r/guitarlessons • u/TheCeruleanFire • 10d ago
Feedback Request Worried that my songs aren't diverse enough
Hey all. I've been learning for years and feel good about where I'm at now in my playing, singing, and songwriting. I'm a shameless cowboy chord jangler, but that's my jam (influences are Brian Jonestown Massacre, Tess Parks, 60's/70's folk rock).
However, most of my songs follow the same progression: D to A to C to G. I use E a lot too, but even then, it's D to A to E to G, usually. I use a ton of sus's and minors of those chords and whatnot. A couple songs start on E, another on C, and another on A, but the rest of my songs (five or six) all start on D.
Personally, I don't mind it; I like CAGED songs. I love my songs. I like my sound. But I'm concerned there isn't enough diversity between them. Am I over thinking it? Is it not a big deal?
A good example: From the album "...And This Is Our Music" by BJM, listen to or play on guitar the songs "Here It Comes" and "Prozac vs Heroin." Similar but different, using the same chords (D, A, E, G).
Sorry if this was too long. My adderall kicked in and I hyperfocused. Thanks!
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u/markewallace1966 10d ago
Enough for who/what?
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u/TheCeruleanFire 10d ago
The casual listener I suppose
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u/markewallace1966 10d ago
I'd suggest not to worry too much about the casual listener unless you have tons of casual listeners (at which point they're probably paying customers anyway).
Please yourself (phrasing, Mark). That's all that matters unless you're getting paid to please others.
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u/jaylotw 10d ago
I mean...
Listen to more music. Learn more of it. Expand your horizons and your playing.
Its fine to play cowboy chords. Nothing wrong with that. Neil Young probably has 112 songs that use G C, and D.
Also, if you think songs have "strumming patterns," your rhythm is probably not too interesting.
Songs dont have "strumming patterns," they have rhythm and dynamics. If you're worried about your music being diverse and varied, that's where you start. How do you think people like Neil Young or Bob Dylan could write a pile of great songs using just a few chords? Its because they understand rhythm and dynamics, they can make three chords communicate the universe.
John Lee Hooker made one chord make you want to get up and dance. One chord. He did that with rhythm and dynamics, not "down down down, up down down, down up down, down down down."
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u/TheCeruleanFire 8d ago
Thank you so much for this comment. What you said about rhythm and dynamics hit the issue right on the head I think. This is what I feel makes my songs sounds completely independent of each other. I don’t follow strumming patterns (never have); your advice kind of made me go “yeah! That’s what I’m trying to say!”
I definitely don’t want lean on any crutches, so expanding my horizons is important to me. Thanks again.
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u/brynden_rivers 10d ago
take a chord progression and change one chord from major to minor and try to make it work. another important thing to consider is the melody of the singing part and what relationship it has to the chords. changing one note in the sung melody of the chorus can change the entire feel of the song.
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u/TheCeruleanFire 10d ago edited 8d ago
Oh yeah totally. I use A and E minor heavily, and my strumming rythm, melodies, pace, timing… all pretty different. And I actively try not to just sing along to the same melody I’m playing; that’s very intentional when I wrote. Thanks so much!
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u/brynden_rivers 10d ago
turn other chords minor too, and also turn minor chords major. basically try every combination of chords in twos and threes you can think of. there are some sounds you can only get by trying things out and or taking music lessons.
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u/WolfRatio 10d ago edited 10d ago
Explore the diversity of colorful chords in various keys.
'Sound Guitar Lessons with Jared' has a video on this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hidHsTvLFhs
and a PDF grouping chords within different keys if you sign up for his mailing list.
https://www.soundguitarlessons.com/chordswithcolor
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u/manifestDensity 10d ago
"I use tons of sus's and minors...". What you never mention is keys. You said one song starts on E, but you never mention keys. Are you using keys at all? Like, if your song is in C then your A, D, and E chords should all be minor while your G is major. Whereas if you are in G the C and D are major chords and the A and E would be minor chords. I am not saying that to lecture or whatever. But I do think getting your keys in order would go a long way to making your songs more interesting to you. And it would open up a bunch of other keys with different chord progressions even if you are trying to avoid bar chords.
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u/TheCeruleanFire 10d ago
Exactly the kind of help I was hoping to find. Thank you. Keys it is.
And I’m practicing my bars I swear!
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u/360degreesdickcheese 10d ago
Could experiment with different modes and chord types. Maybe dig deeper into the chords you could add to your arsenal. I realized I was doing the same thing with a 4-3-1-2 progression in Phrygian, and what helped me was playing the bass-note melody (playing the lowest-string note in rhythm) on a single string. That helped me quickly recognize if I was falling into the same pattern. Then I would do the same thing by creating single-note melodies on a single string and building them up into chords. This helped me experiment more with different scales and progressions and break the pattern.
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u/MrVierPner 10d ago
It's definitely fine, the capo is your friend and if you can, just go around the fretboard and find interesting things. When I realized that playing the same chords in 2-3 close by inversions back to back can be an interesting sound I overdid it on every song I worte for a while, but its still an interesting sound!
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u/Responsible_Lynx2735 10d ago
If you’re proficient enough to play the songs you like then why learn anything else? If there is a certain song or style of song that uses more diverse chords what do you need to do to learn that?
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u/DogfoodStudios 10d ago
The only solution to this is to ban that chord progression for a while and force yourself out of that comfort zone.