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Posted by: Nazgul Apr 1 2009, 05:19 PM

Hi there!

Right now I am supposed to write a song in pop/rock style, but after going through different keys I noticed that standard keys aren't the best choice for that kind of songs. Do you know some good chord types (e.g. Major7 etc.), that fit into this type of music?
I'm not sure whether I've asked this before.

Thanks for your help!

Posted by: Carlos Carrillo Apr 1 2009, 06:15 PM

The composer must not have limitations!! A very good question Nazgul, but .. in the style of what band are you creating your songs??

Posted by: Nazgul Apr 1 2009, 06:59 PM

I haven't thought of a special band, but for example Eric Clapton. (forgive me if he's not pure pop/rock )

Posted by: Pedja Simovic Apr 1 2009, 10:17 PM

Clapton does 12 bar blues along with diatonic major/natural minor harmonies. There are songs where he uses modulation and changes keys (like Layla, Tears in Heave etc).

Listen to his music, write down the chord progression and try to analyze it. See what comes from where, which scales can you use to solo, what is melody doing against harmony etc.


Hope that helps

Posted by: Ramiro Delforte Apr 7 2009, 12:32 AM

Mate, there are not right keys or right chords.
The maj7 chord could be in any composition (since is the I chord).
I recommend that you listen to some pop songs, but really really commercial pop songs and you'll be amazed that they use more complex harmonies than you thought.
An example is one that Paul Gilbert always plays at his gigs: "When 2 become 1" by the Spice Girls.



For example look at the chords of the first part:

Ebm7-9; Db/F; Gbmaj7; Abm7-11

Those harmonies are really complex for a pop song because some of the extensions are part of the melody, for example the 9th of the Ebm7 is the first note of the melody, so the chord is like inevitable a add9. That gives a complex harmony or maybe a richier harmony, not a complex one, but it's a richier.

Hehe, here to complete this is Mr Paul Gilbert

Posted by: Ivan Milenkovic Apr 7 2009, 11:49 AM

Most of the known pop/rock songs that we can hear on the media are made to be very simple. Simplicity is the key when making a good song, because you wanna make the song be appealing to larger group of people. Although this may seem easy, writing a good quality song is a complicated task regardless of type of music.
By simplicity I mean simple harmony and catchy melody. i think most of famous songs are in standard keys, without any tonal centre changes. Pop/rock songs can include the 7th chords or other, extended voicings to add a bit of flavor to them, but in essence the progressions are quite easy, despite adding one note here, and one note there to the chord. If you strip down these chords to basic triads you will see how simple things are actually, and that most songs have very similar - if not the same progressions.
So my point it - You can use any kind of chord progression for a pop/rock song. If you are not sure what to use, just lay down couple of progressions on paper and try to play them. You don't have to use key, just draw roman numerals:

iii-V-iii-V-
IV-V-iii

or

I9-V-I9-V

These two progressions are very simple, and can work as a basis for a pop/rock song no problem. What is important to understand is that song has various other important components, like lyrics, energy build-up, vocal line, focal point, catchy tune, good rhythm, artist's ability to express the song etc.. I specially wanna accent the importance of vocal line within a song. If the vocal line and lyrics are weak, then no progression will save it. Also bellow the good vocal line, you can put 2-3 chords, or the whole symphonic orchestration, it doesn't matter. What is important is the vocal line in the end, cause audience will in general listen to that, not to much of the music, and kinds of chords use.