The Songwriting Workshop - Raw Materials Part 2

Shawn Bradshaw

Posted 2005-03-06

As with any endeavor, the more knowledge that you have about a subject the better. The same goes for music composition. The more that you understand the inner workings of music, the better your ear is trained, the better you are at playing your instrument...the better you will be at writing. Often I hear from misguided individuals that feel understanding music theory will "stifle their creativity". Lack of knowledge and skill are what really stifle creativity. In this series of articles on songwriting I am not going to go into the nuts and bolts of music theory, although I will strongly suggest you make that part of your study. What I am going to do is give you some practical ways to kick start the writing process, even without a strong background in theory.

In this article I am going to talk about chord progressions. There are a lot of songs that are just a few chords combined with a melody and lyrics. But what chords work well together? The first answer to that question is "whatever you think sounds good". Even though I am going to give some suggestions for how to come up with a chord progression in this article, do not limit yourself to only these ideas. They are really just touching the surface of what is possible.

Keys in music

Whether or not you understand the ins and outs of scales, keys, chords construction etc., they do exist. You may not understand how gravity works, but it is there. You also do not need to fully understand the ins and outs of gravity to make use of it. You know that when you jump up, you are going to come back down. The same goes for keys in music. We are going to talk about them without going into all of the details. You can think of a key as a certain group of notes and chords with a main note, and a main chord that your ear hears as the primary focus. This is the note and/or chord that you hear and feel as the home base of the song. There are major keys, minor keys, and many different types of modes. But all of them are just a certain set of notes and chords. Many keys share some of the same chords and notes. How they are used determines which key your ear hears them in. For example, below I have 3 chord progressions that use the same 3 chords. Each of these would be considered to be in a different key or mode.

4   G                   C   D     G
4 | / / / / | / / / / | / / / / | / / / / |
4   C                   G   D     C
4 | / / / / | / / / / | / / / / | / / / / | 4   D                   C   G     D
4 | / / / / | / / / / | / / / / | / / / / |

Songs do not have to stay in one key; they can change for different sections of the song, or even within the same section. Changing keys is a little more difficult at first, so I am going to suggest that your first songs remain in one key. Learn to walk before you run.

The key to the chords

Below is a list of some possible chords built from a C major scale. A C major scale is just the notes from C to C with no sharps or flats. This will be the first pallet of chords that we will draw upon for our chord progressions.

C major Scale

Scale Degree

I

II

III

IV

V

VI

VII

C Major Scale

C

D

E

F

G

A

B

Possible chords built from a C major scale

These are not the only possibilities, but they will give you a few choices to get started with.

Scale Degree

I

II

III

IV

V

VI

VII

Basic Chords

C

Dm

Em

F

G

Am

Bdim

Other Chords

C5
C6
C6/9
Cmaj7
Cmaj7(9)
Cmaj7(13)
C(add9)
Csus2
Csus4

D5
Dm6
Dm6/9
Dm7
Dm7(9)
Dm7(11)
Dm(add9)
Dsus2
Dsus4

E5
Em7
Em7(11)
Esus4

F5
F6
F6/9
Fmaj7
Fmaj7(9)
Fmaj7(#11)
Fmaj7(13)
F(add9)
Fsus2

G5
G6
G6/9
G7
G7(9)
G7(13)
G(add9)
Gsus2
Gsus4

A5
Am7
Am7(9)
Am7(11)
Am(add9)
Asus2
Asus4

Bm7b5

Even though the chords above are listed as coming from a C major scale, you do not need to make C your primary focus. Instead, experiment with making any chord listed above the main chord of your progression. So you could make a Dm chord your main chord. Or G, F, or even Asus2.

Making one chord the primary focus of your progression

So the first thing that you are going to do is find the main chord of your progression. Here are some ways that you can make a chord the primary focus of a chord progression. 1. Start and/or end a phase on that chord.
2. Play that chord more often.
3. Hold that chord longer than other chords.

Getting starting creating a chord progression

Most often music will be written in 4 or 8 measure sections. There are some interesting ways to break out of this common practice. But if you are just starting to write songs, keep it simple and stick with that formula. You might start by writing down 4 blank measures on a piece of paper. I am going to start in 4/4 time, since that is the most common time signature songs are written in.

4
4 | / / / / | / / / / | / / / / | / / / / |

Then start to experiment with some different chord progressions. You could start by finding some chords that work well with each other and change once per measure. The C chord is the primary focus below.

4   C         Am        G         C
4 | / / / / | / / / / | / / / / | / / / / |

Or you could have 2 chords per measure. The Am chord is the primary focus in this example.

4   Am Em    Dm G     Am C     G   Am
4 | / / / / | / / / / | / / / / | / / / / |

Also experiment with playing chords for varying lengths. The G chord is the primary focus of the example below.

4   G         F   C     G         F   G
4 | / / / / | / / / / | / / / / | / / / / |

Once you have a chord progression, try substituting other chords in the same column for each other.

4   G       Fmaj7 Csus2 G       Fmaj7 G
4 | / / / / | / / / / | / / / / | / / / / |
Be sure and experiment with different ways to play your chord progressions rhythmically.

Other common major scales

Here are a few other common major scales that you might transpose the above chords to. There are more, but these are the ones that would be most often used in popular music (rock, country, folk etc.). So if you wanted the chord built on the 1st degree of a G major scale, your chord types would be the same as the C chords in the C major scale, just with G as the root (G5, G6, G6/9, Gmaj7, Gmaj7(9), Gmaj7(13), G(add9), Gsus2, Gsus4).

Scale Degree

I

II

III

IV

V

VI

VII

G Major Scale

G

A

B

C

D

E

F#

D Major Scale

D

E

F#

G

A

B

C#

A Major Scale

A

B

C#

D

E

F#

G#

E Major Scale

E

F#

G#

A

B

C#

D#

Once you have found some chord progressions that you like, you have some raw materials that you can start to use in your songs. Be sure and write down or record your chord progressions for future use. Next time we will look at some ways to help you come up with some melodies for your chord progressions.

� 2005 Shawn Bradshaw
Cyberfret.com

Click here: Music Gear Review for more articles and musical instrument review categories.