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Glenn, thank you very much for the thoughtful and informed reply! This is exactly the type of answer I was hoping for, and it's very helpful! Thanks to everyone else for your great answers, as well - very much appreciated. Dan

Hi Rudi- Thanks a lot for that answer- very helpful. I think you're right that the ultimate answer is "do what sounds best." I've been learning a lot of theory lately, though, so while I certainly appreciate that many (if not most) "rules" of music are meant to be broken, I wanted to check if there was a rule (using that loosely) about whether one should typically move in a certain direction from one chord to the other (in general, not specific, notation: I, IV, V, etc). Thanks, Dan

By the way, I tracked down your "I've Learned To Love The Rain" song... great stuff! And I'm incredibly jealous of this.

Hi Tom, Thanks a lot- really appreciate your response, and taking the time to explain in the full manner that it (in hindsight) needed to be explained! Your answer helps a lot- especially the part about going from a I chord DOWN to a V chord changing the span, which was definitely something I had not even considered, but seems to be a critical detail in the answer. Similarly, the change in the texture / tonal effect from inverting the chords is a great point. While I probably don't know enough to "know what I don't know", so to speak, at this point, I'll take your word that these aren't the types of topics to be answered quickly in an online forum. I'm going to keep trying to hunt down some good books to read on the subject, and hopefully that will help fill out my knowledge a lot more so I don't end up in over my head. Thanks again for taking the time to answer, Dan

I couldn't figure out how to move my original post in another (probably less-fitting) forum subcategory, but this one seems to be much more suited for the question I have... My question is, when going from, say, a "I" chord to a "V" chord (let's assume I'm in the key of C, so from "C-chord" to "G-chord") on a piano, am I supposed to be going down the keyboard, up the keyboard, does it just depend on my own preference for the song, or am I just missing the boat somewhere else in even asking this question? I am asking this with respect to the "home" chord ("I", or "C")... So, say my progression follows the generic "I"-->"V"-->"vi"-->"IV" (C-->G-->am-->F) pattern, I'm asking whether "V","vi",and "IV" should A) all be below the "I" chord on the scale, B.) when played on the piano, C) should all be above the "I" chord, some combination, or D) "it depends." To elaborate, from some basic piano training (it wasn't focused on songwriting, but just on learning piano, which typically meant memorizing how to play classical songs, etc), I had come under the assumption that in going from a "I" chord to a "V" chord, I should really just be playing what I now know are the inverted forms of the chords in my progression to minimize / make easier the movement of my hand(s). For example, in going from a "I" chord to a "V" chord (C-chord to G-chord), I had assumed I should just be playing "C-E-G" for the "I", then transition to the inverted "V" (V^6, "five-six"), or "B-D-G", because that would greatly minimize the motion required for my hand. But, just recently, I was reading through a good book I found on music theory that really gets into what I'll call "songwriting theory", and it seemed to be stating that there is a HUGE difference between playing "I" --> "V", verus playing "I" --> "V^6"... not that you would never play "I" --> "V^6", but it seemed that it was pretty atypical vs. most songs out there (i.e. on the radio). Thus (assuming what I said above is generally right and makes sense), you can see the predicament I'm in, and hence, the stupid question: If I am indeed supposed to [generally] be going from "I" --> "V" instead of --> "V^6", do I go UP the keyboard (i.e. same octave) from the C-chord to the G-chord or DOWN the keyboard (down an octave) from the C-chord to the G-chord? As I said, I had previously assumed (I think, incorrectly) that the answer to this question was "stay in the same place", and just invert the next chord (and the chord after that, etc) to minimize hand movement required from one chord to the next. Any help from any of you music theory / piano / "songwriting theory" experts out there would be GREATLY appreciated! Thanks, Dan

Hi guys, I couldn't find a place in the forum that looked like a great fit for this question, so hopefully I did a good enough job with "Songwriting Reference." I have what is probably a pretty stupid question, but I've had trouble tracking down the answer... My question is, when going from, say, a "I" chord to a "V" chord (let's assume I'm in the key of C, so from "C-chord" to "G-chord") on a piano, am I supposed to be going down the keyboard, up the keyboard, does it just depend on my own preference for the song, or am I just missing the boat somewhere else in even asking this question? To elaborate, from some basic piano training (it wasn't focused on songwriting, but just on learning piano, which typically meant memorizing how to play classical songs, etc), I had come under the assumption that in going from a "I" chord to a "V" chord, I should really just be playing what I now know are the inverted forms of the chords in my progression to minimize / make easier the movement of my hand(s). For example, in going from a "I" chord to a "V" chord (C-chord to G-chord), I had assumed I should just be playing "C-E-G" for the "I", then transition to the inverted "V" (V^6, "five-six"), or "B-D-G", because that would greatly minimize the motion required for my hand. But, just recently, I was reading through a good book I found on music theory that really gets into what I'll call "songwriting theory", and it seemed to be stating that there is a HUGE difference between playing "I" --> "V", verus playing "I" --> "V^6"... not that you would never play "I" --> "V^6", but it seemed that it was pretty atypical vs. most songs out there (i.e. on the radio). Thus (assuming what I said above is generally right and makes sense), you can see the predicament I'm in, and hence, the stupid question: If I am indeed supposed to [generally] be going from "I" --> "V" instead of --> "V^6", do I go UP the keyboard (i.e. same octave) from the C-chord to the G-chord or DOWN the keyboard (down an octave) from the C-chord to the G-chord? As I said, I had previously assumed (I think, incorrectly) that the answer to this question was "stay in the same place", and just invert the next chord (and the chord after that, etc) to minimize hand movement required from one chord to the next. Any help from any of you music theory / piano / "songwriting theory" experts out there would be GREATLY appreciated! Thanks, Dan