^ Yes, they were/are; however, they aren't totally abandoned either. And again, when one really thinks about it, the latter part of that statement is true. Some call it a contrivance, but that's how it works.

You could tty the appliation Band-in-a-Box. This is fun.
It has lot's of features where you can learn from. Amongst others it can suggest Chord Substitutions. This is a screenshot from the application:
 

This is the one I use: http://www.guitarknowledg...rogression_builder.php

Zonno, that's really cool.  Thanks!  I don't really want to buy BIAB now, but that's a cool feature. 

IK Obi...great website.  Thanks.  

I want to get back to this and delve into every post. Thanks again!  

Don't get in the box unless you have to. Any combination of notes is a chord. What is important is sound and purpose. Just experiment and learn anything that sounds interesting. It doesn't matter that a purpose isn't immediately found or that they don't appear to go anywhere. The more bits and pieces you accumulate the more chance there will be bits and pieces that will eventually fit together and make sense of each other or find a purpose. Play around on a different instrument. Mandolin gets me away from guitar/bass tuning, fingering and muscle memory. A keyboard gets me away from all the string player habits. This track had a chord progression (which originated as a chromatic type fingering exercise on guitar) and words that lay around as separate items for over 20 years. It was just the first few notes of a completely disconnected melody that eventually led to pulling the the whole thing together http://www.smk1.com/music/fairytdpic.htm Horror film sound tracks usually have really interesting chords, changes, harmonies, meter. The picture itself might be devoid of any 'horror'. A guy walking down the street, by the time he gets to the corner we're on the edge of our seats. Yet nothing has actually happened, it's just a guy walking down the street and what we're built up to expect comes only through the music.

Great ideas and cool word picture there. Thanks.  It's rather fun to start out with something totally different...so 'not what I always do.'  But it's so easy to slip back into I, IV, V.  Anyway, I've got enough ideas here to keep me going for ages.  Thanks again!  :) And welcome to the forum.

I don't think it's so much slipping back into the I-IV-V, so easily as it is forcing yourself to get away from it. I know you asked for ideas which is fine, my point is, are you forcing it?

IOW, don't put a chord in somewhere just for the sake of doing so. ie: Don't be different, just to be different, so-to-speak.

Tonality in and of itself is seemingly mundane, but think of the gazillion tunes we have just from those three chords you find yourself going back to.

Rest-Tension-Climax-Resolution (I-IV-V-I)

To use the uninvited guest quip: "You ain't gotta go home (I), but you gotta get the hell outta here" (which means you'll eventually go home)

Do you wanna go straight home (cadences: V/v-I/i; IV/iv-I/i; viio/bVII/VII-I/i) or make a few stops along the way? (cadences with more chords: IV-iv-I/i; V-V-I/i; bVI-bVII-I/i; i-iv/ii%-V-I/i).

Seems like you wanna make a few stops along the way or stop by home if only just to visit. :)

Yeah, I basically need some new scenery on the way home. :) 

Janet


Yeah, I basically need some new scenery on the way home. :) 

Ms. Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz:


There's no place like home! (And she had an imaginative journey to say the least) And thanks to R&H along with Dorothy (and many others) we got to experience it!

One can only hope to write the worse music in the freedom of music history, which may still have some people liking it. And at least there will be those who state:" I don't like it", so what........................