Chord progressions can be tonally strong or ambiguous. I like to call the ambiguous ones “fragile” for a reason that I’ll describe a little further on. But to illustrate the concept of strong versus fragile, let me use an analogy. Imagine you are looking at a map of your city. You place a dot on your house, […]
The melody-chord relationship is one we talk about all the time. You can enhance a melody, and in particular its sense of direction and energy, by ensuring that you’re using chords that are functionally clear. The relationship we don’t talk about so much is the connection between lyrics and chords. How listeners react to chords […]
By Gary Ewer, Senior Instructor, Dalhousie University, from “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” website. • Follow Gary on Twitter • Fix your songwriting technique! Check out “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” 6 e-book bundle – available now at a 50% savings! ________________________________ If you’re a chords-first kind of songwriter, you’re probably checking out chord progression charts on a daily […]
by Gary Ewer, author of “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” Follow Gary on Twitter _______________________________ How can chords, which typically use only 3 or 4 notes, allow for melodies that use many more? For example, if the chord you’re playing is Cm, which uses the notes C-Eb-G, does this mean that the only notes your […]
Written by Gary Ewer, Senior Instructor, Dalhousie University, from “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” website. • Follow Gary on Twitter • Fix your songwriting technique! Check out “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” 6 e-book bundle – available now at a 50% savings! ________________________________ A borrowed chord is a simple concept: you know that for any major key, there are […]
A circle of fifths progression is one where the roots of the chords are related to each other specifically by ascending 4ths or descending 5ths. Circle of fifths progressions are considered to be harmonically very strong, in the sense that they pull our ear toward one chord being the tonic, or key chord. In that […]
