Chords need to do 2 things: 1- Support the melody, and 2- establish and reinforce the key. _____________ Download “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” 6-eBook Bundle, and learn the 11 principles crucial to any songwriter’s success. _____________ This is a bit of a follow-up to a previous post, “Making Chord Progressions By Categorizing Them.” In that article, […]
By categorizing chords, you avoid the randomness that leads to chord muddle. _____________ Download “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” 6-eBook Bundle, and learn the 11 principles crucial to any songwriter’s success. _____________ If it seems like a random occurrence to you when you finally get a chord progression to work, it’s going to help if you […]
A deceptive cadence temporarily “fools” the listener by pulling the chords in an unexpected direction. _____________ Download “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” 6-eBook Bundle, and solve your songwriting problems TODAY. _____________ In music, a cadence is the end of a phrase. It’s easy to identify when a cadence happens in a song: you’ll hear the singer hold a […]
When chord roots move by 4ths and 5ths, your progressions suddenly gain direction and purpose _____________ Download “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” 6-eBook Bundle, and solve your songwriting problems TODAY. _____________ If you’re a chords-first kind of songwriter, you probably know the frustration of trying to put chords together that make sense. At times, the whole process can […]
No one song component lives in a vacuum — how well they work together determines the success of your song. _____________ Download “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” 6-eBook Bundle, and solve your songwriting problems TODAY. _____________ When you glimpsed the word “partnership” in the title of this article, you might have thought that this would be another post […]
In verse-chorus formats, tentative ideas need to be followed by strong ones. _____________ Download “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” 6-eBook Bundle, and solve your songwriting problems TODAY. _____________ When I use the words “fragile” and “strong” as they pertain to songwriting, I’m usually describing chord progressions. A fragile progression is one that has a certain degree of ambiguity, […]
