Chordplay - Songwriting Secrets (Part One)

Here's the next episode of Chordplay with 'Songwriting Secrets (Part One).'
I've received a number of requests/comments asking for more insight and additional light on the complicated subject matter that surrounds music theory, songwriting, and more.
This lesson takes a first step toward understanding more about chord progressions, diatonic progressions, arranging major and minor chords together in a progression, and much more.
While most of this material is rather basic and simple to understand, I have noticed a lot of folks out there who are struggling with these areas of music theory and songwriting in general, so to help kick things off in this direction I created this lesson with the hope of helping those that are stuck on the foundation of this material, and I plan to move this series of lessons forward as we continue, which will dive into more challenging and advanced topics and subject matter as we progress.
While there's nothing wrong with learning a handful of licks and riffs on the guitar when it comes time to actually compose music and create ideas with a certain level of authority and control, the only way to really get a handle on these areas of music is by jumping into some of these subjects and really get your hands dirty by targeting this area of music creation and music theory overall.
This is only the first episode in this series and depending on the response and feedback from this lesson, that will dictate whether the viewers out there are interested in learning more about music, songwriting, and putting all of these topics and subjects together.
Give this episode a view, leave some comments and feedback, and please subscribe to Late Night Lessons - THANK YOU!

[@LateNightLessons]

Thanks everyone! Keep in mind - this is just the first lesson in this series, so it only gets better and more interesting from here. Part Two of this series is coming soon (along with more band-based Chordplay lessons) and I have some cool Three-For-All videos coming soon too. And the Breaking Chords and Scales & Tales series are going to get some new content soon as well! I'm going to mix things up a little bit this month and throw out a few curve balls just to shake things up a bit, and we can always come back to some solid/classic rock-based stuff. Stay tuned... and ROCK ON! : )

[@simonhunt8896]

Late Night Lessons only just jumped in on this. Interesting for sure. Helps no theory students like me understand how to jam in on a song. Very expansive! Thank you.

[@RobJuneau]

I love what you’re doing and how you’re doing, it, David! Hard to watch and NOT learn something, thank you!

[@TheSavage1969]

Your unselfishly continuous contributions such as this are certainly and sincerely appreciated. I continue to be a supportive Patreon and encourage others to do so as their respective discretionary budgets allow. Thanks again.

[@scottycunningham1413]

It's a good valuer tbh, much better than Netflix.

[@uncleremus5046]

🍺’ski your students are lucky too have ya. Your not a one trick pony. Most complete teacher & best teaching channel on the net. Would love too hear your experiences & insights on your time @ AIM. Rock on Brother!🤘

[@danielc_guitar]

Really appreciate your lessons. Been playing guitar for about 10 years now and your lessons really help me continue to grow.

[@bghammock]

Absolutely would like more like this! This is the best channel on KZbin and woefully underappreciated.

[@jkta97]

Please keep making more songwriting lessons. This is really opening me up to some new possibilities. Thank you so much! I haven't checked out your chord construction videos yet, but if you're planning on making any videos on voice leading/part writing or alternate chord voicings/inversions, that would be great!

[@Busyfingers24]

There is no 2nd place...your teaching style and content is light years ahead of the rest! Thanks again Dave for sharing your vast knowledge with us mere mortals and pentatonic minions 🤘

[@TheRealFrankWizza]

This is exactly the kind of series I need. Thank you!

[@jay_sun_michael]

Thank you, David! Looking forward to the next installment.

[@JohnnyGuitarRocks]

Excellent series, love it! 🎸🎸🎸

[@rudiger1337]

You should have a lot more subscribers than 24.7K

[@regolithia]

He's gained 10k in a month. Going forward!

[@ThrashRoC]

Thats what i will give me tonight ! Late Night Lessons .. with my Strat on my knees .. the Classicasl Stuff is always worth ..and Arpeggios are great/important

[@ryanwalker3015]

Great lesson David. I’ve been taught this before, but I think I would’ve gotten it quicker by learning it this way. What I liked was how you kept Amaj as home base and kept going back there, before expanding it. Keep it up. Love your channel.

[@mcfoley131]

Hey thanks David.... I have never studied music theory, but this lesson really helped give me insight to some of the songs that I have been playing over the years. Absolutely helps me gain more confidence and knowledge during what little time I get to practice through the week.

[@erep1255]

"If you're gonna break the rules you have to know them"....love it!!! Your knowledge, and the way you present it so we can understand it is priceless!!!! THank you, and please keep this topic on songwriting coming!!!!!

[@thebruckners]

Really appreciate your musical instruction! Thank you for your effort. Subscribed! Anxiously awaiting the remainder of these songwriting lessons.

[@patricksalembier7352]

You are the best thing on KZbin! Thank you.

[@Rockintheparadise997]

Wow! Great topic for a video series. Definitely need more of this!

[@georgew.morrowiii118]

I think it would be cool to expand upon this type of lesson

[@arturoromero1871]

Great lesson. 👌🎸😎 thank you

[@RickHavok]

This is great stuff that people need to understand. I'm excited to see how you cover it too. I'm surprised you got in to substitutions so fast, but it fit the way you did it. Don't worry if you pick up viewers more slowly for this series. The ones who need it will find it.

[@gregcastdrywall1645]

Great video 👍 Thanks for doing different progressions.

[@citizzencain]

Love it!

[@GregoryHillSr]

Your channel is what I've been missing to expand/learn! Love the content 👍

[@maxwellhavins8078]

Dude I love your videos. Please keep em coming.

[@fredericadda]

I love everything related to music theory so yeah please more of this 😉

[@joachimlindback]

Always good to get the basics knowledge.

[@STAMPER-DESIGN]

Thank you, you're one of the best on youtube.

[@Blue_3rd]

Great stuff, love it! Thank you 👍

[@Beefrodd]

Hey David, these lessons are great, super keen on the next one!

[@nealclark]

Excellent info .... look forward to more on the subject. As a relatively new subscriber I really appreciate that you put together such informative and educational content. Great work.

[@michaelnagel32]

Very well done lesson. I'm really excited for more in this series and I would love to see a whole bunch of these. Thanks👍🏻

[@Guitarmadme]

Another Amazing lesson Dave,.... 🎸🇬🇧

[@bubasknr]

Great stuff! You are an excellent teacher

[@danieltucker5028]

Very cool my friend loved the lesson

[@davidperrott5098]

Bloody fantastic Dave! I love the presentations of your lessons and the chilled easy going delivery of your knowledge. This is a great idea to do song writing secrets. Nice one Davey! Thanks a lot and keep em coming please!

[@danielweissel2366]

you're a legend dude. really love your approach, style and amazing player to boot.

[@jrtme]

Great Content keep em coming.

[@frankiedonofrio5438]

Digging the Lesson!!!

[@niacingrooves2998]

Man, what a great channel!

[@TropicalReflections]

Hey David, great video! I definitely want to learn more about this subject. Also looking forward to the release of your new book, "Shapeshifting"! Have a great day amigo!

[@jimg3453]

I love your demo's but you are over my head much of the time due to me not having a background in theory but this one helped a ton. I did it the old fashioned way with a pen and paper taking notes as you spoke. Thanks a million!

[@Snostrebla1]

Great lesson! Bring on more👍

[@JamesAGuitar]

You're a great teacher!

[@knechtsand3178]

Your lessons are very inspiring. I dive into this ocean of your Knowledge on the Guitar. This gives me a lot to think of and practice.

[@davie377]

Yeah great vid for ideas for jamming thanks

[@ashworthwiltshire7446]

I’d like to see you continue in this direction David. You’re unpretentious approach is like a breath of fresh air.

[@colourtones]

Great lesson, man! Very interested in how you will move these fundamentals forward. One of the best formats and approaches out there. Keep the great content coming! Excellent balance of information, encouragement, and entertainment.

[@triskalrecords2863]

just marvellous

[@SuperMelodic]

love it! I'm dying to write a hit song please give us more love your channel man!

[@tallkeesh]

Loved it... more songwriting lessons please! :)

[@halfindy]

Yes, this is a good start for some composition talk. I‘m already looking forward to the next couple of instalments, because eventually I would like to discuss Jim Steinman‘s Object in the Rear View Mirror... and it has a couple of variants in there that go a little further, I guess. Rock on!

[@yjmsrv]

Love this- keep after it. Especially when you include real examples from real songs... I know the theory- but to hear a song use it always makes a better impression

[@timehasbeenkind]

Thanks for doing this! Really appreciate you videos! Keep up the great work! Stay Safe My Friend!

[@oyatemusic]

Keep em coming Dave

[@sixstringer3783]

Go with it 👍🤘

[@gautamasakyamuni6688]

Good one but this is just the appetizer,can't wait for the rest 😉 Love from the "locked down pandemic" zone.

[@jmp-es1gv]

Keep well .... and keep playing ...

[@gautamasakyamuni6688]

@@jmp-es1gv Thanks, will do! 👍

[@jmp-es1gv]

Whether or not I know some of this theory is irrespective - great content and instruction is always well received by people with open ears n open minds .. Many thanks indeed .. keep well David

[@ubda1]

I'm hooked

[@sheatanner9935]

I think it is always helpful to at least do refreshers about basic music theory (as applied to guitar) with every instructor you learn from. It helps connect dots and if you already know some theory it will provide a different viewpoint to the same ideas. I personally look forward to this as I constantly write things but have no idea how to finish them. Gotta chorus here, but no idea how to give it a good verse section; gotta verse section here, but no idea what to do for a chorus... drives me nuts honestly. Brings home how important the band environment is for me as a player (I know not everyone is like that though), and how much being solo kinda sucks. I'd really appreciate a lesson or two on how to put things together to make complete entities when we get there.

[@stargatewv]

Definitely keep on keeping on doin that thing you do so well. You have a fantastic way of teaching. Thank you, and even an old fart can still learn. I have had a moment that has given me that extra jolt sometime needed to spur you on. Thanks again.

[@invisiblegraveyard4742]

Bloody Brilliant

[@ottowedel711]

the role of the bass and changing the bass... type slash chords... those are my favorites... cheers!!!

[@glennwhitlock1272]

Thanks, David. As an 'intermediate' hobby player, I always find myself noodling over backing tracks as it's great way to relax. However, I'm all too aware that I'm ignoring the fundamentals of chordplay. As always, I'll be watching the following vids with great interest

[@wulfenii64]

I'm totally onboard.

[@user-ym6dl8tq6u]

Good stuff :)

[@Jay-sy5yf]

I'd love to see you break down the harmony and song writing strategy behind some big time pop songs and even popular rock songs. Might help us with our own stuff!!

[@billwilliams6338]

LATE NIGHT, you should make more songwriting secrets like this Anyway you can make a video lesson to show up the "RED FLAGS and CUES" of a chord progression to know where the "red flags and cues" on for modes. How would I know as a guitarist when hearing a chord progression where the "Red flags and Cues" are in in the chord progression that its Lydian Mode? or is the chord progression Mixolydian mode? or is the chord progression Phyrigan Mode? Another type of songwritering secrets video: would be: what did the band YES and Genesis use often in their songwriting chord progressions and other progression rock groups did with chord progressions?

[@codeblue27]

Thank you so much LNL

[@jasenmoyle3722]

Great lesson Dave some lesson Modulation and modal chord progressions would be great, love your teaching style mate

[@Scottocaster6668]

Wow, B🐓 even alphabetized the bands that used 3 and 4 chords in a song index. He never fails to give the viewer good content and material 👍

[@FlugHerr]

Surprised you don't have more subs. I'll share and hopefully help out

[@fabghassem]

💯

[@beerman7079]

👍

[@patricksalembier7352]

We want more.

[@normanwhaley1384]

Am i the only one that appreciates the chords of johnny marr ?

[@crisprtalk6963]

I was kinda hoping you'd pick Eb.

[@richacello339]

Dave, could you do a songwriting class on "prosody," which is as I understand it is the relationship between lyrics and music in songs. As an extreme example, the Carpenters "Top of the World," has happy lyrics and happy chords, which rise in the happy chorus. Cole Porter has a song "Every time we say goodbye," which even has a lyric about the change from major to minor, "every time we say goodbye." I've not seen a lesson on the relationship of lyrics to music, but it seems like you'd be the guy to do it. Thanks.

[@Hot4stockchick]

You commented on my daughters vid. I told her she needs to sub you.

[@CVGuitar]

10:48 lol -- Zappa

[@HeadbangoO]

Cool, this is the most interesting side of music. Unfortunately, I'm not sure it can live on KZbin... you probably lost half your audience at "parallel scale"... Let's hope you can go on with this series, may the force be with you 😜

[@regolithia]

Lost half the audience? Look at Adam Neely and Rick Beato. They've got mighty successful KZbin careers, and so will Late Night Lessons (hopefully) soon!

[@HeadbangoO]

@@regolithia Neely has not much to do with theory, it's mainly “fun facts“. And Beato lures the mass with “what makes this song yadayada“, I doubt they all watch the videos that explain how to superimpose a diminished scale on an altered chord... But hey, of course we wish great success to Brewsky 🙌🏼

[@jboughtin7522]

Thanks David. A songwriting team from the past that I liked a lot was F. Pappalardi & G. Collins. They wrote songs for Cream & Mountain and incorporated key changes in some songs which I always found interesting. I don't know if key changes have any logic to them? I have done that in some of my own songwriting, but it has been entirely a "what sounds good to me" thing. Maybe you could touch on that at some point?

[@1okanaganguy]

how 'bout some tips on keeping a tidy studio...a near impossibility for most

[@darkman237]

Then please explain the circle of 5ths.

[@brian8076]

am i the first viewer? woohoo

[@Corey_G]

Hi, I’d like to understand how 80’s rock / Metal made their song structures..... **** I’m more interested in how to make songs like Motley Crue’s riff or Diad style music...... wild side , , too young to fall in love....... straight up progressions are relatively easy to understand where they are coming from, but Motley Crue’s too young to fall in love, is not so easy to pin point ..... *** Stuff with incomplete chords or diads make it harder to pinpoint those chord movements. **** Motley Crue - Is just one of the many 80’s rock bands that have that common song formula I can’t figure out without over thinking.... Shout at the Devil and Theatre of Pain were two of my favorite albums from them, There seems to be a common formula in the majority of their songs I cannot connect? So I’m more curious of how to figure out songs that have incompletely clear chords?

[@Jay-sy5yf]

David, when the time is right--soon, perhaps--I recommend coming out with either a paid course or a members area to cover these topics in depth.

[@Michael-bl4no]

Does anyone else hear how Jake E Lee sounds as if he’s from the same glorious wheelhouse of Hendrix and Page with the added bonus of shred without sacrificing feel? Just sayin’. Brewster rules too - excellent teacher who is obviously not an armchair quarterback!

[@sixstringswl]

Love it!!!