Guitar Sessions 30: How to steal a chord progression
Yes, I said steal. It’s OK to talk about stealing a chord progression because:
No one owns a chord progression.
We all use the same basic building blocks in writing songs.
Everyone does this, whether consciously or not. We hear a progression we like, and we adopt it—and make it our own.
This Guitar Sessions episode explores how you can do this: use chord changes from other songs to spark your own song ideas.
As an example, I share how my new song “Hippie Hair (for the First Time)” directly uses pieces of the chord progressions of two classic songs: the Band’s “The Weight" and Eric Clapton’s (appropriately titled) “Let It Grow.” You can find the full song below. (It actually includes quite a few more direct references to classic songs, as detailed in this post.)
The lesson digs into how to adapt a chord progression by transposing into another key, changing the groove, reversing the order, using simple substitutions, and more. This is a great way to learn and uncover ideas.
See also this songwriter’s guide to chord progressions, and the previous Guitar Sessions episode on chord substitutions.
Download all the lyric/chord charts and tab on Patreon.
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