Most songs are said to be “in a key.” If the key is C major, that C major chord is said to be the tonic chord. A dominant chord is one that is built on the 5th degree of a scale. Dominant chords like to move to tonic chords. That’s why G7-C (V7-I) is so […]
Do you find that getting chords to sound right is the hardest part of getting a song working? Chord theory is a topic that takes considerable study to understand it thoroughly, so let’s look at it from a different angle. Here are 7 things about chord progressions that many songwriters don’t know. It may help you […]
When you feel that your chord progression is lacking a bit of excitement, you’re temptation might be to toss it out and go looking for “the killer chord progression.” But that shouldn’t be your first choice, for a number of reasons. First of all, no chord progression is “killer” unless it’s partnering well with all […]
A minor key may add just the right mood to your lyric. Here’s how to create minor chord progression. ____________ Struggling to build an audience base? “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” shows you every aspect of what makes a great song great. Read more.. ____________ There are 2 common ways that songwriters get the feeling of minor across […]
To make a longer progression, consider repeating a short one, making substitutions each time through. Here’s how. In yesterday’s post, we looked at how each chord in a progression can be categorized, and we used that information to help us create chord substitutions. We can also use that information to extend chord progressions, making them longer. That’s what we’re […]
Most songwriters can tell you what a chord is, and may even be able to tell you that there are 7 chords that naturally occur in any major key. But when it comes to understanding how they work together, and why some chords sound great together while others sound lousy — that’s more of a mystery […]
