Writing a song with open chords and a capo – free course

A huge share of popular songs, from folk to rock to French chanson, was written guitar in hand, on a handful of open chords. That is no accident: the guitar gives you harmony, rhythm and something to sing over all at once. With five or six chord shapes and a capo, every key is within reach. This lesson complements the general lesson on song form with the guitarist's own tools.

1. Chord families

In a major key, the "natural" chords are I, ii, iii, IV, V and vi. On the guitar, some keys fall almost entirely on open chords: those are the ones we compose in, moving everything with the capo if needed.

Key	I	ii	iii	IV	V	vi	On the guitar
G	G	Am	Bm	C	D	Em	Very comfortable; Bm can become Bm7 (x20202)
C	C	Dm	Em	F	G	Am	Only F needs a small barre
D	D	Em	F♯m	G	A	Bm	Bright; two barres (F♯m, Bm)
A	A	Bm	C♯m	D	E	F♯m	Ideal for rock and blues
E	E	F♯m	G♯m	A	B	C♯m	Powerful (open low E); B often played as B7

For a song in minor, think of the relatives: A minor (C family) and E minor (G family).

2. "Anchor" fingers

A secret of acoustic pop: keep your ring and little fingers on fret 3 of strings 2 and 1 while the other fingers change. Those two notes (D and G) ring through every chord and give the progression a shimmering, unified colour. The changes also become much easier.

Try G – Cadd9 – Em7 – Dsus4: it is the famous I – IV – vi – V progression, dressed in common tones.

3. The capo: transposing without changing shapes

A capo is a mechanical barre: each fret raises everything by a semitone. You keep your open shapes (and their ringing open strings) in any key. To find the right one: sing your melody with the G shapes, then move the capo up fret by fret until your voice is comfortable, neither strained at the top nor fading at the bottom.

Capo	G shapes	C shapes	D shapes	E shapes	A shapes
Fret 2	A	D	E	F♯	B
Fret 3	B♭	E♭	F	G	C
Fret 4	B	E	F♯	G♯	C♯
Fret 5	C	F	G	A	D
Fret 7	D	G	A	B	E

Two songwriter's uses: colour (D shapes at fret 7: a small-harp sound; E shapes without capo: a broad, deep sound) and two guitars: one guitar plays G shapes at fret 2, the other D shapes at fret 7. Both sound in A, but with different voicings: the sound opens up like a small orchestra.

4. Verse and chorus: creating contrast

The verse tells, the chorus proclaims. On the guitar, the simplest levers are: register (the chorus melody goes higher), the starting chord (the verse starts on I, the chorus on IV or vi), the strumming hand (arpeggios in the verse, strumming in the chorus) and harmonic rhythm (one chord per bar in the verse, two in the chorus).

A four-bar verse over the anchor-finger progression:

M:4/4
L:1/8
Q:1/4=88
K:G clef=treble-8
"G"B2 B A G2 A B | "Cadd9"c2 B A G4 | "Em7"B2 B A G2 E D | "Dsus4"D4 "D"z4 |]

And a chorus that starts on IV and climbs a notch:

M:4/4
L:1/8
Q:1/4=88
K:G clef=treble-8
"C"e2 e d c2 d e | "G"d2 B A G4 | "Em"e2 d B "C"c2 B A | "D"A4 z4 |]

The verse circles around G and B; the chorus climbs to E and ends hanging on A (the fifth of D): it calls for the repeat.

Songwriter's tip: write the melody by singing, not by playing. The guitar suggests the chords, but if you look for the melody on the fretboard you risk writing "finger" lines rather than "voice" lines. Loop the progression and improvise with your voice (even on nonsense syllables), then record yourself.

Common mistakes:

A chorus in the same register as the verse: nothing takes off.
A key chosen for the fingers, not the voice: always check with the capo.
The same strumming from start to finish: your strumming hand is your first arranging tool.

Your workshop

Pick a family (G or C) and a four-chord progression. Loop it with a simple strum.
Improvise a melody with your voice over the loop for five minutes while recording. Keep the best four-bar passage: that is your verse.
Find your key with the capo, then write down the chords and the capo position ("Capo 3, G shapes").
Write a chorus that starts on a different chord and goes higher than the verse. Change the strumming hand as well.
Copy the melody into the ABC editor (add clef=treble-8 to the K: line to write it as guitar music) with the chord symbols.

Self-check: can someone listening to your song tell, without being told, where the chorus begins?