 

Well, the blues did okay with three chords. But why bother with any more than four chords? This video is really fabulous, and explains everything!!

 

 

That’s mandatory viewing for all my students, but, of course, it’s not at all fair: a lot of those songs use a bunch more chords than just the I V VIm IV / VIm IV I V. 
 

Then again, a lot of them don’t. 

[Anderton]

4 hours ago, analogika said:

...but, of course, it’s not at all fair: a lot of those songs use a bunch more chords than just the I V VIm IV / VIm IV I V. 

 

True, but the hooks themselves are remarkably consistent. The verses are just there to fill up space until the chorus hits

[Anderton]

1 hour ago, The Real MC said:

I don't care how many chords there are in a electronic music song.  What matters to me is whether it is a good song.  Not many EDM songs appeal to me.

 

I think one limitation with a lot of EDM is there are no solos. There are breakdowns and clever mix moves, but no solos that do something like reprise the melody and play with it. On the 2022 project I'm doing now, I'm including a lot more solos and I think the music benefits from it.

[GovernorSilver]

 

Electronic music genres are quite diverse, and some of them do not consider chords at all - eg. acid house, minimal techno...  as well as the works of pioneering electronic composers such as Eliane Radigue

 

 

[Anderton]

Classical Indian music doesn't use chords, either. However, the melodic sophistication is off the hook. So maybe that's why EDM needs more solos

[GovernorSilver]

Can this place really grow a quality community for electronic music discussion?  I'm not quite convinced.

 

That aside, Craig, you might like these artists since you are a rocker:

 

System 7 (rock guitarist Steve Hillage and his partner)

 

 

Ozric Tentacles - some stuff is more straight up space rock, some more outright electronic sounding

 

 

[Anderton]

9 minutes ago, GovernorSilver said:

Can this place really grow a quality community for electronic music discussion?  I'm not quite convinced.

 

Only one way to find out.

 

9 minutes ago, GovernorSilver said:

That aside, Craig, you might like these artists since you are a rocker:

 

I'm not sure rockers would consider me a rocker

 

My 2021 project was pretty rock-oriented, but when I was playing live in Europe at the turn of the century, it was 100% EDM and experimental hip-hop. All the elements I've engaged with over my 6 decades of playing and recording, including  the classical and "adult contemporary" work I've done, have just become additional elements in my weirdass musical gumbo. My current 2022 project has no idea what it is. 

[GovernorSilver]

3 minutes ago, Anderton said:

 

Only one way to find out.

 

 

I'm not sure rockers would consider me a rocker

 

My 2021 project was pretty rock-oriented, but when I was playing live in Europe at the turn of the century, it was 100% EDM and experimental hip-hop. All the elements I've engaged with over my 6 decades of playing and recording, including  the classical and "adult contemporary" work I've done, have just become additional elements in my weirdass musical gumbo. My current 2022 project has no idea what it is. 

 

Ok fair enough. 

 

Your statement about not a whole lot of soloing in electronic music is fair, but I wasn't sure if you were already aware of the ones I mentioned.  Robert Fripp, Adrian Belew, and some other guitarists have also participated in electronic music projects.

 

Of course not all electronic music that involved them was EDM - Fripp comes to mind - particularly his soundscape stuff.

[KuruPrionz]

Chords are generally not the limitation of EDM, often it's the repetitive and mundane beats.

A substantial majority of the work I've heard is layered onto a straight 4 generic kick pulse that never varies. Umm... WTF?

Maybe try layering multiple interesting and interactive beats with various parts fading in and out? That wouldn't hurt would it?

A bass line that evolves and doesn't just go Thud along with the Boom?

 

An entire arrangement that slowly shifts from one scene to another, some of them urgent and some laid back?

As with all music, there are infinite possibilities and there are some great musicians using those ideas, creating tension and release.

And, as with all music, there are buttloads of artists pumping out same old, same old because it's the same old same old. 

 

2 chords, no chords, 15 chords, that isn't the problem. If we ignore the boring stuff, maybe it will go away?

[GovernorSilver]

Killing music, eh?

 

The idea of an electronic music sub forum here is already dead, from what I can see in this thread..

 

with all due respect.

 

[RABid]

10 hours ago, GovernorSilver said:

The idea of an electronic music sub forum here is already dead, from what I can see in this thread..

Translation - "I made two posts and people did not respond the way I wanted them to, so I am declaring this discussion and future discussions dead."

 

This is not like you. Not like you at all. Now I have to acknowledge a mistake I made while creating this thread. I assumed someone would quickly respond with a take on this subject that never appeared through the first 13 responses. But, you know about "ass"ume. Well, I did assume that someone would respond with a discussion about the wave of chord based software and the proliferation of chord packs now available to plug into the creation process. Hip hop creators are already making use of these tools but the induction into electronic music has been met with some resistance and controversy. Some are jumping onto products like NI Playbox. Others are loading chord packs onto the pads of their chosen device. In either case they are exploring progressions like never before. Yet, most Youtube content providers on the EDM side seem to be stuck, adhering to the two chord paradigm like it is the only way. I wonder if they think it is the only way, or if they don't want to reveal their chord progression ideas until they finish and publish their recordings? I think a change is coming, but how much of a change? We have all witnessed the tendency of pop, rock, country and blues to  grab onto a popular chord progression and run it into the ground. Not every song can be like "Hello, It's Me" by Todd Rundgren.

[dmitch57]

18 hours ago, Anderton said:

My current 2022 project has no idea what it is. 

Only one way to find out. 🙂

 

I've been in that boat from time to time. I like it there. Sometimes it's how really new stuff happens. 

[GovernorSilver]

6 hours ago, RABid said:

Translation - "I made two posts and people did not respond the way I wanted them to, so I am declaring this discussion and future discussions dead."

 

Actually, my prediction of doom for the sub-forum you want may be premature.   I was triggered by the EDM is too repetitive comment (not yours)

 

As Craig said, time will tell.

 

I will get back "in character" now and be silent on this thread.  There's nothing more I can contribute anyway - I end up spending enough time working on my own craft that I don't really have much time to focus on what problems I think other people have.

[Anderton]

Another possibility is that EDM will become part of the forum's fabric, rather than being ghettoized. If you removed the EDM elements from my rock projects, or the rock elements from my EDM projects, both would be that much poorer.

 

I've often joked that I'm "the world's only living techno guitarist." But I've also done many gigs with no guitar at all - just fader slamming, loops, and Ableton Live.

 

It's all good.

[Anderton]

11 hours ago, RABid said:

Well, I did assume that someone would respond with a discussion about the wave of chord based software and the proliferation of chord packs now available to plug into the creation process. Hip hop creators are already making use of these tools but the induction into electronic music has been met with some resistance and controversy. 

 

Fake books of chords are where I learned jazz guitar. Years ago, I made an audio chord library (various chord shapes on guitar) for Cakewalk, and recommended it be included with the program. I was willing to give it away for free. The response was "who would want that?" So I gave them a demo that used the chord library chords themselves, without re-recording parts. "Wow, that sounds great!" "Okay, so you're going to include it now?" "Uh...no. Sounds cool, though."

 

Just think...if they'd okayed it, then I could be the guy on YouTube saying "MAKE INCREDIBLE HIT MUSIC IN MILLISECONDS WITHOUT KNOWING ANYTHING ABOUT MUSIC! WOW JUST LISTEN TO HOW GREAT THIS CHORD PACK SOUNDS!! OMG I'M SO AMAZED AT HOW WONDERFUL THIS MUSIC SOUNDS!! AND I MADE IT MYSELF JUST BY DROPPING AND DRAGGING STUFF!!! AND FORTUNATELY FOR ME, YOU DON'T KNOW YOU COULD MAKE A MIDI PACK CHORD LIBRARY YOURSELF IN LESS THAN 30 MINUTES!!

[Anderton]

But seriously...

 

Chord Tracks, like Studio One and Cubase have, are killer for coming up with chord progression ideas, or coming up with substitutions for an existing chord progression. The fact that Studio One's chord track works with polyphonic audio pushed me over the edge into adopting it full-time for songwriting.

[GovernorSilver]

On 10/8/2022 at 8:40 PM, Anderton said:

I've often joked that I'm "the world's only living techno guitarist." 

 

 

...whose name is not Steve Hillage...

 

You guys should book a show together, and do techno guitar faceoff.

 

All in good fun of course

[Anderton]

14 minutes ago, GovernorSilver said:

...whose name is not Steve Hillage...

 

That's funny! I used to call myself "the Papa John Creach of techno" or "the world's oldest living techno guitarist," but enough people told me they thought I was the only one that I started using that instead. I guess I need to go back to "oldest living."

 

What I like about what I heard is he's not playing guitar on top of techno, he's modified the style to fit the genre. I always found the AdrenaLinn to be an instant way to fit into EDM. All it needed was a MIDI cable from an MPC, and I was good to go.