Music Theory for Songwriters

Not all songs have chord progressions that end on a V chord, and often songs will end with a IV resolving to I, known as the plagal cadence.

In a previous episode, we analyzed "Stand By Me" by Ben E. King. This episode discusses the "why" of the I-vi-IV-V chord progression and explain the basics of the 4-chord phrase structure. We cover Tonic, Chords with common tones, Pre-Dominant, and Dominant Chords containing a leading tone.

For the half-diminished 7th chord, we take the minor 7th chord and flat the 5th, which is why these chords are often called m7(b5). Fully diminished 7th chords also flat the 7th. When we flat a minor 7th, we get an interval called a diminished 7th chord.

In this episode we talk about the pattern used to construct major and minor chords or TRIADS. We also discuss how to use this information to create different VOICING of a chord. We also build on our previous discussion of intervals by introducing three new ones: Major 3rds, Minor 3rds, and Perfect 5ths.

This episode outlines the Diatonic chords–the ones that fit with no added sharps or flats–within a key. 

In a Major key we have 1, 2m, 3m, 4, 5, 6m, 7dim.

In a Minor key we have 1m, 2dim, 3, 4m, 5m, 6, 7.

In Harmonic Minor we raise the 7th note of the key by a half step creating a LEADING TONE: 1m, 2dim, 3, 4m, 5*, 6, #7dim.

This episode dissects Bella Garland's song "Mama Raised Me". She discusses her writing process, tuning the guitar down a half step, capo transpositions, and her use of the chords 1, 4, 5, and 6m from the Nashville Number System. Follow her on Instagram and Spotify.

In this episode we discuss the remaining sharp keys in the Circle of Fifths as well as moving into the flat keys. The order of flats is BEADGCF or simply the order of sharps backwards. And always remember your order of sharps: Fat-Cats-Go-Down-Alleys-Eating-Birds. We also introduce the idea of using a capo to help guitarists transpose our songs to some of the less common keys.

This episodes dissects the order of sharps and the keys of D Major and B minor at 2 o'clock on the Circle of Fifths, as well as the letter names of the notes on the treble staff.

I recommend using a guitar or keyboard and a diagram of the Circle of Fifths while you're listening to this episode.

In this episode we will discuss major scales, scale degree numbers, minor scales, relative keys, and an introduction to the Circle of Fifths. You will also hear guest appearances from my two chocolate lab mutts.

Last episode we discussed Whole Steps and Half Steps and the pattern of steps to create a C Major Scale. In this episode, we shift the perspective to refer to each note of the scale (scale degree) as a number, rather than a letter. Sort of an introduction to the Nashville Number System. We also use numbers to identify Intervals in melodies. For example, C to D is a 2nd, since D is the 2nd note of the scale. Thanks for listening, and search for Erol Oz on Spotify.

Whole Steps, Half Steps, and the C Major Scale. We use a pattern of Whole and Half steps to build a C major Scale. C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C. W-W-H-W-W-W-H. Note the half steps between E-F and B-C.

In this episode we dissect how to arrange a beat for a strum pattern and discuss syncopation–the technique of playing between the beats.

The previous episode discussed simple meter and tempo, and this episode talks about compound meter and 6/8 time.

The beat of a song is usually what catches our attention before anything else. This episode will help us understand rhythm, tempo, and meter in order to construct the beat to our new song.

Do you need to know music theory and how to read music to be a good musician?