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Kristofer Dahl6th April 2008Awesome - just awesome! 
I really like how the the song is built up dynamically - and I can for sure hear some killer melodies on this chord progression! Also the solo was awesome!
How you invite Andrew into your lesson and connected it with theory lessons is very clever and gives great value to the lesson! Future versions of our lessons will for sure have better possibilities to connect lessons between each other.
I would invite everybody to check out all the parts carefully - as this is a very thoroughly prepared lesson.
Also - I want to say it's a great honour to have had you do more then 20 lessons for us - I think I am speaking for everyone. Thanks Ivan!
Nick3256th April 2008awsome job andrew and ivan 
kyldeee6th April 2008This was just awesome, I loved the solo... I wish I had some recording equipment right about now, anyways great job guys, Thanks
Bogdan Radovic6th April 2008Great songwriting lesson Ivan!!
at lights end6th April 2008cool
Tuubsu6th April 2008great topic, great lesson!
Marcus Lavendell6th April 2008Amazing!!
Juan M. Valero6th April 2008Really interesting lesson 
congrats andrew and ivan !!
PassionPlay6th April 2008sweet 
just what i've waited for!
Nobody6th April 2008Guys, can't think of a way to thank you for this one! Really helpful for the thing that's my main songwriting problem - building harmonies.
I've got one question though. What is the logic of the interchangeable chords? Are they always I with VI and etc. or should I always look at the notes of the chords to know which ones are interchangeable?
Thanks,
Hristian
Dejan Farkas6th April 2008Wow, it is a special lesson Ivan, amazing work
Hisham Al-Sanea6th April 2008very welldone Ivan .nice lesson
bladzerok6th April 2008wow thats really usefull!
now i will be able to add some variety to compositions!
Ivan Milenkovic6th April 2008Thanks a lot guys. Andrew and I have tried to do something special and I hope we done it...for now. Bare in mind that this is the first lesson of this kind and although it has some minor faults here and there it will only get better - I will try to improve the overall quality and push the boundaries even further!
@Nobody
Regarding interchangeable chords: These chords in the lesson are not a specific rule to hold on to when composing. It is merely a guideline how to develop your own harmonies. What I'm trying to say is that I gave one idea - a piece of the puzzle, you have to find all the other pieces. It is not so hard, as Andrew said these interchangeable chords contain two same notes. So musically they are very much alike. Of course this does not mean that they are the same, but it is a simple and effective way to increase the overall harmony vocabulary in an instant. Other factor when building a song must include knowledge about intervals and how do they sound and relate to one another in chords. The simplest example would be just this in the lesson. We change major third and two notes with minor third and two notes in order to develop different harmonic flavor but keep the harmony flow. Next to this - there are a lot of ways to combine different chords, choosing suspended, dominant and diminished chords in particular parts of the song, intervals in an arrangement that you'll know it will be good with the text, 7th chords maybe and power chords, not to mention all the inversions available and how you can make a melody out of top notes of any chords. All this stuff is very much alike, and I've chose the very basic chords changing rule that yo can use in order to develop your own harmonies in an intuitive way.
Soon I'll try to do one lesson about buildin two or three key jazz comping in order to develop our harmony building skills even further by developing harmony structure and character "beneath" and melody "on top". Stay with me!
Alejandro Pinero6th April 2008good lesson Ivan!
Thanks
DeepRoots6th April 2008Awesome lesson- my songwriting sucks so- here goes!
Thanks to Ivan and Andrew for such a great lesson
Matt236th April 2008Nice lesson Ivan and Andrew. Really like the solo.
Dashooter6th April 2008great lesson, but one problem. Anybody know where I can find the chord inversions like they were saying in the 2nd part?
bham6th April 2008this is really sweet, guys. I would LOVE to see more songwriting lessons; perhaps in the style of?
like, if we could get a lesson on how to write songs in the style of (RHCP, Rage, Incubus), that would really be amazing.
Ivan Milenkovic6th April 2008Thanks a lot guys! 
@Dashooter
These are inversions that can be found up the neck. You must first go through the first part where we've explained the order of chords on the fretboard. Once you know all those chords you can find the inversions more easily.
@bham
I'll do a RHCP songwriting lesson, no problem Hold on for a few weeks. Thanks for the idea 
Joe Kataldo6th April 2008Great Idea
Gabriel Leopardi6th April 2008Hey man! This is really an excelent lesson Ivan! It's a must for every guitar player that is interested in composing to know all the theory showed in this lesson.
Great work!
Pablo Vazquez6th April 2008I agree with Gabriel... Cool lesson!!
Dashooter6th April 2008"@Dashooter
These are inversions that can be found up the neck. You must first go through the first part where we've explained the order of chords on the fretboard. Once you know all those chords you can find the inversions more easily."
I still dont really understand. Aren't inversions completely new different fingerings up the neck? The root of the chord is put in a different place, right? Because I got the 2nd part and 3 part down, with the A shape and E shape.
Dashooter6th April 2008oh wait, so the "inversions" of the minor chords you used at the end of the part 3 are the same minor chords as the minor chords you showed in the 2nd part with the A shape chords, or different cause they are inversions?
Dashooter6th April 2008o, so they aren't really inversions, just different voicings, correct? The minor chords at the end are an octive up, but the same chords as the other minor ones.
Nighthawk16th April 2008Incredible helpful lesson !!!I also think they are no inversions as the root note stays the base note...so it should be a different voicing....
Nighthawk16th April 2008Incredible helpful lesson !!!I also think they are no inversions as the root note stays the base note...so it should be a different voicing....
Nighthawk16th April 2008ups...should be more patient when clicking "add comment button" sorry
Trond Vold7th April 2008This is a truly great lesson!
IceBurner6th April 2008just brilliant job here...
i was not expecting that!
Thank you very mutch.
Tiltil7th April 2008Awesome lesson! Luckily I have a rhythm guitarist who takes away most of the songwriting pain, but this will help us all improve
Nemanja Filipovic7th April 2008great lesson guys...
Hey great lesson. That solos is very powerful over the rhythm. i was wondering if by chance you could tab out the solo? it would be a lot faster than learning it while you play it so but i will do that for now. thanks a lot i learned a lot from this lesson
Ivan Milenkovic7th April 2008Thanks a lot guys!
@Dashooter
In part 2 the chords are stacked up in relative to the fretboard. So when you see the left hand fretting the chords above are displayed in parallel. This is how you can find the minor chord inversions more easily.
Rolls7th April 2008I am totally blown away. This lesson has it all, awesome theory, chord inversions, excellent explanations, and a kick ace solo. I would LOVE to see more lessons like this!!! This lesson pulls the theory lessons from just text to spoken words and videos...so much clearer!
Muris Varajic7th April 2008Great idea and lesson!
Jad Diab7th April 2008happy 20th anniversary Ivan, that was really helpfull
Bravo !
Ivan Milenkovic7th April 2008Thanks!
Gus8th April 2008This is a definitive bookmark
I always tried it very randomly (not that this not allows for very different stuff), but it is good to understand more of the basic way of doing it.
Marcus Siepen8th April 2008great lesson
Kizaze448th April 2008Ivan - do you have a tab for the solo at the end?
Beautiful Chord work Ivan! Love it
Ivan Milenkovic8th April 2008Thanks a lot guys, it means a lot!
@Kizaze44
I'm afraid I don't have the tab, but you can find a slower version in the slow video 10.
Carlos Carrillo9th April 2008very nice lesson Ivan!!!
great lesson, but i am confused about something. do the roman numerals work for every chord or does it depend on the chord.
for example, are the roman numerals I and VI or IV and II always interchangable or does it depend on the chord.
and to add to outrageous vin are II III &VI always minors when building tunes ,thanks in advance
oh yes and great lesson also
Kristofer Dahl9th April 2008Yes Ivan - this is (one again) a very impressive lesson - you are setting new standards at GMC! 
Ivan Milenkovic9th April 2008Thanks Kris!
@Outrageous Vin
I strongly suggest that you check out Andrews Theory lessons about scales if something is not clear. It is all very thoroughly explained there. To answer your question briefly - Roman numerals represent the note in the scale. On top of every note you can build chords. In every KEY (tonality) the chords are the same.
@lliber
Yes, II III and VI (degrees of a major scale) are always minor type chords because they contain a minor third interval.
eddiecat10th April 2008Amazing! I'm loving it!
I hope I'm going to learn a lot from it...
Eddie
Do these interchangable chords only work for the major scale? For other modulations, would we refer to the corresponding major and minor chords, however they would be in differnt positions or roman numerals.
Ivan Milenkovic10th April 2008
BIGD213th April 2008Very nice lesson..........thanks
Ivan Milenkovic13th April 2008Your welcome man! Anytime!
Nick Kellie14th April 2008really interesting Ivan
Paul Coutts20th April 2008yeah, I'm lovin' it
kaznie_NL27th July 2008Good lesson, but to much theory for me to keep track. I'll get reading 
Ivan Milenkovic31st July 2009Thanks a lot fellas!
Having troubles making your own songs? Or maybe need some tips in songwriting in general? You've came to the right place. Accumulated knowledge in songwriting skills now available to you through this lesson. Andrew and myself have done our best to make a lesson easy and intuitive to understand, wetter you are beginning to write your own stuff, or just looking for some inspiration advices.
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