S: I'm all about the descending chord progressions. Put a D-to-C chord progression in your song, and I'm bound to like it.
D: E-A-Bb. Seriously, just retire it already.
― mike a, Wednesday, 6 February 2008 18:25 (sixteen years ago) link
Scott Miller uses this one in "Where You Going Northern": C#m B F# A
And the chorus to "24" is one for the ages: A Em G A Em G C G C F G F G
― mike a, Wednesday, 6 February 2008 18:30 (sixteen years ago) link
I think Aflat major (and related) shifting to C major (and related) is almost always beautiful to listen to...has this 'sighing', shimmering-yet-tragic quality to it.
Examples: Moody Blues' "Tuesday Afternoon" (the bridge to the middle part) and "Visions of Paradise"...Bernard Herrmann also uses it to great effect on his scores for Vertigo and Obsession.
― Joe, Wednesday, 6 February 2008 18:46 (sixteen years ago) link
I've come to find all that Beatlesy stuff - tons of passing chords and chromaticism and whatnot - a bit decadent and syrupy, although they did it better themselves than most others.
― Hurting 2, Wednesday, 6 February 2008 19:35 (sixteen years ago) link
Hm, what songs use this? That's quite an irregular progression.
― St3ve Go1db3rg, Wednesday, 6 February 2008 20:09 (sixteen years ago) link
Spoon do the chromatic trick quite well - see "Beast and Dragon Adored" and "Don't Make Me a Target".
My favourite chord progression ever might be the one on the Mendoza Line's "The Aragon and Trianon". Coupled with that piano and the woozy harmonies, it just kills me every time.
― Simon H., Wednesday, 6 February 2008 20:12 (sixteen years ago) link
A new ILX, a new compendium of our intreped hero TuomasSteve staring into the vast seas of mystery.
― James Redd and the Blecchs, Wednesday, 6 February 2008 20:12 (sixteen years ago) link
A new ILX, a new compendium of our intreped hero TuomasSteve staring into the vast seas of mystery Fake Steve
― James Redd and the Blecchs, Wednesday, 6 February 2008 21:14 (sixteen years ago) link
um, I can't think of any songs that use that progression either
― Hurting 2, Wednesday, 6 February 2008 23:47 (sixteen years ago) link
Fake Hurting.
― James Redd and the Blecchs, Thursday, 7 February 2008 02:58 (sixteen years ago) link
Oh, I see. I thought he meant B minor.
― James Redd and the Blecchs, Thursday, 7 February 2008 02:59 (sixteen years ago) link
I guess if it was really Bb like he wrote, that'd be pretty crazy.
― James Redd and the Blecchs, Thursday, 7 February 2008 03:16 (sixteen years ago) link
not that crazy. loop it on your chosen instrument for a few minutes, try humming along with it, and before you know it you'll have written three or four faux grunge songs.
― fact checking cuz, Thursday, 7 February 2008 03:23 (sixteen years ago) link
play it super-slow and you have a Black Sabbath song
― Hurting 2, Thursday, 7 February 2008 03:25 (sixteen years ago) link
Oh yeah, "Maria" from West Side Story, no? (xpost)
― James Redd and the Blecchs, Thursday, 7 February 2008 03:26 (sixteen years ago) link
j/k
S: G#-Gm-G#-Gm-F-Bb-Db-B
(and feel free to call that Db a C# or whatever. i've never been good at figuring out when to notate flats vs. sharps)
― fact checking cuz, Thursday, 7 February 2008 03:39 (sixteen years ago) link
waht song is taht
― Hurting 2, Thursday, 7 February 2008 03:43 (sixteen years ago) link
chorus of gary puckett & the union gap's "young girl"
― fact checking cuz, Thursday, 7 February 2008 04:13 (sixteen years ago) link
actually, in spite of what I said above, I've been really liking the Cmaj/Cmaj7/C7/F progression in "I Can't Go For That" - but I think that's because it's kind of surprising coming out of the Cmin and also its sweetness has an irony in the context of the song.
― Hurting 2, Thursday, 7 February 2008 05:41 (sixteen years ago) link
Jeff Buckley doesn't seem to get much love round these parts, but he has a bunch of amazing sequences:
The ascending Em -> B7 -> G6-> A6 bridge bit of Grace
The astounding chorus to Lover, You Should Have Come Over ("so I'll wait for you...") where he goes all the way up the fretboard from D and then back again at twice the speed
The back-and-forth between the two verse bits of So Real
― ecuador_with_a_c, Tuesday, 2 September 2008 02:20 (fifteen years ago) link
These songs are all about you And I'm tellin' everyone I'm doin' fine without you I hurt you but I helped you You may think I've a lot of nerve But I deserve some credit Or at least an edit Take out the part that breaks my heart And makes me sound uncaring If you eliminate the swearing Then I could show my mother That you can go from one chord to another
G will turn to D You'll turn to me And you'll say You have done me wrong I wrote these songs about it
She's aware it's all been done before It's another song in this key Yeah but this one's about me That all the validity she needs Her criticism's brutal But I don't really mind Yeah, she's put it out on vinyl But it's pretty hard to find, but you'll hear
I wish I'd never taught her how to play I knew she'd get me I should have known Now her hands are on the fretboard In an unfamiliar way And it's tellin' me She's aware it's all been done before It's another song in this key Yeah but this one's about me I may not wanna hear the words to
G when put with D But if you take what you're shown Learn on your own Then everything you do Belongs to you But know that you are on your own
On your own
― PappaWheelie V, Tuesday, 2 September 2008 02:40 (fifteen years ago) link
the man with the child in his eyes
― Surmounter, Tuesday, 2 September 2008 02:50 (fifteen years ago) link
^ Surmounter
I remember a mate and I trying to work out the chords to the above- I take it you mean the Kate B song- we gave up after a fairly unproductive 5 hours and proceeded to annihilate it with a Black Flag style version we had done in three minutes
Madonna's 'Oh Father ' always reminded me of this song in its chord progression. Probably knowhere near.
Any progression with a 6/9,add9 , major 13th, sus chords slay me. Fuck majors and minors
― Fer Ark, Tuesday, 2 September 2008 20:18 (fifteen years ago) link
personally, my favorite progression is Dm Bb F / Bb Am F
― res, Tuesday, 2 September 2008 20:36 (fifteen years ago) link
Any progression with a 6/9 So you must like Brazilian music.
― James Redd and the Blecchs, Tuesday, 2 September 2008 20:41 (fifteen years ago) link
I'm amazed I haven't posted to this thread already. One thing I like, even though it's super-common, is I --> vi, especially when there's something melodic going on that stays the same as the root changes.
― jaymc, Tuesday, 2 September 2008 21:31 (fifteen years ago) link
i can see what you mean about O Father, something about a major chord
― Surmounter, Tuesday, 2 September 2008 22:46 (fifteen years ago) link
Destroy:-I-V-vi-IV was mentioned in the pop songs borrowing from classical music thread. In the key of C major this would be C-G-Am-F.-similarly, the related minor-chord progression (and excuse me if this is not written according to music theory conventions) i-bVI-bIII-bVII (which is vi-IV-I-V rewritten with the vi as the tonic). In the key of A minor this would be Am-F-C-G.
both are classic formulas for lazy songwriting from the 90s onward.
― Sexess - Sexual Success Or; Successful Sex (crüt), Saturday, 17 March 2012 04:08 (twelve years ago) link
Yeah, you don't have to use the flat symbols on that one in A minor. Using an accidental for a chord symbol is only if the chord is built on a tone that's not in the scale. (And, of course, all those pitches are a part of the A minor scale.)
― timellison, Saturday, 17 March 2012 04:21 (twelve years ago) link
that's what I was thinking.
― Sexess - Sexual Success Or; Successful Sex (crüt), Saturday, 17 March 2012 04:32 (twelve years ago) link
I love the chord progressions in this song:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ka3l1KKZkmw
― Hongroe (Geir Hongro), Saturday, 17 March 2012 10:47 (twelve years ago) link
I'm a sucker for the minor-major flip that was distinctive in early Lennon. New Order used it nicely just before the chorus in True Faith, where it's like the sun coming out
― Dr X O'Skeleton, Saturday, 17 March 2012 16:20 (twelve years ago) link
word, "Long Time" by the Roots is largely just a switch back and forth from the minor to the major of the same chord and it sounds damn nice.
lately i've been quite impressed by the semi-complex progression in the building jam at the end of "Stitches" by the Morning Benders.
Rufus Wainwright's "Going to a Town" also has a pretty great, showtune-y sort of progression.
― caulk the wagon and float it, Saturday, 17 March 2012 16:26 (twelve years ago) link
One of my all-time favorite piano house chord progressions.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lewbH3jjLBA
― Eric H., Saturday, 17 March 2012 16:30 (twelve years ago) link
so simple yet so effective
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSXUZEcvgBw
― zappi, Saturday, 17 March 2012 17:33 (twelve years ago) link
Two of my fave chord progressions which I have written about:
The Zombies, A Rose for Emily
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elbJ4hy5C7A
My analysis, part 2
David Bowie, Life On Mars
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v--IqqusnNQ
― St3ve Go1db3rg, Saturday, 17 March 2012 20:05 (twelve years ago) link
I've always loved "The Stars of Track and Field"--deceptively strange with the major VI chord and the minor v7. Keeps the key ambiguous.
Hey Bulldog does a similar trick in the same key (B), with the minor v7, especially since it resolves into the bVII in the second part of the verse (bVII, v, IV).
Any one have any favorite progressions from the past decade or so? Most of these examples are older.
― poolboy skew (voodoo chili), Wednesday, 20 July 2016 20:46 (seven years ago) link
I learned a lot of my favorite chord progression tricks that I still like to use today from one song, an instrumental from the Superfly soundtrack that I learned to play in high school:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GAZ9zBLLuOc
― socka flocka-jones (man alive), Wednesday, 20 July 2016 20:54 (seven years ago) link
I'm a big fan of the quick 2nd inversion c-triad -> g triad -> 1st inversion d triad. Also love the e minor into the g-triad over a. It's basically gospel stuff.
― socka flocka-jones (man alive), Wednesday, 20 July 2016 20:57 (seven years ago) link
the chord progression on the chorus of Vampire Weekend's "Sympathy" has a fun use of tritones: Bm6/G# C#7 Am6/F# B7
― Jeff the grown man (voodoo chili), Thursday, 30 May 2019 14:08 (four years ago) link
should say, the melody uses tritone intervals over those chords
Maybe someone more knowledgeable than I can answer this one. There's a modulation that shows up in a bunch of deep soul songs that always moves me. It's here at :37 when Mavis hits the lyric "...will to try." What exactly are they doing?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmWkKYcFhuo
― While My Guitar Gently Wheedly-Wheedly-Wheedly-Weeps (Dan Peterson), Thursday, 30 May 2019 14:56 (four years ago) link
hope I'm not out of my depth here but it sounds like on that particular chord they're raising the third to make a major chord rather than the minor chord that it's supposed to be within that key
― Josefa, Thursday, 30 May 2019 18:25 (four years ago) link
I think Josefa is right. To me that sounds like a major III chord, which would normally be minor. Typically this would be followed by a vi or IV chord, but in this case it sounds like it is followed by the V chord and then goes back to I after that.
― big gym sw0les (crüt), Thursday, 30 May 2019 18:53 (four years ago) link
a typical example that I always think of of a major III chord being used in a song is the second chord in "Georgia On My Mind"
― big gym sw0les (crüt), Thursday, 30 May 2019 18:55 (four years ago) link
Yep. And Otis Redding uses a major III chord in "I've Been Loving You Too Long" also (he wrote "Good to Me").
― Josefa, Thursday, 30 May 2019 19:26 (four years ago) link
I was looking at a chord chart for that one online. So it's in the key of A, goes between the A and E a bit, and then goes to a C#. So that would be the major III?
It seems like it's providing a preface or buildup to the D (IV) right? (I know just enough about this stuff to be dangerous...)
― While My Guitar Gently Wheedly-Wheedly-Wheedly-Weeps (Dan Peterson), Thursday, 30 May 2019 19:37 (four years ago) link
i think in this case it leads into the V, but i'd need a piano to be certain
― Jeff the grown man (voodoo chili), Thursday, 30 May 2019 19:44 (four years ago) link
I to Major III is a common move in the gospel playbook, lots of hymns start with this basic movement (also seen in georgia on my mind): I - III - vi - IV
― Jeff the grown man (voodoo chili), Thursday, 30 May 2019 19:45 (four years ago) link
"memories fade" by tears for fears, tonal center is e minor. i absolutely love the chorus progression.
b minor to b major(!) to c major to a minor
― la vie wokisme (voodoo chili), Saturday, 18 February 2023 19:11 (one year ago) link
Just a side question: does anyone see chords as particular shapes or colors? Major-major7th chrods (like Cmaj7) always strike as very round and soft, and of a light shade, such as a pastel. Contrarily, major-minor7th chords (like C7) strike me as angular and harder, and a brighter color, such as red.For the record, I generally don't hold too many biases with chords, and use them as I see fit (which basically means, I play what sounds good to me, or in rare cases, use them for particular effects) -- but I will say that I don't generally like major-major 7th chords. To me, they seem *too* passive. Debussy used them, and for that, I must grant them credence, for he somehow made them sound credible, but he also did wonders with flatted 7ths, and using 9ths, and making chords that sounded heavenly (and just a bit erotic).― dleone, Monday, June 10, 2002 8:00 PM (twenty years ago) bookmarkflaglink
For the record, I generally don't hold too many biases with chords, and use them as I see fit (which basically means, I play what sounds good to me, or in rare cases, use them for particular effects) -- but I will say that I don't generally like major-major 7th chords. To me, they seem *too* passive. Debussy used them, and for that, I must grant them credence, for he somehow made them sound credible, but he also did wonders with flatted 7ths, and using 9ths, and making chords that sounded heavenly (and just a bit erotic).
― dleone, Monday, June 10, 2002 8:00 PM (twenty years ago) bookmarkflaglink
I find this really interesting because I also get soft pastel vibes from major 7ths, but rather than passivity I hear wistful beauty; they're my favorite kind of chord
― J. Sam, Saturday, 18 February 2023 22:49 (one year ago) link