BLOG 2

Creation of Chords

Having gathered my initial thoughts on what genre of music I would like to create my song in (90s Dance Pop), it has allowed me to begin the developments of my song in terms of: chords, melody and the overall structure.

‘Writing a song is very much like fitting pieces of a puzzle together: once you get going with an idea, it’s a matter of laying your pieces out on the table and then getting them to fit’ (Davidson and Heartwood, n.d., p. 4). 

When it comes to songwriting, I always start constructing a chord sequence with at least 3-4 chords so that I can then create a well shaped melody around it. As stated by LaGrange (2002, p.1) ‘Chords are used as harmony, which fill in the melodies, or “accompany” the melodies’. In this case, I am creating a chord sequence in order to help create a sense of direction in how I would like my melody to sound.

Below is the first draft of my chord sequence for the verses of my song which follow as – Dm, C, F, C. I have used simple triads which are ‘…the basic building blocks of harmony’ (Johnson, 2009, p.10) in order to begin my song in a simple form.

Verse Chords – Draft 1

I found that this chord sequence somewhat worked, but it was difficult to create a fitting melody around it (click Sound Cloud link to listen).

In order for the chords to be more static in how they sound and to be able in producing a melody, I wanted to try and add another chord or change/adjust the order of chords that I already have.

This led me to adding another chord and changing the chord sequence to Dm, Bb, C, C. Although this chord sequence only uses three chords (and repetition of C), I feel that this will make it easier to create a catchy melody and will fit the genre of 90s Dance Pop.

Verse Chords – Draft 2

These chords work well together and will allow me to be further experimental when creating the melody.

As these are only the chords from the verses, I will be adding other chords to the chorus to add more depth. This will ensure that the song is not a continuous loop of the same chords, as this could bore the listener and not show a variety of ideas and experimentation.

Chorus Chords – Draft 1

For the chorus, I have added an F chord. I am happy with the way that this chorus sounds as I do not want to adjust it too much as changing the chords completely can make it difficult to create a transition from verse to chorus.

Structure of Song

It is common that most Pop songs follow a structure of ‘Introduction, Verse, Chorus, Verse, Chorus, Instrumental Bridge’  (Sfetcu, 2014), however, I want to slightly change this by arranging my song as:

I have added a Pre-Chorus as this would be a good build up to the chorus that uses the same chords, but will be adjusted with software instruments during the editing of my song in Logic Pro X.

Reference List:

Davidson and Heartwood. (n.d.). Songwriting for Beginners: An Easy Beginning Method. USA: Alfred Music.

Johnson, M. (2009). Pop Music Theory. Boston: Lulu.com.

LaGrange, A. (2002). Intermediate Piano Chords. Santee: Music and You.

Sfetcu, N. (2014). The Music Sound. Nicolae Sfetcu.