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When you add chords to a melody, you’re really doing two things: 1) you are assigning chords that properly harmonize a small group of melody notes before moving on to the next small group of melody notes; and 2) you are ensuring that one chord moves to the next one in a sensible fashion. This “sensible fashion” is what we call the chord progression. That word (progression) implies that one chord doesn’t simply meander on to the next one. It means that there is a logic, an overall plan, in affect throughout the song.
When chords progress properly, there is a predictability at work. That predictability is seen to be an asset. Except for perhaps a few little harmonic “surprises,” we like it when it sounds like chords are moving in a mostly conventional way. That is the essence of what we mean by progression.
And that begs a question: what else in a song “progresses”? And the answer is: pretty much everything.
Every aspect of your song needs to be part of a sensible series of musical events. With chords, we get it. If chord progressions don’t measure up to being “a sensible series of” chord choices, our progressions aren’t really progressions. They’re just muddle.
So why do we know that one so well, but when it comes to lyrics, melodic shape, song structure, and so on, so many songwriters fumble?
Every aspect of your song needs to be thought of in terms of being part of a larger form, a progression of lyrical, melodic and formal ideas.
In other words, lyrics in the chorus need to sound like the logical result, if you will, of what the verse lyrics set up. The end of a melody needs to feel that it is the proper resolution of musical tensions created near the beginning of a melody.
So every aspect of a song needs to impress the listener as being part of a progression of musical ideas. Here are some guidelines to keep in mind:
- To give your melodies a sense of structure and progression, try replicating melodic shapes throughout your song. If your verse melody features a particular rising-falling shape, try using that same shape in your chorus, and then try reversing it in your bridge (i.e., try a falling-rising shape). That kind of connection is something that people notice on an almost subconscious level, and it’s a powerful tool for reinforcing melodic structure.
- The logical progression of lyrics in a song is from giving more situational information to giving less. In other words, it’s OK for your chorus to simply give emotional reactions (“Penny Lane is in my ears and in my eyes…”) but the verse needs to give more, and set that emotion up with information (“In Penny Lane, there is a barber showing photographs…”).
- Song energy should either stay the same or increase as a song progresses. Song energy can be subtly increased by adding instruments, playing in a higher range, and/or making the backbeat more energetic and busier. Having songs become gentler as they progress is rare, and tricky to make work.
- Vocal harmonies should progress from less to more. In verse 1, vocals should be mainly solo, with fuller harmonies possible for the chorus. Verse 2 can use more harmonies than verse 1, but still less than the chorus. Final choruses usually benefit from the addition of a higher harmony line.
Written by Gary Ewer, from “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” website.
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