I have recently started using Hooktheory to create some chord progressions; and I am really enjoying the experience so far. Although; I am running into a bit of a challenge when it comes to experimenting with more complex chord structures. I am wondering if anyone here can offer some advice or tips on how to create more unique and interesting progressions.
I have gotten the hang of the basics using diatonic chords and following the guidelines for building progressions in a particular key but I would like to explore beyond simple I-IV-V patterns and experiment with different modal options; chromatic chords; or even secondary dominants.
I am not necessarily trying to make things overly complicated; but I do want to push my creativity and see what kind of progressions I can come up with.
One thing I would appreciate is some advice on how to smoothly integrate non-diatonic chords like borrowed chords or modal interchange without disrupting the overall flow of the progression. Also; if anyone has suggestions for how to build a more emotive or dramatic sound using Hooktheory’s features; I would love to hear them.
I like to prioritize voice leading, because those kinds of decisions can lead to some intriguing and novel chord progressions. As long as it sounds smooth, it works, in my opinion. It can be beneficial to step outside of the boundaries of standard I V vi IV I and ii V I structures every once in a while and explore what you think sounds good.
That being said, Hookpad can definitely be limiting because it is missing some of the more exotic chords and Roman numerals, such as inverted ninth chords and some inversions and slash chords such as C/F.
In short, explore what sounds good to you and see what you can create.
By the way, I would not categorize this post as a bug report; you should relabel this post under the music theory label instead.
The Hooktheory books are pretty good and well worth the money. They’re a pretty fast read but cover a lot of ground. It still takes lots of practice and exploration, i.e., trying things out on your own and studying lots of existing songs, but the books will at least get you to where you can figure out why a piece works when you see its transcription, and from there you can try using stuff you like in different ways.
I wouldn’t worry much about 9ths on up yet. While inverted ninths in Hookpad are indeed convoluted, if you decide you really need them you can enter almost anything by thinking about other ways to write it.
I am not affiilliated with Hooktheory, just appreciate their books! Hope they’re working on book 3!
As neurozero already pointed out, you can access most of the more exotic slash chords by reinterpreting them as root position chords. C/Db is dbmM7(b5), C/D is dm11 (you can omit the 3rd and 5th, but Hookpad won’t play them anyway), C/F is Fmaj9(no3), C/F# is f#m7(no3)(b5b9), C/Ab is Abmaj7(#5), etc. I totally agree that it is a huge flaw that you can’t just enter them as slash chords, but they definitely are available when you really want them.
For the record, I know what the chords would be, but I also agree that you should simply be able to input slash chords and inversions without a second thought.
