How to Write a Song – Part 4
Harmony
THEORY-PRACTICE: The history of music is replete with songwriter/performers who – technically speaking – didn’t know squat about music. But through creative genius and a good ear, they were able to create songs that inspired millions of people the world over. So while “THEORY” isn’t essential to make good or even great music, if you want to succeed in making music people want to buy, then you should at least learn the basics. Learn your instrument. Learn your craft.
There are two facets of music: There’s THEORY and then there’s PRACTICE. Theory is the mathematical/technical side of music. It’s learning how scales are created, what makes a harmony, and what constitutes a melody. Then there’s RHYTHM, which deals with tempo, beats, and time-signatures. Practice is the actual playing of an instrument. The story of these untrained musicians succeeding beyond their wildest dreams – despite their lack of technical knowledge – demonstrates the fact that you don’t need to know music theory in order to play good music or sing. But if you’re reading this now, you’ve likely made a wise choice to at least learn the fundamentals.
TO STUDY HARMONY, you have to learn about chords. CHORDS are a combination of three to four notes (sometimes less, sometimes more) which are played simultaneously to create harmony. Guitar and piano are just about the only instruments that can play chords. So if you’re lucky enough to play either of those, then you’ll be able to create harmonies that then in turn inspired songs. So lets take a look at what a chord is and does.
THE MAJOR SCALE INTERVAL PATTERN – What gives the major scale its quality, is the intervals between the notes. Therefore, you must first learn the interval pattern for the major scale:
W-W-H-W-W-W-H
That’s two wholes and a half, followed by three wholes and a half. A whole step on the guitar is two frets. A half step is one fret. A whole step on the piano is two keys. A half step is one key. Some people say it like this: TONE-TONE-SEMITONE-TONE-TONE-TONE-SEMITONE
CHORD – a chord is a combination of notes played simultaneously to create harmony. There are several types of chords:
The two primary chord types are 1) triads, which have three notes, and 2) 7th chords, which have four notes.
TRIADS – a triad is a three-note chord. The three-note chords are as follows:
1) MAJOR CHORD – the chord tones of a major chord are 1, 3, and 5. So if you played a C, E, and a G, together, you’d have a C major chord.
2) MINOR CHORDS – the chord tones of a minor chord are a I, a flatted 3rd, and a 5th. The 3rd of a chord is called the “color tone”, since it’s the third that makes a chord a major or minor chord. On a MAJOR 3rd, that third is two whole steps from the first note to the third. On a minor chord, however, that third is only one and a half steps from the first to the third.
3) DIMINISHED CHORD – the chord tones of a diminished chord are a 1, a flatted 3rd, and a flatted 5th. Diminished chords are seldom used in popular music. They have an ambiguous, or discordant sound, which can be difficult to play or sing over.
The chords in a key get their notes through a process called “STACKING THIRDS” or “HARMONIZING THE MAJOR SCALE”.
The C major scale is – C D E F G A B C D E F
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
When you get to the 8th note, you are now back at the note you started from, but you’re now an octave higher.
Each chord is derived from “stacking” that note with the other notes in that scale. The first chord in the C major scale, is a C major chord. This first chord is the called the tonic. It’s usually the first chord you’ll hear in a song that’s in C major. The song will then progress to other chords, but will always come back and “resolve” on that tonic.
To get a C major chord, you combine the 1st, the 3rd, and the 5th note of the C major scale.
To get the second chord, D minor, we combine the 2nd, the 4th, and the 6th note.
To get the third chord, an E minor, we combine the 3rd, the 5th, and the 7th note.
To get the fourth chord, an F major, we combine the 4th, the 6th, and the 8th note.
To get the fifth chord, a G major, we combine the 5th, the 7th, and the 9th note.
To get the sixth chord, an A minor, we combine the 6th, the 8th, and the 10th note.
To get the seventh chord, a B diminished, we combine the 7th, the 9th, and the 11th notes.
The order of chords in a major scale is often assigned a Roman numeral. These are as follows:
I ii iii IV V vi vii
Key of C major D minor E minor F major G major A minor B diminished.
Key of G major A min B min C maj D maj E min F# dim
Key of D maj E min F# min G maj A maj B min C# dim
Key of A maj B min C# min D maj E maj F# min G# dim
Key of E maj F# min G# min A maj B maj C# min D# dim
Key of B maj C# min D# min E maj F# maj G # min A# dim
Key of F maj G min A min B flat maj C maj D min E dim
This process of creating these chords is called “stacking thirds”…since on the grand staff, the root (the first note) will be on the bottom, with the other notes “stacked” on top. In this way, all seven notes are assigned their own chords. Each and every one of them are derived from the parent major scale. While other keys may share some of the chords in C major, none of them have the exact same chords as the C major scale. But because every other key uses the same pattern of stacking thirds, every one of them shares the sequence as the C major scale. In other words, in every key you will find:
1) that the first, fourth, and fifth chords will always be major.
2) the second, third, and sixth chords will always be minor.
3) the seventh chord in each key will always be a diminished.
SO the order of chords in the each major is as follows:
Major minor minor major major minor diminished
I ii iii IV V vi vii
Again, this knowledge isn’t necessary in order to play an instrument. But it can be very helpful when you begin to write your own songs. Look at these seven chords as a palate, colors you can choose from to create any kind of song you want.
THE THREE CHORD TRICK – many popular songs utilize a 1-4-5 chord progression. Sometimes an entire song consists of only two chords. Bruce Springsteen’s Born In the USA utilizes a 1-4 chord progression throughout the whole song. The HARMONY is the part of a song most responsible for evoking emotion like sadness or joy. Harmony provides color and texture, over which the melody (singing) can be sung or played.
