Had a great time meeting up with Peter Russell on Saturday. We spent a few hours worshipping together but also looking at a few song ideas.



We worked on an idea that Peter had taken from Colossians 1 v 15-20 which talks about the supremacy of Christ and how Jesus holds all things together. It's really cool to think that the hands that shaped the universe are the hands that hold our lives.

We managed to reflect this in a chorus which was very cool:

Jesus You hold all things together
The sun and moon, the earth, the waters
The things unseen, the host of heaven
Yet still

You hold me in Your arms
You hold me in Your arms
Hands that hold the universe
Are the hands that hold me now
You hold me in Your arms
You hold me in Your arms
Friend who never lets me go
The one who's always near

Into Your arms I will run, for in Your presence is where I belong

Sometimes when you're writing songs it's very easy to fall into predictability. Lately I've been thinking about this and how I can make my songs/music a little more interesting yet without losing the feel of the song. It could be an unusual chord thrown in that's not expected. A great example is Matt Redman's 'You are God in Heaven' where he uses a G Augmented chord which really works well.

With the song above we had a chord sequence for the chorus which was predictable until we threw an F chord into the works. The chord sequence was just a run down from G to D/F# to Em but instead of going to a C we went straight to the F which sounded quite cool. Later in the chorus we added a C minor which again sounded a little different from the norm.

Before you settle with your chord sequence it's always good to think whether or not you can add something a little different.

One song off 'Resounding', 'Moon and Stars', did have quite a predictable chord sequence for the chorus which I was very aware of. When I finished the song I played it to my friend Phil and asked him whether we could change any of the chorus chords without changing the 'feel' of the song. Originally it was the typical run down of G, D, Em, C. However Phil suggested changing the D to a D/G which made the chorus sound a lot better.