Guitar - Songwriting

Determining the Key of Weird Chord Progressions

Take a look at the following two progressions. The first one comes from the verse of John Legend’s “All of Me” (John Stephens, Toby Gad), and the second one comes from the verse of “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” (Elton John, Bernie Taupin): 1. All of Me: Fm  Db  Ab  Eb 2. Goodbye Yellow Brick Road: […]

Piano and Guitar - creative chords

Designing More Creative Chord Progressions

Chord choice is one part of songwriting that doesn’t require a lot of imagination. All that’s really required is that a progression works. In that sense, it’s not much different from a piece of country land that you might build a house on. Sure, it may seem important to have land that, on its own, takes […]

Using Abrupt Modulations to Generate Song Energy

Changing key quickly and with no warning adds a layer of excitement to your music. ____________ Download “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” 6-eBook Bundle, and get a FREE GIFT right now. _____________ From the April 22, 2013 Songwriter’s Quick-Tips Newsletter: A modulation is the technical term for a change of key. Most songs will start and […]

Giving Chord Progressions a Sense of Direction

Being imaginative with chord progressions is a good thing. But imaginative progressions need a harmonic goal. __________________ Download “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” 10 e-book bundle, and build your audience base! Get today’s deal: A FREE copy of “Creative Chord Progressions” when you purchase the bundle. __________________ Imaginative chord progressions are wonderful to experiment with, because chords that […]

Songwriting Tips and Tricks: Changing Tonal Focus

When changing key is not working for you, how about just changing tonal focus? ____________ Download “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” 6-eBook Bundle, and get back to the basics of why hit songs sell. _____________ There are times during a song when you want to allow the chords to move off and explore harmonies that are a bit […]

Changing Key, and Then Changing Back

Download “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting 6-eBook Bundle“, and become a top-level songwriter! ______________ Changing key in the middle of a song is one way you can boost musical energy. More often than not, you’ll move the key higher, since downward-moving key changes are tricky to do as they tend to sap momentum. There are lots of […]