Along the Road of Life

[Loraine]

@the-old-coach I love your songs, because they speak to me so often about my own life and journey to where I’m at. Wonderful chord progression and lyrics.

How do you determine the chords and tun you want for a song? The music always matches up to the lyrics so well.

Keep ‘em coming!

[the-old-coach]

Thank you (again) for your kind words!

To answer your question as best as I know how—- I have to be careful because I don’t necessarily know that I really have the knowledge to answer “correctly”, and I don’t need any help sounding somewhere between stupid and absolutely full of BS.

For a number of my songs, I use the Key of D major. Only because that key seems to be the easiest for me to sing in. From there it’s just the chords in that chord family. Then I just monkey-around with different chord progressions and order. From there, I really like to sprinkle in some sus2’s, sus4’s, various 7’s, add9’s, etc, etc. So I do LOTS of doodlin’ around- adding or taking away or moving a finger or two– a fret or two– just to see what it sounds like.

When I “mess with” these chords like this, most of the time I don’t even know what the hell the “new” chord actually is until I draw a chord diagram, and dissect it “backwards” just to see what it is…..

Anyway, I hope this “dumb-guy explanation” sort-of answers your question. Bottom-line is, for the most part…… “I don’t really know”. I basically just mess around with chord progressions and the chords themselves……. until I find something that SOUNDS good to me. Beyond that, any actual knowledge of this stuff came from right here in TAC’s Fretboard Wizard Course, some of the TAC Skills Courses, and a few other course/classes I took on another guitar site I really like also.

Thank you again for your encouraging comments on this song— they mean a lot.

y-o-p

mark

[Loraine]

@the-old-coach I really appreciate the detailed answer. You’ve actually detailed exactly what Tony tries to drill into us about improv. I have a difficult time with improv, because I don’t think outside the box. You’ve obviously succeeded in making it to the outside of the box. I’m very impressed, and I’m sure most artists start just as you have. Keep at it!

[the-old-coach]

Loraine–

Oh, you don’t know how many times I’ve been told to “go outside”. 😀

I don’t mind being “outside lookin’ in”😎…… used to it, actually.

I coulda/shoulda mentioned- (you likely already know this….)- that if I want to play another person’s music- (ANY song/any artist)- that ISN’T in a key that “fits” my voice– like D– I just think it out, or (faster)- use the Circle of Fifths to convert it over to whatever key I want.

Most of the tunes I have written are actually quite simple– but a few little added sus’s and 7’s placed just right make them sound a little more complex than they really are.

Said this before…….. if I can do it……… ANYBODY can. Give it a try— you may be surprised!😍

mark

• This reply was modified 2 years, 3 months ago by  the-old-coach.
• This reply was modified 2 years, 3 months ago by  the-old-coach.