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SongWriterSelect Episode 4 - Chord Theory

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Boydie:
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 SCALES

The chords that "fit together" in the key of C MAJOR are:

MAJOR CHORD SCALE

Degree 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 SCALE

Degree 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 TRICK

Using 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

Boydie:
EXTENDING THE CHORD SCALE

The basic chord scale can be "extended" to give an extra flavour and embellishment to the chords in the scale

MAJOR CHORD SCALE

Degree of scale          Roman Numeral          Chord          Chord Extension

1                              I                                C                  C Maj7

2                              ii                                Dm               D min7    

3                              iii                               Em               E min7        

4                              IV                              F                  F Maj7  

5                              V                               G                  G7

6                              vi                              Am                Amin7

7                              vii                             Bdim              Bm7b5


A word of warning!

C Major 7 is a C chord with an added "7th" - ie the 7th degree of the scale is added to the Major chord (this chord is sometimes written using a little triangle after the chord name or in front of the 7)

In this case a B note is added to the chord


When a chord is written with just a "7" after it (e.g. C7) this actually means C Dominant 7

This type of chord adds a "flattened 7th" to the Major chords - which is a B flat (Bb)

Don't worry too much about how the chords are constructed at this point - just bear in mind that these "7" chords are different as this is an area that often confuses people new to music theory

In this example we have MAJOR 7 chords for the I and IV and a Dominant 7 chord for the V

A Major 7 chord has a really "happy" and "jazzy" sound

A Dominant 7 chord has a more "bluesy" sound and creates a bit of tension

These extensions add a further set of "colours" to your songwriting palette


The same rules apply to the chords of the relative minor:


MINOR CHORD SCALE

Degree of scale          Roman Numeral          Chord          Chord Extension
1                              vi                               Am                Amin7

2                              vii                              Bdim              Bm7b5
  
3                              I                                C                  C Maj7

4                              ii                                Dm               D min7    

5                              iii                               Em                E min7        

6                              IV                              F                   F Maj7  

7                              V                               G                   G7

Boydie:
DIMINISHED CHORDS

We have conveniently skipped over the vii chord in the Major Chord Scale - ie B Diminished, which can be extended to Bm7b5 (B minor seven flat five)

So what on earth is a Diminished chord!?!?!?

Diminished chords have a very "weird" sound - the intro to "Ghost Town" by the Specials consists ascending Diminished chords

A Diminished chord is essentially a MINOR chord with a b5 (flattened 5)

This means that every note in the chord is 3 semi-tones apart, which is what gives the chord its "eerie" feel when played on its own

When played within a sequence a Diminished chord can often provide a fantastic "tension", which leaves the listener hanging and wanting the chords to "resolve" to another chord

e.g. B Diminished sounds like it wants to resolve to C Major because of the notes within the chord

The notes that make up a B Diminished chord are B D F

These notes resolve nicely to the notes of C Major (CEG) : B-->C, D-->E, and F-->G

Diminished chords can sometimes be indicated by a small circle (similar to a degree sign for temperature) or simply dim or dimin


AUGMENTED CHORDS

Augmented chords are Major chords with a "raised" 5th - ie the 5th is raised by a semi-tone

Augmented chords work best as "passing chords" to add momentum to your songs as they often provide a "pull" to other chords or as a pivotal point for a key change

The V chord of the scale (G) is often a good candidate to replace with a G Augmented chord as it will provide a "pull" back to the I (C) chord

Augmented chords are often written with a "+" sign after the chord name (eg G+) or a aug (eg G aug)

Boydie:
SUSPENDED CHORDS

There are 2 main types of Suspended chords

SUSPENDED 4th

This is often referred to as "sus4" and it replaces the 3rd note of the chord with a 4th

This really adds tension to the chord and provides a real desire to resolve the 4th back to the 3rd - think of the choral "Ahhhhh - Men" sound


SUSPENDED 2nd

This is often referred to as "sus2" and it replaces the 3rd note of the chord with a 2nd

I find that "sus2" chords sound really "open" and although it is less pronounced they still have a degree of tension and a desire to resolve back to the 3rd


Suspended chords can be mixed and matched to provide movement to a static chord

"Summer Of '69" by Bryan Adams is a classic example where the "sus 4" and "sus 2" chords (combined with the major chord) provide the actual instrumental hook of the song




"Needles & Pins" by the Searchers uses exactly the same technique

Boydie:
Reserved

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