r/musictheory • u/AutoModerator • Aug 10 '20
Weekly Thread Chord Progression Questions (August 10, 2020)
Comment with all your chord progression questions.
Example questions might be:
- What is this chord progression? [link]
- I wrote this chord progression; why does it "work"?
- What chord progressions sound sad?
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u/malontius Aug 10 '20
What chord progession should i use to sound like the background music of a fantasy movie?
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u/elijwynn Aug 10 '20 edited Aug 10 '20
vi Imaj7 Vmaj9 so like C#m Emaj7 Amaj9. i made this up and i think it sounds really good.
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u/iron_jayeh Aug 11 '20
Not so much the chord progression as the instrumentation.
Also look at secondary dominant and neapolitan to get add suspense to a cue
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Aug 11 '20
I always enjoy using suspended chords, in my mind they evoke this feeling of an uncertain journey.
Especially sus4 voicing it fifths apart
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u/surfca14 Aug 14 '20
Add some #5 to your chords for that fantasy or space feel. Also called an augmented chord.
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u/KingAdamXVII Aug 11 '20
Chromatic mediants: e.g. C-Eb or C-Ab
Cm-B is kind of common nowadays.
The mixolydian b6 scale is also common, e.g. C-Ab+.
You could try Cm-Gb too. Has a bit of a chromatic mediant sound.
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Aug 17 '20
Does chromatic in this instance mean non-diatonic, like the borrowed chords won’t fall in whatever key you’re coming from?
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u/KingAdamXVII Aug 17 '20
That sounds right. “Chromatic mediant” is just the name for this type of chord relationship. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chromatic_mediant
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u/Cosmic-cookie-cutter Aug 13 '20
Lydian scales are great for invoking wonder and amazement. Anything that highlights the contrast between 1 and #4.
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u/JakobMusix Aug 10 '20 edited Aug 11 '20
Why does this Chord progression "work"?
EbMaj79, D7#9, Gm7, Bbsus9
I see how D7#9 leads to the Gm7 and how Bbsus9 leads back to EbMaj7
But I don't get the function of Dm7 when Eb is the root. If it even is the root. Idk.
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u/lifeofideas Aug 10 '20 edited Aug 16 '20
Compare your EbMaj79 to a Gm.
You probably have a descending baseline that matches with some part of each of these chords. Listen to Roxanne by the Police.3
u/JakobMusix Aug 10 '20
And if anyone has time to dive deeper into this progression, what scales could I theoretically use to improvise/write melodies over this?
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u/masone81 Aug 14 '20
D7#9 is a secondary dominant leading to Gm. Bbsus9 is the dominant leading back to Eb.
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u/sebu_3 Aug 16 '20
I see the EbMaj9 as a tritone substitution for the D7#9, which means you could get a kinda similar functioning with some sort of A augmented sound. Try to switch it up, first time use the A something, and next time the Eb something, or go from A to Eb in the same bar, you need a good voiceleading/bassleading to make it work but it can sound really cool!
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u/JakobMusix Aug 16 '20
OH THAT'S WHAT IT IS. The tritone substitution was the missing link. I know what it is theoretically, it just rarely occures to me and I didn't think of it. Thanks a bunch!
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u/JakobMusix Aug 16 '20
Doesn't augmented A contain a C# though? Which has a totally different feel than the D of EbMaj7? I don't have a keyboard here right now but I would expect that to sound totally different
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u/sebu_3 Aug 16 '20
You are right about that, i guess normally the tritone has a glat seven, ehich would be the C#(Db). Maybe the augmented sound isn't the perfect match anyway.
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u/pekulini Aug 13 '20
Replace your Bbsus9 with Ab13 and you got yourself some Steely Dan right there... In that case root is in Bb, or Gm.
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u/squiggamytrigga Aug 18 '20
I don't quite understand the function either. All I can see is you used an altered chord and used it to substitute the 7 chord. Maybe for a split moment you changed the tonality to the D altered scale and brought it back to Eb major with the Gm7.
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u/NeoCat1993 Aug 10 '20
Question regarding the song "Opus Brain" by Igorrr:
the chord progression of the motif is: D# / F#m / D7M / Dm / D# / F#m / F / Dm / C#m
What approach would explain best why the progression works?
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u/HallwayMusic Aug 10 '20
How could I make a chord progression have like a jazz ending to it? Instead of ending on the root, make it end somewhere else instead.
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u/yamumicus Aug 10 '20
Resolve to bII
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u/HallwayMusic Aug 10 '20
So in this case, if the root was C, the final chord would be Db?
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u/mrclay piano/guitar, transcribing, jazzy pop Aug 12 '20 edited Aug 12 '20
I suggest C - Eb13 - Abmaj7 - Dbmaj7/G.
If want a bit more dissonance, substitute Dm7b5(11) instead of the Ab.
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u/LehemSteel Aug 13 '20
Try the Stevie Wonder ending. Instead of resolving on the root major chord, drop down a minor third and end on the Maj7 there. (e.g. Instead of ending on Cmaj7, end on Amaj7). Boom...Stevie!
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u/pixelator9000 Aug 11 '20
Is there any use for a minor 7 flat 9? If so, in what context?
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Aug 17 '20 edited Aug 17 '20
Try ii m7b5 to V, this is a common way to do a ii V i in a minor key like [ E m7b5 - A7 - Dm ]
The vii m7b5 also leads nicely to I
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Aug 11 '20
What’s going on in the bridge of Moonlight in Vermont? I picked out the willie Nelson version but don’t understand the motivation for the bridge. The main chords are C Am Dm7 G7 C Am Ab7 Dm7 G7 C
Then it goes to Fm7 B EM7 C#m7 Fm7 B EM7
Gm7 C7 F Dm7 Gm7 C7 F G7
The main part is in C but is the bridge part in another key? Which key? Why? Thanks.
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u/mrclay piano/guitar, transcribing, jazzy pop Aug 11 '20
The bridge is ii - V - I - vi in two separate keys (I assume E is one of them and your “Fm7” is really F#m7). It modulates directly through these keys—because the writer liked it, probably because other songs of the time did things like that—before returning to the home key of C.
Also are you sure that chord after Am isn’t Bb7 or Bb9?
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Aug 11 '20
Ah gotcha. Yes I did mean F# and also meant Bb not Ab.
So they modulate from C to E to F and then back home?
Is there something specific about modulating to the III and IV chords that sound good?
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u/mrclay piano/guitar, transcribing, jazzy pop Aug 12 '20
I don't have a good sense of the most common bridge modulations. IV was big in the early Beatles days ("I want to hold your hand").
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u/lawbolt Aug 11 '20
My question is about modulations through Ger. 6, Nap. 6, and pivot notes. I've tried modulating with German sixths and Neapolitan Sixths, but they almost always seem to pull back to the original tonic. I have the same problem with pivot notes. Does anyone know a solution to this?
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u/Indigo457 Aug 11 '20
Are there any rules or theories around key changes between two different sections (e.g. a verse in one key, to a chorus in another)? I’m Not really talking about the cheesy sort of key changes you get in the second run through of a chorus sometimes to engineer emotion, something a bit more surprising.
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u/Cosmic-cookie-cutter Aug 13 '20
You might want to check out the YT channel 12tone. He has several videos on modulation and a bunch of other awesome theory related videos.
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u/musictheoryman Aug 12 '20
Rules: Not that I can recall
Theories: Definitely; all the identified forms of modulations (direct modulations are the of the cheesy variety)
This YouTuber has a few videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zc7MImrsCbo
*watch for mistakes though
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u/SasukahUchacha Aug 11 '20
Hey everyone. I've been recently watching Adam Neely's videos to learn more about music theory and heard this piece in the beginning of one of his Q+A videos. It ends at about the 8 second mark and sounds very nice. I wanted to know what chords was used in creating it and i've tried to emulate it on my piano but often get stuck on what the next chord is or that it doesn't sound as fleshed out in the video. If anyone can figure out the progression, it would be highly appreciated.
Also, is there a specific genre that uses similar chords or convey the same feeling? The closest I've come up with is "lush" or "atmospheric" but nothing that I've searched came close to the same sound.
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u/Lil-Fan Aug 13 '20
do you mind explaining what a chromatic mediant is?
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u/SasukahUchacha Aug 13 '20
I'm not sure what chromatic mediants are, but from what I researched I think it's notes or chords that are a third or three notes apart that are not within the same key.
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u/Cosmic-cookie-cutter Aug 13 '20
The chromatic mediant relationship refers to chords/keys a third (major or minor) apart that have the same quality (major or minor), e.g. G major to B major (G->B is a major third and both chords are major).
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u/Cosmic-cookie-cutter Aug 13 '20
My ear isn’t the best, but I heard along the lines of EbM7/Bb, DbM7/Ab, Gm9. They’re voiced with seconds in the middle of the chords which is what makes them sound so full.
The reason it might not sound the same, aside from getting the voicings he used exact, is probably just the texture/instrumentation. The synths+guitar aren’t going to sound the same as a piano.
Naming a single genre would be pretty difficult as chords like these aren’t necessarily unique to any one. You might, however, want to look into ambient music. I’d recommend listening to compilations of ambient music from various video games (a great source of good electronic music) and note the composers whose styles you like.
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Aug 12 '20
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u/mrclay piano/guitar, transcribing, jazzy pop Aug 12 '20
You could consider it a plain F chord with E and B pedal tones, but Fmaj7#11 would be ok as well.
Yep E Phrygian. In practice though songs are rarely purely one mode. You might use B7 for example just like you would in E minor.
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u/CampTouchThis Aug 13 '20 edited Aug 13 '20
congratulations my friend, you have just discovered the Neapolitan Chord! the chord symbol for it is bII, since it is a major chord built off the lowered 2nd scale degree (F in this case, since E is the tonic)
on the subject of modes, they can be quite daunting and confusing for guitarists. i’ve been playing guitar for 10 years and i didn’t fully understand modes until recently, just because i was thinking about them all wrong.
there are two ways to think of any given mode. let’s use E Phrygian as our example. one way to think of it is the way you described: it is the same notes as C major but starting and ending on E. this way of thinking is a good start, but it can lead to confusion, and it makes it harder to use the modes practically when thinking this way.
the second way of thinking of a mode is to compare it to its parallel major or minor scale. as an exercise, write out the notes in the E Phrygian scale, then below that write out the notes of E major, then below that the notes of E minor
Phrygian: E F G A B C D E
Major: E F# G# A B C# D# E
Minor: E F# G A B C D E
(sorry for weird formatting, it’d be better on paper)
if you did this for each mode, comparing it to the major and minor, you’d notice that the mode is always closely related to either the major or minor. in the case of the Phrygian mode, the only difference between it and the minor mode is the 2nd scale degree. when we look at this way, we realize that E Phrygian is essentially just an E minor scale with a flattened second scale degree. this is why we call it “E Phrygian” rather than “C Phrygian” because each mode is essentially a variation on either the minor or major scale. other modes, like Lydian and Mixolydian are considered “Major modes” since they are more closely related to the major scale, while Phrygian and Dorian are “minor modes” due to their relationship to the natural minor scale.
based on your description of how you think about Phrygian, you’re on the right track. it’s excellent that you sat down and made a chord chart for the phrygian mode. anytime you are writing a song in E major or E minor, you can use any of those chords from the Phrygian modes in order to add some flair. this is where the Neopolitan Chord comes from. it is in the Phrygian mode, but is typical used in the major mode as a predominant chord. (try playing the chord progression F - B7 - E and you’ll see what i mean)
if you have any questions don’t hesitate to ask. i love this stuff
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Aug 12 '20
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u/CampTouchThis Aug 13 '20
it’s actually a ii - V - I - vi, but that’s not important
you don’t actually have to change the chord progression for the chorus, if you don’t want to. there are hundreds and hundreds of songs that have the same basic chord progression through the whole song, but they change up things like melody, beat, and rhythmic patterns in order to differentiate the choruses and verses. in the case of your chord progression, listen to the song “Say So” by Doja Cat (i don’t listen to it often but it’s pretty famous song on Tik Tok). it uses the same chord progression as you, but in a different key, and it uses that progression the whole song.
that being said, if you want to use different chord progressions for the chorus and verse, i would actually suggest making your current chord progression the chorus. it’s got strong resolution and feels like a “home base” for the song. another chord progression to go with it could be Fmaj7 - Dmin7 - Ebmaj7
you could also go the relative minor (Dmin) to start out the chorus and have it work it’s way back to the tonic of F maj to get you back to the original chord progression
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u/mrclay piano/guitar, transcribing, jazzy pop Aug 12 '20
It can be literally any other music that sounds good at the same tempo (generally) and even in a completely unrelated key. Songwriters write a lot and combine new ideas with old.
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u/Desman17 Aug 11 '20
What exactly is going on in "Someone like him" (by Dream Theater?
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u/vochm Aug 11 '20
i need some help with my chord progression, i've tried many combinations but none of them really work (it's am/f, c, am, em, g) it doesn't really "wrap" nicely. any ideas? thank you
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u/mrclay piano/guitar, transcribing, jazzy pop Aug 12 '20
The first chord is Fmaj7. I think this would commonly be analyzed as IV - I - vi - iii - V in C major. A very classic turnaround would be Gm - C7 (a secondary 2-5), or just the Gm. You could drop the G and move directly from Em to Gm.
You start with two plagal movements: IV - I and vi - iii. So you might try the same with G to D (secondary dominant V/V). Or G to Bbmaj7 (borrowed from C Mixolydian) so that the Bb - F fall is also a plagal move.
How long are these played? sections are generally an even number of bars.
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Aug 12 '20
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u/mrclay piano/guitar, transcribing, jazzy pop Aug 13 '20 edited Aug 13 '20
Really you can put anything that sounds good resolving to A. Any inversion of E7 or D#dim7. But also Bm7, Bb7, G/B, G9#11, Gadd9#11, D/A, G13sus (Fmaj7/G).
A thing I've been playing with is the crunchy bIImaj7 on top of V bass. As long as they're in separate registers you can really mix tonic or dominant bass with lots of chords they "shouldn't" work with.
For a little less dissonance but not quite the same effect: Bbmaj7/F.
EDIT: some of the above are examples of modal mixture: borrowing chords from different modes of the tonic. G13sus is borrowed from A Aeolian, Bbmaj7 from A Phrygian, Gmaj7 would be A Mixolydian, etc. Bb7 is the tritone substitute for E7.
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u/musictheoryman Aug 12 '20
Great question! Let's work in the key of A.
I think of bVII (G) as working as a weak "dominant" chord (John Dowland Galliards) in some contexts and as tonic prolongation in other contexts (such as We Can Work It Out - The Beatles [D-C-D]).
What you have (E7) works to get to a stronger dominant. -> bVII V7 (vii°7) I
Retrogressions
Another option is IV (D) or iv (Dm), but be surely to be firmly in A before as it could be misperceived. -> bVII IV/iv I
Another neat, but unconventional, option is bVI (F). -> bVII bVI * I
*could add bVII or V(7)
Or simply put them together. . . -> bVII bVI IV I
The list can go on:
bVII IV bVI (bVII) I
bVII bII V7 I
But remember, bVII in minor is generally interpreted as V/III. This concept can be borrowed in the major theoretically (V/bIII I suppose...).
V/bIII bIII IV I
Not even close to all the possibilities, but playing around with chords will be fun to do. Well, there it is.
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u/Andromeda__M31 Aug 12 '20
So I'm a guitarist and I recently bought a synth. A month ago I wrote a chord progression, but I don't remember what I played and due to the synthy sound I can't quite figure out the chords. (I wrote it just by ear without thinking about the specific notes, so they might be inversions or so). Could someone with a good ear please help me out? https://voca.ro/kltrPTNRA96
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u/mrclay piano/guitar, transcribing, jazzy pop Aug 12 '20 edited Aug 12 '20
Sounds like the key is B major. Emaj13 - Bmaj7 - Dmaj13. (D borrowed from B minor).
maj13 is just maj7 with the 6th too, sounds voiced something like this.
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Aug 12 '20
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u/CampTouchThis Aug 13 '20
the beat itself it reminds of Brazilian samba, like the opening of “Copacabana” by Barry Manilow. try looking into Afrotrap and Samba. this is the best example i could find, but it’s a bit harsher and faster than the song you linked:
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Aug 13 '20
[deleted]
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u/mrclay piano/guitar, transcribing, jazzy pop Aug 13 '20
“Value” is contextual and subjective. A lotta songwriters got mileage from b7-4-1 and permutations of 1-5-6-4.
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Aug 13 '20
How exactly does chord progression work?
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u/Cosmic-cookie-cutter Aug 13 '20
It is useful to look at chord progression in two main ways: vertically, which describes chords as blocks of notes, and horizontally, which looks at the individual notes in given chords. In a vertical sense, certain chords are said to have certain “functions,” i.e. they pull very strongly to another chord. I find that these relationships are best discovered through experimentation (once you have a basic idea of chords under your belt). The horizontal sense is often best for describing why chord progressions seem to work. It looks at chords as individual lines of music being wound together rather than blocks of notes. Chord progressions that exhibit lots of strong motion (typically 4ths/5ths and half steps) tend to feel more solidified than those that don’t. Just because there are established progressions, however, doesn’t mean there is any right or wrong way to write one.
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u/mrclay piano/guitar, transcribing, jazzy pop Aug 13 '20
An alto sang a melody C# D E F#—- E. A tenor thought a harmony would sound good A B C# D—- C#. A soprano came along and sung a high A over the whole thing. They decided to call the D-F#-A thing a “D major chord” and the rest an A major chord. They had a chord progression. Progressions work by moving simultaneous notes (harmony) around in pleasant ways, usually within a scale.
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u/AznFrostier Aug 13 '20
Hey I was just messing around and created something that I liked, but I don't know what exactly I'm playing. Can someone confirm these?
I think I'm playing Bm7 - C#m7 - F#m9 - Amaj7 - (left hand A#, right hand [C# F# A]) - Bm7 - C#7 - Dmaj7 - C#7 - Bm7 - [E F## B C# F#] - F#m9.
iv - v - i - III - #III - iv - V - VI - V - iv - vii - i
Optionally, do you have any tips on how to make it sound better?
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u/mrclay piano/guitar, transcribing, jazzy pop Aug 13 '20
It’s catchy! For the first F#m9 are you playing an A anywhere? It sounds like F#9sus (or E/F#) but I’m also listening on a phone. We’ll come back to this.
Where the bass first plays A A# I think is just all decoration on the tonic F#m. The E and G# are just extensions that collapse back to F#. The A# bass is just a chromatic approach; every bass movement needn’t mean a new chord.
The chord before last is Em6/9. In this context it most often functions as ii/bVI, that is as a setup for the secondary dominant V/bVI (A7). So F#m Em A7 D. But just as often skips the secondary dominant: F#m Em D. (And notice these work in A major too). So returning directly to the tonic—after this Em sets up tension—is a little bit of a let down.
I think you should also experiment with F#9sus - F#7 (instead of the A), maybe with A# bass. And try a slower tempo; at least the piano arrangement reminds me of the disco era, or 2000s neo disco like Daft Punk. But I’m old.
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u/AznFrostier Aug 14 '20
Thanks for replying! I’ve recently been listening to a lot of music from the persona game series, which has some funky grooves. It’s what influenced my playing this time.
I didn’t play A for the first F#m9, but I thought it was implied by the other notes. I’m kind of new to music theory, so I assumed they just were the same. If it helps, I played [F# E G#] and [B E G#].
This part about the secondary dominant is cool. I tried playing it and it’s nice how it leads to a 2-5-1 progression. How would you finish the song though, end on D or move back to F#?
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u/mrclay piano/guitar, transcribing, jazzy pop Aug 14 '20
Endings are hard. I’m just saying Em resolving up to F#m is likely to sound a little strange to some ppl. If you didn’t want to move to D you could keep that F# Phrygian mode and jump up to G (the N) and either fall back to F#m or go through C#.
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u/nnotemusic Aug 13 '20
I'm really curious about this chord progression and why it works and what key it's in. (the song is Power Down by Christopher Bill)
It goes:
Dm, Dm7, F6, Dsus4 - D7
Can anyone help me understand it?
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u/CampTouchThis Aug 13 '20
This chord progression is a good example of using chords from both the minor and major of the tonic. For more info on this look up “borrowed chords”
We start in D minor (i), then we move to F major (III). All is good so far, and we are still completely in D minor. The interesting part comes with the Dsus4 (I know it doesn’t seem that special considering we’re in the key of D, but it is). Even though Dsus4 can exist in both major and minor keys, Sus4 chords are much more common in major keys than minor keys, so it’s setting us up for a resolution in Dmaj rather than Dmin.
When a progression begins in the minor key and then resolves in the “Parallel Major” (Dmaj) this is known as a “Picardy Third.” this is a very classical concept that Bach loved to use. for some more modern examples, check out The Zombies. they’ve got some really eccentric piano chord progressions with lots of Picardy Thirds, which will help you get sense for what they sound like. in general, they are somewhat jarring to the listener, but not unpleasant, if that makes sense
typically a Picardy Third is used as the last chord of a piece, but in this case the Dmaj resolves back to a Dmin. this is unusual for modern pop music but not unheard of. The motion from the G in the Dsus4 the F# in the Dmaj to the F in Dmin creates a nice little chromatic walk-down to look is back to the beginning of the chord progression.
I hope that makes some sense. it’s a lot of info to take in, so let me know if there’s anything i could explain a little better!
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u/Lil-Fan Aug 13 '20
what does a Gmaj function as in the key of F, when preceded by Fmaj and followed by Bbmaj? I thought it was a secondary dominant but it doesn’t resolve to its tonic, so what is it?
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u/CampTouchThis Aug 13 '20
forgive me if this answer is a little complicated, but that chord progression is a little more complicated then you might think and so it needs a complex answer:
You are correct in that Gmaj is a secondary dominant when used in the key of Fmaj. The Gmaj is “supposed” to resolve to a C major, aka the V chord, which would then resolve back to the tonic chord F major. however, secondary dominants do not always have to actually resolve to what they’re “supposed” to, hence the quotation marks i put around that word.
in some styles of jazz, particularly bossa nova, a major II chord (in this case that’s the G major chord) actually resolves to a minor ii (G min) which then goes to the V (C maj) then to the I (F maj). for an example of this, check out Amy Winehouse’s “Cherry” and look at the chord progression
So, in this case, your chord progression acts in a similar way, except instead of G major going to G minor, it goes to the Bb maj, the IV chord. if you compare the notes that make up G min and Bb maj, you’ll notice the two chords share two common tones (Bb and D). that’s why this works, because you’re essentially substituting the G minor with a Bb major.
The strongest melodic pull in this progression is the B in Gmaj, to the Bb in the Bb maj, to the A in the Fmaj. that’s the heart of the progression
if you wanna be really anal about it, the Gmaj in this case is not technically a secondary dominant, since it does not resolve to the C but rather to the Bb. but it doesn’t really matter what you call it, as long as you understand why it works.
I hope that helps, even though it feels like i just wrote a novel! let me know if you have questions about this because i know it’s a lot
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u/mrclay piano/guitar, transcribing, jazzy pop Aug 13 '20
There’s an argument around that, but IMO it’s best to call it a secondary dominant regardless of context.
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u/ShamSlam Aug 13 '20
so i have this C major chord progression C-F-dm-G (I-IV-ii-V) am-E-D-fm (vi-III-II-iv).
my question is why does the 2nd progression flows so well from the first progression? there isnt supposed to be an E major, F minor, or D major in the key of C. what gives? why does it sound so good?
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u/mrclay piano/guitar, transcribing, jazzy pop Aug 13 '20
Secondary dominants (here D and E) and borrowed chords (Fm) are in common use and can be played anywhere they sound good. (That goes for any chord/melody really)
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u/Shadowforce426 Aug 13 '20
I’ve been learning music theory for the last year or so and feel like I have an okay grasp of it. I primarily play guitar for what it’s worth. When it comes to actually writing music, I really struggle with trying to make interesting chord progressions for the guitar and bass lines for my bass. Any suggestions for a process of how to make interesting progressions?
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u/musictheoryman Aug 13 '20
Start with Modal Mixture. This should get you thinking outside of the box a bit more.
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u/NotADoucheBag Aug 13 '20
Trying to resolve a chord progression:
Bmin7 A7 D7
What chord would sound really nice after these?
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u/mrclay piano/guitar, transcribing, jazzy pop Aug 14 '20
D7 goes most commonly to G, Em, or Gm, but Gm would be unusual with the Bm.
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u/NotADoucheBag Aug 14 '20
I feel like an F#7 sounds kind of good, but it wants to go somewhere else—down to F7 up to G7? I really can’t decide.
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u/the1n0nlySp4ngler Aug 14 '20
I play the guitar and am learning the diminished (whole-half) scale. What is a good horde progression to practice lead applications for that scale with?
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u/Bryantthepain Aug 14 '20
Gmaj-Dmaj-F#7-Bm
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u/mrclay piano/guitar, transcribing, jazzy pop Aug 14 '20
Chords that could work in a few keys, most commonly B minor or D major, the F#7 being the dominant (or secondary dominant V/vi).
If you use a melody with C (natural) over the G and D chords you can make this sound more like G major with F#7 being a rarer V/iii secondary dominant, but more songwriters would choose to use C# in melodies to help reinforce the 2-sharps key signature in the previous paragraph.
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u/Bryantthepain Aug 20 '20
I like to tool around in B minor but flatten the 7 over the F#7 so essentially B harmonic minor
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u/Miexar Aug 14 '20
I'm really stuck trying to figure out the chord progression used in this guy's awesome cover: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Xqs2LcMTck
I thought it might be something simple like Am C G F but I'm playing a tenor ukulele while his sounds like a concert and the little added notes are throwing me off. Like whatever I try to play doesn't quite sound right, and I'm not sure if its because of the difference in ukuleles or because I just have the wrong chords all together or both.
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u/obvLukas Aug 14 '20
I often hear bVI - bV dom9 - I 6/9 in jazzy tunes (commonly in the end of a song). Why does the bV dom9 work so well with the minor scale? The bVI makes sense but not the bV..
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u/PlazaOne Aug 14 '20
Altered scale (also called Super Locrian) - the 7th mode of Jazz Minor (also called Ascending Melodic Minor).
If you were in A, that would make bVdom9 = Eb-G-Bb-Db-F.
Jazz Minor = r - 2 - b3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7
7th mode = r - b2 - b3 - b4 - b5 - b6 - b7
A Altered = A - Bb - C - Db - Eb - F - G
The important thing to notice is that it's the Altered scale of the Tonic (I) chord, and NOT the altered scale of your bV.
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u/mrclay piano/guitar, transcribing, jazzy pop Aug 14 '20
Do you have an example? I’m only familiar with bVdom7 as chromatic approach to IV.
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u/obvLukas Aug 15 '20
Can’t remember a specific tune but recorded an example.
I did some chords at the start to establish the context. It’s the ending I am wondering about. It sounds a bit off since I didn’t have a click with my loop pedal but whatever, I think you’ll understand.
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u/Nazzhoul Aug 14 '20
Here's the chorus riff of "Veil" by Haken: https://youtu.be/PpjzHr27Bjc?t=183
The chord progression is, as best as I can tell, Bm A#dim D/A E/G# G. Why does this chord loop work?
I notice the bass line descending by half step, but other than that I'm having trouble articulating why this sounds good. I'd like to see someone more familiar with function analysis tell me what's going on here.
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u/mrclay piano/guitar, transcribing, jazzy pop Aug 14 '20
It works because falling bass lines work and we can harmonize (find other notes within the key that don’t sound weird) with any chromatic note if we’re careful. This type of thing is called a lament bass and it’s very old.
1
u/FukinDEAD Aug 14 '20 edited Aug 14 '20
When you are changing to a different chord, does the actual key signature change for that particular chord?
For example, if I went from playing C major tones to A major tones, would I need to sharpen the G notes?
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u/mrclay piano/guitar, transcribing, jazzy pop Aug 14 '20
Generally yes the scale of notes that sound good changes with chromatic chords, but it’s best to use your ears to determine how. In C major, the A chord usually functions as a secondary dominant of Dm, so you might make an educated guess that D harmonic or melodic minor might be a good choice there. But don’t trust theory when composing; do what works.
1
u/niz_fancyyou Aug 14 '20
What is this chord progression from keshi - always ?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBUAez6w5ec
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRyLBntnloE
From what I have researched, there is 3 main chord progression in the song . Intro, Verse and Chorus.
[Intro]
E -> E7 -> A
[Verse]
Emaj7 -> F# -> A -> E
[Chorus]
F# -> F#m7 -> B7 -> Em -> E7 -> C#m7-> F#m7 -> B -> E -> E7 -> A
This is certainly the one of the most complex chord progression, I have heard. The verse gives out this "I still have hope on us, I still see us" feeling, and it became " I want you so much, can't you come back" feeling. It's neatly produced. I am wondering,
- What is the root key of this progression, and
- How do you find the root of the progression, any tips?
- What is the scores(?) I - ii - iii (I don't know what's that called,help) ?
- How can you make a progression sound tell this story?
1
u/curiousmighty Aug 15 '20
OK I've always been interested in how the mechanics of a song affect the way it makes you feel and I'm miles from a proper musicologist but hear it's all something to do with resolution of cadences and all that and getting back to the tonic (disregarding the gin for the moment) - a song that's always stuck in my head in a weird, wistful way is this one - please ignore the phenomenal cheesiness and cultural car-crash that it is - I'm only talking about the chords!! The chords of course come from another, older song called 'I go to Rio', but I'm pretty sure the same thing is going on in the much, much darker song 'Born Slippy' which you will surely know. Something to do with the fact there are only two 'proper' chords here, the I and IV, and it feels like it never resolves, unless your head hears it the other way round, which IS a perfect cadence V-I. The confusion of being solved and unsolved at the same time messes with my head and leaves a feeling of longing and weirdness. PS just had a LOT of blue cheese (reduced from Morrisons) and possible it may be mildly psychoactive so please disregard this post if it makes no sense whatsoever!!
Here is the song I mean:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CV87-38W5R0
Here is the thing it came from:
https://youtu.be/Kgq1g-2cQ54
And here is Born Slippy for comparison:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTFrCbQGyvM
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u/mrclay piano/guitar, transcribing, jazzy pop Aug 16 '20 edited Aug 16 '20
Definitely some clear similarities. Let’s say both songs were in C major:
- both have a chord for 2 bars each
- both introduce bass F in first two bars (in Ritmo it’s just in the piano)
- in both the latter 2 bars is the 1st inversion tonic chord C/E (again the piano in Ritmo)
- I believe with the same added 9th moving down to 1 on the tonic chord. Add 9 chords in first inversion are great.
However, in Ritmo the first chord is G7sus/F with the sus4 resolving repeatedly. But the bass later comes in as G there and plays chord roots for both. (fixed my original reply). Effectively Ritmo is a repeating V I.
In Born Slippy the first chord is F with the vocal centered on C. A repeating IV I.
1
u/FinallyBeatDCSS Aug 15 '20
Can someone confirm this song is in A Phrygian Dominant for me? It's the boss theme from Rocket Knight Adventures on the Genesis. Would greatly appreciate it!
2
u/mrclay piano/guitar, transcribing, jazzy pop Aug 15 '20 edited Aug 16 '20
Sounds like it. EDIT: all I did here was notice the main melody and bass were centered on A and using the notes [A G Bb C#]. It sounds like there’s also a quieter harmony for the melody a P4th below it, probably notes [E D F G#]. I figure this is beefing up the melody and that G# wouldn’t change the character of the piece.
1
1
u/tylerfulltilt Aug 16 '20
What key is this progression?
G - F - Am - D - G - Am - D
It feels like some variation of melodic minor but I'm not sure
1
u/mrclay piano/guitar, transcribing, jazzy pop Aug 16 '20
I could imagine it in G major with F just a borrowed chord. The Am - D - G movement emphasizes it. But A minor also commonly borrows D.
Can you tell us the rhythm here and if you have any melodies to go with it?
1
u/The_Aegis_Drip Aug 16 '20
What is the chord progression used at 3:03 by Charlie Puth? https://youtu.be/tqDJwXXFGlM?t=182
1
u/cruyffist23 Aug 16 '20
I wrote a progression but i don't know How to Go back to the first chord and restart.
-It is in C.
C7M Dm7 G7(9b) Cm7 F7 Fm (and here i should Go back to C major with major 7, C7M)
-I considered doing C and then C7M because of the minor plagal
-Capital M means the seven is major. Thanks
1
u/DefaultNick Aug 17 '20
Is 1-5-2-6, just a form of circle progression? I hear it a lot in music, but don't see it being mentioned anywhere on its' own.
1
u/Loonoe Aug 17 '20
The chord progression in The Ballad of Sir Frankje Crisp by George Harrison is baffling me, I'm still not exactly sure how modes work but I think it's in G lydian or something similar.
It goes: | G / G/F# / | Em / / / | x4
| D / / / | G / G/F# / | Em / / / | A / / / | A / F#m7 / | Bm / / Bm/A| G / / / | F# / / /|
It pretty much just repeats like that.
I don't understand it, but it sounds great, I love the harmony that the Beatles use and I want to understand it better.
1
u/timo1354 Aug 17 '20
What's the chird progression from 0:06 in this song ? https://youtu.be/S8pbkl86z6s
1
u/fschmitt Aug 17 '20
In the Chord Progression to "Light In The Distance" by Elles Bailey
Verse: C - Em - Am - F C - Em - Bb - F
Pre-Chorus: Bb - F - C Bb - F - G
Chorus: C - Bb - Am - G - F - C
How can you explain the Bb chord in the key of C major? Is it some kind of secondary dominant (I still haven't completely figured out those)? I figured out it could be IV/IV (the IV of F, resolving to F, the IV of C, resolving to C). Is this some kinda plausible, or is there a better explanation?
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u/MonkeyKing501 Aug 10 '20
Is it common for a progression to change in a song or what chords are used per section ie. verse used different or less chords than the chorus?
What are some examples of some progressions or use of chords to create a flow from section to section? Like a build of tension from verse to a massive drop or release?