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 […]
Here’s a set of steps that can keep your chord choices from sounding randomly picked. ______________ It’s time to get serious about your songwriting. Take a look a “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” eBook Bundle packages, written by Gary Ewer. They’ll take your music to new levels of excellence. Read more.. ______________ A few posts back I encouraged […]
You can strengthen chord progressions by defining a goal and then working backwards. ___________ Buy “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” eBook Bundle, and get back to songwriting excellence. ___________ Yesterday, we looked at how to work backwards with lyrics. We saw that getting the chorus lyrics working first made it easier to work out verse ideas. […]
A turn-around builds musical energy by its seamless back-to-the-beginning characteristic. ________________ Get the entire “Essential Secrets of Songwriting” 10-eBook Bundle, with an 11th free eBook, “Creative Chord Progressions”. High-quality PDFs for laptop, desktop, iPad, or any other PDF-reading device. ________________ A turn-around is a progression, usually relatively short (4 or 5 chords), that ends in such […]
Weird chords sound less weird when the bass line makes sense. ____________ “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” 6-eBook Bundle comes with this FREE eBOOK: “From Amateur to Ace: Writing Songs Like a Pro”. 7 Songwriting eBooks for $37 _____________ Chord progressions that require a bass line to move in odd ways will tend to sound unsettled and […]
Chord sequences are pleasantly predictable, adding structure to your music by creating repetition. ____________ Purchase “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” 6-eBook Bundle, and get this eBook FREE OF CHARGE: “From Amateur to Ace: Writing Songs Like a Pro”. _____________ Other than the circle of fifths, most songwriters don’t tend to think much about chord progression patterns. For many, […]
