Seriously though, great video as usual. Interestingly I think one of the most unusual Beatles’ chord progressions is from the chorus of Sexy Sadie (G F# C D) which is directly quoted by Radiohead in the coda to Karma Police, just offset by two bars (C D G F#).
Paul McCartney talked about going with George to a music shop where a local guitar teacher would show them jazz chords. The Dominant 7 #9 he showed them is very difficult to play involving a big stretch with the pinky finger, basically the hardest chord they'd ever seen. Paul determined to use it in a song. "Michelle" started as a bit Paul would do at parties, playing a French jazz musician and speaking in faux French, and naturally he wanted to use the hardest jazz chord he knew. At some point John Lennon said that was actually quite a nice little piece and he should do something with it. The band had a rare vacation before recording Rubber Soul, and Paul used the occasion to finish up the song with the help of a French-speaking friend. You can see George fingering the Dominant 7 #9 in at least one of the photos accompanying the US version of Magical Mystery Tour, as if to show off a little. BTW this version of the chord is a different and much more difficult guitar fingering than the E7#9 Jimi Hendrix used in "Purple Haze."
@@THEBLUEGLOVE Low E string to High E string: 6-8-6-7-9-9 or Bb-F-Ab-D-Ab-C#. You barre across the 6th fret to cover the Low E and D strings, but truth to tell you can just mute the D string because the Ab is doubled on the B string. I suspect that's how McCartney plays it. The hard part is you have to barre the B and E strings at the 9th fret with your pinky. It's a nice stretch.
@@Nic1963D It's pretty hard for me! But you're right that the chord I was thinking of that George fingers in the MMT pics is actually Dominant 7 #7b13 (I think). For that one you still have to do the pinky barre but you also have to stretch it one fret further. I could just about manage that one pre-arthritis.
Chord progressions are some of the most beautiful song elements to play around with, trying to find that unique but catchy progressions that carry a song and making it memorable
@@arcadepiano no, it is the matter of experience and the ability to make nice sounding but unusual chord progressions. Second, nope it's not propaganda, it is expression and artistry that makes it memorable or impeccable. Lastly chord progressions doesn't have to repeat. I don't want to trifle your opinion but I think famous people find gold, and make it to fine jewelry.
"Welcome to Japan" by The Strokes also goes from D minor to Ab major (then to G minor to C major), and it sounds so cool, also cuz of the syncopation on it and everything.
'take it or leave it' has some cool chords, which i always found interesting because every basically every other progression on 'Is This It' is so simple, and then the last track just isnt!
A band with a ton of unusual chord progressions is Nirvana. They work and aren't jarring because Kurt Cobain had such an incredible ear for melody. The melodies are usually quite linear and lead your ear from one chord to the next. In fact, I'd love for you to do a video on how melody can be used to bridge or "smooth out" key changes in the harmony.
Just like Pixies, with major or minor non-diatonic chords while the melody flows naturally. Ana by Pixies is an example to analyze, where, in addition to a non-diatonic chord progression, there is an invisible modulation in the repetition of the parts. A wonderful talent, both from Cobain and Francis.
@@duffharris9295 I love pavement so much and I would literally die if David dissected a song by them but also I’m sad because David likes to use music people are familiar with so we may never hear rhem
I'd say that Steely Dan has some of the most unusual chord progressions in rock. "Aja" comes to mind, but there are too many to name. That said, they also have plenty of songs in standard chord progressions.
Part of "The Song Remains the Same" by Led Zeppelin also does the tritone chord move when it goes from C to F# (similar to the Radiohead example). Thanks for another great video!
@@p_mouse8676 In chord progressions, his influence was zero. He helped form arrangements and translate their ideas into orchestral work or ease out vocal harmonies, but the chords and basic melodies were all 100% Beatles. Just because the chord is unusual or sophisticated doesn't mean the Beatles didn't write it. Paul could've just strike his guitar with his hand, heard a funny chord and wrote it in. If you watch McCartney 3,2,1 he says when he's talking about Michelle, that he still doesn't know which chord it actually was, though he suspects it has something to do with b7. Also, Martin would have gone with the much smoother bflatm7 chord, not incorporating the dissonance. The unusual 2d chord which I don't even bother to write in Michelle's progression most likely was an accident, or Paul thought it was another chord and wasn't aware of it's complexity. But Martin never was involved with chords.
@@tyrannosauruszeppelin2205 I recently saw an interview or video about George Martin (forgot exactly were, trying to find it right now), were they strongly suggested that he actually did have a say on chords and melodies for certain songs. Not like on a major way, but more like to polish things out or give some ideas and suggestions.
@@p_mouse8676 In that case wouldn't Martin have smoothed out the dissonance in the chord? Anyway, you do realise that McCartney wrote the melody for Michelle years before they met Martin, don't you?
@@catherinewilson3880 Oh yes, definitely. It was not specific to this song, just more a general idea. I am just curious and found it fascinating how much involvement there was. We will never know obviously :) I guess you're right about smoothing things out instead. Interesting point!
The dim chord part of michelle makes sense on a guitar, since you’re basically sliding up and down a third. As for the #9 chord, paul did get it from a jazz player and thought it sounded french so he used it on a french sounding song when they were teens. In a 2004 interview, McCartney says that "I learned that chord from Jim Gretty, a salesman at Hassy's music shop in Liverpool. All the guys who worked in that store when we were kids were jazz guys. They had to play jazz well if they wanted to hold down their jobs. Gretty showned us jazz chords... I remember George and I were in the guitar shop when Gretty played it, and we said, Wow, what was that, man? And he answered, It's just basically an "F," but you barre the top two strings at the fourth fret with your little finger."
the Beatles one is definitely unusual for pop but it makes a lot of sense: Fm, Eb and C are all from F minor (with the harmonic/natural minor.mixture you see quite often) the Bb7(#9) is a secondary dominant to Eb, so is D°7 kinda (it's like a Bb7(b9) but without the root, and like you said it's is a nice bridge over to the B°7, which has the exact same relation to the C chord that follows (it's again just a G7(b9) without the root) so yeah, definitely odd for pop but it uses quite a few tricks that are abundant in jazz and even classical
If you play "Mrs. Robinson" on guitar, you capo up two frets and play all the chords two steps lower. That makes them very easy to play using open position chords (what some disparagingly call "cowboy chords"). It goes to show you don't need to play something difficult to come up with something different.
i think the trouble is when you people start to study and follow music theory they become very elitist about simplicity - you cannot objectively say a C diminished 9th add 2 is a better chord than C major. Also you cannot force people to like complexity over simplicity. This is what I hate about people complaining about modern pop music
In Bloom is one of the weirdest progressions ever. Cobain did a weird thing where he convinced people he was only playing 3 chords even though In Bloom has ten. Seriously. Count them.
There's a beautiful live version of Light My Fire from ' Alive She Cried' where Robbie Krieger incorporates 'Eleanor Rigby' into his great lead break. Thank you for another super video.
I love weird chord progressions that still sound melodic. I try to get interesting stuff in my own writing wherever possible to give things an otherworldly mood.
Wuthering Heights is weird, but for Full House is the strangest song from Kate to me from harmonic perspective. I mean, the verse in that is just insane.
For my money she's one of the most original, unique, innovative and interesting musical artists ever. I'd LOVE to see David talk about one of her songs or her work in general.
Perhaps an interesting follow up video: why doesn't Michelle sound like it has a huge dissonance? Paul sings a Db on the word "my", which is why I think so many people hear the Bbm7 chord. But the harmony vocal includes a "D" note, sung alongside Paul's "Db" on the word "my" -- these notes are a semi-tone apart, are sung at the same time, and should sound awful together in theory. But it all sounds perfectly smooth. Why does this work?
Here's a couple thoughts. First, instrumentation matters. A minor 2nd played on piano or trumpets is a lot more harsh than a minor 2nd played by voice, or even strings (depending on how aggressively the strings are played). The way David plays it on the keyboard sounds very harsh, but voices don't sound that harsh. Second, the D isn't prominent in the mix. As the video says, many versions miss the D and just have Bm7. That indicates that the D is hard to hear. In blues music this interval would happen all the time. For example, an organ (say) might be playing a C7 chord, while a guitar is soloing in C minor pentatonic, which has an Eb, in the same register even as the E. Why does that work? They're played on two different instruments for one thing (contrast a minor 2nd played just on one guitar). And the guitar solo notes are more transient than the organ. And not all minor 2nds should sound awful in theory, really. A major 7th chord cluster can sound pretty good, even on a piano. So context matters in some way.
I do think it sounds quite dissonant, tbh. Part of why it isn’t too jarring is probably how quickly it goes by. Also I feel like really weird chords somehow sound much less weird when played (well) on guitar (check In Your Arms by Chef’Special).
@@hellomynameisjoenl That is very persuasive. I also just listened to it and wonder if there is something in the delivery of the "dissonant" harmony that makes you think they are going to glide upwards to resolve the dissonance. It's just that they never do and then we are on to something else melodic to take our mind off it...
@@richarddoan9172 I think the most compelling point you make is that it's mixed back. Still though, you'd think it would be a bit of a clash. It's an interesting point about it being like the blues. However, this song is in F, and the blue note would be Ab, while the F chord would have an A natural. Usually, the A natural might not even be played on the rhythm guitar, and the Ab note might be bent upwards, so that there would not necessarily be a clash. But in Michelle, we have a Bb chord (with extensions) over which is played a simultaneous D in the harmony vocal and Db note in the lead vocal both of which are held longer than should be comfortable. It still feels like a bit of a mystery to me why this doesn't sound absolutely awful.
A few more bands that use intriguing, unique (or near unique) progressions: Genesis ("Mad Man Moon"), Split Enz ("Iris", "Ships"), XTC ("Travels in Nihilon")... and Joni Mitchell uses chords no-one else has ever heard of.
I love Subterranean Homesick Alien, it's such an atmospheric and hypnotic song; definitely one of the best tracks from "OK Computer", and oddly underrated as well.
I think of Light My Fire switching between A Dorian and A Mixolydian on those two chords… modes which are only one note different from one another. Then the chorus in D Ionian has the same notes as A mixolydian.🔥
There's a resolution feeling to it that makes me feel more like it's switching directly between A Dorian (a preview of the solo section) and D major (the chorus key). (The F# empasized in the bass line also sounds to me more like it's implying the major 3rd of D major than the 6th of A mixolydian.)
For a long time I was just a listener to music. I didn’t understand why something sounded good, just that it did. But this kind of stuff has opened up a ‘2.0’ type of situation within me, where the most exciting moments of my day (truly!) are learning little snippets like why the verse of a Doors song sounds the way it does. I really agree, what makes a chord progression interesting is when two chords that shouldn’t work, really do. Cheers for the lesson!
I decided to learn Sir Duke last year by ear. So brilliant the f minor in B major idea. The band Brother Cane does it in "Got No Shame". The reason it works is because the third is g#, so it resolves back to the key. Most artists do this by playing a G major and raising the root a half step, following it with another chord in the key like a minor, C or D, or whatever.
Thank you for talking about Subterranean Homesick Alien, those first 3 chords have always fascinated me and they truly do sound like the soundtrack to an alien making contact with our planet
That last progression - Am7 to F#m7 - is also in the verse of Seven Days in Sunny June by Jamiroquai. It's a really nice sound, especially when the F#m7 drops down to an Fmaj7.
Picture Book by The Kinks does what Mrs. Robinson does but even better because the key changes are so cleverly woven into the fabric of the song Edit: the chord that makes Light My Fire unique in this example is literally the same chord as in Sir Duke, which came right before. If you put Sir Duke in the key of C, then the odd chord is F#m7, just like in Light My Fire, the only difference being that you approach it from the relative minor or major with Am or C.
A good melody justifies anything. Sir Duke proves that. I'll always remember the first time I (on guitar) tried to work it out by ear in the pre-youtube era. It took me a long time to figure out that Fm7, and when I finally did, I could only marvel at Stevie's genius.
Chairlift, “Turning” A maj, F min, E flat maj, A maj, F min, E flat maj, C# maj, E maj, C# maj, E maj, and this repeats throughout the song. The song is hypnotic through and through. A maj and F min are bind together by a note G sharp/A flat which is a starting point of lyrics at both chords. Fantastic work go listen now!!!
@@pajordan Was just about to say this. Cabinessence and Don’t Talk (Put Your Head on My Shoulder) are also extremely weird. Pet Sounds in general is too, especially the title track.
Brian Wilson was a genius starting at a young age. My favorite is Good Vibrations, I know its popular ,but the recording and the progressions are beyond addictive. Plus the only rocker besides Jimmy Page to make a therimn sound good !!
Please do more of these video examples with unusual chord progressions. For me, the whole point in writing chords is to slip that one or two in there that send a chill down the listener’s spine, like “Oooooh!! I didn’t expect that!!” Some Brazilian musicians are master at that. Have been trying to figure out their formula for years.
Thanks. Subterranean sounds "different", whereas Michelle to most people just sounds like a "nice" song, a pleasant McCartney Ballad, hiding its unusual chords really cleverly!
Your videos are extremely educational, you explain things thoroughly yet without getting too technical. You are a born teacher. And certainly its enlightening for us snobs who never considered pop music might have anything interesting to listen to...
Great video. I feel like this is a bit of a lost art in pop music. I’m curious if anyone is aware of any modern popular songs that have unusual chord progressions?
The outro of David Bowie's "The Bewlay Brothers" has a similar minor to a major a tritone (Bm F) away chord change. Bowie has some of the most inventive chord progressions out there!
If I was writing something like "Light My Fire" by the doors, the first thing I would think of is both those chords are related to a D7 chord. They can be viewed as alternate chords to a D chord, just like ii and vi are alternate chords to a IV. This is why the progression changes and later resolves to a D chord. Use D as your tonic and go up by thirds like you're building a jazz chord and you have all the notes. Alternating between Am7 and F#m7 is effectively the same as alternating between a DM7 and a DMm7.
You should listen to "Bajan" by Spinetta, one of the most famous rock songwriters in Spanish. He was known for using some peculiar chord progressions and arrange beautiful melodies over them, making everything "easy to be sung" for his immense audience
Cool trivia: Once it settles into the main descending G chord progression, “Subterranean Homesick Alien” strongly resembles the song “Parasite” by Nick Drake
Great content, as always! A few more of my favorites in the 'unusual' chord progressions category: - Echoes, Burning Bridges, Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Pink Floyd) - Young Pilgrims (The Shins) - Free As A Bird, I Am The Walrus (The Beatles) - Starless (King Crimson) Ughhhh there are so many to list. Chord progressions are one of my favorite things about music.
Very good, the most interesting video on the channel about chord progressions. For me, another great Beatles example would be the chorus of "Only a Northern Song".
I stopped watching your videos like 1 or 2 years ago when only 400K people subscribed. It's so good to see your channel grow by over 200K! (Can't wait for 1M!)
Great video, with an interesting topic! (That goes for your channel in general really)! Blur have used a lot of pretty unique chord patterns, particularly on their albums "Modern Life is Rubbish" & "Parklife". Also, their song "Fade Away" uses a tritone chord progression; C, F#m, C, F#m. It works because there's a minor 3rd interval E & G rising up a tone to F# & A, then going back down.
I heard the major #9 chord in Russian jazz music a few times, and it's used to a great effect. I especially liked the Am(add2) - F9 - E(#9) sequence, it's a bit jarring but so cool
David! If you want interesting chord progressions, check out Opeth "The Drapery Falls" off their album Blackwater Park. It was produced by Steven Wilson. I think you'll dig it.
So many Opeth songs have chord progressions that most people probably haven't heard much. They'd be a gold mine for a video like this. Well, except for The Moor. You can blame ABBA for that.
That Fm7 chord in Sir Duke also makes sense in terms of classical music theory if we spell the chord notes enharmonically. E#-G#-B#-D# that makes it E# half diminished 7th chord with sharp 5 (B#). If we think of it without the sharp 5 (B#), then the E# half diminished 7th usually resolves into F#M chord which belongs to the B Major scale. Considering Stevie was inspired by classical music since childhood, this might make sense, too.
Depeche Mode- Shake the disease is the best chord progression and many other of this band. The Cure as well. A forest,Figurehead . Siouxsie and the banshees- Israel and Spellbound
The Dm to Ab progression sounds like the opening chords to "Close Every Door" from Joseph's Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat." It's not the same note, but it sounds like a similar move. I love that Radiohead song. It's so...eerie and ambient at the same time. Very appropriate for invoking aliens.
Close Ever Door uses Fm-E-Fm at the beginning, so it's a related progression, but it's half-step motion rather than tritone motion. On the other hand, the melody does feature a very nice descending tritone.
@@KingstonCzajkowski there's actually a youtube video with a few examples ( czcams.com/video/rfYU1F0pJik/video.html ), but by the sound of it, it seems like I've heard it in countless movies countless of times. I don't know of any specific examples off the top of my head tho. I am only beginning to analyze music for learning purposes
@@KingstonCzajkowski to add to my comment, I think the second to last example from the video I linked (from Inception) is the most similar to Close Every Door because it has these two chords alternating in the same way (just in a different key). The name "Slide transformation" comes from so called "Neo-Riemannian Theory" and it can be used to refer either to the movement from Fm to E, or to the movement back from E to Fm
I haven't read all comments, but definitely the Dm-Ab progression ( 1:30 ) was used by Andrew Lloyd Webber in his 1970 rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar. You can hear it in Hosanna, and Pilate and Christ. 😊
A famous piece of the lyrical repertoire that passes from an I chord to a descending tritone ( although indirectly) is the theme of Scarpia in Puccini’s Tosca. From Bb to Ab and then to M. And the note Ab is actually a G#, III grade M!
Another really cool unusual one I’ve thought of is in the Coldplay song: All I Can Think about is You. The outro section goes C Gm F C/E Eb Bb Am7 Abmaj7. One of the most unusual and cool sounding progressions I’ve ever heard. EDIT: There's actually a Db major after the Abmaj7 chord.
I also like to use strange chord progressions in my compositions. Not only are they strange, but also combined with an unusual time signature like 7 / 8. One of the songs has: Cm | F | Ab Db | G7 Cm Bb | Cm | F | Ab Db | Cm Bb | Cm Bb | etc. Another song has a James Bond chord progression (but it's in 3 /4 ): Fm | Db | Fm6 | Db | And then the melody kick in: Fm | Eb | Ab | Bb | Cm | Cm | C7 | C7 (played twice) and then: Dm | Dm | Dm | Dm | C | C | C | C Dm | Dm | Dm | Dm | B7 | B7 | E7 | A After the A chord, there is a shock again to Fm. I have not tried jazzy microtonal chord progression yet, although there are bands that aren't scared by it.
Using chords a tritone away is so common btw, every metal song does have that, and if you use the tritone substitution that is so common in jazz, these two chords function as the same dominant 7th chord anyway.
The Beatles chords make a lot more sense if you imagine the bass note as being played on a separate instrument (as it was, although I know both Lennon & McCartney composed on piano). He writes the song, works it out with the guitarists, then adds the bass line. If you're constructing the bass line of the six chords in Michelle, they're the first notes you'd think of.
The Beatles, really did the work. I absolutely love them. There are dozens of bands and singers I like but I keep going back to them. If you’ve not heard them give Greenslade a go.
Hi David, you have got very solid knowledge in harmony and chord progression. I am dealing with that stuff my whole life and as a young boy i played classical sonatas just by hearing to recordings from Segovia, Bream, Williams. The Beatles were my first teachers. Later i analysed pieces of the Mahavishnu Orchestra,
@@aaronclift the section at 1:47 shows how stunning can music be using only parallel minor chords! Tho I think there are even more weirder progressions - for example, the solo section in Harvest and the intro of Blackwater Park
When I saw you were gonna talk about Light My Fire, I thought for sure you were gonna talk about the intro because I'm pretty sure that progression is going around the circle of 5ths. But instead you talked about the verse chords, which I thought was very interesting. Somebody else who had really interesting, unusual chord progressions was Elliott Smith. He had a masterful facility of creating ascending & descending chromatic lines using inverted chords.
Talking about Beatles and Radiohead, i think the Sexy Sadie/Karma Police one is very interesting, it would be a very common progression, but the 4th chord is unexpected and got a tritone interval with the first that creates a strange e unique feeling.
I've always thought of both the Chorus and Verse progressions of Sir Duke as "Quirky Doo Wop" progressions. The traditional Doo Wop progression is: I/vi/IV/V which would be B/G#m7/Emaj7/F#7 in B major. What Stevie does is swap chords 3 (in the verse) and 2 (in the chorus) for their chromatic mediants: E becomes G7 and G#m becomes Fm7
I absolutely LOVE that intro to Subterranean Homesick Alien. As you say, the second part is more commonly used (it is a type of line cliché, right?)... I suspect the second part is inspired by Nick Drake's 'Parasite'.
Check out Use Your Ear's free 3-hour workshop: www.useyourear.com/free-workshop-optin-bennett
Link is not working
@@stephenandersen4625 should be working now, thanks for the heads up!
What a worthless "workshop"
@@vertyisprobablydead No!
The Beatles and Radiohead in a David Bennet video? Shocking!
Seriously though, great video as usual. Interestingly I think one of the most unusual Beatles’ chord progressions is from the chorus of Sexy Sadie (G F# C D) which is directly quoted by Radiohead in the coda to Karma Police, just offset by two bars (C D G F#).
Oh shit hey kenji, funny seeing you here haha
Wow, what a pleasant surprise. Damn didnt know u also had knowledge on music theory and culture.
Yo Kenji! I gotta make some pressure cooker green Chile soon!
@@bassesatta9235 Yeah what the hell, Kenji's a legend, love his cooking (and culinary science) videos / articles!
No way. He used a radiohead and a Beatles example kinda crazy
Yeah, he NEVER does that. Lolol
Rejoice! A sure rarety!
I think he's self aware lol
Well they’re the kings of chord progressions, I suppose he did the right thing
@@erikhamer2792 it wasn't a diss, I'm the biggest radiohead fan and I used to love the Beatles still do sort of so ye
Paul McCartney talked about going with George to a music shop where a local guitar teacher would show them jazz chords. The Dominant 7 #9 he showed them is very difficult to play involving a big stretch with the pinky finger, basically the hardest chord they'd ever seen. Paul determined to use it in a song. "Michelle" started as a bit Paul would do at parties, playing a French jazz musician and speaking in faux French, and naturally he wanted to use the hardest jazz chord he knew. At some point John Lennon said that was actually quite a nice little piece and he should do something with it. The band had a rare vacation before recording Rubber Soul, and Paul used the occasion to finish up the song with the help of a French-speaking friend. You can see George fingering the Dominant 7 #9 in at least one of the photos accompanying the US version of Magical Mystery Tour, as if to show off a little. BTW this version of the chord is a different and much more difficult guitar fingering than the E7#9 Jimi Hendrix used in "Purple Haze."
Do you know what the fingering was? I'm curious.
Wowwww!!!
Where could I find a diagram of this chord?
@@THEBLUEGLOVE Low E string to High E string: 6-8-6-7-9-9 or Bb-F-Ab-D-Ab-C#.
You barre across the 6th fret to cover the Low E and D strings, but truth to tell you can just mute the D string because the Ab is doubled on the B string. I suspect that's how McCartney plays it.
The hard part is you have to barre the B and E strings at the 9th fret with your pinky. It's a nice stretch.
@@Nic1963D It's pretty hard for me! But you're right that the chord I was thinking of that George fingers in the MMT pics is actually Dominant 7 #7b13 (I think). For that one you still have to do the pinky barre but you also have to stretch it one fret further. I could just about manage that one pre-arthritis.
Chord progressions are some of the most beautiful song elements to play around with, trying to find that unique but catchy progressions that carry a song and making it memorable
@@arcadepiano no, it is the matter of experience and the ability to make nice sounding but unusual chord progressions. Second, nope it's not propaganda, it is expression and artistry that makes it memorable or impeccable. Lastly chord progressions doesn't have to repeat. I don't want to trifle your opinion but I think famous people find gold, and make it to fine jewelry.
and in the end you just play I - V - vi - IV
Push doesn't hurt, but it helps if you start with a good song and marketable face/voice and a memorable hook
@@GizzyDillespee I agree, most of the recent mainstream song writers/singers follow this trend that seems to work wonderfully for them
@@cherrysunburst828 at least you still have a chord progression, mine just sits in drafts waiting for me to finish them
"Welcome to Japan" by The Strokes also goes from D minor to Ab major (then to G minor to C major), and it sounds so cool, also cuz of the syncopation on it and everything.
So many strokes songs have unexpected chord changes. Julian is a genius
'take it or leave it' has some cool chords, which i always found interesting because every basically every other progression on 'Is This It' is so simple, and then the last track just isnt!
Used to see those guys hanging out on the lower east side in Manhattan. Before they hit it big, they were not short of female fans. Wild.
@@eliteretribution1971 he really is
A band with a ton of unusual chord progressions is Nirvana. They work and aren't jarring because Kurt Cobain had such an incredible ear for melody. The melodies are usually quite linear and lead your ear from one chord to the next. In fact, I'd love for you to do a video on how melody can be used to bridge or "smooth out" key changes in the harmony.
I was sure Nirvana would get a mention in this video. Good call. :)
Pavement has some bizarre chord progressions. The coda of You Are a Light is D Bb Bmb5 E9 D C9 G Bb.
In bloom has crazy chords progression
Just like Pixies, with major or minor non-diatonic chords while the melody flows naturally. Ana by Pixies is an example to analyze, where, in addition to a non-diatonic chord progression, there is an invisible modulation in the repetition of the parts. A wonderful talent, both from Cobain and Francis.
@@duffharris9295 I love pavement so much and I would literally die if David dissected a song by them but also I’m sad because David likes to use music people are familiar with so we may never hear rhem
The first three chords of "Subterranean Homesick Alien" can be found in the Finale of Dvorak's "New World Symphony".
Love that one!
Also Spider man theme
I'd say that Steely Dan has some of the most unusual chord progressions in rock. "Aja" comes to mind, but there are too many to name. That said, they also have plenty of songs in standard chord progressions.
Part of "The Song Remains the Same" by Led Zeppelin also does the tritone chord move when it goes from C to F# (similar to the Radiohead example). Thanks for another great video!
Danny elfman batman
So does In The Flowers by Animal Collective, and also The Great Gig In The Sky by Pink Floyd btw.
never realized how genius the chord progression of Michelle is
I very often wonder how much George Martin influence was on many of these kind of songs.
@@p_mouse8676 In chord progressions, his influence was zero. He helped form arrangements and translate their ideas into orchestral work or ease out vocal harmonies, but the chords and basic melodies were all 100% Beatles. Just because the chord is unusual or sophisticated doesn't mean the Beatles didn't write it. Paul could've just strike his guitar with his hand, heard a funny chord and wrote it in. If you watch McCartney 3,2,1 he says when he's talking about Michelle, that he still doesn't know which chord it actually was, though he suspects it has something to do with b7. Also, Martin would have gone with the much smoother bflatm7 chord, not incorporating the dissonance. The unusual 2d chord which I don't even bother to write in Michelle's progression most likely was an accident, or Paul thought it was another chord and wasn't aware of it's complexity. But Martin never was involved with chords.
@@tyrannosauruszeppelin2205 I recently saw an interview or video about George Martin (forgot exactly were, trying to find it right now), were they strongly suggested that he actually did have a say on chords and melodies for certain songs. Not like on a major way, but more like to polish things out or give some ideas and suggestions.
@@p_mouse8676 In that case wouldn't Martin have smoothed out the dissonance in the chord? Anyway, you do realise that McCartney wrote the melody for Michelle years before they met Martin, don't you?
@@catherinewilson3880 Oh yes, definitely. It was not specific to this song, just more a general idea. I am just curious and found it fascinating how much involvement there was. We will never know obviously :)
I guess you're right about smoothing things out instead. Interesting point!
The dim chord part of michelle makes sense on a guitar, since you’re basically sliding up and down a third. As for the #9 chord, paul did get it from a jazz player and thought it sounded french so he used it on a french sounding song when they were teens.
In a 2004 interview, McCartney says that "I learned that chord from Jim Gretty, a salesman at Hassy's music shop in Liverpool. All the guys who worked in that store when we were kids were jazz guys. They had to play jazz well if they wanted to hold down their jobs. Gretty showned us jazz chords... I remember George and I were in the guitar shop when Gretty played it, and we said, Wow, what was that, man? And he answered, It's just basically an "F," but you barre the top two strings at the fourth fret with your little finger."
the Beatles one is definitely unusual for pop but it makes a lot of sense: Fm, Eb and C are all from F minor (with the harmonic/natural minor.mixture you see quite often)
the Bb7(#9) is a secondary dominant to Eb, so is D°7 kinda (it's like a Bb7(b9) but without the root, and like you said it's is a nice bridge over to the B°7, which has the exact same relation to the C chord that follows (it's again just a G7(b9) without the root)
so yeah, definitely odd for pop but it uses quite a few tricks that are abundant in jazz and even classical
If you play "Mrs. Robinson" on guitar, you capo up two frets and play all the chords two steps lower. That makes them very easy to play using open position chords (what some disparagingly call "cowboy chords"). It goes to show you don't need to play something difficult to come up with something different.
i think the trouble is when you people start to study and follow music theory they become very elitist about simplicity - you cannot objectively say a C diminished 9th add 2 is a better chord than C major. Also you cannot force people to like complexity over simplicity. This is what I hate about people complaining about modern pop music
In Bloom is one of the weirdest progressions ever. Cobain did a weird thing where he convinced people he was only playing 3 chords even though In Bloom has ten. Seriously. Count them.
Yeah the power chords go everywhere
There's a beautiful live version of Light My Fire from ' Alive She Cried' where Robbie Krieger incorporates 'Eleanor Rigby' into his great lead break.
Thank you for another super video.
I love weird chord progressions that still sound melodic. I try to get interesting stuff in my own writing wherever possible to give things an otherworldly mood.
Kate Bush's music is also full of many interesting chord progressions, Wuthering Heights being probably the most famous example
I’ve been waiting for so long for him to do a Kate Bush example
Wuthering Heights is weird, but for Full House is the strangest song from Kate to me from harmonic perspective. I mean, the verse in that is just insane.
Kate bush is fckn Great
Kate bush is fckn Great
For my money she's one of the most original, unique, innovative and interesting musical artists ever. I'd LOVE to see David talk about one of her songs or her work in general.
I'm not heavy into music theory, I play guitar and a bit of keys but really enjoyed this video and learned a lot. Thank you.
I like the fact that you’ve covered so much basic music stuff that now you’re showing more complex and interesting musical ideas.
Perhaps an interesting follow up video: why doesn't Michelle sound like it has a huge dissonance?
Paul sings a Db on the word "my", which is why I think so many people hear the Bbm7 chord. But the harmony vocal includes a "D" note, sung alongside Paul's "Db" on the word "my" -- these notes are a semi-tone apart, are sung at the same time, and should sound awful together in theory. But it all sounds perfectly smooth. Why does this work?
Waiting for an answear.
Here's a couple thoughts. First, instrumentation matters. A minor 2nd played on piano or trumpets is a lot more harsh than a minor 2nd played by voice, or even strings (depending on how aggressively the strings are played). The way David plays it on the keyboard sounds very harsh, but voices don't sound that harsh.
Second, the D isn't prominent in the mix. As the video says, many versions miss the D and just have Bm7. That indicates that the D is hard to hear.
In blues music this interval would happen all the time. For example, an organ (say) might be playing a C7 chord, while a guitar is soloing in C minor pentatonic, which has an Eb, in the same register even as the E. Why does that work? They're played on two different instruments for one thing (contrast a minor 2nd played just on one guitar). And the guitar solo notes are more transient than the organ.
And not all minor 2nds should sound awful in theory, really. A major 7th chord cluster can sound pretty good, even on a piano. So context matters in some way.
I do think it sounds quite dissonant, tbh. Part of why it isn’t too jarring is probably how quickly it goes by. Also I feel like really weird chords somehow sound much less weird when played (well) on guitar (check In Your Arms by Chef’Special).
@@hellomynameisjoenl That is very persuasive. I also just listened to it and wonder if there is something in the delivery of the "dissonant" harmony that makes you think they are going to glide upwards to resolve the dissonance. It's just that they never do and then we are on to something else melodic to take our mind off it...
@@richarddoan9172 I think the most compelling point you make is that it's mixed back. Still though, you'd think it would be a bit of a clash.
It's an interesting point about it being like the blues. However, this song is in F, and the blue note would be Ab, while the F chord would have an A natural. Usually, the A natural might not even be played on the rhythm guitar, and the Ab note might be bent upwards, so that there would not necessarily be a clash. But in Michelle, we have a Bb chord (with extensions) over which is played a simultaneous D in the harmony vocal and Db note in the lead vocal both of which are held longer than should be comfortable. It still feels like a bit of a mystery to me why this doesn't sound absolutely awful.
Love these explanations so much. This analysis makes Mrs. Robinson even more amazing, and illustrates what a great artist Paul Simon is.
A few more bands that use intriguing, unique (or near unique) progressions: Genesis ("Mad Man Moon"), Split Enz ("Iris", "Ships"), XTC ("Travels in Nihilon")... and Joni Mitchell uses chords no-one else has ever heard of.
traaveeeellls, travveelllls in NI HIL OH HU WO HU WO hu OIO UOIO UOIOOOO
I love Subterranean Homesick Alien, it's such an atmospheric and hypnotic song; definitely one of the best tracks from "OK Computer", and oddly underrated as well.
I think of Light My Fire switching between A Dorian and A Mixolydian on those two chords… modes which are only one note different from one another. Then the chorus in D Ionian has the same notes as A mixolydian.🔥
There's a resolution feeling to it that makes me feel more like it's switching directly between A Dorian (a preview of the solo section) and D major (the chorus key). (The F# empasized in the bass line also sounds to me more like it's implying the major 3rd of D major than the 6th of A mixolydian.)
The diminished scale slide in Michelle makes a lot more sense on the guitar. It’s just sliding a dim chord shape up and down the guitar by third.
For a long time I was just a listener to music. I didn’t understand why something sounded good, just that it did. But this kind of stuff has opened up a ‘2.0’ type of situation within me, where the most exciting moments of my day (truly!) are learning little snippets like why the verse of a Doors song sounds the way it does.
I really agree, what makes a chord progression interesting is when two chords that shouldn’t work, really do.
Cheers for the lesson!
I decided to learn Sir Duke last year by ear. So brilliant the f minor in B major idea. The band Brother Cane does it in "Got No Shame". The reason it works is because the third is g#, so it resolves back to the key. Most artists do this by playing a G major and raising the root a half step, following it with another chord in the key like a minor, C or D, or whatever.
Thank you for talking about Subterranean Homesick Alien, those first 3 chords have always fascinated me and they truly do sound like the soundtrack to an alien making contact with our planet
Cheers!
It actually sounds like spiderman 😂
That last progression - Am7 to F#m7 - is also in the verse of Seven Days in Sunny June by Jamiroquai. It's a really nice sound, especially when the F#m7 drops down to an Fmaj7.
Picture Book by The Kinks does what Mrs. Robinson does but even better because the key changes are so cleverly woven into the fabric of the song
Edit: the chord that makes Light My Fire unique in this example is literally the same chord as in Sir Duke, which came right before. If you put Sir Duke in the key of C, then the odd chord is F#m7, just like in Light My Fire, the only difference being that you approach it from the relative minor or major with Am or C.
I love your improvisation on "Light my fire"
A good melody justifies anything. Sir Duke proves that. I'll always remember the first time I (on guitar) tried to work it out by ear in the pre-youtube era. It took me a long time to figure out that Fm7, and when I finally did, I could only marvel at Stevie's genius.
Chairlift, “Turning”
A maj, F min, E flat maj,
A maj, F min, E flat maj,
C# maj, E maj, C# maj, E maj,
and this repeats throughout the song. The song is hypnotic through and through. A maj and F min are bind together by a note G sharp/A flat which is a starting point of lyrics at both chords. Fantastic work go listen now!!!
This is a great video! Fine job!
Cheers 😊
Seems like Brian Wilson would have a lot of candidates for this list.
Wish you talked about Genesis more in these videos, they use some off the wall progressions to great result
WORD! Tony Banks created insanely unique harmonies.
I love Genesis including the Peter Gabriel stuff
I agree. The chord progression in the first part of "Supper's Ready" would take a whole video to explain.
@@aaronclift Foxtrot is an outstanding Album
Another Genesis song with a weird chord progression is “Dodo/Lurker,” which is all over the place harmonically.
I always thought the beach Boys had some crazy chord progressions. One of my favorites is, The Warmth Of The Sun.
Or god only knows
@@pajordan Was just about to say this. Cabinessence and Don’t Talk (Put Your Head on My Shoulder) are also extremely weird. Pet Sounds in general is too, especially the title track.
@@danielplainview2584 I'm so in love with "don't talk'" progression! The song is also super fun and cool for playing on piano
@@4shir_jr698 definitely! One of my favorites too.
Brian Wilson was a genius starting at a young age. My favorite is Good Vibrations, I know its popular ,but the recording and the progressions are beyond addictive. Plus the only rocker besides Jimmy Page to make a therimn sound good !!
Please do more of these video examples with unusual chord progressions. For me, the whole point in writing chords is to slip that one or two in there that send a chill down the listener’s spine, like “Oooooh!! I didn’t expect that!!”
Some Brazilian musicians are master at that. Have been trying to figure out their formula for years.
These chord progression videos are my favorite.
Thanks. Subterranean sounds "different", whereas Michelle to most people just sounds like a "nice" song, a pleasant McCartney Ballad, hiding its unusual chords really cleverly!
Your videos are extremely educational, you explain things thoroughly yet without getting too technical. You are a born teacher. And certainly its enlightening for us snobs who never considered pop music might have anything interesting to listen to...
The chorus of "Walls" by Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers has one of the most unique and beautiful chord progressions I've ever heard.
Great video. I feel like this is a bit of a lost art in pop music. I’m curious if anyone is aware of any modern popular songs that have unusual chord progressions?
"I feel like this is a bit of a lost art in pop music." Yes. As far as I am concerned that's (sadly) a fact and an understatement.
Muse
OMG thank you so much for including Mrs. Robinson, 💗
No problem 😊 it’s one of my favourite!
The outro of David Bowie's "The Bewlay Brothers" has a similar minor to a major a tritone (Bm F) away chord change. Bowie has some of the most inventive chord progressions out there!
Each of these songs deserves its own video.
If I was writing something like "Light My Fire" by the doors, the first thing I would think of is both those chords are related to a D7 chord. They can be viewed as alternate chords to a D chord, just like ii and vi are alternate chords to a IV. This is why the progression changes and later resolves to a D chord.
Use D as your tonic and go up by thirds like you're building a jazz chord and you have all the notes. Alternating between Am7 and F#m7 is effectively the same as alternating between a DM7 and a DMm7.
learned how to play Michelle like an hour ago this timing is wonderful
You should listen to "Bajan" by Spinetta, one of the most famous rock songwriters in Spanish. He was known for using some peculiar chord progressions and arrange beautiful melodies over them, making everything "easy to be sung" for his immense audience
Great composer and guitar player.
@@hhpoa I completely agree. As an Argentine, I'm proud I was born in the same nation as him
Definitely going to be going through this series and attempt to play along. Thanks.
Thanks 😊
Cool trivia:
Once it settles into the main descending G chord progression, “Subterranean Homesick Alien” strongly resembles the song “Parasite” by Nick Drake
Neat how things fit together. A chord that seems not useable is a rare find.
another great video by this intelligent and talented man. Thanks!!!
Great content, as always! A few more of my favorites in the 'unusual' chord progressions category:
- Echoes, Burning Bridges, Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Pink Floyd)
- Young Pilgrims (The Shins)
- Free As A Bird, I Am The Walrus (The Beatles)
- Starless (King Crimson)
Ughhhh there are so many to list. Chord progressions are one of my favorite things about music.
Dreamer of Supertramp also smoothy goes from D to Ab and back.
I’m honestly surprised he didn’t used The Beach Boys as an example.
One Of The Most Helpful Video I’ve Seen Lately 🙏🏿Thank You
Very good, the most interesting video on the channel about chord progressions. For me, another great Beatles example would be the chorus of "Only a Northern Song".
Should’ve talked about summer soft for Stevie. One of his coolest chord progressions.
I stopped watching your videos like 1 or 2 years ago when only 400K people subscribed.
It's so good to see your channel grow by over 200K!
(Can't wait for 1M!)
Thanks! 😊😊
Great video, with an interesting topic! (That goes for your channel in general really)! Blur have used a lot of pretty unique chord patterns, particularly on their albums "Modern Life is Rubbish" & "Parklife". Also, their song "Fade Away" uses a tritone chord progression;
C, F#m, C, F#m.
It works because there's a minor 3rd interval E & G rising up a tone to F# & A, then going back down.
Please do more parts for this: really you are the one who make this video. More partss!!!
I heard the major #9 chord in Russian jazz music a few times, and it's used to a great effect. I especially liked the Am(add2) - F9 - E(#9) sequence, it's a bit jarring but so cool
"The Boys Are Back In Town" by Thin Lizzy has always sounded like a weird progression to me, even though it works.
David! If you want interesting chord progressions, check out Opeth "The Drapery Falls" off their album Blackwater Park. It was produced by Steven Wilson. I think you'll dig it.
So many Opeth songs have chord progressions that most people probably haven't heard much. They'd be a gold mine for a video like this.
Well, except for The Moor. You can blame ABBA for that.
I mentioned that song as well. I don’t think David listens to much metal, though.
Zappa's masterpiece "Peaches en regalia" has a very unique chord progression. It would make JS Bach proud, I guess.
The look on your face at 13:29 or so made me laugh - "OH! what was that?" You're funny.
Thanks for the analysis on Light My Fire. You might look into more Doors music, especially the work of their keyboardist, Ray Manzarek.
That Fm7 chord in Sir Duke also makes sense in terms of classical music theory if we spell the chord notes enharmonically. E#-G#-B#-D# that makes it E# half diminished 7th chord with sharp 5 (B#). If we think of it without the sharp 5 (B#), then the E# half diminished 7th usually resolves into F#M chord which belongs to the B Major scale. Considering Stevie was inspired by classical music since childhood, this might make sense, too.
Depeche Mode- Shake the disease is the best chord progression and many other of this band.
The Cure as well. A forest,Figurehead . Siouxsie and the banshees- Israel and Spellbound
Talking about going around the circle of fifths, YES used that at the end of Awaken.
The Dm to Ab progression sounds like the opening chords to "Close Every Door" from Joseph's Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat." It's not the same note, but it sounds like a similar move. I love that Radiohead song. It's so...eerie and ambient at the same time. Very appropriate for invoking aliens.
Close Ever Door uses Fm-E-Fm at the beginning, so it's a related progression, but it's half-step motion rather than tritone motion. On the other hand, the melody does feature a very nice descending tritone.
@@KingstonCzajkowski Fm-E is also known as a slide movement or slide transformation, and it's used very often in film music
@@karolakkolo123 Huh, I wasn't aware of how common that progression was. Can you give some other examples?
@@KingstonCzajkowski there's actually a youtube video with a few examples ( czcams.com/video/rfYU1F0pJik/video.html ), but by the sound of it, it seems like I've heard it in countless movies countless of times. I don't know of any specific examples off the top of my head tho. I am only beginning to analyze music for learning purposes
@@KingstonCzajkowski to add to my comment, I think the second to last example from the video I linked (from Inception) is the most similar to Close Every Door because it has these two chords alternating in the same way (just in a different key). The name "Slide transformation" comes from so called "Neo-Riemannian Theory" and it can be used to refer either to the movement from Fm to E, or to the movement back from E to Fm
Some of the comments make me wonder: how many chords you need to be able to call it a progression? I think two is too little.
I haven't read all comments, but definitely the Dm-Ab progression ( 1:30 ) was used by Andrew Lloyd Webber in his 1970 rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar. You can hear it in Hosanna, and Pilate and Christ. 😊
Brian Wilson was also very good at this!
A famous piece of the lyrical repertoire that passes from an I chord to a descending tritone ( although indirectly) is the theme of Scarpia in Puccini’s Tosca. From Bb to Ab and then to M. And the note Ab is actually a G#, III grade M!
These videos reach the parts that other videos don't reach.
Love the explanations. Excellent !
Another really cool unusual one I’ve thought of is in the Coldplay song: All I Can Think about is You. The outro section goes C Gm F C/E Eb Bb Am7 Abmaj7. One of the most unusual and cool sounding progressions I’ve ever heard.
EDIT: There's actually a Db major after the Abmaj7 chord.
what a wonderful way to get a headache.. :) brill stuff Mr B.... wonderfully explained, as per...
Love this, hope to see more vids like this one
Love it , David. Thank you once again. I wish I had more time to keep up with you but I will do it! Cheers!!
I also like to use strange chord progressions in my compositions. Not only are they strange, but also combined with an unusual time signature like 7 / 8. One of the songs has:
Cm | F | Ab Db | G7 Cm Bb |
Cm | F | Ab Db | Cm Bb | Cm Bb | etc.
Another song has a James Bond chord progression (but it's in 3 /4 ):
Fm | Db | Fm6 | Db |
And then the melody kick in:
Fm | Eb | Ab | Bb | Cm | Cm | C7 | C7 (played twice)
and then:
Dm | Dm | Dm | Dm | C | C | C | C
Dm | Dm | Dm | Dm | B7 | B7 | E7 | A
After the A chord, there is a shock again to Fm.
I have not tried jazzy microtonal chord progression yet, although there are bands that aren't scared by it.
Using chords a tritone away is so common btw, every metal song does have that, and if you use the tritone substitution that is so common in jazz, these two chords function as the same dominant 7th chord anyway.
If you add an Ab beneath the first chord of the Stevie Wonder song it's actually the same first two chords as the Doors song!
The Beatles chords make a lot more sense if you imagine the bass note as being played on a separate instrument (as it was, although I know both Lennon & McCartney composed on piano).
He writes the song, works it out with the guitarists, then adds the bass line. If you're constructing the bass line of the six chords in Michelle, they're the first notes you'd think of.
The Beatles, really did the work. I absolutely love them. There are dozens of bands and singers I like but I keep going back to them. If you’ve not heard them give Greenslade a go.
Hi David, you have got very solid knowledge in harmony and chord progression. I am dealing with that stuff my whole life and as a young boy i played classical sonatas just by hearing to recordings from Segovia, Bream, Williams. The Beatles were my first teachers. Later i analysed pieces of the Mahavishnu Orchestra,
the way Opeth build their progressions and some Pain of Salvation progressions seriously need to be analyzed
"Wreath" by Opeth is a pretty fascinating song to look at. The whole song is either minor or diminished chords.
@@aaronclift the section at 1:47 shows how stunning can music be using only parallel minor chords! Tho I think there are even more weirder progressions - for example, the solo section in Harvest and the intro of Blackwater Park
You could fill this entire video with Stevie Wonder chord progressions
When I saw you were gonna talk about Light My Fire, I thought for sure you were gonna talk about the intro because I'm pretty sure that progression is going around the circle of 5ths. But instead you talked about the verse chords, which I thought was very interesting. Somebody else who had really interesting, unusual chord progressions was Elliott Smith. He had a masterful facility of creating ascending & descending chromatic lines using inverted chords.
Talking about Beatles and Radiohead, i think the Sexy Sadie/Karma Police one is very interesting, it would be a very common progression, but the 4th chord is unexpected and got a tritone interval with the first that creates a strange e unique feeling.
I've always thought of both the Chorus and Verse progressions of Sir Duke as "Quirky Doo Wop" progressions.
The traditional Doo Wop progression is: I/vi/IV/V which would be B/G#m7/Emaj7/F#7 in B major. What Stevie does is swap chords 3 (in the verse) and 2 (in the chorus) for their chromatic mediants: E becomes G7 and G#m becomes Fm7
Black hole sun comes to mind
That was my first thought when u saw the video title.
13:14 - F#m7 can also be voiced as A6. (A, C#, E, F#).
Such brilliant content as always
I absolutely LOVE that intro to Subterranean Homesick Alien. As you say, the second part is more commonly used (it is a type of line cliché, right?)... I suspect the second part is inspired by Nick Drake's 'Parasite'.
Great work David! Really enjoyed this one. Well, I really enjoy all your videos, but this one is particularly fantastic!
I wanted that jam at the end to go on and on and on... beautiful playing, thank you
E/G/Am/Fm (the continuing story of bungalow bill) is an extremely unusual chord progression in a pop song ! beatles i love you