In this Songwriting 101 lesson, learn how to choose chords for your original song! Printable Cheat Sheet: https://www.patreon.com/dylanlaine // Don’t forget… ??

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— ABOUT ME! —

Hi, my name is Dylan Laine and my mission is to inspire you to play, write, and spread the light! I create songwriting tutorials, ukulele tutorials, guitar tutorials, and piano tutorials. I also post original music, cover songs, and buying guides. In 2010 I received my degree in songwriting from Berklee College of Music, and enjoy teaching private music lessons in addition to making online content.

Inquiries: dylanlainemusic@gmail.com

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44 Replies to “How To Choose Chords (Songwriting 101)”

  1. Thank you so much. This is really great! I have the Circle of Fifths poster and haven't delved into it yet, and now I am excited about my songwriting and finding the right chords! I also really appreciate how you keep straight to the point! So many other people tend to ramble and talk irrelevant and such, but you did this perfectly! Ah, it's refreshing to find such perfect tutorials….. 🙂

  2. Thank you so much, this is so helpful, sometimes it’s very difficult to write the chords for a song, after you’ve already written the lyrics. So much help thx !!!

  3. Excellent! Thank you Dylan!! ??? I was able to Quickly figure out the chords to a song on the piano which I’ve been mulling over before I found your video!!! Who hoo!! I am So Excited!!! ???Thanks A Lot for your help! Btw, you explain this concept of writing your chords much better than some other with higher views, which I didn’t understand at all! They went over my head..

  4. A tad bit late here ? but I just found your videos while looking to refresh myself on the basics of songwriting in order to sort of get myself back on track, been having a kind of writer's block.

    Basically, when I first started writing songs, I was kind of "winging" it. I knew some chords from the various songs I had learned (guitar) and had paid attention to their structure, so I was able to kind of write "by ear", however I'm not satisfied with that. I feel that will quickly be very limiting.

    However when I try to think about how I can compose with well-ordered harmony, I realize I'm not sure how to begin. Ok, coming up with a rhythm is maybe the easiest for me, I can kind of sense a pulse and beat I want to communicate with. And then the rhythm, or sort of "mood" of the vocal line starts to take shape. And that's fine. But then the real puzzle for me is how to do melody and harmony the "right" way (really, I want to start writing songs that aren't going to be seen as ridiculous by anyone who understands music, by other songwriters for example).

    Now, I'm able to compose a lead melody over an existing chord progression, that's fine. But I kind of can't do much with a melody without a chord progression ? I guess if I had to distill all this rambliness into one question it would be: how do you write harmony? Do you have any videos like that?

    And thanks for these videos, continued success to you!

  5. Just found your channel.
    And i had to watch it twice to understand the philosophy about your point and i understood your chart.
    Super Nice technique.

    And Nice website too!! Love that you're hustling ????

  6. So great to know about this easy way to choose chords Dylan! Thanks so much! I'm going to start with these tips, but I wonder if you've experimented outside of the box like added a random chord into your music and it still sounded cool? Otherwise, I'm also curious how you got started in music – does everyone in your family also play music? My parents didn't really play instruments but they really wanted me and my brothers to play stringed instruments, I so I play violin and am so excited to learn the ukelele through your videos! 🙂 – Amy

  7. I've been self-teaching myself on piano for about a year and a half. There's very few covers that I can do. Simple stuff like "Imagine". But I have learned enough that I compose my own material. One of the problems I have is my material seems to be outside the norm.

    For example, one of the first ones that I wrote started while messing around (as most of mine). I played a Bm with my right. However, with my left, I played a G octave. Sounded smooth. From there, I went to a C chord with my right and a F octave with my left. Again smooth.

    According to scales-chords.com, what I did was go from  a Gmaj7 to a Fmaj9sus2. Now, I have since learned what the first would be. You're simply adding the 7th. The latter? Beats me, particularly when scales-chords shows Fmaj9sus2 as "F-G-C-E". I played it as "F-C-E-G".

    My problem becomes two-fold. When I come up with something, it works but I don't understand why it works. Secondly, when stumbling onto unusual chords or using an  unusual bass octave, trying to figure out other chords that have the same vibe is pain-staking.

  8. Thank you so much Dylan i was trying to make a song from the bible verses coz its easy to memorize them by singing it and i play ukulele so i was trying to make a chords for them this is very helpful God bless u

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