Harmonic Narrative: Decide What the Listener Expects, Then Choose the Chord: A Practical Method for Composition, Songwriting and Reharmonization

You know the chords. What's hard is knowing which one to play next - and why.

Most harmony books answer that with names and rules: this chord is a dominant, that one resolves. Harmonic Narrative starts somewhere else. Its central idea fits in one sentence: decide what you want the listener to expect, then choose the chord.

Every chord change gives you three options: confirm what the listener expects, delay it, or surprise them while keeping one thread they can still follow. Once you know which one you want, the right chords stop being a guess.

This second edition has been revised and reorganized so that you use the method from the first pages. One complete eight-bar example, built decision by decision, shows the whole process before any theory. Then the book gives you the tools to apply it anywhere:

• a seven-step procedure you can use on any chord, in any key or style;
• maps and tables that turn an intention like "surprise, but don't cut the flow" into a short list of chords to play;
• fresh substitutes for the ii-V-I, the tritone substitution, modal interchange and other familiar devices;
• forty intentions in plain English, translated into concrete choices;
• exercises, a glossary and a photocopiable worksheet.

Written in chord symbols and Roman numerals, it works on guitar, piano or any instrument that plays chords. Use it for composition, songwriting and reharmonization.