some in F minor, etc). However, whichever keys the original songs are in, they do have their chord progressions – their essential formula – in common. To understand this properly, we need to ...

Melodies, meanwhile, tend to be simple affairs using mainly a handful of notes from the parent scale, dependent on whether the song is in a major or minor key. Let’s create a simple pop/R&B chord ...

However, when harmonised, the notes in the C minor scale produce a different set of chords to the notes in the C major scale. It’s these chords that you can borrow to embellish your major progressions ...

Whether you mean to or not, you’ll almost inevitably work in a particular key when writing a song. You might decide “right, ...