Joel D Canfield's Got A Ticket To Write

Welcome to the first post in a occasional series where I ask 'real-life' songwriters just like you to spill the beans on how Beatles inspired songwriting ideas like the Tickets To Write have helped them create new songs. First up to bat is nomadic songwriter Joel D Canfield

I've been writing about music for nearly a decade and a music lover for half a century. I started writing music seriously about seven years ago and this year (2011) I realized it was time to push myself out of the comfort zone of my favorite chord progressions.

Ever since I heard The Mamas and The Papas cover I Call Your Name back in the seventies (when it was already ten years old) I've always loved the vocal slide from the major 4th to the minor 4th ("I never weep at (A) ni - (Am) ight, I call your name".) Ticket 8 Part 2 felt familiar when I started reading the description and when I saw I Call Your Name in the examples I knew I wanted to give it a try.

It turns out I tried it twice. Both The Map and This Path use the 4 to 4m change in the verse. For some reason, though they're both songs about the nomadic life I share with my Best Beloved, This Path works better melodically over the change. It may be that I immersed myself in David Gray's melodic structures before I wrote these songs and This Path captured more of that feeling.

Other songwriters have commented on the challenge of sliding from the 4 to the minor 4 in This Path but I was surprised how simple and natural it felt. Wasting my youth with my ear glued to the radio came in handy after all.

Though he pays his bills as a business author, writing and business coach, and web developer, Joel D Canfield is first and foremost a philosopher who believes that finding why makes what and how become clear. Get to know him at FindingWhy.com or read more of his musical background at his musiblog KnowYourMusic.com

Have you used the Tickets to write in any of your songs? - Then drop me a line!

The Minor 4 Chord (pt.2)

From the 4 (IV) to the minor 4 (iv)

Last time we had an introduction to the minor 4 chord (iv), now lets take a look at where the Beatles use it in their own songs. First a couple in the key of A


In My Life – verse I, V, IV, iv, I

There are A places E I remember all my D life Dm though A some have changed


You Won’t See Me – verse I, I7, IV, iv, I

A we have A7 lost the D time that Dm was hard to A find


I Call Your Name is in the key of E and the end of the verse goes II, IV, iv, I

I never F#7 weep at night A I Am call your name E7


When I’m Sixty Four is in C – verse I, I7, IV, iv, I,

C If I ‘d been out till quarter to three C7 would you lock the F door
Will you still Fm need me C will you still…

(Though they sound nothing like each other the sequence in When I'm Sixty Four is exactly the same as You Won’t See Me)


Hello Goodbye is also in C – Chorus IV, iv, I

I don’t know F why you say good - Fm/Ab – bye I say hel—C – lo

(Notice the iv here is in the first inversion, with the Ab in the bass rather than the F. It’s still the minor 4 though).


Lastly Blackbird is in G – verse IV, iv, I

All you C life Cm G/B you were only waiting for this moment


(Almost all McCartney songs! Hmmm….)

There are a few other songs that hint at this change – the chord pops up in Dear Prudence’s main guitar pattern, as a passing chord in Her Majesty (thought it may be a mistake) and on the ‘unreleased’ What’s The New Mary Jane?

They used it. So can You!

This progression has cropped up a lot post-Beatles too. Oasis used it (surprised? – me neither) in Don’t Look Back In Anger

F so I start a revo Fm lution in my C head
Cos you F said the brains I Fm had went to my C head


And Green Day’s - Wake Me Up When September Ends is another example.

C wake me up Cm when September G ends


Next time we’ll look at songs where the Beatles use the minor 4 (iv) alongside the minor 6 (vi).

1: Introduction
2: Major 4 to minor 4
3: Minor 6 to minor 4
4: Minor 2 to minor 4
5: 1 to minor 4 

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