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Location: Miami | What's the coolest chord progression you've learned? I'm not talking about complex chord arrangements. I'm talking about chord progressions, simple or not, that have something special that really grabs you, or songs that you liked but then gained a whole new appreciation for when you learned its chord progression.
For the sake of brevity let's limit it to 3. I'd love to look into songs that other people point out to possibly learn them myself. Some guitarists like to learn leads. I like to learn progressions!
Here are my favorite 3 off the top of my head:
#1 - The Boys are Back in Town (Thin Lizzy): the verses, particularly the unexpected chord in the line "where you was and how you could be found" - choice!
#2 - Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band: an insane amount of 7th chords one after the other! It just shouldn't work. But man it does!
#3 - You're in my Heart (Rod Stewart): the two chords going into the chorus come out of nowhere and completely turn what would have been your average ballad into a major singalong at the gig |
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Location: GA USA | Originally posted by ''Jukebox Joe'' Tuñón:
The Boys are Back in Town (Thin Lizzy): the verses, particularly the unexpected chord in the line "where you was and how you could be found" - choice! Now use that same principle in your practicing and songwriting. Did you read Alan's question about the relative minor chord? They just take the relative (Em) of the root (G) and play it E major instead. Sometimes a well placed major chord that's not in the key makes a powerful statement.
I've started playing cool progressions I came up with before, and then someone points out that it's a song they recognize. When I had Crimson's Tornado I had a great tune working using the whammy. Turns out it was "Breathe" by PFloyd. |
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Location: Pacific Northwest Inland Empire | Country Girl- Neil Young. The "angst" & dissonance of that tune still fascinates me. |
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Location: Miami | Originally posted by Capt.Lovehandles, Head Counselor:
Now use that same principle in your practicing and songwriting. Did you read Alan's question about the relative minor chord? ...
When I had Crimson's Tornado I had a great tune working using the whammy. Turns out it was "Breathe" by PFloyd. Alan's post inspired this one! LOL. And yup, I'll definitely employ that principle while songwriting, especially if what I'm writing sounds too much like another song. LOL Sometimes subtracting notes has the same effect as adding them. I was surprised to learn how often Pete Townsend will leave the 3rd out of a power chord and just hit nothing but roots and fifths in a chord, totally changing the feel of a progression. |
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| Isn't it Time - The Babys
I like that the progression under the riff that opens the song G/Bb/F/C is not the one under the vocal line G/Bm/F#m/C/G and they, in fact, alternate. Had I written the song, I lazily would have used the same progression for both. |
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Location: Capital District, NY, USA Minor Outlying Islands | To me ... anything brazilian especially Tom Jobim's stuff. As to what it's called I have no idea. |
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Location: Miami | Originally posted by Losov:
Isn't it Time - The Babys
I like that the progression under the riff that opens the song G/Bb/F/C is not the one under the vocal line G/Bm/F#m/C/G and they, in fact, alternate. Had I written the song, I lazily would have used the same progression for both. That's the kind of cool thing I'm talking about! It's not about change for the sake of change, but just something that works in the right spot. Thanks, Losov! |
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Location: Colorado Rocky Mountains | Limiting it to three chords is kind of restrictive. Here's an 8-bar progression I'm working up with a Latin beat for a future songwriting contest . . .
Dm/Gm/C7/FM7/Bb/Gm/Asus/A7 |
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Location: Miami | Originally posted by ProfessorBB:
Limiting it to three chords is kind of restrictive. Here's an 8-bar progression I'm working up . . .
I meant limiting it to 3 songs (covers in particular), not 3 chords. LOL Very few people are posting 3 songs. Some aren't posting songs at all. Oh well! Fun thread regardless! |
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Location: SoCal | We did a tune in church that kinda bopped along and the first progression was E E7/Ab A2 A/B. It was a very cool base run on the chords..... |
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Location: Colorado Rocky Mountains | Moody, you might recall from Matt's workshop that when in the key of E, your second chord would be written as E7/G#. Same note, but the tab is more accurate. |
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Location: SoCal | You're probably right. Keep in mind that none of these were my 3 chords so I really couldn't play it. But it looked cool..... |
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| Originally posted by ProfessorBB:
Moody, you might recall from Matt's workshop that when in the key of E, your second chord would be written as E7/G#. Same note, but the tab is more accurate. A few years back there was a knock down drag out war on one of the Usenet groups the subject of which was the idea that G# was, in fact, not the same note as Ab, C# was not the same note as Db, etc. Some of the schooled guys had an explanation that I couldn't exactly follow. Maybe you know something about it, Prof? |
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Location: Budd Lake, NJ | Well, if the G# and Ab end up being played on the same fret, by the same black key, fingered the same way on a woodwind or brass instrument, then whether they are really different depends on the tempering (or lack thereof) of one's clavichord. ;)
They are different in the way they would normally find resolution--the G# usually goes up to A (if it's acting as a leading tone), the Ab usually goes down to G (if it's acting as a 7th.)
If one is going to split hairs over something like this, then perhaps they should visit a site for ethnomusicologists..... :D |
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Location: Crossville, TN | These are not the hardest progressions I've ever learned, but their some of my favorites.
1st - T-bone walker/Albert king/Allman Brothers - Stormy Monday, I know it's pretty much a basic blues, but it still moves me.
2nd - Soulshine by Warren Haynes/Allman Brothers.
3rd Tie - Gov't Mule version of U2's One, and Pink Floyd's Shine on you crazy diamond.
Cinnamon girl and No quarter should be in there somewhere, at least in my top ten. |
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Location: Colorado Rocky Mountains | Since you asked, let me see if I can explain . . .
There are six pairs of enharmonic keys in which both are real keys (neither of the two are theoretical). Here they are:
C-sharp and D-flat majors
D-sharp and E-flat minors
F-sharp and G-flat majors
G-sharp and A-flat minors (the question at hand)
A-sharp and B-flat minors
B and C-flat majors
The difference between two enharmonic keys is not only distinguished by the obvious difference in appearance on a page of printed music, but also the implications of such a key as a secondary key to the primary key of the piece of music in question; that is to say that if a piece in F minor were to modulate to its sub-mediant, D-flat major, no confusion would arise as whether to use C-sharp or D-flat majors: F minor and D-flat major both have flats in their key signatures anyway.
The keys listed above, having 5, 6 or 7 sharps/flats in their key signatures, are the most "distant" keys to use a conventional key signature. In keys beyond these, double-sharps and double-flats have to be incorporated into the key signature; the following 6 keys require 1, 2 or 3 double-sharps or double-flats; these 6 keys are the parallel major/minor keys of the 6 duplicated keys above:
Key Key Signature Relative key
D-flat minor 8 flats (= C-sharp minor) F flat major
G-flat minor 9 flats (= F-sharp minor) B double-flat major
C-flat minor 10 flats (= B minor) E double-flat major
G-sharp major 8 sharps (= A-flat major) E sharp minor
D-sharp major 9 sharps (= E-flat major) B sharp minor
A-sharp major 10 sharps (= B-flat major) F double-sharp minor
However, these keys, along with all keys for that matter, can exist in a different form using the 12 modes as a basis for their notation in a (modal) key signature e.g. the key of D-flat minor could exist in the Dorian mode, using the B-flat to start with in the key signature and taking the form of the key signature of A-flat minor.
With regular 12-tone tuning, these keys, and all other "impossible" ones, can be re-spelled as conventional keys. However, in a different tuning system (for example, 19 tone equal temperament), several keys do require a double-sharp or double-flat in the key signature, and no longer have conventional equivalents: where there are 19 tones in the scale, the key of B-double-flat major (9 flats) is equivalent to A-sharp major (10 sharps). In 17 and 31 tone equal temperament, keys that are enharmonic in a 12 tone system (for example, C-sharp and D-flat minor) may be notated completely differently.
Adding or removing 12 sharps or flats (or the same number as the tuning system) to or from a key signature results in the same key enharmonically respelled. Here are the six simplest keys respelled as "impossible" keys (with 11, 12 or 13 sharps or flats), each in two different ways:
C major = B-sharp major or D-double-flat major
D minor = C-double-sharp minor or E-double-flat minor
E minor = D-double-sharp minor or F-flat minor
F major = E-sharp major or G-double-flat major
G major = F-double-sharp major or A-double-flat major
A minor = G-double-sharp minor or B-double-flat minor
:)
Seriously, I understand the differences to be primarily in key and chord theory, perhaps even measurable on the Hz scale, but I'm not qualified to even guess at an explanation. The above was grabbed off the Internet as a joke, although it might very well be related to your question.
Bottom line . . . whatever differences there might be between G# and Ab are minute and relational based their position within the scale of the key signature to which they are being used, and more particularly, when modulating between keys. However, to our ears and for our purposes, it doesn't make any difference on a guitar fretboard since the notes are real and finite, not theoretical. |
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Location: closely held secret | I've been listening to a LOT of Paul Simon lately, and it amazes me what the guy can do with fairly simple chord progressions merely by weaving the melody through it. Makes them sound much more complicated than they are.(I know many songwriters do this, but like I said, I've been focusing on Simon lately).
I've started learning more of his songs, and some I was sure were full of bizarre progressions and polychords are much simpler to play than I thought. |
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Location: Boise, Idaho | You had me going for a second. That sounded awfully Professorial. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ.
While I was snoozing, the Wabbit posted. I also focused on Paul Simon a bit this summer. Talk about Em and G. Just when I get used to a G being the next chord, he throws in an Em. |
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Location: closely held secret | Oh, and the G#/Ab question? I think it's a matter of communication.
You tell the bass player, "Play an Ab there." You get a blank stare in return.
"Never mind, play a G# instead."
"Oh, ok. That'll sound better, anyway." |
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Location: Yucaipa, California | ...one fret up from G = one fret down from A.
Only one place to put my finger for that note.
Don't care which it's called, it's still only one choice on the fretboard for me ;)
(at least that's what the Voices told me) |
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Location: Campbell River, British Columbia | I'm digging on the chords in Slow Boat To China right now and arranging it for Git & Double Bass.
I may write 'the missing verses' while I'm at it.
(y'know, it's just a chorus sung over and over?)
Oh! And I also believe that any pop song written in the last 40 years can be played with 4 or less chords. If the drummer is loud enough. |
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Location: Newington, CT | A - F# minor - B minor - E.
Seemingly ENDLESS combinations from that progression.
(I came across it and have been riffing off it for months! Love it!) |
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Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | C, G, Am... A hippie-chick told me that I could play that for hours a different tempos. |
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Location: New South Wales, Australia | I'm doing a couple of songs at the moment that, to my ear anyway, have a beautiful change from a major to a minor..........
When Greenday's Billy Joe sings "wake me up when September ends" he uses a C major, then C minor and then G major. I love the sound of it.
Also doing Stop In The Name of Love which has the same thing only in another key ....D major, D minor, A major.
Very simple, which suits my style, and the sound of it gives me goosebumps. It's also inspiring me to try and write something with that sort of progression. I never think of putting those things together. If I play a C major (and I play that chord a lot :) ) it never occurs to me to play a C minor right next to it. |
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Location: Chicago | One all-time favorite is Mingus' "Goodbye Pork-Pie Hat": I hope to persuade my band-mates to play it one day! |
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Location: Miami | Originally posted by ozwatto:
I'm doing a couple of songs at the moment that, to my ear anyway, have a beautiful change from a major to a minor..........
the sound of it gives me goosebumps...If I play a C major (and I play that chord a lot :) ) it never occurs to me to play a C minor right next to it. I love when that's done tastefully too. Great example off the top of my head: Space Oddity by David Bowie. |
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Location: out there | Im7, (////)
IVm7, (//) Im,IVm7
V7#9,V7b9,V7#9,Im7
twice
IVm7,(////) Im,(////)
three times
V7#9 (//-//-/) |
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Location: Denmark | Originally posted by ''Jukebox Joe'' Tuñón:
... something special that really grabs you ... It was a special moment to me when I discovered the simplicity behind the beauty of "Brain Damage":
The lunatic is on the grass/The lunatic is on the grass/Remembering games and daisy chains and laughs/Got to keep the loonies on the path/
D/G7/D/G7/D/E/A7/D/
Many songs from "The Dark Side of the Moon" and "Wish You Were Here" show Pink Floyd as masters of simple progressions. |
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Location: Phoenix AZ | I've always been in love the the I-IV-V7 |
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Location: Round Rock, TX | Two of my favorites are the Beatles' Here, There and Everywhere and In My Life. In My Life has that cool major minor shift that ozwatto likes so much while Here, There and Everywhere is just gorgeous period. |
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Coolest chord progressions you've learned