The Importance of Strong Chord sequences

Over the last couple of weeks, Songbay has had the pleasure of welcoming some truly talented artists who deserve mention for their masterful use of chord sequences and firm grasp of harmonic theory. Take for example the latest upload from Mike Lea Jones. His outstanding song-‘Lonely’ uses the incredibly mellow progression of Eb minor 9 to Eb minor 9 added 6 (listen to ‘Lonely’) or the equally strong submission from Stephen Pickering, his song-‘Sick of here’, (listen to ‘Sick of Here’) which employs similar chord extensions, again resulting in sultry atmospheric verses moving to explosive harmonic sequences in the chorus. Will Allen’s ‘Touch away‘ and Phil Danter’s ‘All at Sea‘ are further examples of songs using advanced chord extensions and modulations which really emphasize the melody and take the listener on diverse musical journeys.

Inspired by some of the best SongBay artists, I decided to experiment by composing a song that would be based on  a few well known themes such as:  ‘Summertime’ (Gershwin), ‘The Summer Knows’ (Michel Legrand), ‘Windmills of my Mind’ (Michel Legrand), and ‘Reaching for the Moon’ (Ella Fitzgerald). Here’s the result  >> Deja Vu, composed and performed by Gary Cubberley

We live in a ‘cut and paste’ world, even art is not spared from the trend. Increasingly today’s chart music is becoming loop and sample based, the use of harmony often relegated to third position behind melody and groove. That is why it is so refreshing to hear a well crafted song with great chord progressions.

Message to Songbay Artists-Keep uploading good songs and we’ll keep on promoting them!

Gary Cubberley

Songbayteam 🙂

To upload your music or Lyrics on Songbay, please go to www.songbay.co