Office Hours Q&A 197 | Pop Music Writing Concepts
Added 2025-04-10 01:24:06 +0000 UTCWhere to Start • Lesson Archive • Recommended Lesson Plan • Book a Private Lesson
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Question 1 - Ray is wondering how popular music, consisting mainly of just four chords, is guided through changes in those chords.
Question 2 - As a follow up to Ray's question, Jamie wants to know how lyrics are applied to those chord progressions.
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Comments
As a follow-up, how are lyrics applied to the chord progression? How do you sync up lyric meter, chords, and bars?
Jamie Isaacs
2025-04-10 15:19:18 +0000 UTCWhen writing melodies, singing or solos, it is suggested to target or land on the 3 chord tones. What about extra notes in a major 7th or augmented chords? Are they used?
Jamie Isaacs
2025-04-10 14:32:44 +0000 UTCHi Scott. I've heard that most songs are made up of only four chords and if you use these chords correctly you can play most popular modern music. I get the concept and the famous Axis Of Awesome video shows how this is true. Ed Sheeran has also illustrated this using G, C, D and Em. But how do you know when to move from chord to chord? Is it by using your ear to detect the high and low points of the music? I'd appreciate your thoughts on this.
D'oh!-Ray-Me
2025-04-10 10:37:55 +0000 UTC
