I have been taking guitar lessons over the past six months or so with a wonderful singer/songwriter guitar player who is a fabulous teacher. We have just begun to delve more into this as I write and play songs. I am taking it in nice bit-sized chunks and can see the value to the choices I have in the harmonic and melodic movement of my songs. If I end the first line of the verse with a full cadence, maybe I want to end the second and third lines with a half cadence so the audience knows that the melody is still taking them somewhere and not settle back to the home chord until the end of the second verse. I think of it as a palette of color choices and the harmonic analysis is just showing me the possibilities which keeps me from writing music that can sound the same song after song. It is helping me to learn how to listen more deeply. That said, I know many 3 chord songs that do not do anything fancy and I still love them.
Now, I haven't necessarily thought of it or used it as a memorization tool but I suppose I could see how memorizing and identifying certain chord sequences might be helpful. But if it isn't speaking to you or you're not finding it particularly useful right now, then I can certainly understand you questioning the validity of how it might be improving your own musical journey.
I do find it hard to buy into something that I cannot immediate apply and find useful. Not sure if any of this helps but thought I would toss my experience in the mix anyway.
Best,
Jayne
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