Songwriting Strategies

by Mark Simos

  FIG. 6.8. Falling Progressions (with Upward Diatonic Thirds)

  Functional Considerations

  The movement qualities described previously are not substitutes for functional harmonic roles, but rather describe some additional qualitative effects of simple diatonic progressions. These effects are modified by functional roles of the chords with respect to key/tonal center and scale degree position. The progression I IV V can be described as a “rising” intervallic sequence “up a fourth, up a major second.” The progression II– V VI– follows the same inter-vallic pattern, but with different chords relative to the tonal center. Both I to VI– and III– to I are moves downward by a diatonic third, an overall “rising” effect. However, each could take on a more “coloristic” or prolonging harmonic effect, or a more functional effect, depending on context.

  To summarize: We can hear any chord progression in dual respects: as a sequence of chords with roots on particular scale degrees, and as a sequence of chord “moves” or transitions. Ascending fourths, ascending seconds and, to a more limited extent, descending thirds have a rising quality or affect; descending fourths, descending seconds, and (again, conditionally) ascending thirds, a falling quality.

  Exercise 6.3. Analyze a Progression by Root Motion

  A powerful way to put these concepts into action is to analyze a given diatonic progression in terms of both the specific chords used, and root movement in rising and falling directions respectively. Most progressions mix these types of moves. Note where reversals or “flips” of direction occur; reflect on how these affect the meaning and emotion inherent in the progression. (This is a powerful preparatory technique when framing from a chord progression to narrative or thematic content, or setting from chords to lyrics by sense.)

  We’ll illustrate with the example in figure 6.9. For consistency and conciseness, we label moves according to the diatonic interval involved: e.g., D2 means downward movement by a (diatonic) second; U4 means upward movement by a fourth. (This makes sense: who could imagine U2 standing for anything but rising energy?) As a second-order visual indication below the interval markings, diagonal arrows () indicate rising or falling effect, respectively. We can thus see spotlight points where the rising/falling quality of root movement shifts. Implied root movement at transitions between phrases, or at the end of the section assuming a cycle back to the start, are indicated with parenthesized courtesy chords and step indications.

  FIG. 6.9. Sectional Progression Labelled with Rising/Falling Root Motion

  Here, the progression was written with the intent of favoring falling movement; yet, the VI– to IV transition, a rising move, naturally intruded. Viewing the section as a whole, a symmetry emerges: the first line primarily falling, but with a rising moment midway through the line; the second line beginning with a rising move, falling back to falling, ending with rising moves. If the section is cyclical, the V to I transition is a final rising move to start the journey again. By listening for such hidden “narratives” in chord progressions, we can work from harmony to other facets, or add harmony to other material in less arbitrary, more prosodically sound ways.

  Working with Root Tone Contours

  Music breathes and flows, not by constantly maintaining strength, but through ebbs and flows of energy. Varying rising vs. falling movement between chords can create dynamics and interest in even apparently simple progressions.

  These terms are only intended to be suggestive. This polarity could also be characterized as active vs. receptive energy. I have at times described the V to I cadence as returning in pride or triumph, IV to I as returning in humility or surrender. However you experience or name these complementary patterns of root movement, focus in your songwriting on their distinct qualities. As you play through progressions moving in these varied directions, you should gradually get a sense for the polarity or energetic contrast in their effects, and be able to notice when the directions of chord movements change. You should also cultivate associative resonance of these aspects with other facets, especially lyrics. Listen, and find your own imagery, associations, and spatial or gestural sense. What’s important is that the chord moves begin to take on narrative qualities for your writing.

  What is critical, for our purposes as songwriters, is that we have access to all these types of motion in our progressions. It seems simple to write a simple progression using just the six basic diatonic major and minor triads—yet we can miss some. It’s easy for us as writers to fall into habitual families of progressions, limited in key respects. Similarly, we can have blind spots when it comes to movements between chords along various paths. Each transition carries distinctive emotional and narrative connotations. When we expand our repertoire, “chord progression first” writing can get us to a much wider range of thematic material, and expand our options when setting from other facets to chords and progressions.

  Exercise 6.4. Write a Progression Using Six Intervals of Root Motion

  This exercise is a “dual” to exercise 6.2, where we wrote a progression using all and only the six (major and minor triad) diatonic chords. In this variation, your challenge is to write a sectional progression using all and only the six diatonic intervallic moves: up a second, up a third, up a fourth; down a second, down a third, down a fourth. As before, the result should make musical sense! Figure 6.10 shows an example of a repeating sectional progression.

  FIG. 6.10. Diatonic Progression Using All Root Movements

  As an extra challenge, try to avoid using the same intervallic move twice in succession, except across phrase boundaries. In the example, two such repetitions occur: one across a phrase boundary, one at the repeat of the entire section (assuming it will be performed cyclically). In particular, two or more consecutive moves of a second in the same direction start creating an overly linear feel—less of a true progression, more an outline of the scale in the root tones. Two or more moves of a third outline an arpeggiated chord in root movement (though not necessarily one of the chords played). This can also work against the decisiveness and vigor of the progression.

  Harmonic Rhythm

  The functions that chords provide in the song have dual aspects, overlapping but not identical to rhythmic accompaniment. Along with nonharmonic instruments (e.g., drums and other percussion), harmonic instruments play their part in expressing accompaniment rhythms—through the strum of the guitar, the vamping on the piano. Interlaced within this accompaniment, however, are more compositionally essential rhythmic patterns expressed by harmonic movements of the chords. We’ll refer to the rhythmic patterns created by these movements as the harmonic rhythm of the progression in the song. Harmonic rhythm is not defined by where chords sound—a function of chords as accompaniment—but rather, the rhythm of where chords change.

  Harmonic rhythm plays a complex role as a core compositional element of the song. Chords help to outline overall phrase and sectional structure for the listener’s ear. Chord movements can coincide with key spots in vocal melody and act as a spotlighting technique. Chords can also move when vocal melody does not move. At the same time, the movement of the chords makes a separate rhythmic statement—a rhythmic line moving slower than vocal and melodic rhythm, but in constant interaction with it.

  This sense of harmonic rhythm may appear analogous to the modified concept of melodic rhythm presented in the “Melody” chapter—rhythmic patterns of changing pitches in the melodic contour. However, there’s an important distinction. To understand the unique qualities of harmonic rhythm, we must consider the role of chords in the texture of the overall song, and in connection to the other facets.

  Lyrics and melody are intimately connected in the vocal line. Since singers must breathe, vocal melody breathes, naturally breaking into phrases where the singer takes a breath, or where a thought concludes and a new thought begins. In contrast, chords need not “breathe”—or at least need not pause with the vocalist’s breaths. They may roll forward in an uninterrupted stream, a continuing backdrop behin
d vocal phrases. Sometimes, we’ll move chords most busily during pauses in the vocal melody—a countermovement principle intrinsic to the nature of accompaniment. Chords move in phrases of their own, which don’t interlock directly with vocal phrases. Regardless of whether the chords “pause for breath” between phrases, the underlying harmonic motion provides a continuing orientation in time, and to the key and tonal center of the song. Even when chords are not sounding, during an a cappella section or a moment of complete silence, we can still perceive this implied harmony. This is what gives harmonic rhythm its unique quality. Events in harmonic rhythm are perceived shifts in what’s experienced as an unbroken “thread” of harmonic texture.

  Harmonic rhythm shapes the meaning of chords and chord progressions in varied ways. A chord receives more emphasis by being placed on metrically stronger beats and phrase positions, and by longer duration. This harmonic rhythm creates its own patterns, interwoven with the specific chords in the progression. Sometimes, it’s more important when we change a chord than what chord we change to.

  Figure 6.11 shows an example progression, written in three notations.

  Roman numeral notation is shown to the left. A “harmonic rhythm map” is shown in the center. This is a useful informal notation for mapping a progression’s harmonic rhythm as a visual pattern: an “X” signifies a change of chord, a “” indicates a continuation of a chord. Shown to the right is a variant of Nashville notation blending functional harmonic notation with some rhythmic indications such as the continuation marks of the harmonic rhythm map.

  FIG. 6.11. Analyzing a Progression in Terms of Harmonic Rhythm

  Though each line of this progression has distinct sequences of specific chords, the harmonic rhythm repeats for the first three lines. This unifies the section, despite the through-composed arc of these phrases. As with intervallic contour, we must pay close attention to chords that start phrases or sections, or at repetitions. These junctures may either continue or change preceding chords. Transitions across structural boundaries are less prominent than midphrase transitions. As a result, apparently identical chord sequences may also have different harmonic rhythm effects, as with the last two lines.

  Since different sequences can share harmonic rhythm profiles, while identical sequences can take on different harmonic rhythm profiles (depending on context), the harmonic rhythm aspect can fully “counterpoint” against the progression’s functional harmonic meaning.

  You can extend harmonic rhythm notation to indicate anticipations or “pushes” of particular chords. These rhythmic effects represent a middle ground between harmonic and accompaniment rhythm. Some pushes are structurally and compositionally essential; in other situations, they represent arrangement or performance aspects. (Nashville notation “pushes,” discussed in the sidebar on page 134, show such additional harmonic rhythm aspects with particular visual clarity. These can be imported into harmonic rhythm maps.)

  The complex vertical structures of harmony create grey areas in how definitive a change we feel in a given harmonic transition. Changes of inversion or bass line, or chord quality (major or minor, suspensions or upper-structure tones) will shade perceived harmonic rhythm in subtle ways. Building on our earlier discussion of qualities of root tone intervallic motion, movements of a diatonic third can even be heard as softer “color” moves in harmonic rhythm, as compared to the more definitive movements of seconds or fourths.

  Still, even a simplified picture of harmonic rhythm reveals patterns that strongly affect the meaning and emotional impact of a chord progression. Working intentionally with harmonic rhythm allows us to vary timings of chord placements in flexible ways, adding meaning and interest to the chords’ rhythmic statements in relation to other aspects of the progression, and to other facets.

  Cyclic vs. Narrative Progressions

  Writing fresh, innovative chord progressions requires more than jamming over familiar chord riffs and cycles. It involves thinking of progressions as musical ideas, with their own inbuilt interest. This enables us to write distinctive progressions that avoid cliché patterns. But the distinctiveness and evocativeness of a progression is not a direct function of its structural complexity. In this section we look at chord progressions in terms of their relative degree of internal repetition and variation, distinguishing between cyclic and narrative types of progressions.

  Cyclic Progressions

  Cyclic progressions are ubiquitous in contemporary music—from mainstream pop, hip-hop, and neo-soul to the growls of indie rock and the plaintive strains of acoustic singer-songwriters. One reason to pay close attention to the qualities of chords and chord transitions, as discussed earlier in this chapter, is to understand how different cyclic progressions can create distinctive emotional qualities. One ubiquitous cycle, VI– IV I V, can be heard in countless contemporary songs. (Dubbed by some the “sensitive singer-songwriter progression,” it might be considered the modern successor to the classic “Heart and Soul” progression: I VI– IV V.) Some of the staying power of this progression, which might be said to poignantly evoke the shifting emotional landscape of contemporary angst-ridden youth, can be understood through the alternation of rising and falling transitions in the sequence.

  FIG. 6.12. A Common Cyclic Progression

  Some cyclic progressions effectively serve the thematic needs of the song. But writing only in cyclic forms is sometimes symptomatic of a process of developing progressions only by jamming and improvisation, and can be very limiting in scope. One weakness in cyclic progressions lies in how cycles create and support sectional form. When you simply repeat a four-bar chord cycle four times for your verse, the chords per se contribute little to outlining or reinforcing sectional form, or transitions between sections. You’re forced to fall back on other elements, such as dramatic leaps in vocal range between verses or production effects, to create interest and sectional contrast. Making even one small alteration in the verse—for example, one chord in the last repetition— can shift listeners’ perceptions: from a four-chord cycle repeated four times, to a sixteen-bar “statement” with closure or a build of energy toward a new section. (See exercise 6.5.)

  Narrative Progressions

  Another way to move beyond stock and cliché progressions is by writing longer, through-composed sequences of chords that create and outline sectional form. I call these narrative progressions, because the flow of the chords and their transitions often evoke the sense of a story or journey. When writing a narrative progression, whether working from the progression to other facets such as melody or lyric, or writing the progression in response to these elements, I focus on the story the chords are telling.

  By “narrative,” I don’t mean a literal story or even a single emotional interpretation. Rather, I mean a “narrative-seeking” progression—one that sparks associative thinking for the writer, naturally leading to melodic, lyric, and thematic ideas. The “journey” is also not confined to standard progressions. Using the full palette of diatonic chords and transitions, and employing shifts in harmonic rhythm and pace, are key tools for creating interest in these progressions.

  I suspect I absorbed this approach from chord-driven styles like bluegrass, and from my experience as a guitar accompanist for Celtic music. But narrative progressions can be used in any style or genre. Consider the harmonic structure of Jimi Hendrix’s immortal “Little Wing.” Besides Jimi’s timeless guitar voicings and solo, and evocative lyrics, the chord progression itself carries inherent emotional meaning. Though it’s a single sectional chord progression, repeated for the opening instrumental, two verses, and a closing instrumental, it presents more as a narrative than a cyclic progression. Or consider the music of the Beatles. Each song has the freshness of a new experiment, often in the chord structure—something they (and the world at large) had not tried or heard before. Pop writing in the mid ’70s was another golden era for narrative progressions.

  A narrative progression has several essential qualities:


  It’s more than a short cycle of chords repeated for the duration of a section. It moves in the direction of being “through-composed,” with different chords or transitions between chords used over the course of the progression.

  Though not repeating, the progression must still make musical sense to the listener, both in its moment-to-moment flow and as a whole. Particular chords used (relative to key and tonal center), and moves between these chords, create meaning and emotion, separate from whatever melody and lyrics may be put to the chords in the final song.

  This “through-composed” quality and continuity combine to create the sense of a story or a journey that extends through the duration of the progression. If the progression covers a verse, there’s a distinctive beginning, middle, and end to the verse. As a result, a narrative progression creates structural spotlights in a section or overall song. A narrative progression can also cover an entire song form of many sections, but in this case is still more than just a sequence of simple chord cycles outlining the main song sections.

  Both cyclic and narrative progressions work because of a sense of “flow” from chord to chord. A cyclic progression creates a tight loop with that sense of flow; a narrative progression creates more of a sectional “arc” with a clear beginning, middle, and end. Narrative progressions can incorporate cliché sequences, but generally set them in a context that makes them sound fresh. While there are genres built on short chord cycles, “stock” narrative progressions are rarer. Almost by definition, such progressions have some unique aspect that is likely to become associated with a particular song. Reusing the progression will therefore sound more derivative of that original song. Though chord progressions are not protectible by copyright, any songwriter who reused the main progression of “Little Wing” without giving due credit to the work as a tribute or adaptation would likely call down the wrath of legions of Jimi’s fans.