Hi All
This post should be read in conjunction with Episode 4 of the SongWriterSelect Podcast, which can be found here: http://www.songwriterforum.co.uk/the-bar/songwriter-select-podcast-episode-4/In this episode we delve in to some music theory and how it can be directly applied to songwriting
The topic for this discussion was how to choose the right chords to form the foundation of your song
To keep things simple we will be sticking to the key of C Major
C Major is a very special scale as if you played it on a piano/keyboard and started on a C note you would play a C Major scale if you just played all of the white notes as the C Major scale does not contain any Sharps (#) or Flats (b)
This will also help understand some of the more complex chords where certain notes in the chord are changed
Roman Numerals are often used to describe the chords to make it easier to play songs in a different key (which we will not worry about for now)
CHORD SCALESThe chords that "fit together" in the key of C MAJOR are:
MAJOR CHORD SCALEDegree of scale Roman Numeral Chord
1 I C
2 ii Dm
3 iii Em
4 IV F
5 V G
6 vi Am
7 vii Bdim
If you were new to songwriting, or looking for inspiration, this gives you a "palette" of chords to choose from
For now we will ignore the B Diminished chord as we will be looking at Diminished and Augmented chords a little later
If you experiment with playing these chords it is likely you will find some sequences that go particularly well together
Here are some examples of some common progressions:
I IV V - “3 chord trick” 12 bar blues Rock n Roll
I vi IV V - “Rock n Roll ballad” - Teenager In Love, Earth Angel etc.
I V vi IV - This is the “4 chord trick” that covers a whole raft of songs and parts of songs: Don’t Stop Believing, With Or Without You, Let It Be, Poker Face, Its My Life, Auld Lang Syne etc. etc.
For a fun example of just how many songs use this I V vi IV sequence (and to hear how it sounds) check out this excellent video by the AXIS OF AWESOME:
There is a very special relationship between the I chord and the vi chord - the vi chord is known as the RELATIVE MINOR
The RELATIVE MINOR uses exactly the same chords as its respective Major scale but by using the MINOR chord as the "tonal centre" the chord progression will have a different feel
The "tonal centre" is the chord that the progression wants to "resolve" to, which also indicates the Key of the progression
MINOR CHORD SCALEDegree of scale Roman Numeral Chord
1 vi Am
2 vii Bdim
3 I C
4 ii Dm
5 iii Em
6 IV F
7 V G
This then gives 2 options for a palette of chords in a MAJOR and a MINOR key
Major keys often give happier sounding songs and Minor keys often give a more "melancholic" feel
The MAJOR and RELATIVE MINOR keys can also be mixed together in a single song
eg - The song could be in a MAJOR key but then in the BRIDGE section it might move to the RELATIVE MINOR to make it sound a little different for this section before returning to the MAJOR key
THE IV MINOR TRICKUsing this knowledge of the “rules” one of my favourite “songwriting tricks” is to break the rules and use a "non-chord scale" chord
e.g In the chorus of the Beatles song “I Saw Her Standing There” this little run of chords is played for a bar each:
C C7 F Fm
The Fm
shouldn't “fit” very well, but it becomes a “stand out” moment of the song for me, emphasised by the high pitch “wooh”
The choice of these chords creates an interesting descending run of notes within the chords (C-Bb-A-Ab) as a counter the the vocal, which is going up:
C - the root note of C Major
Bb - the Dominant 7th (b7) note of C7
A - the Major 3rd note of F Major
Ab - the b3 (Minor 3rd) of F Minor
I used this “trick” in the chorus of my own song “Edge Of Never”
The chord sequence for the chorus is:
C C Maj 7 F F
C C Maj 7 F Fm (resolving to C)
It is important to note that "chord progressions" are not subject to copyright so you are free to "borrow" chord progressions from your favourite songs - just be sure to completely change the melody and lyrics
This can be a great way to explore and understand chord sequences, key changes and other songwriting techniques