Messing with chords

Came up with a tune, and played with the chords.

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I was experimenting with chord changes the other day and just popped out with a tune when I tried to make the bass line move in a certain pattern. Here’s a video of it.

The chords go like this:

F: i | ♭VI | ♭VII | v | ♭VI | iv | (stuff) | V
F: t | pR  | dR  | d  | tV | p  | (stuff) | D

Interesting to note is that the first ♭VI and the second ♭VI have a different harmonic function: The first one is a predominant and the second is a tonic.

The spot where I wrote “(stuff)” is where I came up with a bunch of chord sequences to try out. Here’s a video of those different sequences. Explanation is below the video.

I took the second to last measure and played one of the following:

1. V (D)
2. ♭VII (dR)
3. ♭III (tR or dV)
4. ♭VII (dR) and ♭III (tR or dV)

Then I took the last measure and played one of the following:

1. V (D)
2. IV V (P D)
3. ii V (Pr D)

I played each combination of these chord choices. All of them sounded at least decent, but my favorite was the combination of the two last choices. Here’s a list of those combinations, in the order that I play them in the video.

Group 1:

| iv | V | V 
| p  | D | D
| iv | V | IV V
| p  | D | P  D
| iv | V | ii V
| p  | D | Pr D

Group 2:

| iv | bVII | V
| p  | dR   | D 
| iv | bVII | IV V
| p  | dR   | P  D
| iv | bVII | ii V
| p  | dR   | Pr D

Group 3:

| iv | bIII  | V
| p  | dV/tR | D
| iv | bIII  | IV V
| p  | dV/tR | P  D
| iv | bIII  | ii V
| p  | dV/tR | Pr D

Group 4:

| iv | bVII bIII | V
| p  | dR dV/tR  | D
| iv | bVII bIII | IV V
| p  | dR dV/tR  | P  D
| iv | bVII bIII | ii V
| p  | dR dV/tR  | Pr D

I didn’t like the sound of the second and third combinations in Groups 1 and 2, or the first combinations in Groups 3 and 4. Here’s a possible explanation: The second and third combinations in Groups 1 and 2 went from a predominant to a dominant, and the first combinations in Groups 3 and 4 went from a tonic to a dominant.