Progressions

Thinking in terms of voice leading is critical when it comes to chord progressions. Consider that in chord progressions, there is a melody that emerges that results from the particular chord voicings that are used in the progression.

  • ex. Consider Something by the Beatles. At "I don't wanna leave her now", it goes Am - Amin-maj7 - Am7. When playing these chords, we will notice that all the notes are the same, except for the note on the G string, which moves chromatically A - A♭ - G. This is heard as a melody that underlies the chord progression.

Moving from one part of a song to another (ex. verse-chorus)

  • try using the relative minor/major of the key you are coming from

WoW: Exile's Reach

  • 16:12 - a classic Warcraft motif in Fm. The chords that play behind the motif in between iterations is interesting. Is the key changing, or is it staying in Fm?