How To Write Better Chord Progressions 1) Use only Major or Minor chords. Just keep things simple. The Major and Minor chords only have 3 no...
1) Use only Major or Minor chords.
Just keep things simple. The Major and Minor chords only have 3 notes in them. For example, C Major has the notes C E G. The chord C Minor has C Eb G. This limitation will help you quickly make decisions about what kind of chords to use. The trick is always to limit yourself to help you make decisions.
2) Begin and end with the same chord
The thing about music is that it’s like a game. You have to start in one place, go away from it for a while, and then figure out how to get back. In this case I’m going to start with the chord A Minor:
So what chord am I going to end with? A minor. Again, limitations are helpful.
3) Move freely among diatonic chords
The word Diatonic means “from the tonic”. Well, what’s this thing called a tonic? The tonic is the main pitch of the composition – it’s the note from which every other note is based. In this imaginary piece of music, the tonic I’ve selected is A. I’ve decided that I want the piece to be in a minor key – A Minor. From the tonic I construct the A Natural Minor Scale: A B C D E F G.
You can build seven (7) “diatonic chords” off of each note in the above scale meaning that you’ll only use notes from the A Minor Scale resulting in mostly Major and Minor chords. For example, if I was to build a diatonic chord in the key of A Minor from the note C, then I get a C Major chord, C E G. Here are all of the diatonic chords in the key of A Minor:
Diatonic Chords
Diatonic Chords
Here’s the secret: You can move freely around these diatonic chords in any way you want. You just have to find the progression that works best for the track.
4) A chord of one type may move freely to any other chord of the same type.
Now to make things interesting. Let’s say you want to use a chord outside of the diatonic chords. Is that allowed? Yes. Will it sound good? Well, that’s up to you. Simply put, you can start from a diatonic Major chord and move to any other Major chord. For example, Let’s say that my chord progression starts like this:
A Minor | D Minor | F Major
Am Dm FM
What’s my next chord? Can I go to Eb Major? Yes. How about Bb Major? Yes. Any Major chord will sound good. The trick is to end the series of Major chords on one of the three a diatonic Major chords:
A Minor | D Minor | F Major | Eb Major | Bb Major | C Major (diatonic) |
Am Dm FM EbM BbM CM
The same goes for Minor chords. Make sure to end on one of three diatonic Minor chords:
A Minor | F Major | D Minor | Bb Minor | Eb Minor | D Minor (diatonic) |
Am FM Dm Bbm Ebm Dm
Am FM Dm Bbm Ebm Dm
5) The root of the next to last chord must move by 2nd, Perfect 4th, or Perfect 5th to the last chord.
Remember that music is like a game and you’re trying to figure out how to get back home. We know that the last chord is the same as the first chord, but what about the next to last chord? That chord is very important because it helps the music lead into the last chord. The options you have for the penultimate chord have to be a 2nd above or below the tonic, or a Perfect 4th/5th above or below the tonic. Not sure what these numbers mean? That’s okay. We’re talking about intervals, or the distance between two notes. Here are all of the options for the key of A minor:
2nd Below: G Major > A Minor
GM Am
Perfect 4th above / 5th below: D Minor > A Minor
Dm Am
Perfect 5th above / 4th below: E Minor > A Minor
Em Am
Em Am
Why not a 2nd above? Because that would be B Diminished > A Minor and that would go against Guideline #1.
6) The roots of the chords must support the tonic and they must form a singable line.
After you finish your your progression, take the roots of all of the chords (A is the root of A Minor, C is the root of C Major, etc.) and play them in a row. Does it sound like a good, singable melody? If so, then you probably have a great chord progression on your hands. Some people, myself included, actually like to start with this step. Here’s my example of a chord progression following all 6 guidelines:
A Minor | E Minor D Minor | C Major | Eb Major G Major | D Minor G Minor | D Minor | E Minor | A Minor |
Chord Progression
