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Make an Ordinary Chord Progression Sound Extraordinary with an Inverted Pedal Point | The Essential Secrets of Songwriting Blog

15-8-2014

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Make an Ordinary Chord Progression Sound

Extraordinary with an Inverted Pedal Point

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Chord progressions don’t need to be complicated animals. In fact, the more complicated it

is, the more problems it can cause for a song. Progressions that are too complicated are

either too long, or throw in chords that are unexpected (i.e., needlessly pulls the song into

distantly-related keys).

The good news is that with the simple addition of an inverted pedal point, you can take a

very common progression and make it suddenly very interesting. Here’s how that works:

A pedal point is a note, often in the bass, that remains constant while the chords above it

change. Sometimes the bass note will not even belong to the chord that’s being played. But

the fact that it is a constant feature of that progression makes it work. Here’s a good

example of a common bass pedal point:

C F/C G/C C

But did you know that, instead of using a bass note as the constant pitch, you can use an

upper note? This is called an inverted pedal. Here’s an example of a common progression

(without an inverted pedal):

A Bm A/C# D A

Here it is again, with an inverted pedal on the note C#:

A Bm9 A/C# Dmaj7 A

As you can hear, the addition of that C# note as an upper pedal gives something to the

listener to “latch on to.” It creates colours that you might not have considered before, and

amounts to a breath of fresh air.

You can add inverted pedals to any chords, and it can even work if the held note is a non-

chord-tone for most of the chords in the progression. Here’s an example of a chord

progression that holds the note B:

A(add9) F#sus4 Bm E7 A(add9)

So experiment. You can add the inverted pedal as a note in one of the instruments in your

band, or even use it as a melody note when you sing. It’s effect can be a bit unpredictable,

so be sure to let your ears be your guide.

-Gary Ewer, from “The

Essential Secrets of Songwriting”

website.

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GARYEWER

OCTOBER 24, 2008

•

PERMALINK

Posted in

CHORD PROGRESSIONS, SONGWRITING

Tagged

CHORD PROGRESSIONS, MUSIC, PEDAL POINT, SONGS

4 COMMENTS

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chord

chord progression

Chord

Progressions chords

chorus

compose

composing

composition

contour

contrast copy right

design

dominant

emotion

energy

Hey, Found you when I used the Tag Surfer thing in WP. Oh how I’d love to

be able to finish a song. I play a little keyboard ( self taught and only really

right hand – never got the hang of left / right separation ), anyway, I bought

a Yamaha MOTIF XS6 last year, and the problem I have is that I have no

problem in creating new little loops, but thats as far as it goes. I have about 2

dozen little bits of song, that on their own I think have potential to be good

little songs ( other people may think otherwise, but humour me ok ?? LOL ).

Where do I start in order to progress them. If it would help answer the

question, you can mail me at

mark@mark-pacey.co.uk

and maybe I could

send you a couple of MP3’s to listen to, so you can hear my problem.

Many Thanks,

Mark.

form

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frustration

gary

ewer

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Hook how to write a song

Improvisation innovation

inspiration

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instruments

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minor

modulation

momentum motif

Melody

music

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predictability principles

progression

progressions

range repetition

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shape

song

song energy

songs songwriter

garyewer

/ October 24, 2008

songwriting

strong

structure

tempo

text

The Beatles

tonic

Hi Mark: Usually, I tell songwriters that if you’re in a rut and can’t get a song

finished, you need to try a radically different way of writing, just to “shake it

up” a bit. If you’ve got a bunch of loops, it may be best to concentrate on one

or two of them. Maybe try to find a couple that sound good together… it’s

possible that one could be a good starter for a verse, the other for a chorus. It’s

hard to be specific without knowing what your loops sound like.

I’ll write you and give you an address you can send me a couple of your MP3s.

I’m happy to listen and see if I can help.

-Gary

verse

words

write

writer's block

writing

Nick

/ May 29, 201 1

Hey Gary!

I’ve seen the link in your article about The Script’S song “For the first time”

and have a quick question:

In what way effects the inverted pedal point the name of the chord?

For example: If you have the chord A and the inverted pedal point f#, will it

result in an A6?

I’m kinda confused that in the chord progression you’ve given [A(add9)

F#sus4 Bm E7 A(add9)] the inverted pedal point is f#, and not how I would

have figured from the chords, b (as the tone b exists in every chord of the

progression).

I’m sorry for a possibly very awkward question and hope you can help.

By the way: All the best wishes to you, wour wife and your new-born:)

http://garyewer.wordpress.com/2008/10/24/make-an-ordinary-chord-progression-sound-extraordinary-with-an-inverted-pedal-point/

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Make an Ordinary Chord Progression Sound Extraordinary with an Inverted Pedal Point | The Essential Secrets of Songwriting Blog

15-8-2014

garyewer

Hi Nick:

/ May 29, 201 1

You caught an error that I made. I said that the inverted pedal is the note

F#, when in fact I should have said it’s the note B. I’ve corrected it now in

the post, and thank you very much for writing and allowing me to fix that.

And thanks for your good wishes regarding our new little girl, Ruth. She’s

certainly turned our world upside down, but in a very wonderful way.

Thanks again,

Gary

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