As a songwriter you probably know that the key to writing music is to work towards some type of resolve (usually to the primary chord of the key or the 1 chord).

When you want to hold your listener up for a while you avoid resolving to the primary chord.

When you want a full resolve you go to the 5 chord then to the 1 chord. If you add a seventh to the 5 chord you get an even stronger sense of completion.

What’s interesting is that rhymes also have an impact on the way lines resolve.

A perfect rhyme gives you the feeling of full resolution. A family rhyme gives a little less resolution but it does rhyme and so on.

You can also change the emotional color in your songs by putting the first word of a line on the downbeat or off the downbeat.

See how this works in this workshop from songwriting teacher Pat Pattison…