Money Chords: A Songwriter's Sourcebook of Popular Chord Progressions Paperback – June 15, 2000

This big fat book. It has so many examples of so many chord progressions - arranged by type with at least one example (an actual song title), but also arranged chronologically. It explains how to use the circle of fifths to put it into whatever key - but also has a table laid out so that you don't have to. It also has a list of suggested fingerings of guitar chords. It has examples of turnarounds. I bought this to help out with songwriting - but this is also going to be a great tool for riff writing.

There are hundreds (thousands?) of song progressions shown for a wide variety of songs ranging over multiple decades. Great not only for learning songs but how progressions changed (stayed the same?) over time. It is worth the price, buy it

I like the idea of a catalog of chord progressions by songs, but it's very hard to use.One major fallacy is that it is near impossible to find any specific song in the book if you don't already know how that song is categorized. For example, if I wanted to know other songs with the same chord progression as another song, this book is almost zero help. Simply adding an index of songs would have been a tremendous help.Other complaints are so many of the "progressions" are just fragments of a progression and not full progressions making their reference in the book somewhat meaningless. For example, pointing out songs that have I-V or V-I progressions is like shooting fish in a barrel. It's actually hard to a song without that change!Also, the progressions are sometimes called out in the most obscure places, like several measures occurring a single time in a pre-chorus, for example. Hardly representatives of the song.It's also strange ... though not exactly a problem ... that all the progressions have been transposed to the key of E.What is interesting about this book is the huge amount of research that was done to produce the book. Perhaps a songwriter looking for inspiration could open up the book to a random page and get some ideas.But, for me, I've consulted it a few times to understand what some of the most popular progressions are (not the nearly 100 popular progressions, a number which starts to become meaningless), or to understand how different genres use different progressions or to find songs with similar progressions to one I am currently studying. Unfortunately, I nearly always come away frustrated that the book just isn't that helpful for me.

the author is amazing , in the format , and simplicity , he lay's out this resource book , it is foundational to any musician, and I highly recommend these books ,, ..Amazon fell off the wagon on the order part of the transaction , but the quality of the material when I did get it , made up for it I was surprised that this Amazon order fell into limbo but when I need something again I will order

Will not recommend

No chord diagrams, like “Money Chords” on the internet, for free. Just lists of progressions:EBG#mAEAC#mBEC#mAB, etc.It’s massive and could have fit in a 4”x6” book with the same text. Good compendium. $$$$

I LOVE this book. I even bought a copy for a singer friend. I was able to write ten all original songs for my first album thanks to this bible. All you really have to do is thumb through it and let your creativity lead the way. The author gave us a labor of love here. I can't praise it enough. All I ask is the publisher make it available as an ebook for kindle and my ipad. [...]

Say you're working on a new song or arranging an old one that uses a Basic I-IV (E-A) progression and you want to see how the best songwriters have used and dressed up this progression, the "Money Chords" book is your place to find out. There are at least forty examples of chord embellishments including E-A6; E-Amaj7; E-A11; Emaj7-Amaj7; Emaj7-A13; etc. The book shows you variations on the most popular progressions including the Folk (I-V7); Rock (I-IV-V7); Rock Ballad (I-VIm-IV-V7); Standard (I-VIm-IIm-V7); Ragtime (I-VI7-II7-V7); Classic Rock (I-bVII-IV); Blues progressions as well as Ascending, Descending and Static (Pedal Point) progressions. This book should help you create more interesting chord progressions for your new songs but also breath new life into other songs as well. I rate "Money Chords" a solid Four Stars.

Good book for exploring songwriting and music theory

Es werden einfach ein paar Akkordfolgen genannt und die Songs in denen sie vorkommen.In etwas so: Akkordfolgen die mit A anfangen und die Songs in denen sie vorkommen.........Keine vernünftige Systematik. Kaum Hintergründe oder Informationen, keine Erklärungen (und wenn sind die eher dürftig und verursachten teilweise bei mir als Musiker eher entsetztes Lachen). Es fehlen komplett die Infos in welchem harmonischen Kontext die Akkorde genutzt werden und welche Funktion sie in der Akkordfolge haben.Für Jemanden der sich mit Musik und Harmonielehre auch nur etwas auseinandergesetzt hat mit Sicherheit sinnlos.Im Vergleich zu Richard Scott's Chord Pogressions for Songwriters (gute Erkärungen und super Systematik) enttäuschend für mich.

Excellent, intelligent, comprehensive