The Magic Four Chords – Are They in Your Key?

Ah, the magic four chords.  It’s true that most hit songs revolve around a very small selection of progressions.  Yet we always hear singers using the excuse ‘it’s not in my key’.

Listen to the video above and you’ll hear the wide variety of notes that revolve around the magic four chords.  Sing along with it.  Some of those notes may be out of your comfortable range.  That’s ok.  They were for these guys and THEY recorded it!  … ok, so they’re comedians.  But I digress.

If you write your own music, collaborate or have music written for you, these four chords could be in any key.  Have a melody that’s stretching you beyond what you’re comfortable with?  Just choose another starting point in the chord.

Don’t write your own music or have anyone to help?  Use music loops and any simple recording software.  Garage Band comes with iLife ’09 for around $60 for the Mac or download Audacity free for PC).   There are tons of loops for Garage Band Loops and many resources like this where you can listen and purchase loops online.   The beauty is that it really doesn’t matter what key you find your four chords in because you can always arrange the melody line around them to compliment your range.

Stuck for ideas on how to modify your melody?  Just keep coming back to this video.  No melody rip offs, though.  Just combine bits and pieces until your own imagination takes over and creates a melody that could be the next big hit; one that you can be sure is in your key, every time.

Wanna share your favorite four chord song? Click ‘comments’ at the top of this post and share text or a link to yours. 

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