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5 Chord Progressions Every Songwriter Needs to Know

January 9th, 2018 by

5 Chord Progressions Every Songwriter Needs to KnowChord progressions are the structural foundations of the songs we know and love. Put simply, a chord progression is a series of repeating chords, for example, C / F / G over and over.

Some songs have one chord progression for the entire song. Others have separate progressions for the verse and chorus, while more complex songs may contain four or five different progressions throughout.

Every songwriter should have an understanding of common chord progressions, not only for understanding songwriting and song structure, but for improvising with a band as well. If a group of people get together to play, several commonly known chord progressions provide a framework for everyone to play to, be it a 12 bar blues progression, rhythm changes, or the chord progression to any popular song. In this article, we will look at five of the most common chord progression in major keys. (more…)

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    Often songwriters will write a terrific line, maybe use a wonderful metaphor or some words or phrases that are very vivid. Then they get caught trying to write another line that will rhyme to it. Often that line sounds like it’s ‘rhyme forced’ meaning that it’s there mainly to rhyme to the previous line. Don’t let rhymes dictate your writing, let the story, or message of the song dictate them.