Available at
Roedy Black Music

World's ONLY Complete
Piano Chord Poster

Available at
Roedy Black Music

World's ONLY Complete
Guitar Chord Poster

Available at
Roedy Black Music

Guitar & Keyboard
Scales Poster

Available at
Roedy Black Music

World's ONLY Complete
Piano Chord Poster

Chapter 6:
How Chords and Chord Progressions REALLY Work

6.17 Chords and Chord Progressions: Maximizing Emotional Impact

PAGE INDEX

6.17.1 Optimizing Unity and Variety in Chord Progressions

6.17.2 Emotional Effects of Chords

~ • ~ • ~ • ~

6.17.1

OPTIMIZING UNITY AND VARIETY IN CHORD PROGRESSIONS

The writer Tom Wolfe once advised that, just as a doctor learns, “First, do no harm,” so an artist must keep in mind, “First, entertain.”

In songwriting, this applies to every aspect: harmony, rhythm, melody, form, lyrics, performance. “To entertain” means pretty much the same thing as, “Create sufficient variety. Do not bore the listener.”

At the same time, every element has to be accessible. “To be accessible” means pretty much the same thing as, “Create sufficient unity. Be interesting. Do not confuse the listener.” The human brain seeks patterns.

Figure 128 summarizes this concept:

FIGURE 128 Scales of Unity and Variety

Aim for the upper right.

Your song (or the song you’ve chosen to play, if you didn’t write it) won’t grab your audience emotionally if it confuses them musically or lyrically, or if it bores them, musically or lyrically.

A great song, performed competently, gets everything right. It strikes a unity-variety balance with respect to each component.

• Harmony and chord progressions

• Pulse, meter, tempo, rhythm

• Phrasing and form

• Melody

• Lyrics

• Performance values (live or recorded)

When each of these elements strikes the listener as both accessible (not confusing) and compelling (not boring), the song is irresistible.

At the end of each of Chapters 6 through 10, you will find a table summarizing the key ways of achieving balance—avoiding confusion and boredom—with respect to the chapter’s topic.

This being the end of Chapter 6, here’s Table 51, summarizing the main ways you can avoid confusing and boring your audience with your chord choices and chord progressions.

(NOTE: As always, these are not hard-and-fast rules. For instance, there’s nothing inherently “wrong” with using thirds or fifths up, so long as you know what you’re doing).

If you’re unsure of the meaning of a musical term, it’s probably in the , just before the Index.

TABLE 51 Optimizing Unity and Variety in Chord Choice and Chord Progressions

	Prefer ...	Instead of ...
Tonality	• Firmly established tonality; use of dominant chord	• Weak tonality; dominant chord absent or de-emphasized
Organizing Framework	• Harmonic scales	• Circle of Fifths • Church mode based harmony
Chord Choice	• Variety: consonant triads, dissonant 7ths, occasional use of highly dissonant or chromatic chords	• All consonant or all dissonant chords
Chord Progression Types	• Seconds, up or down • Fifths down • Fifths up, to or from tonic • Occasional use of chromatic progressions	• Thirds, up or down • Fifths up, away from tonic • Immoderate use of chromatic progressions
Modulation	• Pivot • Relative • Parallel • Sequential	• Shift • No modulation at all

6.17.2

EMOTIONAL EFFECTS OF CHORDS

Table 52 below summarizes some emotional effects associated with various chord types. Emotional effects vary for a given chord, depending on musical context.

TABLE 52 Emotional Effects of Chords

Chord Type	Associated Emotions
Major (e.g., C)	Happiness, cheerfulness, confidence, brightness, satisfaction
Minor (e.g., Cm)	Sadness, darkness, sullenness, apprehension, melancholy, depression, mystery
Seventh (e.g., C7)	Funkiness, soulfulness, moderate edginess
Major Seventh (e.g., CM7)	Romance, softness, jazziness, serenity, tranquillity, exhilaration
Minor Seventh (e.g., Cm7)	Mellowness, moodiness, jazziness
Ninth (e.g., C9)	Openness, optimism
Diminished (e.g., Cº)	Fear, shock, spookiness, suspense
Suspended Fourth (e.g., Csus4)	Delightful tension
Seventh, Minor Ninth (e.g., C7♭9)	Creepiness, ominousness, fear, darkness
Added Ninth (e. g., Cadd9)	Steeliness, austerity

~ • ~ • ~ • ~

_previous.gif (1788 bytes)

~ • ~ • ~ • ~

You are reading the FREE SAMPLE Chapters 1 through 6 of the acclaimed 12-Chapter book, How Music REALLY Works!, 2nd Edition. Here's what's in Chapters 7 through 12.

TABLE OF
CONTENTS

PART I

The Big Picture Introduction

   1. W-5 of Music
   2. Pop Music
      Industry

PART II
Essential
Building Blocks
of Music
   3. Tones/Overtones
   4. Scales/Intervals
   5. Keys/Modes

PART III
How to Create
Emotionally
Powerful Music
and Lyrics
   6. Chords/
      Progressions