Idiot's Guides - Music Theory

by Michael Miller

C / / /

  Although these are the basic blues chords, you can use lots of variations to spice up individual songs. (Turn to Chapter 16 to see some of these variations.)

  NOTE

  The blues progression is sometimes played with a V7 chord in the final measure.

  Chords and Melodies

  Although chords fill out a tune and provide its harmonic underpinning, you still need a melody to make a song.

  The relationship between chords and melody is complex—and works a little like the proverbial chicken and the egg. You can start with one or the other, but in the end you have to have both.

  This means you can write a melody to a given chord progression, or you can start with the melody and harmonize it with the appropriate chords. There’s no set place to start; whether you start with the melody or the chords is entirely up to you.

  Fitting Chords to a Melody

  If you write your melody first, you then have to figure out which chords fit where. In many cases, it’s a simple matter of applying one of the common chord progressions to your melody; more often than not, you’ll find one that’s a perfect fit.

  To demonstrate, let’s look at the chords behind some of the melodies we first examined back in Chapter 8.

  “Michael, Row the Boat Ashore”

  We’ll start with “Michael, Row the Boat Ashore,” which is a great example of a progression that relies heavily on the I, IV, and V chords—but with a few twists. Here’s the song, complete with chords:

  The chords to “Michael, Row the Boat Ashore.”

  The first twist in the chord progression comes in the fifth full measure (the start of the second phrase), which uses the iii chord (F#m) instead of the expected I. The second twist is the sixth measure, which moves down to the ii chord (Em). From there the melody ends with a perfect cadence (I-V-I), just as you’d expect.

  So, if you started your hunt for the perfect progression for this melody by applying a standard I-IV-V progression, you’d be in the right neighborhood.

  Bach’s Minuet in G

  Next, let’s examine Bach’s Minuet in G. Again, if you apply the standard I-IV-V progression, you’ll be pretty much on the mark, as you can see here:

  The chords to Bach’s Minuet in G.

  Old Johann was able to wring the most out of a very simple chord progression; in this case nothing more than I-IV-I-IV-I-V-I. Of course, this shows that you don’t need a complex chord progression to create great music.

  Dvořák’s New World Symphony

  Dvořák’s New World Symphony uses another relatively simple chord progression, as you can see here:

  The chords to Dvořák’s New World Symphony.

  The chord progression is basically I-V-I, with a neat little ii-V-I imperfect-to-perfect cadence at the end. There’s also a unique non-scale twist in the second half of the third measure, where the I chord (D♭) suddenly gets a raised fifth and goes augmented. (In the orchestral score, the fifth is in the bass in this measure, for a very dramatic effect.) The use of the augmented tonic sets up an unexpected tension, without messing up the harmonic structure by throwing in something like a IV or a V chord where it wouldn’t really belong.

  Pachelbel’s Canon in D

  Even more simple is the chord progression behind Pachelbel’s Canon in D, as you can see here:

  The chords to Pachelbel’s Canon in D.

  Note how the chords flow, one into the next, based more or less on established chord leading rules—I-V-vi-iii-IV-I-IV-V—and then back to the I, again and again. You can play this progression all night long and not get tired of it; that’s what makes it such a classic.

  “Mary Had a Little Lamb”

  Finally, let’s figure out the chords to “Mary Had a Little Lamb.” Just as the melody is a simple one, so is the accompanying chord progression—nothing more than I-V-I, repeated once. Sometimes the simplest progressions are the best!

  The chords to “Mary Had a Little Lamb.”

  Chord Writing Tips

  When it comes to fitting a chord progression to an existing melody, here are some tips to keep in mind:

  Try some common chord changes first. You’d be surprised how many melodies fit with the I-IV-V progression!

  The main notes in the melody (typically the notes that fall on the first and third beats of a measure) are the first, third, or fifth note of the underlying chord.

  Try to simplify the melody by cutting out the passing and neighboring tones (typically the shorter notes, or the notes not on major beats); the main notes you have left often will suggest the underlying chord.

  Make sure you’re in the right key. In most cases, the “home” note in the melody is the tonic note of the underlying key.

  NOTE

  Jazz musicians sometimes refer to chord progressions as chord changes—as in, “Dig those crazy changes, man!”

  Generally, the slower the tempo, the more frequent the chord changes. (So if you have a long whole note, or a note held over several measures, expect to find several different chords played behind that single note.)

  Work backward from the end of a melodic phrase, remembering that melodies almost always end on the I chord. You then can figure out the cadence leading to the I, and have half the song decoded fairly quickly.

  Chord changes typically fit within the measure structure, which means you’re likely to see new chords introduced on either the first or third beat of a measure.

  Writing a Melody to a Chord Progression

  You don’t have to start with a melody; you can base your tune on a specific chord progression and compose a melody that best fits the chords.

  If you prefer to work this way, it helps to get a good feel for the chord progression before you start writing the melody. Play the chords again and again on either a piano or guitar. In many cases, you’ll find a melody forming in your head; if this type of natural melody comes to you, you only have to figure out the notes and write them down.

  If no natural melody occurs, it’s time to roll out the theory. You don’t want to work totally mechanically, but there are some basic approaches you can use. Take a look at these tips:

  Stay within the notes of the chords—at least for the main notes in the melody. If you’re holding an A minor chord in a specific measure, work with the notes A, C, and E for your melody.

  A simple melody for the popular I-IV-V chord progression—note the heavy use of chord notes in the melody. The notes indicated with a (p) are passing tones.

  NOTE

  In this example, the C in measure 3, beat 4 is technically an anticipation, not a passing tone. An anticipation is, in effect, an “eager” note—a note from the next chord that is sounded just a little earlier than the chord itself.

  Try to find a logical line between the main notes in different measures. For example, if your chord progression goes C-Am-F, realize that these chords have one note in common—the C. So you can base your melody around the C note. Conversely, if your chord progression goes C-F-G, you might want to pick three notes (one from each chord) that flow smoothly together—E to F to G, for example; or G to F to D.

  Use notes that emphasize the quality of the underlying chords. For example, when you’re writing to a V7 chord, emphasize the tension by using either the root or the seventh of the chord in the melody.

  Once you pick your main tones, fill in the gaps with passing tones.

  Come up with an interesting rhythmic motif, and repeat that rhythm throughout the melody.

  I wish there were a more complete set of rules for adding a melody to a chord progression, but we’re getting into an area that is more art than science. As it should be! The best way to hone your skill is simply to work at it—play a lot of chord progressions, and practice writing different types of melodies over the chords. (And remember to read my companion book, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Music Composition, for lots more advice and instruction.)

  Over time, you’ll figure out your own rules for writing melodies—and develop
your own melodic style.

  Exercises

  Exercise 10-1

  Write the following chords in the key of F.

  Exercise 10-2

  Write the following chords in the key of D.

  Exercise 10-3

  Write the following chords in the key of E♭.

  Exercise 10-4

  Write the chords that lead from the following chords, in the key of C.

  Exercise 10-5

  Create the following types of cadences in the key of A.

  Exercise 10-6

  Figure out which chords go with the following melody. (Hint: there are two chords in every measure.)

  Exercise 10-7

  Write a melody to the following eight-measure chord progression.

  The Least You Need to Know

  Every note of the scale has an associated chord, notated by a Roman numeral (uppercase for major; lowercase for minor).

  Chord progressions naturally lead back to the tonic, or I, chord of the underlying scale.

  Every chord naturally leads to at least one other chord; for example, the V chord naturally leads to the I.

  The final chords in a progression—the ones that ultimately lead back to I—are called a cadence.

  The most common chord progressions include I-IV, I-V, I-IV-V, I-IV-V-IV, I-V-vi-IV, I-ii-IV-V, I-ii-IV, I-vi-ii-V, I-vi-IV-V, I-vi-ii-V7-ii, IV-I-IV-V, and ii-V-I.

  CHAPTER

  11

  Phrases and Forms

  In This Chapter

  Understanding the parts of a piece of music

  Analyzing song structure

  Discovering head tunes

  Now that you know all about melodies and chord progressions, it’s time to think about the entire piece of music, from start to finish. A piece of music, after all, is more than just an eight-measure melody (and accompanying chords) played once. Most pieces repeat a melody several times, and often contain more than one melody.

  When you’re constructing a song (or a longer piece of music), you have to consider the overall form of the piece. If you have a main melody, do you need to repeat that melody—and if so, where, and how many times? Do you need to add a second, contrasting melody? What about some sort of buffer or break between the two melodies? And how do you work your way into the main melody? How do you wrap things up at the end?

  All these questions pertain to what we call song form. Song form is the sum of all the parts that make up your song, usually in some sort of logical order. Think of song form as the grammar you use when writing music. Just as you can analyze the pieces and parts of a sentence, you can also analyze the pieces and parts of a song and, not surprisingly, there are some common parts you probably want to use.

  Parts of a Song

  When you’re writing popular music, there are accepted parts of a piece of music you have to work with. Not that you have to use each song part in each and every song you write; these parts are more like building blocks you can use (at your discretion) to construct your own individual piece of music.

  NOTE

  In popular music, most any piece of music is typically called a song. In other types of music, such as classical music, the word “song” has more specific connotations regarding length and form and use of instruments and voices. To be more universal, you could use the word composition, or (less formally) the words piece or tune. Since this book, however, deals primarily with popular music, we’ll use the word song—as long as you realize we’re talking about any formal musical composition, not just something played by four guys with guitars.

  Introduction

  The introduction to a piece is typically (but not always) some sort of instrumental lead-in. The introduction can be of any length and doesn’t even need to exist—a song can start cold on the first note of the first verse. The introduction may include a theme based on the song’s main melody, played by one of the instruments, or maybe just a chord progression from either the verse or the chorus. In any case, the introduction is used to set up the first verse of the song and then is quickly forgotten.

  Verse

  The verse is the first main melody of the piece. It’s an important melody, and often is repeated several times throughout the course of the song. Harmonically, the melody might end on the tonic chord (I), or it might end on the dominant (V), creating a tension that is resolved when you proceed to the chorus.

  If your song has words, each instance of the verse typically has a different set of lyrics. The lyrics to the first verse are sometimes repeated in the final verse. In all cases, the verse should relate to and lead into the song’s chorus.

  Chorus

  The chorus is the second main melody of the song, and the emotional high point of the piece. It should contain the main melodic theme, as well as any hook you might include to grab the listener. The hook can be in the melody, chords, rhythm, or lyrics—something unique and memorable that sets this song apart from all others. Choruses are often shorter than verses, often lasting just four or eight measures.

  Bridge

  The bridge is kind of a break in the middle of the piece. Most bridges sound completely different from the verse and chorus and are often based on a different harmonic structure. For example, a bridge might be based around the IV chord instead of the I chord. Bridges typically are short—only about eight measures. (That’s why a bridge is sometimes called the “middle eight” of a song.)

  Ending

  The ending isn’t necessarily a separate section of the song. Sometimes you end the song after the last chorus, either by stopping on the I chord or fading out the volume. More sophisticated songs have unique ending sections tacked on to the end of the song, which typically use some sort of cadence or turnaround (explained in Chapter 16). You might even want the ending to mirror the song’s intro, or otherwise reflect the melodic or harmonic nature of the piece.

  Putting It All Together

  Most popular and jazz music is based on eight-measure phrases. Your verse might be one eight-measure phrase and your chorus, another. We keep track of the different parts of a song by assigning them letters—which shouldn’t be confused with the letters we used to label the notes in a scale. (These letters have nothing to do with individual notes or pitches.)

  NOTE

  The eight-measure phrase rule isn’t hard and fast, although the concept of being divisible by 8 is somewhat rigidly followed. So in addition to the standard 8-measure phrases, you can have 16- and 32-bar phrases, both of which are divisible by 8. (Although if a phrase gets to be 32 bars long, it’s probably more of a section than a phrase.)

  The very first eight-measure phrase in your song—which is typically the first verse—is labeled “A.” If the verse is repeated anywhere in the song, it retains its “A” labeling. The second eight-measure phrase—typically the chorus—is labeled “B.” If the chorus repeats later in the song, the repeated chorus is still labeled “B.” The third eight-measure phrase—the bridge, if you have one—is labeled “C.” Additional phrases build on this lettering scheme.

  Let’s look at a song that has a verse, a chorus, a verse, and another chorus. The form of this song would look like this:

  A B A B

  Note that when the verse repeats, we don’t give it a new letter; it keeps the “A” designation—even if the lyrics change. Same thing with the chorus: the B section is always B, no matter how many times it repeats.

  Now let’s look at a song that has two verses, a chorus, and a final verse. The form of this song looks like this:

  A A B A

  Things get more interesting when you add a bridge to the mix. Consider a song with two verses, a chorus, a bridge, and a final chorus:

  A A B C B

  It’s not really that hard to follow, once you know what letters stand for what.

  Incidentally, some songs are all A. This is fairly common in folk music, where you have one melodic phrase repeated over and over, each time with a different set of lyrics. Think of “If I Had a Hammer,” or
“Where Have All the Flowers Gone?” as good examples. Neither song has a chorus, per se; they’re all verses, and lots of them.

  TIP

  When you have variations of a single section like this, you can label each instance of the section by a number after the letter, as in A1, A2, A3, and so on.

  Exercise

  Exercise 11-1

  Compose a 32-measure song in the ABCA form: verse, chorus, bridge, and verse. Use the key of G, in 4/4 time, and label each section of the piece.

  The Least You Need to Know

  Most popular songs consist of a short instrumental intro, one or more verses, a chorus, a bridge, and an ending.

  Each part of the song is assigned a letter; the form of the song is notated by a combination of letters.

  PART

  4

  Accompanying

  In Part 4, you learn how to train your ears so you can write down the music you hear. Then you discover how to create simple accompaniment parts on piano or guitar. Finally, you learn how to transpose a song in one key to a totally different key—no math required!