JPF Home Page Forums General Messages Musician Message Forum Chord Progressions

It's 1:30 in the morning so nothing I say in this post can be held against me.

I hear people talk about chord progressions like they are magical things. I'm not much of a musician but I don't get it.

Isn't a progression just a succession of chords in a key? For example, C-F-G7 or C-Am-Bb-G-C-Em-G7-C.

Is it the way they're played or what? Why are people so hung up on them? You can go to dozens if not hundreds of websites and find chords to songs.

Sausage,

you are intrinsically correct when you say a chord progression is simply a succession of chords. But, deciding exactly which chords is the key to giving a song that special touch, a certain "character", a unique sound, etc.

Those websites will show you how to make those chords...but they donlt tell you how to put them together to create a certain sound or character. you could know a thousand chords...but if you had no idea how to use them they are considerably less valuable to you.

as an example, to go from C to F, a simple progression...or not!!! you could just go C-C7-F. That is often a good enough progression. However, you could also go C-Am7-C7-F, or C-Aflat-C7sus4-C7/Aflat-F, or C-Em-Am7-C7-F, or C-Caug-F, etc. There are many other ways to make that one progression. And each one gives the song a different color or character.

A goos example of how one chord progression can be a memorable part of a song is Willie Nelson's "Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain". The chord progression he uses to go from E to A as he goes into the chorus is memorable because it is not standard but very pretty and gives the song a unique character.

So, yes, for composers, it is a big deal...a very big deal.

Hope that helped tp answer at least part of your question.

Alan

Al, I have to ask: What do you consider the chorus in "Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain"? (written by Fred Rose, BTW). I love the song. It was one of the first songs I learned to play, way back in the Dark Ages.

You could say the same thing about a melody. It's just a succession of notes chosen from the 12 that are commonly available. Or lyrics which are just a bunch of words chosen from the dictionary and strung together.

Chord progressionss progress. They must imply movement. So we listen in the context of "key" or "scale." In the key of C, the chords that naturally occur are: Cmaj Dmin Emin Fmaj Gmaj Amin Bdim, based on the scale progression: do re mi, etc. Now, for fun, look at the do re mi's. The "i" words are a half step away from the next note in the scale: do_re_mi-fa_sol_la_ti-do. As a result, when we play do re mi, we want to hear fa...when we play sol la ti, we want to hear do. It's like the old "shave and a hair cut...ten cents." C G G A G....B C. If you sing that and stop with the B, people will expect the C to follow.

This holds true with the basic chords (maj min dim) Now, when we extend the chords, we get even more of this. There are "static" chords, such as Cmajor seven, then there are "active" chords such as C seven. You can sit on the C major seven all day, once you play that C seven, you want to hear F.

So, for composers, it is advised to learn what chords want to go where, then use that phenomenon to either bring a sense of going home, as in :C F G7 C; or of going somewhere unexpected; as in C F G7 D; or to simply languish, as in: Cmaj7 Fmaj7 Cmaj7 Fmaj7. In this way, the chords "progress."

Thanks for the responses and I hope there are more. This is fascinating stuff to me. I know "where the fingers go" for about 15 guitar chords I guess but I have never learned how to do much with them.

Practicing would no doubt help me.

To learn about chords go to a book store and buy a song book that has the chords with the songs. Then practice using the chords. If you need a chord book you can find several there also and some even have a DVD included.

Do you know how to get to Carnegie Hall? Practice, practice, practice!

Learn these chords and play them in this order for a while:

Cmaj, Dmin, Emin, F, G, Amin, Bdim, Cmaj.

After a while, learn these and do the same thing:

Cmaj7 Dmin7, Emin7 Fmaj7, G7 Amin7 G7, Cmaj7.

Play them like a scale, up and down, and your ears will start to hear the interaction of chords. That's what makes a progression.

I've actually sung in Carnegie Hall.

Me too, but the usher asked me to be quiet. It seems I was disturbing other audience members.

I think Paul McCartney, of the Beatles, tells of working on a song with John Lennon, searching for the right chord to make a change. He would play various guitar or piano chords and suddenly Lennon would whirl around and say, "That's it!"

A key is comprised of the I, IV, and V, the 1, 4, and 5, the three principal chords of a key. The 6, or VI, is the relative minor.

Ringo brought "Octopus's Garden" to George Harrison with two chords, and Harrison advised that it takes 7 chords to play a song.

A vocal melody can work around one chord, or two, or three, or on up to seven, maybe more.

Who was the country songwriter who called a song, "Three Chords and the Truth" and wrote a book of the same name?

Some chords, in relation to others, are suited to the function of a verse, setting up the storyline, doing exposition of the story and/or characters, so other chords can up the intensity, the emotion, for the more summary, more specific lyric content of the chorus.

Some set mood for the melancholy, the whimsical, the dramatic, when played in relation to the others.

As you 'progress' from one to another their effects, relative to one another, may be apparent, and may be made more apparent by how the vocal melody, or instrumental accompaniment changes as the 'progression' changes.

Duke Ellington? Satchmo? Somebody said, "If it sounds good, it is good." If you can find chords that sound good, and develop them into a progression, sounding good together, you can create a musical work. If you can write a coherent, meaningful lyric to go with it, that makes a song.

Chords ARE boring. People tends to get waaay too technical, and write chord symbols all over the place.

The important part is HOW you play them. A chord sheet may chart out familiar chords and progressions, but when playing the song, musicians omit and add to them. THAT's the exciting stuff.

Greatness is found in what you omit, because you can hear.. oooh now he's in the middle of a cliché, you know what to expect, and then BANG, a surprise note, taking the song a different place, making a hook, opening a fresh pool of interpretations

If you omit half the notes from the regular chords, and then notate it, it'll look like you've got some serious composing skillz

A chord progression can be easy or difficult. The Beatles came up with some difficult progressions.

I think it's all in the way you actually play each chord. It can be a three chord song, but, as in finger picking a guitar you can highlight single notes within the chord and produce a nice sound. It's like a chef or cook who is given a few ingredients to produce a good meal.

...and then there is the delightful surprise of the one-chord song that becomes a classic. My favorite is "Chain of Fools." Technically...there's not really any progression, is there? But what a song....

"Greatness is found in what you omit...." Yeah!!!

So many wonderful things we get to play with in order to make music!

Brenda

Yes Brenda... I don't know this particular song, but often the simplest music is the most moving. It often provides those moments of silence, or such quiteness it suggests silence, and leaves the artist and listener time to contemplate, to reflect on the moment....much of my writing is along this line, and people are so moved by it I am stunned.

www.foreverrubato.com

And chords need not be boring nor difficult..... just experiment...add a 6th to the triad...easy to do, but what a difference in sound. Also I like to experiment with altering chords.... raise the 5th of the V chord... what atmosphere and you haven't even had to change keys to get interest....it provides 2 half-steps leading into the root or I chord, so get extra emotion and feeling, more pull or tug on the heart strings. Try it!!!

What sounds good is influenced by what we hear. Today we are more used to hear "unusual" or somewhat dissonant chords and progressions. Our ears/brains get used to the dissonance.

See more here:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dissonance

Tom

The Beatles had the knack of surprising us and that's what it's all about, Often or not it's what goes in front of the chord that surprises.

Some people have just not got an ear for writing original Chord runs, I find them far from boring. I cant write a song without a subtle modulation. the secret is making it all sound natural.

The fiftys Country music was very generic as was a lot of pop. Things are better today, in general .

It's a lot of suck it and see, Great melodys have great chord runs.

Sometimes simplicity is the answer to the right Prosody.

Cheyenne

There are only 12 notes and several octaves to choose from but the permutations of putting several of these notes together to form pleasing chords are almost endless. The prospect of putting a sequence of those chords together is what turns us on. Then there is the skill involved of using diff techniques whilst playing these chords to accentuate diff notes within those patterns to form a pleasing progression. ALL THIS TAKES MANY YEARS OF DEDICATION AND PRACTICE....AND A SHEDLOAD OF CASH.

It is no wonder that most of us do not get it. LOL


Then after all that you have to come up with a melody to suit the chords, an arrangement, and words to compliment the music..... and THEN record it.


NO WONDER WE ARE ALL CRAZY.......

Learn as many chords as you can and see what they sound like when you change from one to another. If you don't know the natural progressions you can sometimes come up with some very interesting sequences.
A standard rock n roll sequence is E-E-A-A-E-E-B7-A and back to the begginning but if you start substituting the minor sequence ie C#mx2-F#mx2-C#mx2-Ab7-F#m you get a completely different feel. Then if you mix the 2 up an even more interesting feel: E-C#m-F#m-A-E-C#m-Ab7/B7-F#m/A. Most of it is trial and error ... the other half of it is the rhythm in which you play the sequence.
Chords are great and very often you can manage to pick the melody out of the sequence and before you know it you have written a song.

Then learn to play them in all keys. I used to pick out standards and learn them in all 12 sounding keys. You'll see chords and progressions in a new light.

Order Berklee's keyboard studies. It used to come in 4 volumes. All the chord progressions in those books are to be played in all keys. Great studies. And they're not dry studies either. Many of the chord progressions are very appealing.

Rate those studies 5 stars!

John