Write A Hit Song In 3 Easy Steps

GUITAR THEORY REVOLUTION Presents...Write a hit song in 3 easy steps! BEFORE WE BEGIN THERE ARE 3 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW: I. A musical key tells you which chords belong together. 2. There are 12 keys, one for each note: C- C# - D - D# - E - F - F# - G - G# - A - A# - B 3. The chords within a key are numbered with Roman numerals which indicate their function within the key (how they sound in relation to the others). The 7 types of chords in a Major key are: |- i - ii - IV - V - vi - vii° The 7 types of chords in a Minor key are: i - |I° - III - iv - v - VI - VIII Roman numerals in uppercase are Major chords, those in lowercase are Minor chords and those with ° symbol are Diminished chords. STEP 1 CHOOSE A CHORD PROGRESSION A chord progression is a set of chords from a key that sound good in a certain order. With more knowledge and experience you can come up with your own progressions, but for now choose one of the following chord progressions: T-IV -V I- vi – IV - V I- vi – ii – V T- ii - IV - V vi - IV -1-V STEP 2 CHOOSE A MAJOR OR MINOR KEY The tables below show you which chords are in each key. Major keys usually sound upbeat and happy while Minor keys sound more melancholic or sad. ('m' denotes a Minor chord and 'dim' denotes a Diminished chord). Note: These tables don't contain the # and b keys. These can be figured out using the circle of 4ths and 5ths. Major Key I ii iii IV vi vii° Bm C#m F#m G#dim C#m D#m F# G#m A#dim Dm Em G Am Bdim Em F#m Bm C#dim F#m G#m B C#m D#dim Am Bb Dm Edim G Am Bm Em F#dim STEP 3 FIND THE CHORDS FOR YOUR PROGRESSION Now you have chosen a chord progression and a key it's time to find out which chords to play. Simply locate the key you want on the left hand side of the relevant table. Then move along to the right until you find the chord under the correct Roman numeral. Now write down the chords of the progression and try playing them in order to hear how it sounds Minor II° III iv VI VII Key Am Am Bdim Dm Em Bm Bm C#dim Em F#m G Cm Cm Ddim Eb Fm Gm Ab Bb Dm Dm Edim Gm Am Bb Em Em F#dim G Am Bm Fm Fm Gdim Ab Bbm Cm Db Eb Gm Gm Adim Bb Cm Dm Eb AN EXAMPLE OF WHAT WE HAVE DONE SO FAR: Step I Choose a chord progression: I- vi – IV – V Step 2 Choose a Key: D Major Step 3 Find the D in the Major Key Table, then look up the chords underneath the Roman numerals: I = D Major, vi = Bm, IV = G Major, V = A Major. You now have a chord progression that goes as follows, D- Bm – G- A. Try playing through these chords in a variety of tempos and rhythms until you find something you like. You can create another section for the song with a different feel by writing a chord progression in a Minor key. To find out which Major and Minor keys go together you can use something called the Circle of 5ths shown below. The Major keys are shown in the outer circle and the Minor keys are shown in the inner circle. Each Major key and its relative Minor key are next to each other. So for example the relative Minor key of C Major is Am, and Bm is the relative Minor key of the key of D Major. (BTW, the patterns of the Roman Numerals around the circle are consistent, just compare the pattern to the table above in different keys.) IV Am Dm ii A# Em Bb Gm Bm II iv Circle of D# 4ths and 5ths Cm VIF#m A Eb vi GUITAR THEORY REVOLUTION III Fm C#m VII G# Bbm G#m Ab Ebm iii C# Db F# Gb (vii The first chord progression we created was in D Major, so lets create a second section to the song in its relative Minor Key: Bm. Look at the table for the key of Bm and choose some chords, for example I– iv – v, which gives you Bm – Em - F#m. Now we have two sections for our song. Lets make the Minor key chord progression the verse and the Major key progression the chorus. If you want you can create a third progression for the bridge or write an intro and outro. Now is also the time to come up with a hook or a vocal melody and lyrics. And that's it, you've written your first song! Of course there is a lot more music theory you can learn in order to develop your song writing. This is after all only a short guide and an extreme simplification. For a more in depth explanation of music theory including a big list of chord progressions, lessons on chord construction, scales and improvisation all with diagrams and videos visit: www.guitartheoryrevolution.info GUITAR THEORY REVOLUTION GUITAR TH3OAY REVOLUTION