Composing a chord sequence for a pop song

Hi, I'm Dr. Southall, and I'm gonna be teaching you this unit, which is an introduction to pop music. Let's begin. In this lesson, we're going to compose a chord sequence for a pop song. There's three key terms for this lesson. The first is chord sequence, a repeating pattern of chords, also referred to as chord progression or pattern. The second is harmony, the notes that accompany the melody of a song; the chord sequence provides the harmony in music. And the third are chords, I, IV, V and vi. Chords I, IV, V and vi are the main four chords in pop music. I-V-vi-IV is a very popular chord sequence as we'll see shortly. There are three parts to this lesson, and the first is called chord sequences. Chord sequences play a fundamental role in music as they provide the harmony to a song. How many different chords are used in this popular chord sequence and which chords are being used? Let's watch the clip. (lively piano music) Most chord sequences in pop songs use the same chords. One of the most common chord sequences is I-V-vi-IV. In the key of C, this would be C, G, A minor, F. Roman numerals are used to refer to each degree of the scale. I, ii, iii, IV, V, vi, vii. And we use Roman numerals to avoid having to overly rely on digital numbers, which are already in use in a lot of places in music, for example, with the time signatures. Each note of the scale has its own chord. Uppercase Roman numerals indicate a major chord, whereas lowercase, a minor chord. Each key has seven chords. In the key of C, these are C, D minor, E minor, F, G, A minor, and B diminished. And you can clearly see that the uppercase Roman numerals are used for the major chords, so C, F, and G, and the lowercase numerals are used for the minor chords. Here's the C chord. D minor, E minor, F, G, A minor, B diminished. Using Roman numerals helps us identify chord patterns in different keys. In the key of G, the chords for I-V-vi-IV would be the following. Here are chords for the key of G, I-V-vi-IV, so G, D, E minor C. The main chords in G major, we have G, C, D and E minor. What would these chords be in the key of F major? Think about our numbers I, IV, V, and vi. Well, in F major, here's chord I. That's F. IV is B flat. V is C, and vi is D minor. Let's check your understanding. Which of the following is the most popular sequence of chords? Is it I-V-iii-IV, I, IV, ii, iii. or I-V-vi-IV? The answer is C, I-V-vi-IV. What is chord V in the key of C? Is it C, F or G? The answer is G. Well done. What do uppercase Roman numerals indicate in chords? Is it major chords, minor chords, or broken chords? It's major chords. Lowercase Roman numerals are minor chords. Time for some practice. I want you to practice the I-V-vi-IV chord sequence in the key of C. Here they are, and you can use these as a scaffold to support you. Two, practice the same sequence in the key of F and G. And to be successful here, you need to find the starting note of each chord first. In other words, the name of the chord. Then build the chord shape. In the key of G, the F is replaced with an F# and in the key of F, the B is replaced by a B flat. Play them several times so that you're comfortable changing chords and finding the correct notes. Good luck. Now let's watch the correct chord sequences played in F and G major. I want you to check your performance against the performances in the video. So let's start with the first one, chords I-V-vi-IV in the key of F. (lively piano music) And now the second one, chords I-V-vi-IV in the key of G. (lively piano music) In F, the chords should be F, C, D minor, B flat. And in G, the chords should be G, D, E minor, C. Remember, D should have an F# in the chord. Part two, composing a chord sequence. Listen to the chord sequences in the following songs. What do they all have in common? Pause the video and listen to each of the four clips. When building a chord sequence, we want to start on chord one. This helps to establish the key. And we want to use mainly I, IV, V, and vi. We want to use chords ii and iii only sparingly, and we want to avoid chord vii. We want to use chords in any order, and you can find originality by mixing up the order in which you play them. And you can repeat chords within the sequence. So you don't have to play a new chord every time, you can play one twice in a row, for example, or go back to a chord that you've already used. Aim to use no more than four chords and aim for four or eight bars in length. Let's check for understanding. Which four chords are the most common in pop songs? The answer is chords I, IV, V, and vi, or C, F, G and A minor if we're in the key of C. True or false? Most chord sequences start on chord one. The answer is true. Can we justify that answer? It's to help us establish the key. Which chord is usually avoided? Is it chord ii, chord iii or chord vii? Well done, it's chord vii. Time for some practice. I want you to create a four or eight bar chord sequence and your success criteria are the following. Start on chord one to establish the key. Use mainly chords I, IV, V, and vi. Only use up to four different chords. Repeat chords within the progression. Avoid chord vii. And play it a few times to get used to how it sounds. Pause the video and get practicing. Is this chord sequence successful? Use the success criteria from the previous slide in your response. You can rewind the video if you want to have them on your screen. The chord sequence is F, G, A minor, G, F, G, A minor, G. For your response, you may have said something similar to this. It's successful in that it uses only three different chords. It repeats chords and doesn't use chord vii. And it's less successful as it doesn't start on chord I, which in this case is chord C. Now remember, these are simple rules. They're rules that can be broken and you won't find that every single song follows these patterns, of course, but these are the most common patterns that you will find. Part three, chord sequences with riffs. Composing a chord sequence can be a starting point for a pop composition, but quite often composers instead will start with a riff. Both the chords and the riff need to musically work together. What choices do you have to make as a composer to do this? Well, the chords used in the sequence should share notes with the riff. Which chords in C major share multiple notes with this riff? The C, F and A minor chords all share multiple notes with the riff. Here we are. Other chords might work, but this is a good place to start. Here's our C major chord, our F major chord and our A minor chord. And you can see that the C note is shared across all three chords. The G note is in the C major chord. The A note is shared across the F major and A minor chords, and then we have another G at the end. So when we're creating a chord sequence to a riff, we want to keep some of the following in mind. We'd like to start with chords that share the notes of the riff. We'd like to try different options because sometimes other chords can work. We'll only use up to four different chords, and we're gonna mainly use chords I, IV, V, and vi. And the one we're gonna avoid is vii. Let's watch a clip that covers these points. When writing a pop song chord progression, it can be really helpful to start with a riff you've already composed. This is the riff that I composed in the previous lesson using the notes C, G and A. And it sounds like this. (lively piano music) (metronome ticking) It's very simple. It doesn't change. The three-note motif just repeats four times. Now, in my notes section, I've just given myself a little reminder of what notes are in the riff, and I've also written out the chords that have more than one shared note. So C has both C major, but has both C and G. A minor has the notes C and A, and similarly, F major also has the notes C and A within them. So I'm just gonna loop my riff. I've done this in logic by pressing the yellow locator, and that's just gonna loop it over and over. And whilst it's playing, I'm just gonna go up and down the keyboard playing different chords, seeing which ones sound nice, which ones I like, which ones I don't like, and I'm gonna just make sure that I'm hovering around C, A minor and F just to hear what those sound like. So I'm gonna do that now. (lively piano music) (metronome ticking) So there were lots of chords that I felt worked really, really nicely. Certainly the C, the A minor and the F, but also I quite like the sound of the D minor against that riff as well. So now I can start to think about my actual progression and the order of those chords. So I'm gonna start on chord I, which in my case is C. I'm going to pick four of the chords, so I'm gonna try and see what C, D minor because I said I really like the sound of that. And then I'll just throw in the A minor and the F as well. So for my chord progression, I'll do C, D minor, A minor, and F, and I'll write it down just so I don't forget. And I'll have a go at recording that in and seeing what it sounds like. (metronome ticking) (lively piano music) Okay, it sounded really nice. I'm just gonna play it back once more. Just double check that everything is in time and I played the right notes. (metronome ticking) (lively piano music) Yeah, really nice, really like it. Nice sort of happy chord progression. So just to recap, I identified the notes in my riff. I identified the chords that share more than one note. I started from my chord one, which in this case was C. I used a couple of primary chords and I used four different chords, creating a four-bar chord sequence and I recorded it in. Obviously I'm making sure that I'm doing that with the metronome. And if I don't like those chords for whatever reason, I could come in there and change it. So, for example, I could go and put a G in there or an E minor in there. And at this stage, we're still experimenting, so just have a go at that exercise until you get the four chords that you like the sound of against your riff. In this example, the riff stays the same in each bar, and the chords change. The chord sequence is C, D minor, A minor, and F or chords I, ii, vi, and IV. Although the G in the riff is not part of the chords, it does work as a passing note as the majority of the other notes fit with the chords. The other approach to chord and riff composition is to adapt the riff slightly to fit the chords. This riff is built from a three-note motif played four times. The shape and pictures of the last three notes change. And this means that it fits the harmony better and gives structure to the riff before it repeats again. (lively piano music) So the riff starts with the three note motif, repeats it, repeats it again, and then makes a subtle change for the final part. Let's check your understanding. All notes of the riff should be shared with the notes in the chords. Is that true or false? It's false. Which of these statements justifies your answer? It's A, riffs and chords only need to share some notes so that they musically sound good together. Time for some practice. I want you to adapt to your four or eight bar chord sequence to work with your existing riff. To be successful here I want you to use chords that use some of the same notes as the riff. Try a few different options, play it a few times to get used to how it sounds and adapt the riff if you like your chord sequence, but it doesn't quite work musically. Pause the video and practice. Why might this chord sequence in C major be unsuccessful? Use the success criteria from the previous slide in your response. And remember, you can rewind if you need access to that. A model response might say something like this: it's not successful as it doesn't use mainly chords I, IV, V, and vi. It uses chord vii. B diminished doesn't share any of the same notes. E minor only shares one. It would've been better to start on chord I, C major, to establish the key. Okay, let's summarize our key learning points from this lesson. Chord sequences provide a harmony of a song. Chords I, IV, V, and vi are the most common. Roman numerals refer to the degrees of the scale, which allow musicians to work out chord patterns in different keys. We have performed the I-V-vi-IV chord sequence in the key of C, F and G and composed a four or eight bar sequence. When writing chord sequences for a pop song, we also need to consider using common notes from the riff. I hope you've enjoyed today's lesson. Goodbye.