Get “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” eBooks. They’ll help you polish your technique, and make you the best songwriter you can be. Comes with a Study Guide, tons of chord progressions, and information covering every aspect of how to write good music. Good chord progressions take you on a musical journey that usually starts at “home”, wanders to some interesting place, […]
Many songs will use the same chord progression in both the verse and the chorus, and of course it’s completely fine to do that. A classic example is America’s “A Horse With No Name”, which toggles back and forth between the two chords Em and D6-add9/F# for both verse and chorus. “Smells Like Teen Spirit” […]
It’s not uncommon for songwriters to be looking for unique chord progressions that will, in turn, make their song sound unique. But some of the best songs written use very basic chord progressions, usually dictated by the expectations of their chosen genre. If you’re ready to take your songwriting to its highest level possible, you […]
I love when songwriters create music where it sounds like something complex is going on, but when you put the magnifying glass on it, it’s really pretty simple. I’m focusing on chord progressions here, and the best example of a simple progression that sounds like it’s doing something a bit more involved is James Taylor’s […]
Townes Van Zandt was a highly respected singer-songwriter whose songs were covered by some of the world’s biggest names — Willie Nelson, Emmy Lou Harris, Merle Haggard and others. There’s a quiet kind of contemplative sound to his music and draws the audience in; they make you listen. Van Zandt’s most well-known song is “Pancho […]
One thing that brings a smile to my face is thinking about the fact that chord progressions work pretty much the same way today (in a pop song) as they did more than 300 years ago (in a Bach aria). If you’ve written a melody and you want to explore the many ways there are […]
