How to Write Chord Sequences

A Harmony Sourcebook for Songwriters

Rikky Rooksby

• Publisher: Backbeat
• Year: 2022
• Edition: 3
• eBook ISBN:
  9781493067886
• Topic: Media & Performing Arts
• Subtopic: Music Theory & Appreciation

Originally published in 2003, the revised and updated third edition of The Songwriting Sourcebook is the third entry in Rikky Rooksby's bestselling How to Write Songs series. This easy-to-use book will help you write better songs by explaining the art of writing effective chord sequences. It shows:

• How three and four chords can lay the foundation for a simple song, and how to move on to progressions using five and six chords

• How to give your chord sequences additional color by adding chords that are not strictly in key, including blues chords

• How to write chord sequences for songs in minor keys as well as major keys, and how to take progressions into new territories by changing key

• How to fine-tune the color of your chords by understanding the emotional potential of sevenths, sixths and ninths

All examples come with easy-to-read guitar chord boxes, and the accompanying tracks feature original recordings that illustrate key points made in the book.

Table of contents

• preface to the third edition
• how to use this book
• introduction
• section 1 the three-chord song
• section 2 the four-chord song
• section 3 songs with five and six chords
• section 4 adding flat-degree chords
• section 5 reverse polarity—playing with majors and minors
• section 6 songs in minor keys
• section 7 chord types and expression
• section 8 writing songs that change key
• section 9 a miscellany of techniques
• section 10 a guide to the audio material
• appendix 1 guitar chord dictionary
• appendix 2 reference tables
• appendix 3 twenty song structures
• appendix 4 checklist of techniques
• appendix 5 glossary of terms
• acknowledgments
• about the author