3 Chords Every Real Songwriter Should Know

Added: 2026-05-12

[00:00:00]Clay and I are going to talk today about three chords [music] every real songwriter should know. So, Clay, what's number >> I'm an unreal songwriter? You are unreal in many ways. So, give us the first one.

[00:00:13]All right, Ashley, kick it off with these three snippets.

[00:00:17]>> [music and singing] [music and singing] >> Okay, so, what do these three songs have in common? Well, before I tell you, I just want to back it up. A few years ago, I was on a recording session with some great players and Brent Mason, I was showing him how to play a song that I'd written and he goes, "Oh, the songwriter chord."

[00:00:48]And I wasn't too sure what he was talking about, but I later figured it out. Basically, what he was talking about is playing a chord voicing on guitar that's a root and the 10th.

[00:00:58][music] So, the way you find it is just go up the scale. You start on the root, 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10.

[00:01:07]So, with Blackbird root 10th.

[00:01:15]Crazy.

[00:01:16]>> And there's all kinds of songs that use this.

[00:01:19]Throw me out a line of a song. We'll just demonstrate. Um baby, you're amazing.

[00:01:26]>> [laughter] >> Okay.

[00:01:29]>> [music] [singing] [singing] [music] >> What rhymes with amazing?

[00:01:47]Um don't think I can take it. Don't think I can take it.

[00:01:53]There's no getting over you. [singing] >> No getting over you.

[00:01:58]So, there we have it. We started a song using nothing but the vibey songwriter chord. So where all of those chords Yeah, everyone. Yeah. [music] So I just take the the root note and I count up 10. Basically, what you're doing is you're playing the root and the third and you're just flipping the third up an octave. So >> [music] >> you could play it like But that's kind of this dark kind of sound. So if you flip the third up an octave But what it does, if I was playing that in just regular guitar chords Mhm. Baby, you're amazing.

[00:02:37]>> [singing and music] >> I mean, it's it's okay. Mhm. But it's not near as vibey as baby, you're amazing.

[00:02:51]Everything [music] you do.

[00:02:55]It's just the way to add a little more vibe to the song.

[00:02:59]>> What's the next chord? Next chord, slash chords. Hit it, Ashley.

[00:03:04]You know, sometimes [music] I don't know why, but this old town just seems so hopeless.

[00:03:11]No, it sounds [music] funny, but I just can't stand [singing] the pain.

[00:03:16]Well, he's friends with the fancy persuasion.

[00:03:19]>> [music] >> Don't admit that it's part of the scheme.

[00:03:23]But I can't All right. So are these chords that you would see in like a horror movie? Is that why they're called slash chords? I was thinking more it was chords that Slash, the guitar player for Guns N' Roses, would play. But no. Okay.

[00:03:37]I I'm sure he uses slash chords.

[00:03:39]>> Probably so. They're not named after him.

[00:03:40]>> Okay. So basically, what it is is let's just take a How Long Is This Been Going On? Um if we were to play [music] that with A, the first chord is a G.

[00:03:53]But we're not going to play G in the bass. We're going to play A. So, that would be G/A.

[00:03:59]Then we go like this.

[00:04:01]>> [music] [music] >> I like it.

[00:04:11]>> [music] >> How long has this crap been going on?

[00:04:17][singing and music] I don't think he's saying that.

[00:04:20]>> [laughter] >> Um I always wondered about that song cuz I love that song, but he's so nonchalant about this woman that's cheating on him. How long has this been going on?

[00:04:30]>> he sings this beautiful song about it.

[00:04:32]>> [laughter] >> So, the last way I want to talk about using slash chords would be as a substitute for the five chord. Okay.

[00:04:42]Okay. So, in case we let's say we're in G, key of G.

[00:04:46]>> [music] >> And we play a G, a B minor, an A minor, and a D.

[00:04:54]That D is the five. G is one, A is two, B is three, C is four, and five is D.

[00:05:02]So, instead of just [music] playing a D chord, I'm going to play a C over a D bass. [music] >> Okay. And so, in the song I'm easy, let's just demonstrate how easy it is to hear the difference.

[00:05:14]>> Okay.

[00:05:15]>> [music] >> I know it sounds funny, but [singing] I just can't stand the pain.

[00:05:21]slash [music] chord But what if we didn't play a slash chord? What if we just played a regular five chord?

[00:05:27]I know it [singing and music] sounds funny, but I just can't stand the pain.

[00:05:34]>> [music] >> Kind of sounds cheesy.

[00:05:37]Yeah, >> [music] >> not nearly as good. So, the real way.

[00:05:42]I know [singing] it sounds funny, but [music] I just can't stand the pain.

[00:05:49]It's just a little more interesting. It has more tension, more melancholy to it.

[00:05:55]I like it.

[00:05:55]>> Yeah. All right, what's our third chord?

[00:05:57]Sixth chords. Hey, Ashley, hit us one more time with the little sixth chord.

[00:06:02]>> [music] >> Gravity is working against me.

[00:06:10]2:00 [music] this morning she said she was calling.

[00:06:16]>> [music] >> Mama just killed [music] a man.

[00:06:25]All right. So, sixth chords are easy to understand. In a regular chord, let's go back to A. We got 1 3 5.

[00:06:33][music and singing] But what if we went 1 3 6? Woah. 1 3 6.

[00:06:41]>> [music] >> Uh-oh.

[00:06:46]>> [music] >> Little Huey Lewis and the news. Yeah.

[00:06:50]But the reason I started noticing sixth chords and talking about um this to my masterclass in January is I started noticing a lot of artist the song that broke them and cut through all the noise and broke them as artist had sixth chords in it. Really? If you think of Queen Queen had been around a little bit, but Bohemian Rhapsody just skyrocketed their career. And that song utilized the sixth in it. Um Heart and Soul by Huey Lewis, that was their breakthrough song. That had a sixth in it. Um going all the way back to like Captain and Tennille, Love Will Keep Us Together.

[00:07:32]>> Oh, yeah. Um that was their signature song. And I'll talk about one more song.

[00:07:37]Okay. Desperado by the Eagles. Classic.

[00:07:41]It was the first song that Don Henley and Glenn Frey wrote that um broke through. I think it was Linda Ronstadt or somebody cut it, you know, right as right before they took off as artists, but it was their signature song for a long time. And so I think the reason I'm bringing all this up is as songwriters today more than ever, there's so much music being released that we need to find ways to make our songs stand out.

[00:08:13]And you can look at history, writers that incorporate the use of the sixth chord they tend to to be somewhere the energy's around that breakthrough.

[00:08:24]Yeah, interesting. So if I was to try to break through as a writer today I would try to utilize those things like sixth chords and slash chords and things that not every songwriter is using to try to give me a sound that was a little different.

[00:08:41]>> Yeah, that can help you stand out.

[00:08:42]>> Yeah. And that's what it's all about.

[00:08:44]And we just rhymed.

[00:08:46]That's what it's all about. You got to stand out.

[00:08:49]>> No doubt. Right.

[00:08:51]See you soon. Right [music] on. Hey, thanks for watching. If you appreciate the content, hit the subscribe button [music] and help us grow. Shout out to Sweetwater Music. It's where Marty and I get all our musical gear, [music] great people. We'll see you guys around town.

[00:09:06]Right on.