Songwriting Habit - I, IV, V Chords, the building blocks of songwriting.

Chords are the building blocks for any song we hear. In most songs the most common chords used are I, IV & V. Here is a a youtube clip of examples of songs using those three chords.

Okay, so if I have lost you, let me start again.

Every song is built on a scale depending how high or low you want the music to sound.

Say that scale is C major. Here is the scale which consists of eight notes:  C D E F G A B C.

                                                                                                                         1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

When you are creating chords from this scale we tend to use chords based on the first, fourth and fifth notes.  That is C, F & G.

So that means  those three notes become the three chords which we will use to form the basis of our song.

C chord, F chord and G Chord.

Lets arrange these chords in a particular pattern which then can form the basis of our verse.

Step 1

Always start on the first chord, which in this  case is C. Come up with a rhythmic  arrangement, or strumming pattern that you like the sound of.

Here is an example of chord C being strummed for 2 bars. (That is 8 beats)

Step 2

Keep the same strumming pattern for your chords F and G.

Here is chord F.                      

Here is chord G

Step 3

Play around with an arrangement of these chords in different orders (remember the first is always chord 1, C) until you come up with a chordal pattern that you like.

Step 4

Map out your chordal arrangement so they fit over 16 bars. 

Here is an example:  

         C      C      F       F       G      G      C     C

Bars  1       2      3       4        5      6      7      8

         C      C      F      F        G      G      C     C

         9     10      11    12     13      14     15    16

So this chordal map would sound like this:

Now it's your turn....