How to Write EPIC Chord Progressions

Learn how to write a chord progression for an epic chorus, by using a music theory hack from Leprous “Alleviate” (off their new album “Pitfalls”). Subtitles/CC available.

Norwegian band Leprous just released their new album “Pitfalls”, and it’s truly epic! One of the most epic moments is the chorus in their song “Alleviate”, which we’ll hack over the next two lessons: chords this week, then melody next week.

SETUP
Alright, now you’re gonna learn how to make your own epic chord progression, like Leprous. And for the example in this lesson, we’ll be using our version that we made earlier. So, start by setting up eight bars of 4/4, with your grid set to 1/4 notes, and your tempo set to 116 BPM. Leprous use D natural minor for their chorus, and the natural minor scale is a common choice for epic music, so we’ll use it too.

STEP 1. COMMON NOTES
A common note is a note that’s the same between two chords. For example, Dm and Fmaj both contain the notes F and A, so F and A are common notes between those two chords. And common notes are an essential part of epic music, cos having a note or two stay the same when your chord changes, creates a super strong link between those chords that adds power to your progression. So, when you’re choosing what chords to use from the key of D minor, be sure to choose chords with common notes. For our progression, we chose: Dm → Fmaj → B♭maj → Csus4. And the reason for Csus4, is because Cmaj doesn’t have a common note with the B♭maj before it or the Dm after it, so we changed the Cmaj to Csus4, which gives us the common note F.

STEP 2. INVERSIONS
Now that you’ve chosen your chords, it’s time to use inversions to get the common notes in the same place within your chords as they change. And by the way, an inversion is simply when you change the order of the notes in a chord. For example, we inverted Fmaj to be CFA, instead of FAC. And we did that to get those common notes (F and A) in the same place as they are in Dm. So now F is in the middle of both chords, and A is on top of both chords, which makes this chord change super strong, and therefore epic!

STEP 3. RHYTHM
When it comes to how long you spend on each chord (known as harmonic rhythm), keep it simple, as your chord progression is just the foundation upon which you’ll write an epic melody. So if get too fancy with your harmonic rhythm, your chords will actually draw attention away from your melody. And epic music is all about the melody, which we’ll cover next week. Now, Leprous plays each chord for one bar, so we’ve done the same.

STEP 4. VARIATION
This is optional, but if you create a little variation in your progression, it’ll inject some freshness. We did this by resolving Csus4 to Cmaj every second time, but then we go straight back to Csus4, as that 4 (F) is the common note that links to the next chord, Dm.

---

ABOUT
Hack Music Theory is a pioneering method for making great music that stands out, so you can move and grow your audience! Taught by award-winning music lecturer Ray Harmony and his protégé wife Kate Harmony, from their home studio in Vancouver, Canada. Ray has been teaching music theory for 24 years, and along the way he's made music with Serj Tankian (System Of A Down), Tom Morello (Rage Against The Machine), Steven Wilson (Porcupine Tree), Devin Townsend (Strapping Young Lad), Ihsahn (Emperor), Kool Keith (Ultramagnetic MCs), Madchild (Swollen Members) and many more! Hack Music Theory teaches relevant and instantly-usable music theory for producers, DAW users, and all other music makers (songwriters, singers, guitarists, bassists, drummers, etc.) in all genres, from EDM to R&B, pop to hip-hop, reggae to rock, electronic to metal (and yes, we djefinitely djent!).

MUSIC

COPYRIGHT
© 2019 Revolution Harmony
Revolution Harmony is Ray Harmony & Kate Harmony
All content (script & music) in video by Revolution Harmony
Thumbnail photo of Einar Solberg by Will Ireland

[MrKrummelumme]

Yeah Ray & Kate at it again :-) i love these to, they are both great teacher :-)

[monowavy]

I get Leprous recommended all the time when I listen to Bent Knee. Maybe I should really listen to it.

[InfiniteConstellations]

Epic chords, you say?
That's what I need when I'm stuck building melodies and harmonies for another crumbling down orchestration :c

[rbtwear]

This is great and very helpful! I understand the common notes and inversions and how those help, but I'm wondering if there was a method you used to select the chords themselves (prior to working out the common notes and inversions). Thanks!

[emanuellandeholm]

Roman numeral notation: i VI IV. I'm watching the Kingsman franchise right now, and this progression is everywhere. Where does it come from, and why does it work so well?

[JoseMartinez-oejj]

Great tips. Going to check Leprous. Sounds very very cool. Thanks!

[pablovasquez]

amazing forward to trying this within my next piece.

[christianemond]

Awesome video! Where can I download the midi files?

[MaurizioUrbani]

What a cool channel! Congratulations guys, excellent tips!

[TheCooGuR]

I really enjoy how you breakdown each step and take the time to really explain in depth the concept so we can fully enjoy them.. I really appreciate your videos!

[ALo-pwjb]

Awesome tutorial ! How can I download the free epic midi files?

[spencerrobinson]

Coolest of beans, I love trying to use chords over the bar lines as much as possible. Also with excessive amounts of delay so it also serves to give it a huge amount of space(well that's the idea anyhow)

[jpsilverproducer]

I've watched quite a few episodes and find them extremely helpful and easy to follow, really upped my game! Have a new track being mastered, perhaps I will send you the link once its released... ;)

[Justin_the_Analog_IC_architect]

Never heard of Leprous, so now I must go check them out. There's something about Scandinavian music of all genres that I find fascinating at the moment. I've been listening to a lot of Feared, Choir of Young Believers and Bjork (does she count?) recently.

[aJ-T]

Epic- both the progression and the video.

[aJ-T]

Question @Ray and Kate
Understand you introduced a Csus4 for common note F with preceeding Bb Maj.
How about a possibility of a C7 instead giving you Bb as the common note and also being secondary dominant of F which can then lead resolving back in Dm?
Thoughts please.

[Bubba-zuyr]

Excellent material! One inversion not mentioned I use a lot for the nice counterpoint and transition is the third inversion. I just found your channel and I love it!

[alhendis]

In studying Harmony I always write 4 part harmonies (SABT) and find it more interesting, do you write always in 3 part and make other instrument be the base and therefore complete the 4 part?
Because I think moving basses function differently from the root bass in The Chord Progression.

Thanks 🌹

[JustinNogle]

Your lessons continue to be incredibly helpful, and this one was no exception. I'm sorry I've been away! Regarding 2020, I think the first two to three weeks in the month could be universal lessons with perhaps the last week or two of the month being genre-specific. Keep up the great work!

[muhammadrezahaghiri]

Hello!
Leprous, is one of my newest discoveries on Spotify. Damn Norwegians, are giants in metal music and to be honest, they are the reason I became a metalhead and stay a metalhead (In case you don't know, I have a very strong black metal background. I listened to a lot of black metal songs and I played and made a lot, too! I know I'm not an evil looking white dude with corpse paint on, but what that matters is the evil within 😂). I also have friend, who's in a deep love with the band. She sent me songs and videos and also told me the fact about the band and made me a fan of them.
Anyway, You know I realized my special person studied classical music and plays guitar, cello and also sings. I didn't know she studies this but she revealed just this week! We have a big difference in our tastes of music, but at least we can analyze pieces and play together. And one happened. You know, I always wanted to send "Girl from North Country" from the album "Freewhilin Bob Dylan" to person whom I love. She made it possible, because I also played and sang the tune for her and she loved that. We also analyzed the piece together.
At the end, thanks for your great video. Have an epic time my friends \m/