A cliché is when you hear a typical melody or a chord progression that is very familiar to our ears. These clichés are used a lot in song writing because they work. There are two kinds of clichés, line clichés and chord clichés.

Line clichés – Usually a top note(melody) that moves up and down on top of a stationary chord.

Major line clichés

Top note(melody) moves down half steps and continues to the next chord.

Example song: “Something” by the Beatles

5^th clichés

The 5^th is moving up and down in half steps.

The 5^th is moving up and down in half steps and can continue to the next chord.

Example song: “For once in my life” by Stevie Wonder

Minor line clichés

The movement of the top note (Melody) is the same as the major line cliché but the difference is the bottom chord is a minor chord.

Example song: “Stairway to Heaven” by Led Zeppelin

Chord clichés – More of a chord progression than a melody. It uses a harmonic technique called the “Modal interchange” where you “borrow” chords from the parallel minor (G major – G minor) when you are in the major key.

	Imaj7	II-7	III-7	IVmaj7	V7	VI-7	VII-7b5
G Major	Gmaj7	A-7	B-7	Cmaj7	D7	E-7	F#-7b5
	I-7	II-7b5	bIIImaj7	IV-7	V-7	bVImaj7	bVII7
G Minor	G-7	A-7b5	Bbmaj7	C-7	D-7	Ebmaj7	F7

Common usage is during a major key progression, it is possible to use some chords from the minor key to give a different sound.

The IV- chord – Usually used after an IV for contrast.

Tendency is to go back to the I after the IV-.

Example song: “Creep” by Radiohead

F7 is also used for a smoother transition.

Also, a common progression.

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