Keeping It Interesting During Same Chord?

[okiemusic]

I'm doing a project with all-original songs. It's going well except for one part of one song. It has a chorus where the opening chord is repeated for quite a while. There's good stuff going on with the melody right there but it needs a little help, most likely from the bass. Can I get suggestions on how I can hold listener interest until the song reaches a place where chords change with a frequency they're more accustomed to? The following numbers represent how many measures a chord is played before it changes, and how many measures the next chord is played, etc.

 

12,  6,  4,  4,  4,  4  (that last was a 7th before returning to verse)

[Kel]

Personally, I think staying in one chord for 12 bars is way too long. I'd even find 4 bars of one chord a bit much unless there is something else happening, eg 12 bar blues with the walking bass keeps the 4 bars of the I chord interesting.

 

All chords have common notes with other chords. And sometimes using an unusual chord creates an interesting  tension. I recently wrote a song that incorpoates a V6 chord in the chorus. The 6th notes really suited the melody, and makes the chord that much more interesting than a 7th, for example.

 

My thoughts, anyway.

 

Kel

[Rudi]

A 4th (sust) will add some tension without changing the chord too much. The release will resolve it. Would that fit ok?

[okiemusic]

I can see where 12 measures seems extreme. But I've been listening to what some musicians (usually soloists) do in a single- or two-chord setting in two genres: ambient and jazz. I've seen people pull this off. I want to at least take a crack at it. I've written one bass line I sort of like where a short repeating pattern keeps changing and "hinting" at an upcoming chord change. This song will likely only be four or five instruments, so the bass will be a noticeable part of the mix.

[okiemusic]

No syncopation yet; I first want to hear what the mix-down sounds like.

The chorus chords are conventional: D, A, D, G, D, E7 (song in key of D, the E7 is a cheat)

The conventionality there is for two reasons: 1) The verse uses a slightly weird Bm, A, G, F#sus2  and  2) I'd like to add a short bridge with something unexpected/fun.

 

The voicing suggestion was an idea I've never thought about before!

[okiemusic]

Oops didn't clarify that the E7 is only played just before the chorus transitions back to the verse.