4 less common chord progressions in pop and rock songs
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- Äas pĆidĂĄn 16. 05. 2024
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The four chord progressions we'll look at today aren't complex or chromatic, but for one reason or another they get used less often in pop and rock music. But even if these progressions are less common, they are still great chord progressions that you could use as the foundation of your own song!
And, an extra special thanks goes to Douglas Lind, Vidad Flowers, Ivan Pang, Waylon Fairbanks, Jon Dye, Austin Russell, Christopher Ryan, Yu Kyung Chung, Toot & Paul Peijzel, the channelâs Patreon saints! đ
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0:00 Introduction
0:30 the "She Loves You" progression
2:59 the "Starlight" progression
4:25 Glarry GDP-104
5:09 the "Jolene" progression
6:32 the "Polly" progression
8:00 Minor key roman numerals?
11:00 Piano outro & Patreon
Check out the Glarry GDP-104 Digital Piano at these links đč UK: bit.ly/3CUTQdU
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PROMO CODE: DavidPiano
Could you try recreating the Abbey Road medley sometime? Someone commented on your "I Recreated ADITL From Scratch" video about that too.
You forgot "Runaway Train" by Soul Asulym from the first chord progression.
I have one for you. Anderson Paaks- Come down and a unknown band out of Atlanta called âHEAVY MOJO-RADIO⊠Tell me what you think! Radio came out in 2006âŠ
bummer! the code expired and they just got the piano back in stock!
Love how the sequence of Counting Stars, Levels, and Good Feeling could literally be one continuous song lol
Someone needs to make a video where theyâre edited together like that
If I'm not mistaken, I think Levels and Good Feeling were sampled together on another song.
@@skeletonkeybindery3936 levels and good feeling use the same vocal sample
Funny how it's same progression as In The End, a song that is so melancholy, yet those are so saccharine. Melody and tempo can really dictate the feel. Those three feel "major" to me.
â@@DCJayhawk57i mean they do have 3 major chords in them, the instrumentation and the melody really does help in the end feel dreary
"Rock musicians play 3 chords to thousands of people, jazz musicians play thousands of chords to 3 people" Is that old joke true or false?
It depends on the specific subgenre. Bebop style jazz often sees a lot of chord changes and this contrasts with modal jazz and modal music in general. For example âSo Whatâ by Miles Davis has 2 chords for A-section.
Absolutely true
Trueđ
Neither. It's funny.
â@@dewitt.powersthis is the correct answer
I just turned 18 and this year is gonna be the biggest year of my life with music. Manifesting it into reality
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Iâm 33 years old . I hope your life is full of great adventures with beautiful music
I just turned 40....and even I don't believe it.
My only advice? Just DO what you want. Time is on your side. Don't take it for granted.
Have fun. Be free. Do whatever you want. You can. :)
Hope u donât do generic mumbles about money and drugs like everyone does
Thank you for all you do here David, you've really helped me understand the music I hear and why it makes me feel the way it does, now I can do that I can play better and I can compose better. Most of my teachers weren't able to explain music to me the way I needed it explained so I've waiting most of my life for a resource like this. I just made some buns so having them with tea, will watch this and then play my guitar. Love and GrĂŒĂen from Germany.
Thatâs great to hear! Iâm really glad you find the videos helpful đ
I hope the buns were tasty.
@@klaxoncow Well I got one haha! The kids and hubby ate the rest đ
The transitions between songs are immaculate!!
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Iâve listened to I Bet That You Look Good on the Dancefloor and In the End countless times but never realized they share the same progressions as Jolene and Polly so that was cool to know, also love that First of October short. Love those guys, Rob and Andrew always create such killer songs
The "She Loves You" progression also shows up in Til I Hear It From You, co-written by Beatles fan Marshall Crenshaw and recorded by Gin Blossoms. Big song in the 1990s.
Loving the First of October t-shirt!
Great idea for a video, too. There are tons of videos about the more obvious chord progressions, it's refreshing to see you cover more interesting ones.
Love how the 4th progression is used in bangers.
THE FIRST OF OCTOBER SHIRT đȘđȘđȘđȘ
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@@DavidBennettPiano Also wanted to shout out the tee. Big fan of Rob and Andrew's stuff
@@t1p1may0 me too! They are both LEGENDS!
I was just as happy to see that, love Rob and Andrewâs bans
Excellent! Love your chord progression videos, I have learned so much
That song you wrote at the end gave me chills, really beautiful.
These chord progression are amazing. Many thanks for sharing.
Thanks for all of the content! Keep up the good work! đ
Such a explanation in the end! Always very didatic and attentive to details :)
I'm so glad you highlighted the "Starlight" progression. Possibly my favorite ever.
Thanks for taking the time to explain the numerals and the ways of communicating them.
Thank you for all your videos! You rock!
Yesss! Just the right video at the right time!
another excellent video, thank you,David.
I feel so proud that I understood every word of your music theory intermezzo at te end. I even wondered it myself a minute earlier. I've been into music for only 2 or 3 years now but I feel like I've come so far with teaching myself all the theory. Everything clicks bit by bit!
You are definitely one of the people to teach me the most in music theory.
Plus you inspired me to create own music.
I write the because I am really thankful for it.
Two days ago I finally uploaded my first musicals video.
I'd appreciate more examples from the 60s and 70s, please!
Thanks for that enlightening bit at the end regarding 'flattening' chords in the minor key! I was always curious about this style of notation.
Thanks for the great explanation in the end...
Brilliant! Thank you!
Really appreciate your actually giving chord names in C and numerals . Using numerals l understand but my brain races to keep up whilst you're talking. Well done your analysis has really improved my writing
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Great video as usual! Another great song that uses the I - ii- vi- VI chord progression is âHelp Iâm Aliveâ by MetricâŠ
A large bulk of my songs are 1 6 3 5. The 3 gives it a mixed feeling of major and minor. It really reasonates with me.
Death's Lack of Comprehension uses this over the solo but adds a b2 after the 5, and is in a minor key. Works really well there
Really great selection of chord progressions. This is some of your finest work!
Thanks a lot!
The "Polly" chord progression brings back so much like 2012 nostalgia
7:42 this one sound soooo sleek (since Good Feeling uses Levels as its core)
Man I enjoy your videos. I am amused every time plus I learn.
Not sure whether this is a key change or chord progression, but I really love how in "Gone Hollywood" (Supertramp) it goes from noodling around on Cmin for a while to the suddenly very uplifting Bmaj7, Abmin9, Eb
Killer video David!!
Thanks Aimee đ
I have been waiting and hoping for you to cover the first chord in this video!! It is my ultimate favorite chord progression in a song. Anytime I hear it I instantly fall in love. I even have a spotify playlist dedicated to it. Some of my favorites with it are Primetime by Janelle Monae, Disparate Youth by Santigold, In My Place by Coldplay, and recently Lay Low by YooA.
i just realized save your tears by the weeknd also uses that progression. and now i'm going to use it in the next song i write! cheers!
And, to go back a few decades, itâs Love is All Around by the Troggs.
Same with me, I have always enjoyed and loved this chord progression. Itâs somehow nostalgic and bittersweet.
Edit: spelling
@@tiia-liisakansakangas9569 Nostalgic and bittersweet is EXACTLY how I would describe it. Like your heart is full of love and longing. To name a few more: Make Love by Daft Punk, It's Not Over Yet by Klaxons, and Amber by 311.
@@SannaKore Absolutely! I have to listen to those songs as well, thanks for the tip đ
Thanks for explaining the rationale for the use of flats in the chord naming.
It always confused me before, but your exposition cleared things immensely.
It makes so much more sense now!
Glad it was helpful!đ
great video as always
Merci for that explanation, and teaching moment.
You are welcome!
The 'Polly' progression is also used in Ennio Morricone's famous spaghetti Western piece 'The Ecstacy of Gold' (as I just found out by trying to write a song using it).
Three popular chord progressions in dance music (especially in the 90s) (and ones that I love) are (in Cm): Cm-Cm-Ab-Bb, which is similar to the Japanese chord progression you highlighted earlier. See "Sweet Dreams" or "Be My Lover", both by La Bouche, and the beginning of Ace of Base's "The Sign", for examples of this. The next one is more complicated because of how many voicings of the chords you can have. At its root in Cm the chords are : Cm-Ab-Eb-Bb. My favourite way is C-Eb-G - C-Eb-Ab - Bb-Eb-G - Bb-D-F, with the bass notes C-Ab-Eb-Bb. Check out Aqua's "Roses Are Red", parts of Fun Factory's "Close To You" and the chorus to Lordi's "Hard Rock Hallelujah" for example. The last progression I'll touch on is one you mentioned in your circle of fifths video (in Am), Am-Dm-G-C. An obvious one for this is Real McCoy's "Another Night", ocasionally changing to Am-Dm-G-C-D in a syncopated way so the last two chords fit in the last bar) and sometimes a vamp of Am-G. One of the people who wrote it told me it was added to avoid sounding too much like the Coca-Cola jingle lol. A less well-known example is Ace Of Base's "Beautiful Life", which, in Cm, is Cm-Fm-Bb-Eb-G7, with Eb & G7 sharing a bar. Sometimes in the verse Eb is skipped, so it just goes Cm-Fm-Bb-G7-G, where G seventh and G major share the last bar of the chord progression. Later on in the song the chord progression switches up and at the end is a choir that has different intertwining parts to tie everything together. Dance music has limited range sometimes but that just makes the producers find new ways to alter the energy level and up the beat of the song and the melodic structure to make it more interesting or catchy, or even to showcase a particular singer. Nana Hedin sang lead or in the chorus for many dance tracks. She also sang background for many pop tracks, including CĂ©line Dion, Aqua, Ace of Base, Dr Alban, E-type, Stakka Bo, Britney Spears, A*Teens, and had some solo hits as well. But she developed stage IV tongue cancer. On the day she was declared cancer-free they also delivered the bad news that her jawbone was literally dissolving from all the radiation treatment for the cancer and she needed money for further treatment. You can check out her web page for more answers and how to donate if you'd like: nanahedin.com/. I hope your day is well! ^_^ I am up way too early currently; I'm supposed to be on concussion protocol bedrest...oops...oh well... I just cannot sleep anymore! And I'm ahead of you here in Finland, too. See you in another video.
And by the way - itâs incredible how you come up with all the examples! And an eye-opener, eg that the Halo - progression is the same as the one in Be with you from the Cranberries!
Wow this was great. Thanks.
A big hit with the She Loves You - progression would be Save Your Tears by The Weeknd!
Edit: Also, I was so surprised that Hello by Adele wasn't mentioned in the Polly-progression, it has Em - G - D - C
I literally remembered âHelloâ as I finished this video đ good suggestions đ
@@DavidBennettPiano Great content as always though, love your work
@@DavidBennettPianoI was gonna say, âthis sounds like Hello by Adele!â Lol
YESS I THOUGHT OF SACE YOUR TEARS TOO
Wrecked by Imagine Dragons is also a great one for the last progression. And with In the End, I've always heard it in Bbm/Db more than Ebm, so it would have been more like ii-IV-I-bVII, or iv-bVI-bIII-bII if you're a masochist
Thanks again David for another insightful video!!
Glad you enjoyed itđđ
Absolutely love the last progression
Youâre explanations of theory are so good. Youâve helped me so much. Mahalo Nui Loa.
Happy to hear that!
As usual, your work is over my head... but it means a great deal to me that the patterns of music CAN be analyzed and that someone would DO SO, for me. Thank You.
Love your vids and smart breakdowns
Cheers!
OMG THANK YOU for mentioning the Stone Roses! One of those hidden gems for sure, deserve way more love!
I love that song!!
I had a giggle imagining Ian Brown segueing into Jolene during an extended version of Fool's Gold.
Closest thing I ever got to composing a 4 chord loop song used the chords I - V - bVII - IV, so a variation of the I - V - vi - IV. One thing that I noticed about the two major scale ones you mentioned was that they went through the circle of fifths in the "opposite" direction (Am > Em and not E(m) > Am). Maybe that's why they're less common but IDK. But I'll see those loops and raise you |I | iii vi | ii | V | :) Even |I |VII iii | vi ii | V | but that'd be borrowing a chord from another key as would | I | (bVII) bIII | ii | V |
Oh, and since 15 comes after 13 in uncommon time signatures, I believe that Karn Evil 9 by Emerson, Lake & Palmer uses 15/16 in certain parts.
Hi David, I'm a guitar player since 20years..and you just made me understand plenty of theory things ( I never took music lessons btw ). Your content and the way you explain it is flawless. I will definitly dig every video. Thanks for sharing your talent đđđ€đ€
Surprisingly similar story to me! Been playing guitar 20 years and have ignored theory. Iâm trying to finally learn it and Davidâs videos are very helpful with the examples!
I liked that bit of music you played at the end. Very nice....đâ€ïž
Thank you very much
Wow unreal! Would love to recommend another chord progression video: The Happier Than Ever progression
First two are super smooth, they have relative major-minor pairs. First one does the change between relative chords whenever it crosses the major/minor borders, you just can't get any smoother.
It's interesting that all of these progressions feel sentimental
It's funny David said that the second progression kinda sounds like the Axis Progression because Benny (the Axis pianist) made a Six Chords video which changes one thing every so few songs to go through even way more pop songs and it's the song I use as a warm up and the progression did immediately feel familiar to me because of it.
@davidbennettpiano I really appreciate your re-explanation at the end of the video. I remember you touched on that matter previously. It's now clearer for me and perhaps for others. đ
Great video as always! You should do a common RnB and jazz progressions video for those of us that crave a little more progressive info
Jolene, Polly, and First of October. Awesome.
Man, I have to honest, You have completely changed the way I make music, Thank you.
Excellent đ
Mozart has shown me the way to include all 6 degrees of the major scale in one progression. As I was thinking of the "axis", this passage near the end of Mozart's Symphony No.33 pops up in my head: just before the last 5 bars entirely built on I, the previous 3 bars go I V vi iii IV ii V. Now I can use that progression in a song to make it fancier than anything I've ever written until now!
I-vi-iii-V sounds great! I have also tried with I-vi-iii-vii°, which is i-VI-III-VII but with the mode changed to major.
Yessss love the First of October shirt!!
So many great opportunities for mashups with some of these. I did a remix of Halo by BeyoncĂ© and couldnât resist putting the Muse Starlight piano riff in the last chorus đ
The beatles used the first chord progression in the most exciting way.
David,
It's obvious there is a prodigious amount of work you put into your videos (and your other projects). I hope that it translates into a good income for you. It IS a job!!! Hat's off to you...mine is.
Great video as always. But main thing I wanted to point out - LOVE the first of october merch!
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This video deserves more attention
Thanks for clarifying why you put the flat symbols, at the end of the video. Personally I feel like the minor i looks obvious enough to know that weâre talking about me instead of mi, but it makes sense to put the flat to discern in case weâre flipping between minor and major, for example. I once watched one of your videos and was so confused đ so thanks
In the Poly progression you used an example of Levels by Avicii, and Good Feeling by Flo Rida. I legitimately thought these were the same song. I've only ever heard them playing in the background at the shops or something, so I had no idea who it was by.
Great!!!Thanx!
Your videos, though I've been playing about 50 yrs, are so damn interesting! Please keep going! I'd be a patron if I could afford it.
No! I really would!
âSave your tearsâ from The Weekend uses the first example (I - vi - iii - V) in the verse. Love your chord progressions videos!
Thanks for making my confusion go away at the end of the video! I was wondering why you write the roman numbers small or big, accompanied by flats in front of the numbers etc... now everything's clear :)
Can you maybe do a video describing the different types of musical analysis, regarding chord progressions? I learned at musicology the 'german' way of analysing (Stufentheorie/Funktionstheorie), e.g. T (tonica in major) is equivalent to I, or t (tonica in minor) is equivalent to i, etc...
Would be super helpful! :) thank you!
For a song in a minor key, I generally notate it with reference to the relative major, so Jolene in Am would be vi, I, V, vi.
As a simple-minded penguin, I'd say "it's a 6156", but might say "1371 in A minor". Roman numerals should be consigned to history. If you know what triads are in a key, you don't need to use upper- and lower-case Roman numerals. The 'friendlier' Arabic numbers are quite sufficient. (After all, when you say it out loud, you don't say "It starts on a lower-case vi...", you just say "Six".)
1:30 Save Your Tears by The Weeknd also uses this progression.
That vi - iii movement is nice. Only one shared tone, and it happens to be the root of the next chord. Opens up some serious inversion possibility. Same with the ii - vi and bIII - bVII.
Pretty sure Halo is I - ii7 with the A being held at the bottom of the treble chord during the arpeggio.
My favorite "She Loves You" progression song is "Faster Than The Setting Sun" by Fyfe Dangerfield. I think you're gonna like it, David!
Love your channel David, a guitarist myself and analysis on the piano can actually make chord theory clearer. But with ref to the roman numeral notation, if I come to a chord progression with i as the first chord I'd play major. I'd have to scan through the piece and and see those flats but by then I'd be in the wrong tonality. Much better if you tell me first. But again, really like these chord videos
Hiđ
I really like your video, because everything is very interesting and it really helps me. But I have a request. Could you make a video about bridges or breaks in songs, or do you already have such a video?!
Thank you very much and good luckđ„đ„đ„
Terrific video as usual âșâș will you do a video about chord progressions that use modal interchange in the future?
Yeah Iâll keep it in mind! đ good suggestion
@@DavidBennettPiano thank you đ
I definitely think of scales based on the major. When I see the flats with roman numerals, I already know the scale(s) for that progression. Keep an eye on the root of the chords, and know the scale, and you're gold.
Great video as always! I was wondering if you'd tackle more movie scores? Maybe horror?!
I love your work! A lot of the musicians Iâve worked with in Nashville will do the numerals of a minor key based on the relative major scale. So the last progression could be vi, I, V, vi
I've been enjoying your videos on chord progressions. Have you done one on the I-iii-IV-V progression yet?
I would add another less common minor key chord progression.
i - bVII - bIII - bVI
This chord progression has such a very energetic bright sound to it. And that is probably because of the tonicization of the bIII chord, making it feel like you switched to a relative major key then crashing down to a minor tonality.
That's the "Axis" chord progression starting on the 3rd chord. I think David has mentioned it before.
Oh yaa. It seems easier to think of it as:
vi - IV - I - V
Major key
Reminds me of heart of gold by Neil young
@@mat992 No, swap out the V and IV
The song, Until I Hear It From You, by Gin Blossoms, uses the first progression you mentioned, 1, 6, 3, 5.
I think the Jolene progression was used also in "Rose Tattoo" by the Dropkick Murphy's
I was thinking about this, and this video made me think of it further. I've always thought that jazz musicians and metalheads/experimental/electronic musicians (my end of things) should get along a lot better than they do. I think a big part of that seemingly unbridgeable gulf is the fact that we just can't translate between major and minor. Jazz still defaults to thinking about things in terms of the minor scale, but on my end of things, since we spend so much time in the minor scale, we default everything in our brains to minor key instead of major. I realized this when I started writing electronic music, after starting on bass and guitar in metal, I realized how much you see music (in general) not only in the terms of type of music you listen to and write, but also in what instrument you play. One day, we will finally learn to translate between major and minor, and then jazz and metal will finally be able to speak. And we'll all be able to use the locrian scale while the rest just look on. đ
Thanks for explaining why you were using bIII, instead of III, I wondered about that as I watched. Makes sense to me, but only because I took it upon myself to study music theory for a year or so once I semi-retired and had the time to do things like that. I think that I have something like Berklee Music Theory 101 knowledge of the subject, it just took 4 times as long to get it via other formal and informal internet training. I've been playing guitar since '65, but would have very little idea of what you are talking about absent that effort.
Thanks for the nostalgic reminder of 1234, completely forgot about that song
I LOVE your First of October shirt! :D
Aww hell yeah, David rocking the First of October tee
From Little Things Big Things Grow by Paul Kelly is another example of the I-vi-iii-V progression (C-Am-Em-G)
Maybe itâs technically not correct but I tend to think of those minor progressions in terms of the relative major. Which makes them simply vi I V IV or vi I V vi.
I guess thatâs not precise because the song is in the minor key and resolving to that minor vi chord, but in terms of thinking and knowing the chords quickly on the fly, itâs a lot easier!
I do that sometimes too! Particularly if the minor key songs is in natural minor rather than harmonic minor, it can make a lot of sense đ
yea i agree about using only the major system instead of giving "new numerals". For example:
C Dm F G = I ii IV V
Am Dm F G = i iv VI VII
I mean... except the first chord, all remaining chords are the same and its clear how they connect to each other. These connections are getting weird if we are in minor key: i iv VI VII... like WHAT?
So we do that to each key? For example (mixolydian): D Am C G = I v VII IV... I'm sorry for saying, but this isn't making sense. Wouldn't it be clear if it was just: V ii IV I ?
i think one reason why the [ iii ] is used less often, is because the mediant falls before the dominant in a scale & the big selling point of the dominant is that it introduces both the dominant scale degree, as well as the leading-tone of the scale. the mediant also contains both of these notes, which if played in progression, would perhaps weaken the arrival of the V chord.
And by the way - itâs incredible how you come up with all the examples! And an eye-opener, eg that the âHalo-progressionâ is the same as the one in Be with you from the Cranberries!
Hi David, great video. Iâm curious how you find the songs to use as examples in your videos. Do you know of these songs and their progressions off the top of your head? Do you use some sort of tool? Surely there must be some method to categorizing your examples
Love the shirt, didn't expect that :D