Also, I forget if I've ever asked, Mr. Flansburgh, but I remember either an interview with you or a podcast talking about TMBG where it was brought up that you, specifically, tend to have these sort of surprising chord progressions where the listener thinks it's going to go one way but it goes another (I think the "that bell can't be un-rung" part of Madam was brought up in the conversation?)
It sounds cool. Are you conscious of this? Any neat tips or explanations?
JF: sure. There are many standard chord moves, and they commonly support basic harmonic structures (which is to say the chords will be in a shared key) and these "stock" progressions boost recognized ideas of tension and release.
Once you are familiar with these forms, you also start to see smaller moves you can make that will bring a unique color to your song.
Just using one of the most bog standard progression--
I, IV, V, I / C, F, G, C. This is essentially the structure of a blues. A songwriter would see those four chords as foundation, moderate harmonic tension, maximum tension, and release or return.
You could write a melody over this, but then pretty confidently change the chords underneath it to, say, VI minor, II minor, V, I or A minor, D minor, G, C. That first minor six chord is the relative minor (A minor) and share two notes with the original C major triad. The second chord in the sequence is a II minor--for moderate tension--also shares two notes with the original F chord which was the IV chord in the original progression.
So that's a simple example of swapping out chords just to be less stock. One moment after this, there are endless small moves that embellish and inform a song. Of course four note chords like 7ths and 6ths add fascinating color. Adding an unusual bass note to create a complex chord with your triad. (very much a Carol King or Donald Fagen move) In our early years we experimented a lot with tossing in the II and III chords of songs major (often in more Tin Pan Alley songwriting these are always minor. But by if you are modulating to a different key or just creating a momentary departure from the established key for added interest, there is a lot to investigate there. Introducing a minor IVth would feel very Beatlesk to most people.
And then finally there is making the "GOD" move where you create a sequence where you hit a chord with notes fully outside of the established key. (Just adding a triad that is all sharped from the eight notes in a major or minor scale I guess) I don't really know why it's called a God chord, but my best guess it because by making that move you become God by essentially creating a brand new harmonic universe when you leave the established key fully behind. But somebody probably has a real explanation.
Obviously a songwriter can get into a lot of trouble very quickly just by trying different things out. That is kind of the remarkable thing about it. There is no end.
I am not really qualified to get this deep, and I don't want to annoy the formally trained folk who are already writing their grumpy replies. So I will leave it there.
gummygunk
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