Write a Song, Online Chord Composing Tips
Help Writing Songs and Chords for a Personalized Tribute
Dec 24, 2008
Once a musician composes lyrics and melody for an original love song, he can use this help writing songs to finish his song off by composing a winning chord progression to back up the tune. Depending on a musician’s level of knowledge, this last step can either be the easiest or the most frustrating. This article will help beginners set their music to a simple chord progression. There are also a few tips to help them experiment with new chords.
Help Writing Songs, Key Signatures and Chords
The chords musicians will use to accompany their new song will be determined by the song’s key. The simplest way to figure this out for almost every song is to check the last note of the melody. The note on which a tune feels resolved is almost always its key.
Many, many songs get away with using only the first, fourth, and fifth chords of a key signature. For example, if a song is in the key of C, which uses the notes C, D, E, F, G, A, and B, the first fourth and fifth chords are C, F, and G. To determine when each is appropriate, musicians can simply look at the melody note and choose a first, fourth, or fifth chord that contains a corresponding note. By listening to the chord along with the melody, most musicians quickly develop an ear for which chords work where.
A major chord is simply made up of its scale’s first, third, and fifth intervals. So, to create a C chord from the C scale of C, D, E, F, G, A, B, musicians will play a C, E, and G simultaneously.
Help Writing Songs, Changing Chords
How often should musicians change chords? Chord changes provide a rhythm to a song and so should be at regular and predictable intervals. This doesn’t make a song boring. A song that changes chords too much is not only hard to play, but sometimes hard to follow.
Write a Song, Online Tips to Spice Up a Song with Chords
There are a few easy tips songwriters can use to give their chords a little more personality. They can try adding a few of these embellishments and see whether the change enhances or detracts from the melody.
Change the fifth chord by adding the flatted seventh. For example, a musician whose song is in the key of C might like the sound of his melody better if he occasionally uses a G7 chord instead of a regular G chord. To do this, musicians keep the notes G, B, D: the first, third, and fifth intervals of the G scale. But to make the G into the G7, they add an F which is the G scale’s flatted seventh. This addition can lend a jazzy feel.
If it works with the melody and words, musicians can try adding either a minor second, third, or sixth to convey a darker, more wistful tone. In the key of C, this would mean the chords of D minor, E minor, and A minor.
Most importantly, musicians should find chords that enhance their melody, not chords that take it over. Well chosen chords will add a mood to a song and give it polish, but they won’t be the focal point.
Once songwriters have set their original composition to music, all that’s left is to practice, practice, practice for the big performance. And when the time comes to unveil the masterpiece, there’s no doubt the personalized lyrics and heartfelt music will hit their mark.
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