by Mark Simos
Simple Chords
Writing “interesting” chord progressions is not synonymous with employing sophisticated harmonic vocabulary—lots of cool chords and chord changes. You’ll need such vocabulary for certain genres, like bossa nova or art rock. But many genres are built on simple harmonic qualities and cyclic progressions: from country music, to early Motown, to old-school rock, to much contemporary pop writing. The chords in these songs can still make distinctive statements that support the meaning and emotion of the song. To write convincingly and authoritatively in these genres requires appreciation for the power of simple chordal structures and progressions.
Besides being better able to write to particular genre conventions and restrictions, there are good learning reasons to develop your skills for creating interest in progressions using relatively simple chords. Visual artists do “color studies” to wrestle with their materials in the purest form possible. Working initially with simple palettes of chords, we can more easily grasp the complexity beneath even apparently simple progressions. At Berklee, in part due to the college’s jazz legacy, student writers with a lot of jazz theory training sometimes turn in songs where every chord is at least a seventh chord, and often more complex. These writers often lack a songwriter’s sense for the emotional significance of even the basic diatonic “country” chords, much less their upper-structure citified cousins.
Another reason to focus at first on simpler chord structures, especially humble triadic voicings, is to more clearly hear relationships between chords and vocal melody. Compare the two harmonic settings in figure 6.3. In the first setting, doubling the melody note in the chord voicing on the FMaj7 and D–7(13) obscures the tension or “rub” of vocal melody against harmony. The second setting spotlights and clarifies melodic notes as non-chord tones against the simpler triads. This is not just an arrangement issue. You will make different melodic choices in writing based on the chord voicings you use.
FIG. 6.3. Complex vs. Simple Chord Structures Against Vocal Melody
Using a simple palette of chords does not mean using only stock progressions. Even restricted to the “three chords and the truth” I, IV, and V chords, thousands of distinct progressions can be written. Only a few have been explored in the song repertoire as a whole, much less your individual writing. Each progression has a different story to tell. Embrace the power of simple chords—and occasionally, even the simplicity of power chords!
Chord Roots as Scale Degrees
In any given key, each chord takes on meaning based on where its root sits relative to the tonal center and scale. The sound of an F chord depends on its being an F. But an F chord in the key of F functions as a tonic chord; in the key of C, as a IV chord. While chord quality also matters, our ears seek out the root of the chord and assign it meaning.
While there are twelve available pitches in the equal-temperament system, the seven diatonic chords—with roots on one of the seven scale degrees for a given key—have special significance. In particular, the six “primary-color” diatonic chords (the three major triads and three minor triads), taken together, form an essential “chord palette” for songwriting. Consider this set of chords like a cast of characters, each with their own personality, affinities, disputes with other characters, and part to play in the tale.
Exercise 6.2. Six Chords in Search of a Composer
Write a progression using all and only the major and minor triads of the diatonic scale (I, IV, and V major; II–, III–, and VI–). For this exercise, avoid the diminished triad (built on the seventh degree of the major scale). In practice, this chord often feels like a V7 (minus the root) rather than a distinct chord built on a different root.
It may seem dead simple to write a progression using just these six different chords. Yet it’s remarkable how often student writers come back with a progression where they’ve “forgotten” to use the III– or II–. In addition, as you try to create variety in the progression, the highly constrained set of materials forces you to be more deliberate in your placement of chords. Even in the short six-chord progression example shown in figure 6.4, there are some less expected moves between chords, such as the direct move from III– to V.
FIG. 6.4. A Progression Using the Six Primary Diatonic Triads
Exercises like this six-chord challenge, involving simple diatonic
progressions written without lyrics or melody, with various constraints on choices of chords, can heighten your awareness of the effects of each chord relative to the tonal center, and of the moves between chords. It also encourages experimentation with less stock chord transitions and sequences.
Intervallic Motion in Chord Progressions
A chord in a sequence or progression takes on additional meaning by its placement within the flow of the chords. This flow establishes its own “melodic” line, independent of the vocal melody. As individual chords are complex vertical structures, various melodic threads can be heard: the root movement of chords, lines formed by bass lines or inversions, inner guide-tones, etc. We experience a given chord’s root and quality relative to the overall key, but also relative to the roots of preceding and following chords. Here, it’s necessary to review some aspects of harmony, always keeping in mind our purpose as songwriters: to develop our sense for connections of these chord movements to imagery, emotion, and story.
For example, a V chord in any key, anywhere in a progression, has its “scale degree” meaning, in terms of its dominant functional role. But heard in the two sequences I IV V vs. I II– V, the chord takes on different meaning because of the different scale degrees from which it is approached (IV vs. II–) and the intervals of those approaches (a second vs. a fourth). Because we listen via shifting windows of expectation and short-term memory, a chord’s meaning in the context of a progression is also modified by the chord that follows it, and the interval by which we depart from it to that successor, e.g., I V VI– vs. I V IV.
Directional Effects of Chord Root Movement
The interval of movement from chord to chord also has specific meaning and effect, related to but not identical to the meaning of that interval as a scale degree. As songwriters, we need to understand these intuitions, because they affect our emotional responses to chord movements, along with imagery and narrative associations.
As a simple, consistent way to name and think about chord root intervallic motion, it’s convenient to express these movements in terms of the “shortest path” between tones: i.e., movement by a second, third, or fourth, up or down respectively. Rather than talk about movement by wider intervals (fifth, sixth, or seventh), we “reflect” such movements back within the octave. Thus, we’d call root motion from D to A movement down a fourth, motion from D to G movement up a fourth.
Returning to our cast of diatonic chordal characters, we can characterize chord root motion, in common with vocal melody, by direction (up and down) and interval size or distance between the tones (in scale degrees). There is, however, a fundamental difference in our experience of vocal melody vs. the implied melodic movement of chords. In vocal melody, we hear contours as shapes in pitch space. In chord root motion, we hear contours in harmonic space, where intervals are mapped or reflected back to a scale degree relative to a tonal center, within the compass of a single octave.
Thus, there is potential ambiguity in how directionally we hear diatonic motion of chord roots. This distinction affects our experience of individual intervals, as well as contours created by successions of chord root tones. This is particularly true of root tone motion, especially since in some cases this motion is implied rather than directly stated in voicings of chords. The effect is less straightforward with the more clearly melodic contours of bass lines, inner guide-tone lines, and other voice leading effects.
The sense of directionality varies with the size of the interval of motion. For example, in theory we could hear root motion of D to E as movement upward by a major second, or downward by a minor seventh. But root motion by the relatively sma
ll interval of a second, up or down, is felt fairly melodically; here, harmonic and melodic motion come closest to coinciding. In this sense, D to E would be felt primarily as an upward motion (somewhat independently of how the chords might be voiced). Root motions by a diatonic third, such as D to FA– or D to B, are larger intervals, but still felt largely melodically and directionally. (Curiously, though, they are felt as less strong harmonic changes, for reasons discussed on the next page).
Movement by fourths (or fifths) is directionally the most ambiguous type of diatonic root motion. In vocal melody, we clearly hear the difference between a leap up a fourth vs. down a fifth. These moves take us to different pitches, and create strongly contrasting pitch contours. Movement from D to G in chord roots, however, is directionally ambiguous: you arrive at the same harmonic tone. Thus, in chord root motions by a fourth, a spatial or directional sense of “up” or “down” motion becomes less potent than a different sense of movement.
These qualities of root tone movement can be better understood by considering the movements of constituent tones in the respective chords. Perceived continuity in a chord move depends on the “fate” of common tones shared between chords.
In movement by a diatonic second (up or down), there are no common tones between adjacent triads. Every voice moves in the same direction (subject to chord voicing and voice leading). This creates a strong sense of change and little continuity. These moves are thus the most “melodic” or scalar of chord transitions, and create the strongest directional sense, with corresponding emotional or descriptive associations of rising and falling.
This principle can be heard not only in direct chord movement but also in modulations. In old-school country music, a standard tool of the trade was to modulate the last chorus of a song upward, often by the interval of a major second. This created an audible “lift” in the music, along with the sonic effect of brightening tonal quality and raising the vocalist’s range to add drama and tension. When this technique was inverted, as in the down-spiralling modulations of Johnny Cash’s classic “I Walk the Line,” the effect was surprising and equally strong.
In diatonic moves of a third, two common tones create strong continuity. This gives these movements a softened quality. I call such moves color moves; they suggest a shift of colored light on a scene rather than a change of scene. These moves make less strong harmonic statements than moves by fourths, and less directional statements than moves by seconds. In some situations, they may be heard more as changes of inversion or voicing than full harmonic changes. Such chord moves must therefore be used carefully, or they can “cloud” the narrative flow of the chord progression. However, precisely because they have intermediate strength as moves in harmonic rhythm, they can be great resources, especially used in unexpected patterns (e.g., VI– moving up to I).
Root movement by fourths and fifths share one common tone: the 1 of the I becoming the 5 of the IV, or the 5 of the I becoming the 1 of the V, respectively. Although we will name these root motions, for convenience, as movement by fourths (up or down respectively), the intuitive effect is not really up-and-down motion. Instead, we will use the terms rising and falling—but more in an emotional, narrative, and metaphorical than a directional sense.
Rising and Falling Moves
This way of understanding the “meaning” or affective qualities of different kinds of root motion sheds light on the affective power of simple chord progressions, especially movement among basic diatonic triads. Consider again the ubiquitous set I IV V. This set of chord roots combines the highly directional interval of the major second with two “hinge” moves of a fourth.
There are two paths of movement among these chords, that have very different emotional qualities. To distinguish these patterns of motion and their effects, it’s helpful to picture the I, IV, and V chords arranged in a circular fashion:
FIG. 6.5. Rising and Falling Harmonic Motion
Rising Harmonic Motion
One way to move through these chords can be depicted as clockwise motion around this circle: I to IV to V to I. This corresponds to the standard harmonic progression: from tonic (I) to subdominant (IV) to dominant (V), and returning back to the I. An implied metaphor and narrative is built into this progression, familiar to us through our associations of tonal music: we start from a clearly established tonic, “journey out” to the subdominant (IV), achieve suspense with the IV “rising up” to the dominant (V), and at last, resolve by “coming home to” the tonic. 16
The experiential quality of these movements could be described as an overall rising gesture, in terms of emotion or energy. There are voice leading explanations for these effects.
A transition between chords feels like more of a movement (a change) when the root of the chord we move to is not contained in the chord we move from, but “revealed” as the chord changes. We get this effect when moving up a fourth—I to IV, or V to I—the moves of the “rising” cycle above. This same effect can be heard in other diatonic moves up a fourth: e.g., II– to V, III– to VI, VI– to II–. (These moves are also the most likely to be intensified by shifting diatonic chords to secondary dominants: e.g., II7 or V7/V to V, etc.)
With V to I, we hear a particularly strong resolution back to the tonic. The third of the V chord, the seventh degree or leading tone of the scale, resolves upward by a half-step to the tonic. This is the classic leading-tone resolution of tonal harmony.
As discussed earlier, we hear root movement by seconds as more “melodic” in implication. Thus the upward direction of the major second, IV to V, “lifts” us and builds energy. This effect is arguably based more strictly on root tone motion alone.
Falling Harmonic Motion
We can also move between these chords in the other direction, depicted here as counterclockwise motion around the circle: I to V to IV to I. These root movements have a different energetic quality. In standard music theory, the cadence from IV to I is sometimes referred to as a plagal cadence. Moving from I straight to V (without passing through IV) is a similar root motion (down a fourth). While a different effect with respect to the tonal center, it shares something of the quality of the plagal cadence. To convey the complementary quality to the “rising” set, we’ll call these “falling” moves.
Rising movement is typical of the harmony predominant throughout the Great American Songbook-era repertoire. It is intensified by use of secondary dominants, and tonal modulation. But the “falling” type of chordal root movement is also ubiquitous in many styles and idioms, often associated in particular with genres such as blues, rock, and gospel, as well as bluegrass, Celtic, and Southern roots styles. There’s even a complement to the old-school “circle of fifths” pattern in rising motion—the “circle of fourths” progression—made famous in ’60s era rock by Hendrix’s “Hey Joe” and various songs of the Beatles, including “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.”
Rising and Falling By Seconds and Thirds
We can extend this rising/falling polarity to chord moves of seconds and thirds. Because of melodic implications of root movement by a second, the move V to IV has a downward or “falling” effect, with corresponding spatial and gestural associations.
The classic twelve-bar blues progression, in a simplified version, is actually an interesting hybrid of the two types of movement:
FIG. 6.6. Rising and Falling Harmonic Motion in Classic Twelve-Bar Blues
Here, the first of the three phrases establishes the tonal center (typically voiced with a seventh chord, for a Mixolydian or blues rather than a straight major-key feel). The initial chords of each phrase (heard in almost an acrostic way) outline a “rising” progression: I to IV to V. But the movements within each four-bar phrase are all “falling” transitions: IV to I, then V to IV to I. Even the optional (parenthesized) turnaround in the last phrase adds an additional I to V “falling” move, before a quick “rising” move back to I and the cyclical repetition of the form.
The circle depiction is a reminder
that movement in terms of these cycles need not start or stop at the I chord. The direction of motion carries a similar rising effect moving from V through I to IV, or a falling effect from IV to I to V. This is why I have not defined these moves in terms of standard “cadences” or ways of ending phrases. By beginning and ending phrases on chords other than I, a variety of effects can be created. These may at times weaken or leave ambiguous the apparent tonal center, leading the way to more fully modal progressions. We’ll revisit these possibilities at the end of the next chapter, “Melody/Harmony Connections.”
The affective qualities of different directions of root movement by thirds is more subtle to discern. In movement downward by a third, e.g., I to VI–, the new chord’s root (the sixth degree) is not contained in the chord, and thus creates a stronger impression of a harmonic change. As a result, although root motion might be considered down a third in this case, the overall affective quality binds more closely with the “rising” moves of upward fourth and second. Sequences built around movements of upward fourths can always be punctuated by moves of downward thirds, as shown in the boxed transitions in figure 6.7:
FIG. 6.7. Rising Progressions (with Downward Diatonic Thirds)
Although roots move in both directions in absolute terms, there is an overall “rising” effect in each of the above progressions.
By contrast, in movement upward by a third, e.g., I to III–, the new root is contained in the departed chord (the third of the chord, carrying the quality of the chord). Thus, perhaps somewhat counterintuitively, movement upward by a third has the more unexpected, “falling” quality. Thus, these movements can punctuate sequences built out of other falling movements. In figure 6.8, we see a few example sequences built out of all “falling” transitions, including some upward thirds (again, shown in the boxed transitions):