[Michael Fair]

Hey @Cadgirl , don’t feel alone. You can see the pattern emerging on the replies; everyone struggles. One of the things that makes it a challenge is that there isn’t always one answer. There are parts of the song where either a major or minor chord in the key will work.

A really fun experiment is to take a very simple melody, like “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” in a known key (G, for example), and try different chord progressions. All major, which means use only G, C, D. Then all minor, which means use only Am, Bm, and Em, and then a combination. You’ll be hugely surprised. They all work, but they change the nature of the song. All major is bright and simple. All minor makes it kind of a dirge. Mixing it up makes it seem more sophisticated. Playing through a minor chord between major chords (so common), doesn’t make it sad, as the all minor chords choice does, but makes it sound more nuanced.

The more you do, the better you will get. It really takes doing it a lot and sticking with it. When I watch TV I have the guitar there, and every time a song comes on, I figure out the key and then the chords, so I do it multiple times day.