Middle Eight. Chorus verse chorus chorus. My favorite. A fool if you do, a fool if you don’t.
Progressions that pay.
Listening to the radio today, one of those very rare occasions, in the car of course, waiting for Judy, I heard once again a common 1,4,5 progression. Money. Its money. Funny.
Got to thinking about how some progressions keep on keeping on, they get used over and over and over and pretty much are money, in the bank. So you wonder about originality. You hear the latest and the pride and joy in those creations that aren’t creations but renditions and think that originality all but doesn’t exist.
So arrangement seems to be what composing is, really. So Acid Pro creations are composing? No.
But as the title of this post indicates, conventions are familiar and usually quite enjoyable. As we carve these paths of familiarity are we creating them or finding them? Are some progressions just right and we discover them or are we all color blind?
The diatonic scale is like that. Pythagoras discovered it yes? Or did he invent it?
No matter. These are comfortable comforting sounds. The real challenge is doing them in a way that is original after all but keeps that happy recognition alive.
Don’t bore us, get to the chorus.