Are you always using the same three chords in your songs? E, A and B? A, D and E? G, C and D? It’s time to break away from the obvious chords…

Whether you know music theory or not, if you write rock and rock-influenced music and don’t force yourself to break away from the mould, you will find that it’s difficult to get away from the basic I-IV-V chord structure. If you don’t understand what I-IV-V is, well, the examples given above all follow that chord structure, though there are many others as well but those tend to be a common trap for songwriting guitarists.

Are you scared you have lost the ability to write great chord progressions? Fear not, there are ways to open up your mind when you are stuck in a rut.

Here’s a method to open my mind to new sounds and chords:

Buy yourself a chord position reference book and pick two random chords. If you pick a chord you often use, pick another one. Play each chord a few times and practise going from one to the other one and back. Do they sound good together?

Using the two chords you have picked, try to modify them, one finger at a time. Move your index finger to the fret below - does the progression sound better? Experiment until you find something that sounds better than what you started with.

Now, pick a third chord. Again, randomly pick it and amend it until it sounds OK to your ears. It doesn’t have to sound great but it needs to sound OK, eg it shouldn’t grate your ears.

Play your three chords over and over again. Let’s call it chord progression 1. 

Now, replace the second chord in your progression with a chord you often use, a chord that will sound much better to your ears - perhaps because it sounds fuller or it’s a natural progression, there is a sense of “closing” the progression, or “propelling” the progression.

Let’s call this chord progression number 2.

Now, replace the last chord in your progression with another chord that will improve the progression greatly. Again, you’re looking for chords that bring closure to a progression, some chords that sound right with the chord before.

Play your new progression, which we will call number 3.

Finally, replace the first chord in your progression. Now, you have gone back into familiar territory and you are quite likely to be using a I-IV-V progression again, because let’s face it, this progression sounds damn good and is the basis of most songs. This is chord progression 4.

Play chord progressions 1, 2 , 3 & 4. Play each of them on its own for a few bars. Play one after the other. Could you use progression 3 to add colour to progression 4? Could you use progression 1 as an intermittent progression, before kicking back into a powerful chorus using progression 4? Could you use progression 3 to ease back into the verse?

This method will show you what each progression can do. Sure, a I-IV-V progression works well and brings a certain resolution to a chord progression but mood andatmosphere are very important to a song and the best way to create them is by using different chords from what is expected, as well as chords that aren’t simple major and minor chords but have extra notes in them.

In a song, there is a place for a simple and straightforward I-IV-V progression; but there is also a place for other chords.

Why have everything bright red when you can have purple and salmon for a few seconds, which will then make the red ever brighter and in your face when it comes back in?