This week I’m wrapping up a loose end I noticed when I used BEAD Guides Chord Flow to pair Major Chords with their relative minor chords and what I call their “Alt-Substitutes.” (Here’s the sheet). I noticed that every chord in that map has two chords they might use as substitutes. All of them except the chords … Continue reading Saturday Songwriting: Strange Light

Lots of teachers treat the diminished chords like something dangerous and scary, or something there isn’t much use for, or something that’s just to complicated to understand. Diminished chords are sort of rebels living by their own rules. Maybe that’s why teachers set them off to the side of the map where it reads; “Thar be Dragons.” But … Continue reading Saturday Songwriting: Votives

This week I’m sharing two musical ideas using BEAD Guides Chord Flow that I think of almost like a seesaw, because I feel like they balance each other. I don’t think there’s really any musical principle that makes that true—it’s just the way I feel.  Each is probably the most common change made to the … Continue reading Saturday Songwriting: Off the Table

Recently, I was watching another video by Jake Lizzio from Signal Music Studios. He's talking about the chord progression from the song “Something,” by The Beatles.  It’s a gorgeous song which uses a lot of “borrowed chords.” Borrowed chords are something we haven’t talked about here yet, so I figured why not check ‘em out, … Continue reading Saturday Songwriting: Proud Flesh