3 octave 7th arpeggios

This is just a short thank you lesson for all my Youtube subscribers. If you haven't subscribed yet, please do. Anyway here is the lesson. I hope you enjoy it.

For those who want the tabs/notation, you can find it below.

Dominant 7th

 Major 7th

 Minor 7th

 Minor 7th b5

Modal harmony and why you need it.

I'm sure some of you know what modal harmony is, but for those who don't I'll explain it quickly. It is harmony built on the modes of a scale(mostly the major scale). The reason you use modal harmony instead of normal major or minor harmony is that it has a different sound than more traditional types of harmony and in a lot of cases can give you a unique sound. Modal harmony is less widely used and understood, so by using it you'll have an extra technique in your a arsenal that will let you create new sounds that could differentiate you from similar artists.

Each mode has its own unique sound and that sound will conjure up certain feelings in people, so by using modal harmony is like adding more colors to your harmonic pallet.

There are lots of different ways to go about creating modal progressions, but there are 2 important concepts. Emphasize the root note and make sure you feature the 2 characteristic notes of each mode. The 2 characteristic notes are the notes that differentiate one mode from another. For example let's take the Ionian mode. Its 2 characteristic notes/intervals are the perfect 4th and the major 7th. No other mode has those 2 intervals, so using chords or riff that uses the 2 intervals will give you the Ionian sound. Of course you still have to use taste, but this is basically how you do it. I'll be making a series of YouTube videos on this in the future. So stay tuned.

Discover the Hirajōshi scale

Today I'm going to talk about the Hirajoshi scale, which is a common scale in traditional Japanese music.
Here is a lesson I put up on my youtube page that will explain more.

 Here is a song that typifies the sound.

The hirajoshi is a 5 note(pentatonic scale). For the guitar players out there, here are the fingerings for guitar.

 Until next time have fun.

Allan Holdsworth style chords part 2

Here is my 2nd post of Jazz fusion style chords. For the first 4 min or so I talk about theory, stuff, so if you're not into that skip ahead. I'll leave pictures from the video below, so you can copy those and use them as you wish.

I'll post the tabs/notation from the video here for anyone who wants it.  Hope this helped. Be on the lookout for my series on modal harmony next month.

Breaking down J-pop

Today we are going to break down J-pop music. I choose J-pop somewhat randomly. I didn't want to choose something everyone knew about, but I thought something like traditional chinese music might be too boring(also I don't know many traditional Chinese musical artists). I digress, listen below to some examples of J-pop if you want to know what it's like. This isn't a comprehensive list, but it should give you a pretty good idea of what it's about.

Here are a few more

Chubbiness
J-Soul Brothers
Perfume

To start most of these songs are fairly simple which is what we would expect of pop songs and they're all fairly upbeat, but lets look at things in more detail.

1). Instrumentation - All of these songs and most J-pop songs have synths in them. Sometimes it's subtle but most of the time there are lots of synths and the music sounds very electronic. At times J-pop can seem like a light version of EDM, but most groups will break that formula and have a few songs that are punkrock-ish or have a ballad with acoustic instruments. The drums are also often electronic and there doesn't seem to be any hurry to update sounds. I often hear songs with synth sounds that could have come from the 80s or 90s. Guitars are also employed often, but they are never the main focus, so they are usually low in volume. Another interesting thing is that you'll often find bar chimes used quite liberally. Recently there seems to be an interest in dubstep, so sounds will often have a part where a wobble synth is thrown in.

2). Rhythm - J-pop is made for dancing, so you'll rarely find a song that isn't in 4/4 time. The kickdrum will be on 1 & 3 or on all 4 beats and the snare will be on 2 & 4 or some syncopated variation. The bass will usually be a simple rhythm(quarter notes or 8th notes) and won't be a main element in the song. The synths are usually pretty active, playing fills, counter melodies, etc and they can have almost any rhythm. The tempo is usually between 170bpm and 100bpm. They tend towards the faster side.

3). Melody - Usually the melody is relatively simple and  the vocalist doesn't usually try to show off their voice.The range of the melody is usually fairly small also. Usually the melody will be in a major key, but sometimes it will be minor. You usually won't find any exotic scales or modes used.

4). Harmony - It will mostly consist of common major scale harmony. There won't be more than about 4 chords in a section, but different sections usually have different progressions. The chords will mostly be basic major and minor chords, but 7th chords and other more advanced chords show up sometimes too. Every once and a while something weird will be throw in however. Check out the wholetone/augmented breakdown in the chubbiness video above.

5). Form - It usually follows the verse-chorus format with a intro and a break down in the middle. Also it's not uncommon for there to be a solo or an instrumental break down somewhere, which differs from some other types of pop music.

6). Nuance - There aren't too many, but the chorus of the song almost always has multiple vocals and choruses of shouts are also extremely common. Also there is a fair amount of call and response between various members of the group.

Overall J-pop isn't too different from other types of pop music except that it is generally more happy, the types of synths are older sounding and solos/instrumental sections aren't uncommon. I'm sure there weren't too many people asking for a J-pop break down, so next time I'll do a style of music that is a little more familiar.

Holdsworth Chords part one

Here is my video on chords in the style of Allan Holdsworth. Check it out for some interesting guitar chords.

Breaking down different genres

Today's post is about how to break down different types of music so you can learn from them or just straight copy them. Last week I talked about why you should learn different types of music and today I'll go over how. Music has a few elements and if you can figure out how each applies to a genre you can usually come up with something that comes pretty close to that style.

The first thing you should do is listen to a variety of songs in that style. Then answer the following questions below for your chosen genre.

1). Instrumentation 

What instrument a are used in this genre? In rock music it will usually be drums, electric bass, electric guitar, and vocals. Of course some sub-genres will have keyboards, horns, etc this is the generic rock sounds. Of course it's great to experiment and add or subtract instruments, but the more you do this the less it will sound like the original genre. I've heard, double basses, glockenspiels, violins and saxophones in rock music, but a song consisting of only those instrument a won't be rocking very hard.

2). Rhythm

What time signatures does it use? Are the songs mostly 3/4, 4/4, 12/8, etc? What rhythms do the drums play? Is the bass drum on 1 & 3? Is the snare drum on 2 & 4? What rhythms is the keyboard playing? Whole notes, syncopated 16th notes, steady 8th notes, etc. Answer these questions for every instrument and you should come up with something that sounds close to the genre you've chosen. Also keep in mind the tempo. You won't find many slow 40bpm metal songs or 270bpm disco songs. 

3). Melody

Are the songs mostly fast with a lot of movement in the melody or do they have lots of long sustained notes. Does the melody stay around the same few notes or does it go from very high notes to very low notes. Even the scale can be important. What would the blues be without the blues scale. When trying to replicate music from other cultures this is even more important. Ex. If you want to make music with a middle eastern flavor try the harmonic minor scale(its 5th mode).

4). Harmony

Many types of music have common chord progressions and by using them you"ll can save yourself a lot of time. Some genres such as the blues are defined by their chords. Some genres such as funk will can stay on 1 chord for the whole song, while a jazz song might go through 2 chords and 1 key every measure. A lot of ethnic music(non-European) doesn't use chords at all. They'll drone on one tone and use that instead of a chords.

5). Form

The form of a song is very important too. The blues form is usually 12 bars that repeats indefinitely, where as jazz is usually AABA. Study these forms and it will help you understand how these genres work. Modern dance music usually has a laid back intro that moves into a slightly higher energy section. Then comes the riser and finally the drop. After that there is a cool down section and then finally another drop. The reason this form exists is because it helps hype people up, but still gives them time to rest so they aren't going hard for 7 min straight. With jazz you don't have to worry about this, so different forms are used.

6). Nuance

This is one of the more difficult parts to get right. Every genre has certain ways they do things and if you don't adhere to them your music will sound inauthentic. Think of an opera singer and and R&B singer. If you took the best singers in each genre and switched their songs it would be a disaster. The way each uses vibrato, bends etc. is completely different. As another example think of the violin and the fiddle. These little things can make all the difference and if you want to add the flavor of another genre to your music, this is the 1st place you should look.

This was a basic over view of how to break down different genres, but next time I'll try to actually give an example. Until then leave a comment below and if you'd like to request a genre breakdown let me know.

Why diversify your musical portfolio?

  Today I'd like to talk about the benefits of not only listening to different types of music, but also trying to make it.

Imagine if you lived in a world where all you could eat was food from your area. Just think of how boring that would be and how quickly you'd get sick of the same 4 or 5 foods. 

Most people understand expanding their taste pallet, but won't try the same thing when it comes to music. Although there are people who listen to different types of music, there aren't many people who try to make different types of music. I'll list some reasons to try making different types of music.

1). The more types you can make the more work you can get.

2).  99% of creativity is combining different things together. The more you know the more combinations.

3).  You can play with more people.

4). What you learn from one type of music can be carried over to another.

5).  It's fun to learn new things.

I know this was a short post, but next time I'll talk about the how part of learning new styles of music.

Chasing Holdsworth's tone

      The first time I heard Allan Holdsworth I was 16 years old. I remember reading online someplace that he was a completely unique player that resembled John Coltrane on guitar. Being a huge fan of Coltrane I thought I'd check him out. I bought 'Metal Fatigue' on LP for about $2 despite the fact that I didn't have a record player(nobody was listening to records anymore back then). Luckily my uncle had one and I remember thinking it sounded a bit dated, but interesting. Then it got to the solo and I was blown away. As I listened to more songs on the album I couldn't believe what I was hearing. The tone, the technique, the melodic-ism, the harmonies. It was all so impressive and it still is. It took me a long time to figure out how to get close to his tone. It's not exact, but hopefully I can help some people get close to his tone. Anyway here is the video explanation of how I go about getting his tone.

If you don't want to listen to the explanation just watch this, which is just the demo songs.

If you enjoyed these videos subscribe to the Chandlerguitar youtube page.

Songwriting: melody first

Last time I talked about starting with chords and then adding a melody. This time we're going to reverse that and start with a melody.

Obviously you can just do this by ear, but there is a faster way. First find the key of your melody. After that's done try to determine if your melody is major, minor or perhaps some sort of modal tonality. Once you know this, look at your melody and try to find the strong notes of each measure. Here is a melody I composed quickly. It's in the key of C major,

I'm sure you're thinking, how do I know which ones are the strong notes. Look for long notes, notes that occurs on down beats or notes that are repeated. Of course use your ears, but in general those tips will help you identify them. Here are what I chose as the strong notes, but keep in mind this is more art than science, so it's possible to come up with different notes than what I have here.

Now you should have 1 or perhaps 2 strong notes for every measure of you melody. Once you have that look at the chords in the key you found before. Take the notes that make up the chord and assign them to measures containing those strong notes. Of course this doesn't have to be random. Use your ears and think of common progressions that sound good. After you've done that insert the chords into your song and see if it fits your melody.

I think it's best to consider the overall key and common chord movements. For example have the 1st chord be the Root major chord of the key and have the last be the V major chord of the key. Check out my post on common chord progressions for ideas. That said, you can try some new ideas and try to come up with something a little more original. Here I added some 7th chords with extensions to get a different sound.

Ultimately you have to decide for yourself though and as I always say let your ear be your guide. Also another method to use when there are few long notes is to look for arpeggios inside the melody as often then can be you guide. That's it for this article. I hope it helped and if you have any questions, leave them below.

Songwriting: Chords first

New Youtube Channel

I recently just made a new youtube channel that is focused on Japan. Check it out if you want info and opinions of all things Japanese. If you want to hear more stuff about Japan let me know. If you'd rather not hear about anything else besides music on this blog let me know. Please comment below.

Songwriting: Chords first

So you have a chord progression that you think sounds awesome and maybe you even have a rhythm. Despite that for some reason you can make a good melody. The easiest answer is to just listen to the chords and hum a melody.

Here is an example of a melody I came up with by humming over a typical chord progression. 

chords only

 

with melody

This is so easy you I imagine most of you have already thought of it. Don't worry I'm not going to waste your time by only giving you that. 

Another option is to look at the chord tones of the progression and then choose one note for each chord. That note will be you main melody note over that chord. When picking these notes it's usually best to pick notes that flow smoothly into each other rather than jump around although some jumps can make a melody interesting. Then embellish the main notes with shorter notes to add some interest. Also remember that you don't have to start on the 1 of every bar. Remember that even though this method is more mechanical than just humming you still need to let taste be the ultimate judge.

Just the chord tones

 

With some short notes added

  

Now with some rhythms changed 

 

I hope this gave you some ideas on how to write a melody when all you have is some chords. Of course there are some other techniques you can use to develop the melody, but hopefully this will give you a starting point.

Next time I'll go over how to start from a melody and then add chords to that.

 Which comes first: Melody vs Chords
Songwriting: Melody first 

Which comes first?

A common problem many songwriters and composers have is whether to write the melody first or the harmony. I think most people have a way they like to do things and they don't often deviate from it. I however think both are important and both have strengths and weaknesses.

When I first started I would try to write a melody and then fit harmony to it. This didn't work well because I didn't know enough about song structure or harmony to make the rest of the song fit my melody. Then I tried writing the harmony first(after studying for a bit). I had a bit more success, but now my melodies were weak and I could hide that fact sometimes, by writing a lot of different harmonies and adding unique rhythms, but I couldn't write a nice melody to a simple set of chords.

I finally realized that I need learn to write both ways. I know some people are thinking, "why learn to write another way? What is the point?". One great reason is that it opens up a lot if possibilities as far as what songs you can write. If you can only write melodies it might be hard for you to find interesting harmonies to fit your melodies. Most people sing melodies that fit into 1 key and they don't have many interesting notes.

On the other hand if you only write harmonies it might be hard to make a melody that sounds good. Even if you can make one, can you make one that flows together with the rest of the song, without sounding like a bunch of disjointed melody fragments.

In the next few weeks I'll go over how I write songs starting with melodies and starting with chords.

Songwriting: Chords First 

Common progressions in popular music II

The Jazz Progression(ii7-V7-I)
This is the most common progression in jazz by far. Almost every song in jazz uses this multiple times. There are whole songs built on nothing but this progression. Of course it can be used for all types of music, but it is THE jazz progression. It is also often used to change keys.

 
The Minor Jazz progression(ii7b5-V7-i) 
This is the same as above, but in a minor key. It sounds darker it's often combines with the above progression to form whole songs. This is a good way to transition from a major key into the minor key smoothly. It not only sounds good, but it's useful.

The Carlos Santana secret chord progression(ii-V7)
This is the same as the jazz progression, but without the last chord. These 2 chords can repeat indefinitely and as long as you have a nice rhythm to go with it people won't get bored. This is named after the Frank Zappa song of the same name. I wonder how Carlos felt about Frank exposing his secret. On another note this is a popular way to produce a dorian progression.

(sorry I forgot the chord symbols. They're Dm7 and G7)

The School dance progression(I-vi-IV-V)
This progression is a staple of 50's and 60's pop music, especially ballads. That said it can still be used now as long and you use modern instruments and rhythms. Play it in 12/8 to really bring out that school dance feel. This is a great progression for major keys and can hold the interest of people without becoming boring.

Dramatic pop turnaround(IV-iv-I)
This is usually used in the middle of a song when you need something dramatic to take you into the next section. It's a bit cliche, but effective. This isn't one of those progressions you play over and over again it's just a little something you can add for some spice.

 (check 2:51)

Minor line cliche(i-imaj7-i7-i6)
This is used in a variety of songs and its very effective when you want to stay on one minor chord for a while, but don't want to bore people to death. Tons of famous songs use this. Throw this in during long droning minor chords to keep people from falling asleep.The basic idea is that one note moves down chromatically(in this case the top note).

part 1

Seeing the big picture(the overall effect)

I've gone over most of the technical aspects of arranging in my previous posts, but now I thought I'd get into why arranging is important. I'm sure you've all heard remixes of songs or covers of songs. Some of them are better than the original, some are worse and others are simply different. There are a lot of things that can make one arrangement more enjoyable than another and of course everyone has different tastes, but I'll go over some basic ideas on creating interest and different effects.

Use pauses and breaks- This may seem cliche and it is, but it works. Try dropping a beat or a whole measure. Once the music comes back in people will go crazy. Make sure this comes at an important point in the song, for maximum impacts. Good places for it are the measure before the verse goes into the chorus or in the middle of the 2nd or 3rd verse. Anyplace where you think people are getting bored and you need them to get excited again is a good place.

(Listen for the breaks at 0:48, 2:53, 3:23)

Change instruments or parts - Adding or deleting instruments can add some interest to your songs and can creating an sense of building to an otherwise boring and static arrangement. Try adding some strings during the 2nd verse, or add some percussion during the chorus. You can also have some instruments play different parts. For example during the 2nd verse have the guitar double the keyboard line or have a 2nd guitar double the main riff an octave higher or lower. All of these things can add a small change that is just enough to keep things interesting without changing the feel of the song. Sometimes something as small as having the drummer switch from the hi hat to the ride cymbal can add something to a song.

(The intro is only the orchestra, followed by the melody played by the oboe, then the woodwinds and finally the guitar enters. This is a beautiful arrangement)

After chorus break down- This is another old trick that works almost every time. After the 2nd chorus of a song or any high point, drop the energy, by adding a quiet section with sparse instrumentation. Then after a period of 4 to 16 bars ramp the energy up and your listeners will go nuts.

(The break down comes in at 3:16)

Style and instruments- Before you start to record or perform your song, think about the style of your song and also the instruments you are using. In some cases you might be limited by things like money, human resources, etc, but most of the time you will have some flexibility with this. Think to yourself, what type of emotion should this song convey and are the instruments/styles I'm using evoking that. For example a song that is angry and aggressive might not come off too well with 2 acoustic guitars and vocals. That's not to say that it can't be done, but it puts all of the responsibility on the performers. If that same song is done by a rock band, the drums, driving rock bass and crunchy guitars will bring you half way there even without great performances. Sometimes it's nice to have the lyrics/singer/lead instrument be the polar opposite of the arrangement, but often people just do this out of laziness or a lack or knowledge. There is no reason to be locked into a genre in 2014. Nobody is going to go berserk because you have a blues song and a bossa nova song on the same album. Explore your options.

 (The orginal version)

(The arrangement that is generally acknowledged to be better. Notice how the rock feel and the guitar tone adds an aggressiveness to the song and propels it forward.)

Opposites are attractive- Often times during songs you'll have different instruments doing different things. The question is, what should you have them do? The answer is often times, the opposite of something else. For example if you have a lead guitar and a singer, while the singer is singing the guitar should either be playing chords, a light riff or not at all. However when the singer pauses, the guitarist should play a fill. Singer on, guitarist off. Singer off, guitarist on. If you listen to reggae you'll notice this happens often with the bass and the guitar. The bass on the down beats and the guitar on the off beats. The same happens between a piano and a guitar. If the guitar is playing a riff on the low strings the piano plays high. If the guitar part is busy the piano part is sparse. This is a good way to arrange a song with lots of different instruments.

(Listen to how the vocals and guitar trade off)

(Bach is a master at trading melodies back and forth between instruments) 

Melody switch- Have a new instrument carry the melody and it works even better if you can do this while a new melody is playing. Remember you can change things around slightly and people will still be able to recognize the melody as long as it's similar to the originally melody. For example have your guitar play the chorus melody during the 2nd verse, but change a few of the notes so the match the current chords.

(Listen to the melody repeated using different insturments at 0:00, 0:25, 1:50, 3:09, 3:28, etc. Click here to read about more crazy stuff in Gentle Giant songs)

Keep things dynamic- For a short song there isn't much time for your listeners to get bored, but for anything over about a minute you're going to need some variation. Of course you'll be varying the chords and the melody, but there are money other things you can change too. Try changing volume between sections, or the drum, bass, guitar part. Sometimes even switching the guitar part and the piano part can create some interest. Also keep in mind the instruments like electric guitars and keyboards can drastically change the way they sound. If your verse is using a clean, chorused guitar sound, try a slightly distorted sound for the chorus or bridge. Doing things like this helps create interest or increase/decrease energy.

(Listen to how everything comes in quiet at 1.36)

Anyway I hope you enjoyed this series. If you have any questions leave a comment below and check out some of my music at productiontrax.com

Part 1 - Thoughts on Arranging
Part 2 - Timbre
Part 3 - Rhythmic clarity
Part 4 - Harmonic clarity

Timbre

Timbre is defined as the color or tone quality of something. A guitar, flute and trumpet can all play the same note, but the timbre will sound very different. How does this relate to arranging? Well, not only is arranging about not making things sound disjointed and horrible, it is also about making things sound good and evoking moods. Different instruments can help you do that.

 Now I'm sure you're wondering how can I use this. One effective way this is used is by having melodies(or harmonies) doubled by different instruments. These instruments should have different qualities, so that the overall sound is enhanced.

As an example think of a kick drum and a guitar. The kick drum has a loud, percussive, powerful attack, but not tone to speak of and no sustain. A guitar has sustain and tone, but it's hard to get a lot of power out of a guitar. However when they are playing in unison they create a powerful attack that can rip your head off.

Another common example is doubling a tuba with a bass trombone. The tuba has a kind of "farting" sound that, although it is low doesn't contain a lot of power. The bass trombone has power, but it doesn't have the same low fullness. Combined together however the amount of brown notes will have audiences rushing the toilets. A good example of this recently was "The battle at the wall" during season 4 of game of thrones.

(Great low horn blast at 0:35)

Another common thing to do is to double a sustaining instrument without much attack with something percussive. The percussive insturment helps give the line punch and definition while the other insturment give it tone.

 (Check out the middle section where the guitar, synth, drums and xylophone double the same line)



One final example is the use of talk boxes. The earliest example I know of is Frampton cones alive . However don't be fooled into thinking that this is an old technique that nobody uses anymore. Grammy winners Daft Punk used it all over their last album.

One of the great things abound living in the year 2014 is the fact that you have cheap software synths everywhere and you can experiment endlessly with different timbres. Try combining different types of oscillators and even shifting their octaves until you find a sound that suits you. You can also mix acoustic with electronic elements to come up with all new sounds.

Don't be afraid to experiment with different combinations of instruments. They often lead to new and interesting textures and other times they can be great problem solvers. Often times of you want you melody to be more powerful, doubling it with something more percussive will work. The opposite also holds true. Doubling something with a flute(or another woodwind) will lighten it up. There is a whole world of sound out there for you to experiment with, so play around with different combinations and have fun.

Check out some of my songs and arrangements on the side of this page or at productiontrax and leave a comment below.

Part 1 - Thoughts on Arranging
Part 3 - Rhythmic clarity
Part 4 - Harmonic clarity
Part 5 - Seeing the big picture

Review of Kirk Hunter Diamond Symphony Orchestra

Recently there was/is a sale on most of Kirk Hunter's products. I already own a few, but the sale was so good I couldn't resist. I picked up Diamond which is a complete orchestra including woodwinds, brass, strings and percussion.

   First I'll talk about the sound. The sound of the strings are better than I expected, although as I said before I already have some string samples. The woodwinds are also good although there seems to be a problem with the flute. Everything else sounds good and responds well. One of the reasons I bought this library is because of the piccolo and it doesn't disappoint. The horns sound pretty good, but they are a little aggressive for my taste. Also the library includes reverb. but it isn't baked into the samples, so you can adjust it as needed or take it off completely. This can be good or bad depending on your perspective, but personally I prefer things this way.

  Second, the features. Most of the patches have TEVC programming which gives them the ability to use keyswitches for articulations and adjust certain parameters giving the patches much more flexibility. Unfortunately not all of the patches have updated programming(the bass trombone), but most do which makes them easy to work with.

Overall it's a great value and the fact that it was recorded dry let's you blend it with other libraries without too much trouble. Anyway, check out the short song I wrote with it below. Leave comments and questions below.

 

My music featured on Tunefruit blog

As I mentioned before recently I've been writing stock music for music libraries. One of the sites I've been using is Tunefruit. It's a great site and recently one of my songs was mentioned on their blog. Check it out at http://blog.tunefruit.com/loving-it-weekly-june-16th-playlist-with-guava-tunefruits-stock-music-specialist/ . It's the 1st track under the name Muteki music. I don't know if it was really the number 1 track, but I'm going to assume it is to help keep my self-esteem up. Anyway check it out and tell me what you think.

Common progressions in popular music

I thought I'd go over various chord progressions used in popular music with this post. Chord progressions are one of the fundamental aspects of western music and being familiar with chords and how move in progressions is very important. I know some people are thinking, why learn this or isn't better to just sit down with a keyboard/guitar and mess around until something interesting comes. Of course you can do that, but most of the time when people do that they end up reinventing the wheel needlessly. There is a reason why some chord progressions are popular. They sound good and bring about an emotion in people. A good reason to learn about chord progressions is that they allow you to invoke an emotion in people while still allowing you enough room to express yourself and be creative. For example Bob Marley's "No woman, no cry" and Journey's "Don't stop believing" use the same chord progression, but I doubt anyone would say they sound the same. Anyway, on to the good stuff.

I'm going to use Roman numerals for chords. For example I, ii, iii,IV, V, vi, viidim. In C this would be C major, D minor, E minor, F major, G major A minor and B diminished. Uppercase numerals are major chords, lower case are minor and diminished chords are indicated by dim and augmented chords by aug. They might also have 7, 7(#9),sus, ect added to indicate any additions to the basic chord.

The Emotional Girl Chord progression(I-V-vi-IV)

I heard this progression called this once and although I don't agree completely it's as good a name as any. This chord progression is used in hundreds of pop, rock, and folk songs. In the key of C the chords would be C-G-A minor-F. For me the appeal of this progression is that it's a bit emotionally neutral. It can be happy without being too sweet and syrupy or cool without being sad and depressing. It's not as overpowering as some other progressions and can work in a variety of styles without sounding out of place.

The Blues chord progression(I7-IV7-I7-V7-IV7-I7-V7)

There are a million variations of this, but I'm sure everyone reading this is familiar with the sound. The great thing about the blues is that it can be used is so many ways. It can be slow and sad or fast and raunchy. There is a whole genre of music based on this chord progression, enough said. This progression is also common in classic rock music. Every musician should know this by heart.

 

The Minor blues chord progression (i-iv-i-VI7-V7-i-V7)

As with the above, there are tons of variations on this progression. This is a sadder darker version of the normal blues progression. If you want something really sad and emotional, try this progression. For extra emotion try this with a  slow 12/8 time signature.

 

The Andalusian chord progression(i-bVII-bVI-V) or (i-bVII-bVI-bVII)
This is used in tons of hard rock songs. This is another minor chord progression, but it's not really that sad IMO, it's more aggressive and sometimes angry. This progression makes me want to walk down the street wearing a jean jacket and sunglasses. Lots of 80s hard rock and metal bands used this and often times instead of full chords they'll just use power chords. Many older songs use this also. It's extremely popular.

 

The Square chord progression (I-IV-V)

I'm calling this the square chord progression because it's old and not very hip. In fact it's a few hundred years old and is the basis for a lot of classical music. Despite it's age you still hear it quite often. It's a classic in a sense, so you'd be wise not to over look it. This is a very upbeat and happy progression that can work in a few different types of music.

 

The Reverse Square progression (V-IV-I)

 This is a little higher on the cool factor. This isn't too popular now, but it's quite common in classic rock. This progression sounds happy without being too sweet and weak sounding. It reminds me a bit of country music and gives this a "down home" sort of feel. Well it least that's what it makes me think of.

I hope that was useful and don't worry there is more to come. I'll be going over more progressions that I hope will help you make better music. As always leave some comments below and if you have an idea or something you want me to answer, feel free to ask.

part 2