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CHORD PROGRESSION ARTICLES
Welcome to Essential Chord Progressions
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THE SECRETS of HARMONIZING A MELODY

If you always feel stuck at the chord progression stage of writing songs, you probably just need a bit of an explanation of how one chord moves to the next.

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TODAY'S FEATURED CHORD PROGRESSION ARTICLE (from the archive):

Supporting Lyrics With Good Chord Choices

music and chord progressions The melody-chord relationship is one we talk about all the time. You can enhance a melody, and in particular its sense of direction and energy, by ensuring that you’re using chords that are functionally clear. The relationship we don’t talk about so much is the connection between lyrics and chords. How listeners react to chords is, in part, a product of culture and upbringing, so it’s...

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FREE CHORD PROGRESSIONS

 

STRONG and FRAGILE PROGRESSIONS (all given in C-major):

Simple progressions can be categorized as either being strong or fragile.

A strong progression is one that clearly points to one note as the key, or tonic, note. They can be used anywhere, and are great especially for chorus melodies, which usually rely on the strong indication of a key.

 

Strong Progressions (To see these progressions in fretboard/musical staff notation, click here.)

  1. C Dm G C
  2. C Dm7 G C
  3. C Fmaj7 G7 C
  4. C Am Dm G C
  5. C Em Am Dm G7 C

 

A fragile progression is one in which a specific chord is not clearly indicated as being the only possible tonic chord. Such a progression, on its own, could point toward two or more chords as being possible tonics, and usually require a strong progression after it to make the clear determination.

Fragile progressions can be used anywhere, but work very well in verse melodies. Keep in mind that most multi-chord progressions are a mixture of strong and fragile elements.

 

Fragile (To see these progressions in fretboard/musical staff notation, click here.)

  1. Dm7 Em7
  2. Am G F G Am
  3. Em G Am Em Dm F Am
  4. C Gm7 Am7 BbMaj7

 

 

PROGRESSIONS THAT END ON A DIFFERENT CHORD (DECEPTIVE CADENCE):

 

Deceptive Cadences (To see these progressions in fretboard/musical staff notation, click here.)

  1. C F Am G F
  2. C Dm G Am
  3. C Am Em G Ab

 

PROGRESSIONS THAT USE DIMINISHED CHORDS:
(What's a diminished chord?)

Diminished Chords (To see these progressions in fretboard/musical staff notation, click here.)

  1. C F Fdim7 C
  2. C Dm Bdim C
  3. C C#dim Dm G C

 

 

PROGRESSIONS THAT USE INVERTED CHORDS:
(What's an inverted chord?)

Inverted Chords

  1. C C/E F G C
  2. C G/B F/A G C
  3. C G/B Am F G G/B C
  4. C G E/G# Am G/B C


PROGRESSIONS THAT USE SECONDARY DOMINANT CHORDS:
(What's a secondary dominant chord?)

Secondary Dominant Chords

  1. C A Dm G C
  2. C E A Dm G C
  3. C F D G C
  4. C D G C


PROGRESSIONS THAT USE MODAL MIXTURES:
(What's a modal mixture chord?)

Modal Mixture Chords

  1. C F Fm C
  2. C C/E Fm G C
  3. C Eb F G C
  4. C F Ddim G C

 

CHORD PROGRESSIONS MAY NOT BE YOUR ONLY PROBLEM...

Want even more songwriting help? Gary Ewer has written a set of e-books that will finally clear up the mystery of why great songs work!

Everything you've ever needed to know about getting your songs to work:

  • TONS of chord progressions you can use right now in your songs.
  • how to come up with chord progressions that make sense.
  • a chart of STRONG and FRAGILE progressions!
  • how to write a melody that has shape, and suits your lyric to a 'T'.
  • why verse melodies should be different from chorus melodies. how to write a hook that gets the listener's attention, and has them humming YOUR songs ALL DAY LONG!
  • why a good lyric does NOT necessarily have to be good poetry;
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