How many different kinds of songwriting chord progressions are there? There are innumerable songwriting chord progressions, but some sample chord progressions are more popular and appealing than others and belong to particular styles of music.
Rock: The most popular forms of songwriting chord progressions in rock are the minor key, or the faux minor key. For those of you who don’t know what a minor key looks like, I will gladly show you. A basic minor key looks like this: ‘1 minor’, ‘2 diminished’, ‘3 Major’, ‘4 diminished’, ‘5 minor’, ‘6 Major’, ‘7 Major’, and all the way back to the ‘1 minor’. Although the minor key is used by many rock songwriters, an equal number will often turn to what I call the faux minor key. A faux (false) minor key is actually a major scale that is played based on the ‘6 minor’ with the ‘4’ and ‘5’ playing a supporting role, and the ‘1’ making the occasional guest appearance. This gives the song the initial feel of a minor key, but allows it to resolve as the chorus comes to a close.
Country: Country music-along with gospel and pop for that matter follows the basic songwriting chord progression that we discussed earlier in this article. Although there is the exception to every rule, if you learn how to find the ‘1’, ‘4’, ‘5’, and ‘3 minor’, then you will be able to play-at least the basic version-of any song in this genre.
Jazz: Jazz is a whole different animal. The songwriting chord progressions tend to be of free form, and its groovy beats keep it constantly evolving. If you desire to write a jazz song, seek out a professional in this style to assist you personally. Jazz employs something called color chords. These are basic chords that have one or more unconventional notes added in order to bring some color to the chord, hence the name.
A simple example of this would be to add the seven to any chord. To illustrate, a ‘G’ chord consists of G, B, and D. To make it a seven chord, simply add the ‘7’ or F to the rest of the notes (preferably in a different octave). Here’s a basic jazz progression for you to use: ‘2 minor-7’, ‘5-7’, ‘1-7’. If there are a lot of possibilities for songwriting chord progressions, there are even more for jazz. There truly is no end to what you can do in jazz music.
Rap and Hip Hop: Rap and Hip Hop can essentially work off of any progression. What differentiates this genre from any other is the style in which those progressions are played. But in most cases, once an acceptable progression has been found, it will be placed on a loop and repeated throughout the song.
If you need help composing music, you can hire professional music ghostwriting services. Whatever type of music interests you, there are professional ghostwriters for hire who can custom compose and record your songs, lyrics, and chord progressions. Contact a songwriter for hire today.
Source by John Halas
