Progressions: “Pedal Tones”

Not long ago I received an email from someone who, after viewing my analysis of ‘Lost in This Moment’, asked about something that’s been around in songwriting for a very long time when they asked, “What’s a ‘Pedal Tone’?”

Since answering that email I’ve discussed this in 2 consultations with up-and-coming songwriters, so… seems like a good subject to cover here.

What is it?

A pedal tone (or pedal point) is a note that remains unchanged while chords change over/around it. It’s easier for some people to think of it as an ‘anchor’ while the chords change ‘on top’. It’s common for the pedal tone to be either the root or 5th of the key.

Who Uses it?

Pedal tones are used in every style of music. Beethoven used them, as did other classical composers; it’s found regularly in dance music; and rock n’ roll & heavy metal make use of it as well.

You’ll often find a pedal tone used to create a dramatic effect and the bass frequently given the job of holding the root of the key as the pedal tone.

An Example

In ‘Lost in This Moment’ the pedal tone first makes an appearance in the first verse. Listen to the song closely and you’ll here the steady ‘B’ note held throughout the verse as well as the ‘B’ arpeggio of the electric guitar while a very lightly mixed acoustic makes the 5-4-1 chord changes.

If your ear can’t pick out the acoustic guitar, listen to the second verse. The electric guitar maintains the ‘B’ arpeggio while the bass moves from 5-4-1.

Note that the song is in the key of ‘B’, so this is a root pedal tone.

What Makes it Work?

The pedal tone in ‘Lost in This Moment’ helps create a tension and release. The verses begin with the 5 chord (F) of which the pedal tone (B) is a 4th and thereby creating added tension to the already dominant chord. The next chord in the verse progression is a 4 chord (E) of which the pedal tone is a 5th (the dominant of the chord), before the song moves to the 1 chord (B) which brings the pedal tone to function as the root. So the pedal tone in this case creates added tension to the ‘lead’ chord. It’s subsequent place as a fifth and root adds to the feeling of release felt at the end of each line.

print version


Til next time, keep writing!

The 3 Stooges - Insincerity, Triteness and just plain Drivel!

Insincere small talk, trite phrases, and even drivel, sprinkle all of our conversational lives at times and mostly without consequence. But in songwriting, place these in your lyric and you’ve got a disaster on your hands.

There are songs I hear from time to time in which a mini-movie rolls through my mind.

Read my article at:
San Diego Chronicle

From "White Christmas" to Sgt. Pepper: The Conceptual Revolution in Popular Music

In a 'working paper' just issued, University of Chicago's David Galenson argues that the shift in songwriting style from the Tin Pan Alley era to the music of Bob Dylan and John Lennon brought a drastic change to the general songwriting approach and hence the songwriting labor market (Galenson is an economist, thus the labor market viewpoint).

I found the paper very interesting and it coincides with my longtime belief in the approach Dylan and Lennon took in much of their writing. It also tackles the subject of age vs. creativity. Galenson makes an intriguing, and I believe accurate, distinction between 'experimental creators' and ' conceptual creators'.

"Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, and other songwriters of the Golden Era wrote popular songs that treated common topics clearly and simply. During the mid-1960s Bob Dylan, John Lennon, and Paul McCartney created a new kind of popular music that was personal and often obscure. This shift, which transformed popular music from an experimental into a conceptual art, produced a distinct change in the creative life cycles of songwriters. Golden Era songwriters were generally at their best during their 30s and 40s, whereas since the mid-'60s popular songwriters have consistently done their best work during their 20s. The revolution in popular music occurred at a time when young innovators were making similar transformations in other arts: Jean-Luc Godard and his fellow New Wave directors created a conceptual revolution in film in the early '60s, just as Andy Warhol and other Pop artists made painting a conceptual activity."

Galenson's entire paper is here.

Songwriting Mistakes: Restating

I’ve had several consultations lately with newer writers whose songs suffer from the same ailment, and as a result I’ve received permission from one of those songwriters to post the beginnings of a song he’s currently writing to illustrate.

Before we talk about that let me make a brief point.

For newer writers it’s important not to become discouraged at the amount of rewriting that needs to be done. Learning to write solid songs is like a funnel. In the beginning you’ll need to rework large sections dealing with the more basic issues of successful songwriting. As you learn and write more, it’s the ever-smaller details that need to be picked apart and polished.

Keep in mind that even for professionals great songs are rarely written, they’re re-written.

The first draft of the song from my benevolent ‘student’ suffers primarily from a lack of moving forward, due in part to not focusing on a specific scenario. Each and every line of your song should move the song forward rather than restate something or merely provide non-descriptive, general information. Many newer writers fall prey to writing their first line then restating that line throughout the majority of the song. Without a specific scenario in your head, it’s difficult.

Successful songwriters, in and out of Nashville, learn to ‘speak’ in a fresh way about the same subjects. How many ways are there to say I miss someone?

     Here are just a few ways it’s been said:
     (think how each approaches the subject differently)

     “Crazy Arms” (Seals/Mooney)
     “Act Naturally” (Russell/Morrison)
     “I Still Miss Someone” (Cash)
     “Hello Walls” (Nelson)
     “I Miss My Mary Tonight” (Ketchum)
     “Loving Her Was Easier” (Kristofferson)
     “I Fall to Pieces” (Howard/Cochran)
     “Half a Man’” (Nelson)
     “Farewell Party” (Williams)
       etc.

How many hits has Alan Jackson written on this one subject?
(again, focus on how each approaches the subject differently)

     “She’s Got the Rhythm” (Jackson/Travis)
     “Here in the Real World” (Jackson/Irwin)
     “Who Says You Can’t Have it All” (Jackson/McBride)
     “Wanted” (Jackson/Craig)
     “Dallas” (Jackson/Stegall)
       etc.

So with that, here are some of the notes I made for the songwriter I mentioned at the beginning of this post regarding the first draft of a song in progress.


Til next time…

Progressions: “Prosody” in Songwriting

In previous Progressions posts, we’ve looked at the current hit, “A Different World”, written by Jennifer Hanson, Mark Nesler, and Tony Martin when talking about Chord Substitution and Cutting Measures.

At the end of one of those posts I mentioned “the power in the way it [“A Different World”] was written with the minor chord falling at the end of ‘smoke and drank’, and ‘lead based paint’.” And as I said then, “That’s nice prosody to begin the song”.

Prosody is the marriage of melody/chord with lyric and good prosody is when the music of a song accurately reflects the lyric. It's concerned with things such as the choice of chords, deciding what single note should accompany a certain word of the lyric, the rhythm of lines and certain words, etc.

In “A Different World”, the minor chords falling at the end of ‘smoke and drank’, and ‘lead based paint’ reflect the negative connotation of the words.

Let’s look at prosody in 2 lines of another well-known song, Alan Jackson’s “Here in the Real World”. I also look at this song when discussing melodic phrasing in my book, “Top 10 Songwriting Mistakes… and Correcting Them” (see sidebar for a FREE copy or visit http://www.Top10SongwritingMistakes.com).

If you can’t hear the melody in your head listen to it now and notice how the melody of the 3rd and 4th lines of the verse differ. The 3rd line’s melody contains the highest notes of the verse as we hear in the first verse that, “love is a sweet dream that always comes true”. Just as the tone of voice rises when there’s excitement when we talk, the melody accurately reflects what we’re hearing. And just as the tone of our voice naturally falls with disappointment, the 4th line’s melody steadily descends as we hear, “if life were like the movies I’d never be blue”.

The second verse continues the good prosody with the 3rd line's higher melody paired with, “and tonight on that silver screen it’ll end like it should”. And once again, the 4th line's lyric is a nice match to the downward sloping melody with, “two lovers will make it through like I hoped we would”.

Play songs you’ve written with attention to prosody and see if there’re places you can better match the emotion of your lyric with the melody and chord choice. For ideas on chord choices read the Progressions post, “Substitution in Songwriting”.

Print version

Progressions: “Secondary Dominants”

A hit on the charts right now which I personally am very fond
of is “Startin’ With Me”, a country hit for Jake Owen and
written by Kendall Marvel, Jimmy Ritchey, and Jake Owen.

Let’s look at the writer’s use of the secondary dominant in
the chorus.

read the rest of this article:
"Secondary Dominants"

Bad Advice: Beware Info on the Net

I just read an online article that’s prompted me to write this post. The article gives songwriting advice and when I read the following I knew I had to write this post:

“Always add colour: By this I mean create more than what is already there. If there is a D Major chord being played, try singing a note other than those in a D Major chord.”

At best, this advice is incomplete. The problem with the above statement is that it totally depends on the effect needed for the song. If your lyric has an easy going quality, then it’s probably best to compose the melody predominantly around the triad (root, 3rd, and 5th) of that D major chord being played at the time. The melody will have a more easy going quality, and better match your lyric.

If your lyric requires a more dramatic melodic treatment to match the subject, then writing your melody around notes that extend beyond the 5th works well.

The article continues with this:

“The average song will have the following arrangement (although this is only a guide):

Up tempo Song:
Intro, Verse 1, Bridge, Chorus, Verse 2, Bridge, Chorus, Chorus, Middle 8, Chorus, Chorus

Slow Song:
Intro, Verse 1, Bridge, Chorus, Verse 2, Chorus, Middle 8, Chorus, Chorus”

Both examples are WRONG. These are not the forms that “the average song will have”.

Other than the AAA and the AABA form, virtually all popular song in our lifetime has been given to us in one of the following forms:


     V - (V opt) - C - V - C - inst - C - out
     V - (V opt) - C - V - C - B - inst - C - out
     V - climb - C - V - climb - C - inst. - (climb opt.) - C
     C - V - C - inst. - B – C


You’ll find variations/alterations within all of these forms, but the bridge immediately following the 1st verse in “the average song” is completely wrong. In fact, I’ve never heard a song with a bridge after the first verse of a V/C song. The sheer purpose of a bridge contradicts this. The author of the article apparently also doesn’t understand that “middle 8” is itself a common reference to a bridge, particularly in the AABA form.

So the real lesson here is, beware of what you read on the net and look for someone’s credentials before heeding their advice. Otherwise they just might lead you down the wrong path.

Progressions: “Cutting Measures”

Let’s look again at the recent hit "A Different World" written
by Jennifer Hanson, Mark Nesler, and Tony Martin.

Let’s focus on the verse. While the song is in 4/4 time, notice
the cut measures which gives it a rhythmic distinction from the
chorus.

read the rest of this article:
"Cutting Measures"

Progressions: “Substitution” in Songwriting

A current hit useful in showing the use of chord substitution
is ”A Different World” written by Jennifer Hanson, Mark Nesler,
and Tony Martin.

Let’s focus on the chorus of the song. Notice it begins with an
ascending progression, 4-5-6m. It then holds the 6m chord before
we hear the 4-5 again, but this time we’re given a 1 chord rather
than the 6m.

This provides variation while maintaining the basic sound of the
previous progression.

read the rest of this article:
"Substitution" in songwriting

Songwriting Mistakes: Mixing Viewpoints

This is probably the most common mistake I’ve seen newer songwriters make.

_______________________________________________
     First, a ‘refresher’…

          · 1st person (I, Me, We, Us)
          Speaks about/to yourself or addresses a singular ‘you’
          in a conversational style

          · 2nd person (You, Yours)
          Speaks to someone either directly (a specific person)
          or to a general ‘you’

          · 3rd person (He, She, Them, They)
          Speaks about someone but not directly to them
_______________________________________________

Mixing the viewpoint within your song can easily confuse the listener. Let me show you what I mean.


Examples:
The most common mistake is shifting from third person perspective in the first verse, to second person perspective in the second verse.


     Incorrect: (from actual songwriter meeting/consultation)


          He’s the real heartbreaker of our little world
          That modern day Romeo of all these small town girls
          Now he’s gone and left me feelin’ blue
          Why did I fall for his game too?

          You brought the pain that’s falling down my cheek


Wait a minute… who’s now being addressed in the second verse? Is this ‘you’ someone new that’s broken the singer’s heart or is she still addressing the ‘he’ in the first verse?

Without making it clear the listener is confused and trying to figure out who the singer is now addressing. Meanwhile, more information is coming at the listener before this question is resolved, causing the listener to possibly miss the new information as they’re trying to decipher who’s being addressed. And missing new information makes them now, totally lost.


     Incorrect: (from actual songwriter meeting/consultation)

                            ‘Laying It On The Line’

          It’s always the same, each night you walk through my dreams
          And my nerves rattle like a guitar string
          She’s a real cutie, in fact she’s a beauty
          So I’ll follow my heart this time
          Cause there’s no prize without laying it on the line


Catch the mistake? In the first line we hear the singer addressing ‘you’. Then the viewpoint is changed in the third line when the reference becomes ‘she’. The third line reads as if the singer is now singing about someone different.


How to Correct:
To keep your song immediately clear and understandable from the singer’s viewpoint you should work to maintain the same viewpoint throughout your lyric by being consistent in your use of pronouns.

Determine from which viewpoint the singer will perform your song. Will the singer be singing about someone, about himself/herself, or to someone? This will determine the use of pronouns for you to consistently use throughout the song.


EXCEPTIONS:
An exception to maintaining the viewpoint is in a bridge, when it’s often advisable to change perspective. It’s possible you’ll even hear a song that defies this rule of maintaining viewpoint/pronouns outside of the bridge. This can be successfully accomplished by altering viewpoints from section to section, yet maintaining those viewpoints within each section. Other times a shift in viewpoint will occur in the chorus. However, most songs maintain a consistent viewpoint and I encourage you to gain more experience before attempting to alter viewpoints within your songs. I mention these exceptions to prevent any confusion when you hear something contrary to what I’ve shown you here.


Til next time… keep writing!

(by the way, examples used by permission!)

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