Contrast Your Chord Progressions (Songwriting)

When you’re writing a song you want it to be something that catches and maintains a listeners attention.

A lot of the times the instrumental will have a lot to do with this. So will your lyrics.

But how you write your song chord-progression-wise also matters a hell of a lot.

That’s why you want to make sure you’re contrasting between your verses and your choruses.

— Related Content: How to Write Songs for Beginners – Read Now —

Here’s what songwriter Gary Ewer says:

A mundane chord progression allows your melody and lyrics to take the lead, and that’s usually a good thing. To use a non-musical example, let’s say you’re buying a nice piece of land to build a house on. The spectacular house you plan to build is the most important part; the land needs only to be smooth enough and just interesting enough to allow that house to be everything it can be.

But if you are going to create a chord progression that’s more interesting, that takes more fascinating twists and turns, those kinds of progressions will work better in a verse than in a chorus.

Paying attention to this can really make your song stand-out and stand-above the crowd.

So the next time you’re writing a song try and make your progressions more complex. Wondering how exactly you’re going to get that done?

Check out the full post on Gary Ewer’s songwriting blog.

It’s easy to think you just need to write what’s on your mind, make it rhyme here and there and sing it with some sort of melodic idea.

But songwriting is so much more than that. Good/bad songwriting can literally make or break a record. A lot of the time new artists don’t realize that.

Deviant Noise TOP PICK Recommendation:

Learn the Secrets to Writing and Producing HIT SONGS

A solid verse and rhyme scheme followed by a strong, catchy chorus that is unique and interesting in the way it’s sung will always be a winner. Don’t think you can skimp on this part of the music creation process.

Here’s a great video from the instructors at the Berklee Online School of Music showing you examples of contrasting verse/chorus chord progressions. Let us know what you think and if you have any tips in the comments below.

Watch Video

If you really want to level up your songwriting skills, I highly recommend you join HitSongsDeconstructed – they’re the best resource on the internet I’ve found on how to write hit songs.