There is a pattern you’ll notice in most pop songs, which is that as they move along, they alternate between sections that are ambiguous in nature and sections that are much clearer and easy to understand. I like using the terms “fragile” and “strong”: In many songs, that “fragile-strong” labelling is synonymous with “verse-chorus” structure. […]
A chord progression is the one element that doesn’t overly hurt a song if it’s predictable. Creative songs are still being written using the tried-and-true I-IV-V-I progression. It’s the uniqueness of the melody and lyrics (and all the related bits such as phrasing, rhythm. etc.) that really matter. Having said that, there’s something nice about […]
To describe a musical idea as “fragile” means that there is a certain measure of ambiguity. I like to use the term especially when describing chord progressions. A fragile progression is one in which any of the following are true: The chords do not strongly indicate the key. For example, moving back and forth from Am […]
Every songwriter has a style. If you’re a well-known writer, that style may be part of what makes your new song immediately identifiable to your listeners, even before they hear that you’re the one who’s written it. More often than not, however, a song’s style of performance is what will give the song’s authorship away, not […]
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 […]
Unique chord progressions that work well are hard to create. But that shouldn’t be a worry to a songwriter. ______________ Hopefully it goes without saying that good chord progressions are not simply a random collection of nice chords. There’s very little that’s random about it. After you play the first chord, there are a number […]
