
So what specifically makes a verse-chorus pair of chord progressions really work well? In practically every case, a verse-chorus pair works nicely when the listener senses the music moving from a “fragile” state to a “strong” state. What To Look For In a Verse-Chorus Pairing use more inversions (slash chords) than a chorus might. So it can be interesting if you verse focuses more on a minor chord from that key… A minor, for example: Am G Am Dm… For example, your chorus may clearly indicate C major (C Dm F G C). Verse progressions can be a little different. If that’s the case, you’ll want your chorus progression to exhibit the 3 characteristics I’ve listed above: a short progression with a clear indication of key, in which the chords change in a predictable pattern. (This is the case for the majority of songs.) In strong progressions, you’ll want to do something predictable, like changing chords every 2, 4 or 8 beats.īut lets say you want to create a verse progression, and then switch to something entirely different for the chorus.

Harmonic rhythm refers to how frequently the chords change. The harmonic rhythm simple and predictable.Don’t allow the progression to wander or become overly long and involved. This means a progression that strongly indicates the key and doesn’t divert (at least not much) from that key.

These kinds of progressions should be strong, which means the following:
