Songwriting: Simple versus Complex

[maxit]

@geir - I forgot to comment! You made that amazing version of my favorite Nilsson song! great one. coconut was a 7 chord!

[AndyR]

This is a well interesting thread - I pretty much agree with everyone's comments. I'm mostly like Greeny, I just go with what comes. If I get stuck, I just bung a "daft" chord in to see what happens. Sometimes I use it, sometime it suggests something else.

On the "one chord" song idea... technically, you'd have a bit of a problem - the melody line isn't really separate from the harmony, it is actually part of, and modifies, the chords themselves. That's why we like melodies moving through harmony.

So if you decide "C is my one chord", you can only really use C, E, and G in your melody line

For example, the minute you sing a 9th over a chord (eg a D over a C, ready to resolve the melody up to an E or down to a C - I like doing this a lot) the chord is now a 9th.

In this situation, as a guitarist, I get tempted to actually play a 9th because it's a groovy chord and it sounds good on its own. But for the sake of the song/arrangement, it's often far more effective to quell the guitarist in me and make him play a straight C chord and let the melody line take the D on its own. What the listener hears is still C9 harmony, though, even if he/she attributes it to a "nice melody" instead.

Possibly, this is why "simple" songs often work so well? With an inventive melody, you are hearing some potentially CRAZY chords being performed (even more so if backing singers, for example, are doing interesting some interesting lines). But the guys in the band just think they're playing the good old I, IV, V three-chord-trick.


Before I post though... as a guitarist, I do think exactly like the rest of you - a "one chord song" is one where I only play one guitar chord... it doesn't matter where the melody and other harmony might roam, I'll defend (to the death) its right to be called a one chord song!

[Kevin Mammoth]

Before I post though... as a guitarist, I do think exactly like the rest of you - a "one chord song" is one where I only play one guitar chord... it doesn't matter where the melody and other harmony might roam, I'll defend (to the death) its right to be called a one chord song!

ditto - the vocals, bass, lead etc can do what they like, if the rhythm guitar plays 1 chord throughout then it's a one chord song for me.  Sure, it could get tricky - eg one chord with a little riff here and there, how does that fit in?  But I think it's one of those "you know it when you hear it" things...

[Geir]

BUMP BAIT ALERT !!

Andy pretty much summed up how I feel to re the one-chord song issue.

It is complicated tho () what if you finger-pick that chord, like on the "Coconut" song I covered. It's one chord, but almost sounds like two. I also did an original that has just a simple riff that  (as far as I can remember) is mostly a variation over one (or maybe two) chords. I hadn't heard Coconut when I made it but listening now I see hear some similarities in the "feel" of the riff versus the feel of the fingerpicking. My point is that one chord can be made to sound differently with some variations in either the picking, the phrasing or the position on the neck (or keyboard). Adding harmony-vocals with notes not in the basic chord would also make for some variation, thi this might be bordering on cheating I would say it would be ok to do it to not limit ourselfs too much.

[launched]

Ha, my last one had 0 chords and was in R.E.T.A.R.D. tuning!

[SdC]

Ok, I think a single chord song challenge would be interesting.
How it could work is: you can select any chord you like (guitar: 6 notes, keyboard: 10 notes) and only use those notes in the song (guitar: fretting-hand kept still, piano: keep hands in position over keys)

[Oldrottenhead]

or we could have a fest with just mad chords, diminished and those other complex ones.

[launched]

Ok, I think a single chord song challenge would be interesting.
How it could work is: you can select any chord you like (guitar: 6 notes, keyboard: 10 notes) and only use those notes in the song (guitar: fretting-hand kept still, piano: keep hands in position over keys)

I like this - Six separate notes on a guitar/bass would be plenty.

[Glenn Mitchell]

Hmm - a chord has several notes (usually 3 to 5) and many inversion options. So the number of notes is huge if you include octaves.

[Gu Djin]

I seem to remember a discussion similar to this earlier this year after I put up a simple tune.   erm called "after the storm".  But although it was based on a single chord the melody and bass developed it's complexity.  Was it planned.  No.  It just came out of my head.  Would it fit into a challenge?  Don't know.  But it would be interesting to try one again.

It would be an interesting challenge

https://songcrafters.org/community/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=7622.0;attach=7591