Songwriter Academy

There are 5 dominant 7th shapes in the open position. They are C7, A7, G7, E7, and D7. All other dominant 7th chords must be… Read More »Dominant 7th Chords

Download the video. The diminished chord is an interesting chord.  It is called the leading note because the seventh note of any scale naturally leads back… Read More »Diminished and Augmented Chords

Let’s pretend that you’ve got an audition coming up in a couple of days for a hip new band looking for a guitar player. The… Read More »Inversions Or Slash Chords

A suspended chord is a chord that creates a subtle harmonic tension by adding an extra note that sounds like it wants to resolve back… Read More »Suspended Chords

For this session, we’ll concentrate on writing the key of G. In this setting, the G chord is the most important. It’s the chord that is… Read More »Chord Composition: Writing Three Chord Songs

When a song is in the key of C major, the Am chord will seamlessly intertwine with the tonic.  “Tonic” is a  fancy word for… Read More »Connecting the Tonic and Submediant

Chords have a mind of their own in the context of a song. In any given key, certain chords are much better at following the… Read More »Chord Leading