Hi Kevin,

This is a good observation. Some of what you are asking is built into the discussions of song structure in songwriting books. People are right, Study songs you like. How do the melodies change from the verses to the chorus?
The analogy of how God creates a human, or, how a human is formed (for those who don't believe in God), is a good one. Early in the development of the fetus, the heart is one of the first noticeable parts. Consider the heart of your song, the melody. Your melody on those verse chords will tell you what the chords should be for the chorus. What is the melody that you have put to the verses? Does it stay low? Are the intervals of the notes close together? To make the chorus stand out, move to a higher note, lifting it from the verses. That is the most common change. You can also make the chorus go down, less common. It's fine to start a song from a riff, chord progression, but at some point, you must work on a melody.

You can also change rhythm or how the words sit on the music. If the verse is wordy then make your chorus elongated using shorter words.

If you work on the melody in these ways, consciously changing the melody for the chorus will tell you what chords to use.

Another way to evaluate your chords is by your lyrics. Are your lyrics sad/happy/angry? Is there a particular phrase that calls for an Am in the key of C?

A book I am just starting to go through is "Melody, How To Write Great Tunes" by Rikky Rooksby. I have barely scratched the surface but what I have read is well written and it comes with a cd to listen to the examples in the book.

Have fun,

Vondelle





Vondelle Hebert

http://cdbaby.com/cd/vondelle