How to Escape a Chord Progression

🎁 Grab My Free Film Scoring Guide: bit.ly/zhfreebie
🎬 Get Paid to Compose: bit.ly/zh-bootcamp
👋 Become a Patreon Member: / zachheyde
FREE RESOURCES:
🎬 Film Scoring Guide: bit.ly/zhfreebie
💰 Music Pricing Guide: bit.ly/zhfreebie
💻 Zach's Gear List: bit.ly/zhfreebie
PRODUCTS & COURSES:
🎬 Composing Career Bootcamp: bit.ly/zh-bootcamp
🎻 Orchestral Mockup Course: payhip.com/b/Kpot5
🖥️ Logic Pro Orchestral Template: payhip.com/b/bRtsJ
🎶 Custom Harp VST: payhip.com/b/HE29M
🎚️ TouchOSC Template: payhip.com/b/jXpH6
📃 Sheet Music: www.stemsupsound.com/
WHO AM I?
Hey there! I'm Zach - full-time media composer, passionate online educator, and obsessive coffee roaster. Through my KZbin channel, weekly newsletter, and online courses, I'll teach you how to grow as a composer so you can make cool music and spend your life doing what you love.
CONNECT WITH ME:
📸 Instagram: / zachheyde
📩 Website: zachheyde.com

[@ZachHeyde]

Want more free music tips? Check out my 5-step film scoring guide here! bit.ly/zhfreebie

[@LukeMans]

Small addition, but suspended chords can also add a bit more interest to a chord progression, I often think too much in minor and major and forget I can use suspended chords as well. Great video though!

[@s3thtripp]

i agree! my favorite show of all time Next to Normal uses a lottt of sus chords. it allows for variation, and key changes if needed

[@BenBerkenboschMusic]

Love suspended chords 😍

[@hahhey1372]

Can’t forget diminished and augmented ❤️

[@DawphinOfficial]

I know you! Good add btw. I forget about suspended chords

[@thegreengoblin3603]

That's sus bro

[@zackblake526]

Holy heck dude the substitution with relative chords is a huge game changer! For being a fairly simple concept it sure has a huge impact! Didn't realize you could swap out chords like that

[@OrojinMusic]

That first example of inversion you gave was straight up John Powell's How to Train Your Dragon. And I love how simple it is

[@dansteinbok7955]

This was more a lesson in substitutions than in escaping circular chord progressions. Escaping chord progressions is more the practice of using your existing harmonic motion to create tension in the last repetition of the form, then moving to a new harmonic center. For your example, a great new harmonic center would be Bb, which I would reinforce using a backdoor progression of Db-Ab-Eb-Bb. Melodically you could easily get to the Bb by replacing the 4th rep of your chord progression with Cm Cm Bb Bb. Following with the Db to start the backdoor creates a strong tangential motion to break the sound of the Cm key: a successful escape. And you have an easy path back to the original chord progression by stalling the backdoor on the Eb.

[@jasonfanclub4267]

True

[@Andrew-ei4pz]

That’s not a backdoor progression. That’s just a circle progression going up by 5ths rather than down. Backdoor refers to approaching the 1 chord from the flat 7 instead of from the 5

[@dansteinbok7955]

@@Andrew-ei4pz Ah you got me. I always thought it was bVII-IV-I, but now I see a backdoor is only IV-bVII-I. Regardless, my circle of fourths is a great way to enforce the Bb as the new harmonic center.

[@zoundbiestudio4021]

@@Andrew-ei4pz would you recommend any videos or material on this? I've been analyszing some OCtopath traveller music and think this is used a lot but would love to get a better grasp on it.

[@andrew_nayes]

I also wonder if you can recommend any videos on this backdoor progression?

[@leightonshelley]

Stay on a cord longer than usual to break the loop, press on a cord twice to start a different progression from that joining cord, screw the rules and go on your own path, find out how un-living your grandfather with a time-machine doesn't make a paradox, etc.

[@JJ-zo7jv]

This is brilliant and I’ve recently discovered this as well. Another good one is just use an inversion of said chord after you’ve played it in root or whatever. So Dmin (D F A) then play (F A D) after. Game changer for me personally.

[@vid2422]

this is far more relevant than one would think, as a fellow musician I run into this issue all the time, thank you for this!

[@PerpetuallyTiredMillennial]

"Not something that you want to overdo" Jazz has entered the chat

[@PeculiarPumpkin07]

You're one of the only music tips KZbinrs that actually gives some good useful tips and explains them well

[@EyesOnTheMoonStudios]

This is a great video, Zach! I hear your love of John Powell in the chords

[@johnzachariahg]

1 second in and I can already hear it

[@conradsmith9441]

one thing going off of the borrowed chords and chord extensions is you could skip a chord replacing it with the secondary dominant 7 leading to the next chord. This could also precede you using 2-5s which will not only make the sound jazzier, but make good openings for modulations/key changes. You could also consider using a tritone substitution

[@TheCoolj1212]

The relative chords thing was awesome to learn about. Thanks for the video, as always!!

[@sharmsong]

God I needed to watch this, my songs can be so repetitive, which I personally like, but it is very easy to get "stuck" in the same progressions.

[@ZuhexEntertainment]

This was so insightful and helpful. I learned the keys by myself and I've always been a HUGE fan of movie soundtracks, but never truly understood how their progressions were so lively and in constant movement. Fantastic! Great example of the things you showed on this video is "He's a Pirate" by Hans Zimmer for Pirates of the Carribbean! :)

[@maplefoxx6285]

one of the best videos I have found in the last year is Hanz Zimmer chords by Composing Academy, i bet him and Zach know each other. Pretty much my 2 favorite channels for this stuff

[@ZuhexEntertainment]

@@maplefoxx6285 Tks for the recommendation, ill look into it right now!

[@jean.marion]

One of your best videos! Especially loved the improv at the end. Thanks for taking the time to put all of this together.☺

[@ginaray9752]

This is so fun! Love your simple explanation and demonstrations!

[@jonasfriedman]

Great video Zach! your content is so thoughtful and to the point.

[@SamAllenComposer]

Love this Zach, especially the extended harmony section!

[@Darqice]

Beautiful improvisation at the end. Thank you.

[@theanalyticalsongwriter]

This was phenomenally inspiring! I live the idea of building a substitution around the note in the main voice -- it’s not an unintuitive concept, and be just never heard it so plainly articulated the way it was in this video. Wonderful work!

[@denisortega1478]

Amazinggg video that simplifies techniques we could use, love it

[@TheMightyWamps]

I watched a lot of vids regarding inversions, borrowed chord, and so on, but yours was by far the simplest to grasp. Not because you dumb it down but you explain it in such a wonderful coherent way. You got a new sub 👍.

[@tristanlebozec3645]

I can't stress enough how useful your videos are ! Really great job

[@bulkvanderhuge9006]

YES!!! I needed this! This is such a perfect example/explanation!

[@AeGeR97]

Your videos are so helpful. Greatly appreciated. Thank you!

[@KaneDoesEverything]

This is such an excellent video, and just what I needed to see. I couldn't figure out why my songs were so boring when I changed timbres and melody lines so drastically. This will definitely help my productions.

[@noahmin203]

Hey, I really love your channel and your approach to explaining ideas of music. Thanks, Zach!

[@ZachHeyde]

Thank you!

[@nelliesnest5919]

Amazing video! This is exactly what ive been looking for when it comes to expanding my improv! Thanks yo

[@emirmahiuysal]

Amazing video, super useful! 💙

[@HydrogenHuman]

This was awesome, Zach! I definitely needed something like this to help understand what to do with my chord progressions! Please make more of these, or do you know of any other kinds of videos formatted like this?

[@daniellepaxton7427]

This is an amazing video! I'm a guitar player and for some reason this was in my suggested video column. I'm so glad! I'm going to use these concepts for writing on the guitar. the idea of substituting chords by taking a melody note and finding other chords outside of the key that contain that note is the biggest aha moment I've had in a while. You've just created a creative mad musical scientist! I'll be experimenting with this forever now! Thank you!

[@slartibartfast1268]

Great job! Learned a lot

[@shaunkara]

Great job explaining these "often intimidating" concepts in a really accessible way. I especially loved the final segment about Chord Extensions. I'm quite adventurous with my playing, but I had never really thought of borrowing notes as extensions of other chords in the way you illustrated. Thanks for the eye-opener! 🙂

[@paul.awaraji]

Love it! Thank you for the free knowledge

[@justinbeck4197]

This is a very good video. Better than more than one of the music classes I've struggled through in college.

[@zenzelstephensmusic]

Golden video, this was so helpful thanks, Zach!

[@KaninManeepairoj]

Very comprehensive. Takes time and experience. Thank you for creating this

[@julienvittori8248]

just a normal day on youtube until I stumble upon this video which solve a problem I wanted to solve for so long. Thank you so much !

[@chrishope6428]

Nicely explained and a great progression to demonstrate the concepts - thanks !

[@brianbergmusic5288]

Excellent lesson! The *Chord Extensions* part of the lesson made me think of not so much jazz but the "easy" listening era -- can't put my finger on specific examples, but there was a time when more clever harmonies seemed to make songs more magical.

[@wolfboyft]

That was good! Thank you!

[@stefancruz1074]

This was such a thoughtfully explained and practical lesson. Thanks a ton man! This is a super useful way to kickstart more interesting progressions

[@ZachHeyde]

Thank you Stefan!

[@DaCashRap]

Very useful info in an understandable format. Well done!

[@benjaminbeam5273]

If you have a good melody and bass, you don’t always need chords. I like to use chords when i make the production and then take them out after I’m done. It clears up space on your mix and relieves the problem of predictable chord progressions

[@zillasaurus]

This is awesome. Just what I needed. Thank you for this. I’m excited to get back to some of my more stale dead end progressions.

[@scoutguitars958]

You did a killer job with explanations here.

[@Cleidernino]

Zach..you're a genious!!! thank you for teaching us

[@sergeypetrushev7699]

Thank you very much Zach

[@Spherical_El]

Awesome and understandable, not too wild. Definitely inspiring. Instant Sub - thanks!

[@mysteriousstranger9496]

Not seen it explained this way before, nice work.

[@DEADLINETV]

Very good video! Some lovely concepts there and great ideas to get off the beaten path! Thanks!

[@ExarpOmega]

I missed this video in my feed for some reason. I'm so glad I went to your channel and found this. This is exactly what I needed to get me out of my block for an assignment for a friend of mine. Thanks for saving my butt man.

[@Glandulf19]

Had the issue today when composing, and this video gets recommended, perfect timing for me ❤

[@SpeakOfTheDavel]

Really excellent lesson. Thankyou Zach

[@scottfoster3643]

Concise and perfectly presented content! Thank you good sir 🙏 Fantasztikus!

[@Lufade]

As a man who plays pop covers, I can't even tell you how much I appreciate a video like this.

[@petupullo5160]

Awesome video once again!

[@davidcoelho1797]

Exelente tutorial Zach, thank you very much.

[@BaRRe0n]

Goated. I would to see more on screen displays of info while your playing these different techniques. Great Video

[@PromoMIAR]

Good teacher. Thanks

[@brunoromiti7708]

thanks for posting! espetacular video!

[@spencermartin5622]

This a fantastic tutorial! Cheers!

[@EstetikCookie]

A nice example of the relative major/minor is with the chord progression, IV-V-vi-V-IV-I-IV-V. For this case, let's say we're in the key of C major, so these chords would be F, G, Am, G, F, C, F, G Instead of repeatedly doing F, G, Am, G, you can do F, G, Am, Em, F, C, Dm, G (which is IV-V-vi-iii-IV-I-ii-V) Just this simple change adds so much more interest and drama to the chord progression. It's amazing how it works

[@swifty5098]

this is gold!

[@jishnugoyal4397]

I totally loved this!

[@schvartzniger]

Great video, thank you❤

[@dhavalvankar9683]

Wow.. perfectly explained..I want to learn more❤❤

[@alexsmith7492]

Excellent video.

[@Iprayagraj]

Thanks for this informative video ❤️❤️

[@ZachHeyde]

Hey there! If you want to learn how to make a career out of writing media music, check out my 6-week Composing Career Bootcamp: zachheyde.com/composing-career-bootcamp

[@hunnymaddix1950]

Absolute 💎

[@64guatemala]

Great video, Zach. Man!!! I have MISSED you. I'm so used to seeing new videos all the time. I assume that you are busy as I'll get out 😅. It's great to see that you're clearly exploding with opportunities. Anyway... As always... I love and am so grateful for your time and input. You Rock! 😁

[@shellularity]

i have an overarching love for weird chords personally, don't be afraid to use things like accidentals, diminished, sus2/sus4, and weird extensions like the 6th! i've found a trick personally that i love which is using things like diminished chords which are tritones of the home key, or use a note one semitone below the minor tonic (e.g. a g#dim chord leading to an A minor chord in c major or a minor.) hope this helps! great video by the way!!

[@Hau830404]

Very inspiring

[@tonye9045]

Really good video, thanks

[@LukaGroulx]

Very useful video! Thanks

[@liteningstrike12]

Because I wanted to pick it apart and analyze it through the techniques you just showed, I transcribed the improvisation from the end. It would probably take me a full day to even try and understand it, but was such a fun exercise and really illustrates how well these principles can be taken into account when you know your stuff! C minor, F minor (relative minor, inverted), Bb major (inverted), Eb major (no 5th) C minor, F minor (relative minor), Csus2 (extension, inverted), Eb major (no root!) C minor, F minor (rel minor), G minor (rel minor), Eb major (no 5th) C minor 7 (no 5th), Ab major, Csus2 (extension, inverted), G major (Borrowed?) F major 7 (no 5th, extension), Bb minor(borrowed, inverted), G minor (rel minor, inverted), C major (Borrowed, modulating?) Db major (we’re in a new key here i think), Db major held for another bar (to help establish the new key in the listener), Csus4 (if Db is the new I, C must be the new VII, so it occupies the same interval that the Bb chord had in the original key?), C major (bridge back to original key) C minor, Ab major (inverted), Csus2 (extension inverted), D major (idk man) Csus4, C major (big finish!) Very very beautiful, and your music theory muscle memory is RIDICULOUSLY impressive and inspiring :) Would love the thoughts of any other commenters who know more music theory than I

[@liteningstrike12]

I need @CharlesCornellStudios on this, stat!

[@thekolbaska]

Fantastic video as always, Zach. Would you mind sharing which software you use to display the keyboard at the bottom of the screen?

[@KingThabz]

don't know how I found you. But I am grateful. Thank You. Simple, but GOLD!!👍✊

[@annapretasantos6037]

Thanks A LOT!

[@helloween76]

Awesome video

[@leniveth]

thanks steve!

[@AzuriumOfficial]

Great video. I found value even as a self taught no music theory guy that looks at this as an alien language. This helps me define what I do by feel.

[@brenmac]

oh right on I honestly wasn't sure if I could use arcade for the production music I write even though I believe I saw in the fine print it said was fine. great informative video too btw!

[@renaissauceman]

Ending was a massive harmonic flex 🔥🔥 amazing

[@tumpperi3891]

Two ways that are useful for me are composing only melody, then harmonizing after. Another is that you can use any chord, as long as the melody note is included in the chord or its extensions - enabling you to go "anywhere".

[@o0...957]

1:21 I thought the chord progression sounds familiar. Then I realised that I have always rememberer this as vi-IV-V-I from the perspective of relative major scale, this progression is known by the name "Komuro progression(小室進行)" in J-pop music.

[@KelvinDominick-cl2xq]

This was helpful

[@CharlesHx]

I just realized relative major chords are the upper triad of the relative m7 chord (Am = ACE, Am7 = A+CEG) and remembered that playing a relative minor to a Maj chord is like playing a 6 chord (Am = ACE = CEA = C6). Thanks.

[@Cromanea]

Man! It was extremely useful. Thanks. Not even joking man! Thanks.❤

[@highbred]

wow, thanks!

[@rodrigozimmerr]

Muito bom Zach.

[@patrickpowell5430]

Great video lesson. I've learned more about music in 12 minutes than for some time. It also allows me to see the 'tricks' that classical composers got up to which always interested me but I thought I would never understand. BTW The melody you use is somehow familiar, but I can't trace it. Any idea what piece I am thinking off?

[@jamesm601]

Great video, Zach. I'll definitely be experimenting with these techniques. This is sort of an off-topic question, but can I ask what you do with the iPad you have mounted there? Are you using it as a secondary DAW controller of some kind? I've been looking for a way to use an iPad kind of the way people use StreamDecks and devices like that. Set up a grid of buttons and map them to common DAW functions. That kind of thing. Sorry for the tangent. Again, thanks for the great insights!

[@leftthechatsound]

I need to sit at the keyboard and practice inversions. Thanks for the tips!

[@TheTonyTitan]

Thanks

[@yippekaiye6997]

Thank you for this video i play guitar but this was extremely helpful already

[@maplefoxx6285]

Really enjoyed the Borrowed Chord section of this video. Do you use passing chords? I like all the neat passing chords from Jazz and Gospel music a lot. I feel like some of the changes work amazing for Anime style music. I am still in process of learning this all. Thanks for the video!

[@ZachHeyde]

Thank you! I sure do :)

[@johnh14159]

I instantly heard the beginning calm section of "This is Berk" by John Powell in my head from your example. I find that keeping the chords the same but building up the texture is a good way to continue onwards from your example. I found in the John Powell score that he "uses" some of your tips. Great video, I learned a lot from it! In This Is Berk, John Powell continues with a different phrase, jumping from the minor one chord to the minor five chord, which seems to move the music "backwards" before bringing the piece to a rest with the major four chord (dorian mode). The original progression is quite uplifting, would you consider it to be minor or major?

[@imsonny1635]

same here LOL

[@vgblucro887]

Getting Parasyte: the Maxim vibes. Well played and explained, thank you!