I did a post recently dealing with categorizing chords to make them easier to use. We know that in any key, the I, IV and V-chords comprise what we call primary chords, and they are the most common ones you’ll find in most pop songs. Beyond those three, the ii, iii, vi and vii-chords are categorized as secondary chords, […]
Every key has seven chords that exist naturally within that key. And they’re easy to find. First, take any key (C major, for instance), and play a chord that uses each note of the scale as a root. To know if you should be playing a major, minor or diminished chord, follow this simple guide that uses […]
There are very few songs on the Rolling Stones List of 500 Greatest Songs of All Time that made it to the list because of their stunning chord progressions. Chord progressions, when they work well, should almost disappear into the background of your song. Occasionally it’s nice to throw a chord in there that grabs attention, but […]
A circle of fifths (CoF) progression is one that includes chords whose roots move up or down by 5ths. Dm Am Em Bdim, for example, is an ascending CoF progression. You can hear that there’s a pleasant sense of predictability that results from this kind of progression. There are many ways to use the CoF, including […]
It can sometimes be an exciting aspect of music, when the chorus dramatically changes the mood that’s been set up by the verse. A good classic example is The Beatles’ “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds,” which uses a dreamy psychedelic verse, followed by a much stronger, quicker chorus. But those songs are the exception. […]
A bit of songwriter’s theory for today, and it’s an important lesson especially if you’ve created a melody and are at the stage where you’re adding chords. If you listen to Leonard Bernstein’s “America”, from “West Side Story“, you’ll notice that practically all the notes from the melody clearly outline the chord that accompanies it: Melodies […]
