Gospel Hymn Chords

Would anyone be able to tell me which chord progression would be best as an accompaniment  to my vocals? I am singing in Ab Major

You haven't given any sort of melody or words where you want the chords spotted.

I have to presume you aren't familiar with the roman numbering of chords but I used

A-flat, D-flat 7, E-flat, E flat 7, C(maj) flat 7th leading to F min, B flat minor

This attempt starts in 5 parts then when it gets to the boom, boom, boom thing I changed it to 4 part.

It's fairly banal harmony but the tune doesn't allow for much adventurous stuff. Don't take any notice of my harmony - just an example, a lot of 'rules' broken. There are other possibilities.

What I've done might not be satisfactory but it would help if you wrote the words at least with arrows where you expect chords to change. I know nothing about guitar chords or gospel hymns so I'd have to do it with a choir or something. 

And I've written out the scale of A flat for you along with the triads the chord names and roman numeral numbers (except C maj 7 which is III flat 7 natl 3) I can't resize the picture - sorry about that.

The second sound file "YCHar2" is how I might harmonise part of it. 

Bolded C indicates where the chords should go

CHORUS
(Bass walkup)

C
THERE IS VICT’RY IN THE BLOOD
(Bass Walkup)

C
VICT’RY IN THE BLOOD

C                                                          C                             C
FREEDOM*, DELIVERANCE, AND VICT’RY IN THE BLOOD    *POWER (alternate lyric)

                                                    C
HIS BLOOD CAN HEAL AND SET MEN FREE

       C                                                                                C                              C
I’LL BLESS THE LAMB OF GOD FOR THERE’S  VICT’RY IN HIS BLOOD
V1

C
NO POWER OR RULER OR PRINCIPALITY

C                                                                                          C
WILL EVER BE STRONGER OR MIGHTIER THAN THEE

                                                                       C       C
YOU’VE FREED ME FROM SIN AND ALL THAT BINDS

C                                                    C                        C
FOR THIS I KNOW THAT THERE IS VICT’RY IN HIS BLOOD
V2
AS A CHILD OF GOD YOU DON’T HAVE TO TASTE DEFEAT
EVERY STRONGHOLD WILL BE UNDER OUR FEET
HIS BLOOD CAN SAVE, AND WORKS FOR YOU AND ME
FOR THIS I KNOW THAT THERE IS VICT’RY IN HIS BLOOD

Vocal Melody

Eb - F - G (Walkup)
Bb      C   Eb    Eb  Eb  Eb
There is vict'ry in  the blood
Ab-Bb-C(Walkup)
Db      Db  Db  Db
Vict'ry in the blood
G  G       G     G    G     G   Ab Ab  F  F    Eb
Freedom, deliverance, and vict'ry in the blood
........
V1
........
C   Ab  Ab     C C C Bb  Ab
No power or pricncipality
Ab Bb Ab F   Ab  Ab   F   Ab Ab    F     Eb
Will ever be stronger or mightier than the

These are the chords I used. They aren't the only ones possible. Slightly more than you wanted so you can delete those you don't like. The verse chords should fit both verses.

= = = = = = = =

CHORUS
(Bass walkup)

Ab                                |Db         |Ab
THERE IS VICT’RY IN THE BLOOD
(Bass Walkup)

Ab                     |  Bb7 - - - - - -That's Bb with a flat 7 (Ab on top Bb D natural F  Ab)
VICT’RY IN THE BLOOD

Eb                | Db |Eb .............. Ab                 |Bb min |Ab                           
FREEDOM*, DELIVERANCE, AND VICT’RY IN THE BLOOD    *POWER (alternate lyric)

 Ab                                          |C7             Db
HIS BLOOD CAN HEAL AND SET MEN FREE

       Bbm                                    |C7    |Db                     |Bbm        |Eb7   |Ab                                                                        
I’LL BLESS THE LAMB OF GOD FOR THERE’S  VICT’RY IN HIS BLOOD

V1

Ab                                               |Db      |Eb    |Ab
NO POWER OR RULER OR PRINCIPALITY

 Db7                                                    |Ab               Bbm** |Ab

WILL EVER BE STRONGER OR MIGHTIER THAN THEE

Ab         |Ab---Bbm--------Ab              |C7             |Fm                                                                                                        

YOU’VE FREED ME FROM SIN AND ALL THAT BINDS

          |Bbm                                |Ab***--Eb7                     |Ab                 

FOR THIS I KNOW THAT THERE IS VICT’RY IN HIS BLOOD

NOTES: All 7ths are minor 7ths (as in "dominant 7th") | m=minor chord. | ** This is against Ab in the bass so another way to call it is II7d (3rd inversion).| *** this is with Eb in the bass - to the theorists a Ic - V7a progression.

Now...let's see how these chords line up when I submit the post. - Probably going to take lots of edits.

Hi

There are thousands of ways to harmonize this....

I apologize for the way the words are split. English is not my language and that's very difficult for us.

I'd put together a 4-part chorale-like thing but I doubt GospelPiano12 would like my harmony. 

Nice hymn though.

.

Why do you think I wouldn't like it? I'm welcome to hearing anything.

On 3/13/2021 at 6:21 AM, Luis Hernández said:

Hi

There are thousands of ways to harmonize this....

I apologize for the way the words are split. English is not my language and that's very difficult for us.

 

MP3

 

 

Play / pause

• VICTORY IN HIS BLOOD

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I like this is there any way you could make it into a Bach Chorale arrangement ?

VICTORY IN HIS BLOOD

 

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PDF

• VICTORY IN HIS BLOOD

I like th

i have no experience in writing chorales 

i can do it but i don’t take much care about the rules for this style.

This is as far as I got. It probably won't fit with the words. I upped it to Bb and set the tempo to 84bpm. Also worked to the grid which means individual notes in the harmony may sound as continuous.  It's mostly the chords I pasted against the words (except the augmented 6th at the next to last phrase - but the rhythm was far from 4/4 in parts. 

@Quinn It sounds very nice. It's like a carol. Dis you transpose it up to give the lead voice to the soprano?

You did a smarter job than me, Luis. I slowed the tempo because I had trouble getting the words to fit into a 4/4 rhythm. Raised it up a tone as conventionally the lowest note in the bass range is E2.

It should be possible for GospelPiano12 to put together a 4 part version from your version which has all the basics....a chance to learn!

.

21 minutes ago, Quinn said:

You did a smarter job than me, Luis. I slowed the tempo because I had trouble getting the words to fit into a 4/4 rhythm. Raised it up a tone as conventionally the lowest note in the bass range is E2.

It should be possible for GospelPiano12 to put together a 4 part version from your version which has all the basics....a chance to learn!

.

 

As I said before I have no experience writing chorales in the classic way. Surely, since I'm into contemporary styles, I would put dissonances or parallels, etc... I can try but I'm not used to check those rules.

Luis, same here. That piece I put together is riddled with broken rules as I remember them. Perhaps there are people here who could do the work properly if GospelPiano doesn't want to have a go.

I made a rough draft score, some notes will probably be wrong, but here it is. Also a recording of the chords, piano playing.

Well, you've done pretty well in your score. If you want an Eflat 7 in bar 5 you want Eb in the bass, maybe going back to Ab on the third beat 

Bar 15 - not sure what you're trying to do but what seems natural is to use C7  (C Enatural G Bflat) on the first beat leading to F minor OR Db on the third beat. In which case the bass would be |C - C - F - F -| or |C - C - Db - Db-|

But your piano rendering, if indeed it was you, is very good indeed. It throws a whole new light (for me) on how this hymn should be sung. And what's wrong with going with that? The harmony is simpler than mine but it works well with this jazzy up-tempo beat. I seriously doubt it'll work as an SATB without a specialised arrangement. And it would sound more like an Anglican hymn with a "Bach-like" setting.

If you want to proceed with SATB with or without piano accompaniment you have the scale up there with the "triad" notes, the 3rds and 5ths. If you transcribe them to the bass clef (for the tenor notes) and make corrections to the bass line as suggested, why not have a try at filling in the tenor and alto? 

Thank you, I wanted to show how the piano player would accompany the singer singing the song.

I have this one that I need chords for. I believe it's in Eb, but I think there might be an accidental in there. If someone could tell me what chords a piano accompanist would play, that would be a huge help.

I sat down at the piano and came up with this. 

Eb                            Bbm7     Eb9                   Ab69                 Eb

I love to feel the holy      ghost, as it's moving all a -  round

Eb                              Ab                     Abm                       Gm7     Cm7

I love to feel that spirit, as the power's coming down

  Fm7(b5)               G7              Cm7    B7  A7         Abmaj7

I can't stay in my seat, I've got to get on  my feet

          Fm7       Bb7                   Eb6sus4 Ebsus4  Eb

How I love to feel that holy ghost

Thanks, these chords sound good. I like the jazzy vibe I to when I listened to it.

Much different than my basic chords.

23 hours ago, GospelPiano12 said:

Much different than my basic chords.

 

Here are the main things I did. I connected the chords with ii-V-I's. I also used tritone substitutions, which is when you replace a V7 chord for the V7 chord a tritone away,

If we strip away the ii-V-I's and tritone substitutions,  my progression looks like this

Eb                                                                       Ab69                 Eb

I love to feel the holy      ghost, as it's moving all a -  round

Eb                              Ab                     Abm                       

I love to feel that spirit, as the power's coming down

  Fm7(b5)               G7              Cm7    B7                 Abmaj7

I can't stay in my seat, I've got to get on  my feet

                                         Eb6sus4 Ebsus4  Eb

How I love to feel that holy ghost

We both began with an Eb chord, and then changed to an Ab chord on "moving." The only difference is that I used the ii-V-I in the key of Ab: Bbm (I used a Bbm7) Eb7 (I used an Eb9) Ab (I used an Ab69)

And the Gm7 Cm7 Fm7b5 chords? Gm is the ii in the key of F minor, and Cm is the V. (Usually you would use a Major V chord for a ii-V-I, even if it's in a minor key, but I didn't like how that sounded).

I also did a iim7b5 III vi progression on the third line, which I am a fan of. It's a good way to go to the relative minor. (And the G7 is the V chord of the Cm7).

And the A7 going to the Abmaj7? The A7 is the tritone substitution of the V chord in Ab. The V chord in Ab is Eb. The note a tritone away from Eb is A.

I also used extensions, Maj7 m7 7 mainly. I also used a 9 chord, which is just a 7 chord with the 9th note of the scale added, and a 69, which is just a major chord with the 6 and 9 added.

Oh wow, thank you for this. I normally just add those things, like the 9ths, sus2 and 4, and 7ths w/o notating them.

I like how the F7 sounds in your version