How To Write Great Chord Progressions

[Johnny Robbo]

Here's a little course I go through with my students. As the name suggests, it tells you how chord progressions work. You'll get info on all the following topics...

Key structure
The importance of tonality
Modes
Pitch Axis
Steering a chord progression in the direction you want it to go
Static chords
Secondary dominant chords
II V I sequences
Tonality shifts
The Blues
Harmonic Minor keys

And a lot more too...

It's in PDF format with mp3 examples of all the chord sequences mentioned. You'll need winrar to download it & if you don't already have it, you can get it from here:

http://download.cnet.com/WinRAR-32-bit/3000-2250_4-10007677.html

And here's the link to the free course:

http://geetarjohnny.fileburst.com/chord-progressions.rar

Enjoy 

[henwrench]

Nice one Johnny, but to be perfectly honest, this kinda stuff scares the originality out of me...I'd rather not know. I would find myself contributing to the generic. And the world really doesn't need that.

                                                           henwrench

[Oldrottenhead]

i haven't a clue what i'm doing and probably need guidance, but am far too lazy to take any, my fave chord progression is adhd.

[Pharoah246]

Nice one Johnny, but to be perfectly honest, this kinda stuff scares the originality out of me...I'd rather not know. I would find myself contributing to the generic. And the world really doesn't need that.

                                                           henwrench

I see what you're saying, but contrary to what you may think, knowing what you're doing and then some is an excellent way to, believe it or not, increase originality and takes things to entirely different levels. It can help you properly express what you're feeling in the best way possible; even better than how you've expressed yourself prior. The goal is not to think of it as work contributing to science, but as work contributing to you. I see what you're saying about the generic, though. All too often do these so-called famous "professional" musicians produce the same boring chord progressions over and over again to really just produce a source of income, rather than a unique and original means of expression, but there's a flip side: you can use this knowledge to steer away from such dull tendencies and produce something that only you can produce, once you have found a way to fuse your theory knowledge with your deep, inner self   Only my take on it.

[phantasm777]

I hear what pharaoh is saying, and it's valid, but I am with henwrench on this one.
but being self taught with a good ear, suits me fine. while I realize knowing theory and being able to read music is helpful, I like being raw and uncontained or guide lined. different strokes for different folks, I suppose!

[Johnny Robbo]

I hear what pharaoh is saying, and it's valid, but I am with henwrench on this one.
but being self taught with a good ear, suits me fine. while I realize knowing theory and being able to read music is helpful, I like being raw and uncontained or guide lined. different strokes for different folks, I suppose!

Fair enough... if that's what works for you, mate. From my perspective, I just don't follow the logic which states "more knowledge & understanding = less creativity". That (to me anyway) seems counter-intuitive. The myth which is often spouted is that "theory = rules" and "rules = restrictions" ... therefore don't learn the theory and you'll have no restrictions.

This is not a true reflection of the situation, though. There are no "rules" in composition: there are, however, ways of combining notes, chords and rhythms into something which expresses the emotion or feeling you have inside and want to convey via the music you're writing. Having a knowledge of which chords to put into which order, and what notes to play over the top of it all (or underneath it as a bass-line or riff) in order to express the feeling you want is liberating. You don't have to rely on chance or luck to come up with something that says what you want to say – you can go straight to it.

I often find, when talking to people who claim no musical "book learning" that they usually have a pretty good working knowledge of what they're doing, and the theory behind it, but simply lack the jargon & terminology which describes it all. The point being that many people know (and regularly use) more theory than they realise.

Also, we all have our favourite riffs, chord progressions and familiar ruts we fall into from time to time. Having some kind of mental map of where these well-trodden paths are enables you to avoid them and go somewhere new & unfamiliar... and original.

As I mentioned, there are no "rules"... if something sounds odd & dissonant it doesn't mean it's "wrong" it just means it sounds odd & dissonant, which may just be the feel you want for that particular moment in your music. Knowing how to get it straight away, without having to try endless combinations of notes in search of the ones you need, is just one of the benefits of knowing the theory of music & composition.

There are countless examples of generic, boring music written by people who both know, and don't know the theory behind what they're writing. Does anyone think it was The Spice Girls immense knowledge of music theory which made their songs so bland, generic & soul-less, for example? Or put it another way... does having a decent knowledge of grammar, punctuation & spelling mean you can't write a gripping & original novel? See what I mean?

[maxit]

thanks johnny, I was lacking something to read just now, and I'm always looking for some good material, like yours really seems to be at the first glance ! I cant resist giving my 2 cents to the discussion, I think (like you) that technique is serving creativity and cannot be against it (I've heard talking about it in terms of 'paradox of structure')... ciao, grazie!

[phantasm777]

I hear what you are saying and for the most part agree. however using spicegirls as an example is not very good, I doubt they even write, compose and arrange their own music.
I remember once a bandmate of mine, went to college for all the book learning and theory etc. and damn good at it. he said when he would get these other college guys together, doing sheet music they were great, but in improvisations they went nowhere. he said his musically uneducated friends could improvise far better. I am not saying they all cannot improvise, I just found it odd! perhaps just a weird co-incidence in this instance.
I for one would never say it gives less creativity, whether it is a musically educated musician or a bare bones ear - feel musician, the creativity is solely upon that one individual and not either group of musicians.
I rely on feeling and being in the moment, aside of having a million musical ideas in my head since I was very young. yes there are similar guidelines, if it sounds out of tune, not on time, sloppy etc. these are among the things all musicians have to watch out for.
in summing it up, whatever works for you, or me, or whomever, is fair enough. I personally do not have anything against musically educated people, never saw a point in that. if anything, some look down upon me for not being musically educated!

[T.C. Elliott]

A couple generalities:

The more you know the better able you are to realize that sound in your head.

Learning the name of whatever it is you are already doing allows you to communicate better with other musicians.

All perspectives are valid. Just don't hold to a perspective out of fear or misconception. That being said, I learned a bit of theory some 20+ years ago and have let it go to waste without following up. I'm severely limited because of laziness. Ah well, heeding my own advice sounds like too much work.

[Geir]

I really don't think it matters if you're full of knowledge or just wing it. Originality is a state of mind, not a result of training or lack thereof.

I myself seek knowledge and admire those who really know their trade, but music is magic!! .. and if a song touches me it doesn't necessarily mean that the performer have a PhD in music theory. Most likekly (s)he has not.

I do prefer Zappa to Beefheart tho'

But I also prefer Slade to Donald Fagen.

Here's a favourite without any formal training, not that it seems that way

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOYX264kYxc