Songwriting is a creative and often difficult process. If you know the scale of the song you are writing, getting ideas for chords to use can be much easier.
This is because each scale has a set of related chords, which are made up from different combinations of the scale's notes, and which usually work well with the scale.
Finding related chords for a scale is one of the main functions of Relations View.
If you don't know the scale of your new song, ChordWizard can help you identify it from part of a riff, melody, or chord sequence in the song.
Let's say we are writing a song in the very common key of C Major.
Step-By-Step
Step 1
First of all, you need to be in Relations View. Check the bottom of the workspace and make sure that the Relations tab is selected. If it isn't, click on it.
Step 2
Relations View can operate in three different modes. We need to make sure we are in Chord and Scale mode, with the following command:
| Button | Menu |
| Relations-Chord and Scale |
Step 3
Now, select the scale you are using in the light red Scale Matrix. This is usually placed in the lower right of the workspace.
Each cell in the matrix represents the scale based on the scale type in the row heading and the root note in the column heading.
So, we need to select the cell in the C column and the Major row, as shown.
Step 4
The sound of the scale will be played and at the same time, red dots appear in the Chord Matrix, to show which chords are related to our scale.
Step 5
You can select each of these chords in turn to compare their sounds. You should find several of them sound appropriate for the song you are writing.
For our example, here are some chord sequences in C Major which can be made from the highlighted chords.
Cmaj /// Fmaj /// Gmaj /// Cmaj
Dm /// G7 /// Cmaj7 ////
Cmaj /// Am /// Fmaj /// G7 ////
See Also
