CADENCE

Could someone please explain to me cadence, what it has to do with playing the guitar and songwriting???

wellll..

Basically a 'Cadence' is a series of chords to structuring or finish a song. The word CADENCE comes from "Cadere" and means "to fall".

but what has "falling" to do with a succession of chords?

lemme try to explain...

The classical Cadence in C major is I-IV-V-I (C Major, F Major, G Major and C again)

The word is related to that because of the old days when there was still the Hexachord structure in use (to explain that would take a bit too long now).

The Hexachord was a system of 6-note scales.
C-hex, for example, was C-D-E-F-G-A

The I-IV-V-I Cadence contains a G major chord - and in a G major chord there is the note B - but in C-hex there is no B.

But in G-hex there is a B (G-A-B-C-D-E)

So the cassical cadence stays in C at I, stays in C at IV - and then it FALLS (cadere) down to G-hex at V and goes back to C again at I.

(G-hex was below C-hex in the view of the Hexachord system)

this is, however, a VERY short explaination.

A cadence occurs at a place of resting during the music. If you compare music to composition a musical phrase would be the equivalent to a sentece, and a cadence would occur at the end of a paragraph.

Okay, so if my chord progression was say I IV V how would I end it with a cadence????

By placing the one chord at the end. You have a loop of 1 4 5, 1 4 5, 1 4 5, 1 4 5, and you end it by finishing with merely a 1. This is a perfect cadence, from V to I.

Okay, so say I wanted to go to another key--say like in a song from verse to chorus. How would I modulate to another key??? I am trying to learn how to write songs...I've just started writing....These are my "most challenging" areas that I am have.

Modulation can be as easy as playing the V chord of the key that you want to go to. If you're playing in C.

C, F, G, C, F, G, [A], D, G, A, D, G, A

The brackets are where the modulation occurs. There are other smoother ways to modulate, but this should keep you busy for a while. I suggest buying a book on music theory. It will have in depth descriptions on this and other things of interest.

Thanks, Dude!!!!

They are actually many different types of cadences, each serving different purposes. It's easy to show if you think of music as a sentence. A phrase of music is a sentence.

A authentic cadence would be like a period at the end of a sentence. But they are two different kinds of authentic cadences, one being perfect the other imperfect. The difference is a perfect cadence is V-I (as discussed before) with the both chords being in root position and the melody finishes on the tonic note. The form of a authentic cadence is used mostly at the end of a musical idea. Authentic cadences have the strongest sense of finality, and for this reason they are the cadences we here at the end of a piece of music.

An imperfect cadence is sort of like the perfect one but one of the two chords (either V or I) will be played in inversion, and the melody line doesn't have to end on the tonic note (even better not to). Because a imperfect cadence has the effect making a piece of music only sound half finished and half wanting to continue. In song form it is usually played at the conjuncture of a two part (like verse to chorus). Try this cadence to end a piece of music in one key, before going to a different phrase of music in a different key. Note that for pyschological purposes, you will need to return to the original key and theme before you end the piece.

Then there are half cadences, if the authentic (P or ImP) cadence is a period, the half cadence is like a semi-colon. Half cadences are played as I (or anything) to V (opposite of authentic). This has a strong sense of unresolve and music to continue, and are usually played at turnarounds. Notice how almost all turnarounds end on V, or a sub or somewhat form of it.

Then there are plagal cadences (perfect, imperfect, and half). Plagal cadences are the same as authentics except V is exchanged for IV, so a perfect plagal cadence would be IV-I. Know as the A-men cadence, sung at the end of most hymns.