Creating a pre-chorus and Chorus with a similar harmonic flavour to the verse

[JAMESUK]

Hi there,

I have heard many songs where the verse chord progression sounds related to the pre-chorus chord progression and the chorus chord progression almost as if they were using the same chords but perhaps in a different order? I would very much like to develop some song ideas I have which sometimes contain a chorus but no verse or pre-chorus and I would like to write a verse which appears to use similar chords as the chorus so it has a similar harmonic flavor as the chorus but is different if that makes any sense?

How is this achieved? To write a verse and pre-chorus that has a similar but complimentary chord progression as the chorus does this involve using the same chords in a different order? Or does this involve adding more chords to the original chord progression for the chorus to develop a new chord progression which can then be used successfully for the pre-chorus and the verse?

Many thanks.

 

[KennyTheInsane]

When I want to achieve something like this, I'll sometimes use the same chord progression throughout the entire song, but I'll play with the octaves. I'll exchange say, a step up from C to G in the same octave with a step down from C to a G in the next octave down.

Simply switching the order of the progression works okay for some things. If you're looking for some kind of fancy composition secret, I don't think it exists, it just takes practice to write progressions that sound related without being too similar.

 

[bandcoach]

so I thought about this overnight and came back to the basic principles of creating viable progressions

cadences, substitution and modulation

an example might illustrate this better

[mp3]http://www.bandcoach.org/fp/audio/loveOnceLostPiano.mp3[/mp3]

verse	Am	F	Em	G	Am	F	Em	G
a:	i	bVI	v	bVII	i	bVI	v	bVII
pre-chorus	F	G	C	Am	F	G	C	Gsus4	G
C;	IV	V	I	vi	IV	V	I	Vsus4	V
chorus	A	D	G	C	F	Bb7	Esus4	E
A:	I	IV	bVII	bIII	bVI	bII7	Vsus4	V
		D: I	IV	C: I	IV
			G: I	IV	F: I	IV
as cycle of 5ths	D: V	I
		G: V	I
			C: V	I
				F: V	I
					Bb: V	I
verse to end	Am	F	Em	G	Am
a:	i	bVI	v	bVII	i

verse is in A natural minor

the pre-chorus is using 3 of the 4 chords from the verse and the 4th chord, C is only one note different to the Em - B-> C I also deliberately modulated to the relative major (C major), hence the change in the harmonic analysis

in the chorus I went to the tonic major (A) and then moved by step down each pair of chords, so that I kept the G and F chords and used their sub-dominant chords as the second in each pair. The Bb7 is a tritone substitute for E7 (Bb-D-F-Ab vs E-G#-B-D; G#=Ab and F and Bb are a semitone away from E and B), thus making the last three chords of this part of the progression last 3 bars, heightening the effect of the V-I cadence back into the verse.... This whole sequence is a cycle of 5ths based on moving from major chord to major chord, a common trick used by JS Bach, his contemporaries and many composers since

return to the tonic natural minor for the next verse.

Cadences used in this are

bVII-i the substitute perfect cadence in the natural minor

bVII-bVI is equivalent to V-IV which is the interrupted cadence

I-V imperfect cadence (Opposite of perfect cadence)

V-I perfect cadence

chords used

Am	A-C-E	F	F-A-C	Em	E-G-B	G	G-B-D
C	C-E-G	Gsus4	G-C-D	A	A-C#-E	D	D-F#-A
Bb7	Bb-D-F-Ab	Esus4	E-A-B	E	E-G#-B

G# = Ab

 

[JAMESUK]

Hey Kenny,

I will play around with the chords and practice as you suggest.

You read so many interviews where songwriters have said that they have been shown how to write songs by other well known songwriters that i always have it in mind that there must be some secret to composing consisently good songs that relies on proven strategies, chord progressions and some sort of chord formula.

Many thanks for all your help.

 

[JAMESUK]

Hi Zukatoku - Mad Scientist,

Thanks for your informative and excellent reply. It really got me thinking that of course there are already tools to create similar harmonic chord progressions from the original chord progression by using tools such as chord substitution, cadences etc.

As I mentioned above there are so many stories where you read music producers and songwriters such as Derek Bramble/Dee Bramble talking about the fact that Rod Temperton showed him how to write songs when he was in Heatwave that you end up thinking that there must be a formula or chord strategy for writing successful songs that the very top songwriters use and I always wanted to know what it was!

I am sure learning the chord progessions of well known songs by my favorite artists would give me a clue to what they are doing and how they compose their songs but unfortunately I cannot read music as i play by ear.

Anyway thanks again for responding with such a thought provoking and helpful post.

Many thanks.