Songwriting 101: Laying Out The Chords (2)

Before you proceed, please make sure that you’ve already read the first part.

For simplicity we will use the Key of D Major in our examples. For a recap, here again is the pattern for our key:

The chords for this key are in the green boxes: D, Em, F#m, G, A, Bm and C#dim7 (used rarely).

The letters at the bottom of the boxes indicate the tonic chord (T), the subdominant chord (S), and the dominant chord (D). For the Key of D, the tonic chord is D, the subdominant chord is G, and the dominant chord is A.

Cadences: Punctuate Your Chord Sequences

Suppose that you’ve decided to use these chords for your stanza lines: D, G, Bm and F#m. Here are the chord for the first two  lines of your stanza:

D   G   Bm   F#m

D   G   Bm   F#m

Listen:

D-G-Bm-F#m (2x)

The chords are fine, but you might want to tweak the sequences a bit. 

Notice that each line begins with the tonic chord (D)  and ends with F#m.  Upon reaching the end of each line, the F#m chord is played side by side with the D chord on the next line. This chord transition doesn’t carry a sense of finality. It sounds like it leaves us hanging (although it can still be considered acceptable music).

It is desirable that the last chord in a sequence resolve smoothly into the first chord of the next sequence. For that to happen, there should be some kind of "signal" that tells us that the current chord sequence is ending and we are about to move to another chord sequence. That "signal" is called a cadence.

A cadence is a transition between two chords that gives a sense of finality or completion. It is used to punctuate a line, a stanza, a chorus or any other musical structure. It can also be used to signal a transition from one key to another key (this is called modulation, i’ll discuss this in a future post). There are many types of cadences. Here are two popular cadences:

Authentic cadence - also called perfect cadence or standard cadence. This is the transition from the dominant chord to the tonic chord. In our example (Key of D), the dominant chord is A and the tonic chord is D, so the authentic cadence is the transition from A to D. Listen to the sample below:

Authentic cadence - from A to D

 
Plagial cadence - also called amen cadence. This is the transition from the subdominant chord to the tonic chord. Again in our example, the subdominant chord is G and the tonic chord is D, so the plagial cadence is the transition from G to D. Listen to the sample below:

Plagial cadence - from G to D

 In our sample stanza lines, to use an authentic cadence, simply replace F#m with A. This way, the ending chord of each line is now A, which resolves nicely into the starting chord of the next line D, giving us the authentic cadence. The lines now become:

D   G   Bm   A

D   G   Bm   A

D-G-Bm-A (2x)

Similarly, to use a plagial cadence, simply replace F#m with G. The lines become:

D   G   Bm   G

D   G   Bm   G

D-G-Bm-G (2x)

In our sample stanza lines above, we used cadences to punctuate every line of the stanza. You may also use them to punctuate every other line of the stanza, such as the following (using authentic cadences as example; cadence chords are in blue):

D   A   Bm  F#m

G   D   A

D   A   G   Em

D   A   D   A …

Cadence every other line - the chords above: 

Again, you can also punctuate whole stanzas, choruses, and other musical structures.

Here are two other types of cadence:

Half cadence - also called imperfect cadence. It’s the transition from any chord to a dominant chord. In our case, it’s a transition from any chord to A. Example sequence with half cadence (cadence chords are in blue):

D   A   G   Em

A

Half cadence

Deceptive cadence - also called interrupted cadence. A transition from a dominant chord to any non-tonic chord. In our case, it’s the transition from A to any chord except D. Example sequence with deceptive cadence (cadence chords are in blue):

D  F#m  G   A

Em

Deceptive cadence

See you on Part Three!

Lyrics and Chords: Ang Sarap Dito

I hear this song often in the radio and partly in a Coke commercial. The song is called Ang Sarap Dito by Project 1. In case you still don’t know the song, you can listen by clicking the Play button below:

Ang Sarap Dito by Project 1 

I like this song very much because it’s very upbeat and the voice blending is excellent throughout the song.

Update: I’ve just learned that the band Project 1 is actually a conglomeration of an all-star cast of band members. The members are:

Raimund Marasigan (ex-Eraserheads, Sandwich) - lead vocals

Uela Basco (Chilitees) - backup vocals

Katwo Librando-Puertollano (ex-Narda, Duster) - backup vocals

Clem Castro (ex-Orange and Lemons, Camera Walls) - rhythm guitar

Francis Reyes (The Dawn) - lead guitar

Jazz Nicolas (Itchyworms) - drums

Carlos Calderon (Chicosci) - bass

They performed the song live at Pinoy Big Brother Teen Edition Plus. End of update.

If you’ve read my article on songwriting (and possibly my article also on perfect pitch), then you will discover that the song is written in Key of A Major. This song is one of the few mainstream songs that do not use a tonic chord (the A major chord) at the start and at the end of the song. Instead, it begins with a subdominant major seventh chord (DM7) and ends with a dominant chord (E). Even the chorus does not begin with a tonic chord. In contrast, most popular songs have a tonic chord either at the start and/or end of the song, or at the start of the chorus.

But what’s more interesting for me is the way the voices blended together. Listen first to the main melody of the chorus, shown below (reconstructed by me):

Ang Sarap Dito - Chorus (main melody, instrumental)

The main melody itself is boring and uninteresting. What’s more interesting is the second voice of the chorus (also reconstructed by me):

Ang Sarap Dito - Chorus (second voice, instrumental)

When the main melody and the second voice blend together, the result is even more interesting:

Ang Sarap Dito - Chorus (voice blending, instrumental)

Anyway, here’s the lyrics and chords of the song:

Ang Sarap Dito
By Project 1

(Chorus)
DM7       F#m       E
    Lilipad   na ako

DM7   A          E (hold)
         Tikman mo…

Songwriting 101: Laying Out The Chords (1)

If you’re going to compose your own music, one of the first things you must do is to create the chords for your song. One of your problems will be finding the right combination of chords, and what chords to start or end your song.

I’m going to share with you a basic guide on how to lay out the chords for your song.

The Key

You must decide first how you want your song to sound. Is it a happy, lively and upbeat song? Or is it a sad, gloomy song?

If you want to create a happy song, the common choice is to use a major key. If you want  a sad song, you might want to use a minor key.

But what exactly is a key?

In layman’s terms, the key of a song is the song’s "home pitch" and "overall mood". The "home pitch" is one of the following: A, A# (also known as Bb), B, C, C# (a.k.a. Db), D, D# (or Eb), E, F, F# (or Gb), G, and G# (or Ab). The "overall mood" is either major or minor. Examples of keys are Key of G Major and Key of A Minor.

If you want to know how a major key and a minor key sound like, try the sample audio below:

Scale in Key of D Major

Scale in Key of D Minor

Before deciding which chords to use, you must pick first a key (the pitch/mood combo), because the key determines the exact chord set you can use.

The Chromatic Circle

Before we discuss the chord set that goes with the key, it is helpful if we put all the pitch names on a circle. We will call this circle the chromatic circle (my terminology, hehehe…  ).

The blue arrow represents the direction of ascending pitch. Each two consecutive pitches on the circle (e.g., F and F#) are one semitone away from each other. Similarly, the "distance" (interval) between G and A# is three semitones. Note that the sharped pitches have alternative names (e.g., F# is also Gb).

The Chord Set

Now for the actual chords.

Each key comes with a chord set. There are chords that define the key and therefore the overall sound of your song. To know which chords go with the key, we will use visual patterns for choosing the chords.

For the major keys, we will use the following pattern: 

The green boxes are the appropriate chords you should pick for your song. The letters above the green boxes indicate that the corresponding chord is a major chord (M), a minor chord (m), or a diminished seventh chord (dim7, used rarely). The letters below the green boxes indicate the tonic chord (T), the subdominant chord (S), and the dominant chord (D).

Your task is to fill up the boxes with pitch names. Start first with the key pitch, then fill the rest of the boxes with consecutive pitches in ascending order (refer to our chromatic circle above). For an example, here are the boxes for the Key of D Major:

The chords that go with the key are the chords in the green boxes. In the case of Key of D Major, the chords are D, Em, F#m, G, A, Bm and C#dim7. The tonic chord is D, the subdominant chord is G and the dominant chord is A.

The process is similar for the minor keys, except that we will use the pattern below: 

How To Begin and End A Song

There are many ways to begin and end a song. The popular choices are to begin/end it with a tonic chord (the most popular choice), a dominant chord or a subdominant chord. You can, say, start your song with a tonic chord and end with a dominant chord, if you want. These are not hard and fast rules anyway.

For a real-world example, the song Bed Of Roses by Bon Jovi is written in the Key of F Major. The song starts with a subdominant chord (Bb) and ends with a tonic chord (F). Hear it for yourself!

Bed of Roses by Bon Jovi

Stay tuned for Part Two!