With SongRamp being a site in support of all things songwriting, I thought I'd offer some "lessons" from time to time (as PDF attachments) about different musical aspects of songwriting, specifically dealing with chords. I got the idea of this first lesson when I remembered a question a songwriter had asked me several years ago about "spicing" up her chord progression. She already had basic chords for her song, but she wanted to add some "color" to them, to make her existing progression a little more exciting.
Before continuing, let me just say that I've tried to "dummy" this all down a bit by trying to use the most basic music theory possible, in hopes that it all is easy to make sense out of. For anyone who's had little or no music theory at all, I've tried to steer clear of concepts that may tread "dangerously" into any advanced music theory. However, if something here refuses to make sense to you, please let me know.