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Chat GPT is an auto-generative chatbot system that can output a lot of different things, and be used for specific human-facing tools. This includes chatbots for customer care or any area of service where more natural-feeling chatbots will be of benefit. But, given it can write a lot of different types of text, can Chat GPT write music?
It’s not so silly a question to ask. After all, if Chat GPT can write a business plan and code, it seems as though you could throw pretty much anything at it. That’s not exactly the case, and it’s not always 100% perfect in producing factual text. But the melodic question remains.
And the answer to the query of the model’s writing music capability is it can’t do it in any real sense. But that doesn’t mean it can’t help suggest chords and lyrics for anyone wanting some inspiration in getting out of a musical funk.
Chat GPT Music analyses
When we asked Chat GPT if it could write music, this was its response:
“As a language model, I can generate lyrics and even suggest chord progressions and melodies that could be used to write a song, but I don’t have the capability to physically create music.
“However, my responses are based on the patterns in the texts I was trained on, so if you have a specific idea or prompt in mind, I’d be happy to assist you in generating songwriting content!”
We followed up with the question: Chat GPT can you recommend chords for a viral melodic metal song? And its reply to this query was:
“Sure! Here are some chord progressions that are commonly used in melodic metal songs:
- Em – C – G – D
- A – E – F#m – D
- D – A – Bm – G
- G – D – Em – C
- Bm – G – A – D
“You can experiment with these chord progressions and see if they fit with your melody. Keep in mind that there are no strict rules when it comes to chord progressions and you can always try different combinations to see what sounds best for your song.”
Beyond this, we asked Chat GPT if it could suggest lyrics for the chords it recommended, and it did do that. It, rather smartly, provided two verses, a bridge, and a chorus.
Final thoughts
But does any of this mean Chat GPT can write music? Perhaps not. There’s no performance, and there’s nothing to say the suggestions are good. But it is an interesting use case, perhaps best utilized by musicians who know how to take an idea and make it into something they really want.
It’s also worth bearing in mind Chat GPT was trained on text from 2021 and before. So there’s unlikely to be any musical breakthroughs in its recommendations – it’s literally basing its responses on what’s come before (and sure, some music does the same).
Genuinely, the question of whether Chat GPT can write music can only be answered with “no”. However, it can analyze music-related text it’s been trained on and may be helpful in giving some prompts and ideas to those able to make use of them.