It’s only fair that I tell you what I mean when I say bottom up or top down songwriting. When I say top down, it means I’m thinking of a melody, and I’m sure that I can bundle it up in a chord progression where it’s gonna sound great. This melody is strong enough that it’ll hold up on its own, but the chords that support it could vary wildly.
The entire melody sits nicely over E flat, but it could go to C minor, or it could even start on C minor and go to A flat, whatever. The next chord strongly implies a D flat to me. So let’s settle on this.
Top down. But that chord progression works as a standalone too. And starting from the bottom up is a whole bunch of other things that would work.
Or… And who’s to say it has to be one? Songwriting.
This would be a lot easier if you were my class. Please help me get this in front of somebody who belongs there.
