From the course: Songwriting Techniques with Chords

Unlock the full course today

Join today to access over 22,600 courses taught by industry experts or purchase this course individually.

Change the harmonic rhythm

Change the harmonic rhythm - Sibelius Tutorial

From the course: Songwriting Techniques with Chords

Start my 1-month free trial

Change the harmonic rhythm

“

[Instructor] Thus far, all the examples we've looked at use a harmonic rhythm of one chord per bar. Harmonic rhythm is the rate at which the chords change. It's usually pretty static throughout a song, but sometimes speeds up or slows down as the sections of a song change. Let's explore how we can use the harmonic rhythm of a song to change it's feel dramatically. I've created a new song example specifically for this purpose. A 16 bar tale of hard work and heartache called "House You Call Home." Let's take a listen to it now. ♫ I worked hard for 15 years ♫ I gave you my blood, sweat, and tears, ♫ I ground my fingers to the bone ♫ To make this house that you call home Right away we see the melody to the song is in G Major because of the single F sharp in the melody. And I've chosen basic chords in the key of G to harmonize it. The one, four, and five chords of the key were G, C, and D major chords. There's also a six chord in there which is an E minor. And I've thrown that in to spice…

Contents