Songs that use the Something chord progression
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- Опубликовано: 14 июн 2024
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Something by The Beatles, written by George Harrison, is widely regarded as not only one of the best songs the Beatles ever recorded, but also one of the greatest love songs of all time, and part of what makes this song so great is that satisfying chord progression!
How George Harrison changes key: • How George Harrison ch...
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0:00 The "Something" chord progression
1:01 Other examples
1:57 "Something More" by Train
2:21 "Give Me Love" by George Harrison
2:48 "Kiss Me" by Sixpence None The Richer
3:58 the Minor 4 chord
6:59 BBCSO Piano
8:06 How the progression works
11:33 Paul McCartney's bass line
12:19 Piano Outro
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Have you ever done a video on the "Zelda" chords, using the flat 7 and flat 6? Or just exploring the genius of Koji Kondo in his Zelda, Mario, Nintendo compositions? Thanks for all the great content!
I haven't seen a vst sponsor a youtube video before. I have way too many pianos already, but if this trend continues my wallet will be unhappy.
well done good soul, nice shirt!
god bless.
Another song that uses this chord progression is the one you're improvising at the end of the video.
Hope that helps.
The Carpenters use this following extended progression at the end of Goodbye To Love: (when FX have basically multiplied Karen's voice into 4-part harmony)
All chords except the last two (D7 lasts for 3 beats, played on beats 1 and 3, and G7 only lasts for one beat) last for 2:
C CM C7 F Fm D7 G7
In an Aimee Nolte video about 3 years ago, the Nolte kids helped her identify such songs for multiple progressions!
“Something” also has the classic Am - Am(maj7) - Am7 - D7 walkdown, over the lyric “I don’t want to leave her now.” Similarly a satisfying chromatic walkdown.
I call it the “stairway” progression from the Zeppelin boys. Also in “ain’t no mountain” from Marvin Gaye at the start.
Also I me mine has it
Yeah, this one also satisfying to play on guitar
You can keep walking that down, can’t you. Nice on guitar starting at the 5th fret. Am - Am add 7 - Am7 - D - Dm - Am - B7 - E. A in the bass most of the way and the line cliche (A G# G F# F E D# E) on the 4th string. Sounds familiar?
I always thought it was a D9. That's how I've been playing it at least and will continue to do so, think it sounds a lot better :D
I have ADHD and I've spent years trying to learn more music theory and getting frustrated by everything being either too basic or too technical, and you have struck just the right balance for me lately and I am very grateful! I'm finally getting songs actually written completely and actually published and it is a wonderful feeling. I've been doing homework by writing a song in whatever chord progression you cover in these videos and it is fun and helpful.
I'm also an aspiring songwriter with ADHD and this sounds like a great exercise!
This is so cool!
I also try to write music and for me aswell those videos are great inspiration and make me progress.
Where can I find you music?
The onscreen graphics showing the chords and the piano keys are always superb-they make your explanations crystal clear!
And for me, much easier to play along with :)
Kokomo (Beach Boys) has a very interesting variation of this extended chord progression.
Instead of doing:
C Cmaj7 C7 F Fm C, it goes
C Cmaj7 Gm7 F Fm C
Note that both the C7 and the Gm (or Gm7) have the B♭ note to create the same half-tone descending effect.
Not only that, but the whole verse is:
C Cmaj7 Gm7 F Fm C D7 G7 and back to C in the next verse.
That creates the half-tone descending sequence C B B♭ A A♭ G G♭ F and E, but in addition, G7 C (which is the perfect cadence due to the B C notes sequence) also has the D C notes sequence which, although it is a full tone instead of half, closed the loop back to C where it started.
So does Hooked On a Feeling! (Only thing: I think it uses a C7/Bb instead of Gm7)
Also the outro of "Goodbye to Love" (C CM C7 F Fm C/G D7 G7)
I was searching for someone who thought of Kokomo as well when hearing this chord progression and luckily you delivered the whole theory in bonus ;-)
@@zschokks5583 ... Believe it or not, I don't know anything about music theory other than what I learned in this channel.
Lol I kept humming kokomo through the video, then went looking to see who else was thinking it 😂
One of the best of the chord progression series. Wish this kind of explanation was around 40 years ago!
I totally agree. We would have needed paid for lessons to learn this. RUclips is an amazing resource for learning music.
The piece with a similar descending chord progression that precedes them all is the Adagio of Spartacus and Phrygia from Aram Khachaturian’s Spartacus ballet from 1954. It should be noted that Can’t Take My Eyes Off You (which clearly follows the Adagio progression) preceded Something by two years.
I've been playing this progression in variant of "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" (C Cmaj7 C7 F Fm C D Dm C) - and i think
that this is one of the most beautiful progressions out there. You get a constant descending feel and resolution is so perfect. This take got me thinking about it as just a member of a huge family. Thanks for great research that went into this video.
Literally the first song I thought of! It's truly a beautiful song isn't it.
Very similar chords to To Make You Feel My Love
I'm a self-taught guitar player who learned completely by ear without even knowing scales. It's just in the last couple of years that I've learned to understand modes to some degree. I absolutely love these videos. Even when I've written songs, it's all been by ear, sometimes by picking the notes of different chords out on the strings and frets without even knowing what they are.. Knowing a little bit of theory is really a gift. Thank you.
If you need help or looking to learn songs like "Something", visit my channel! Request any song or lesson and I'll make a video on it.
Same! I’m enjoying theory as I’m getting older but had no idea when I was first learning!
Wow, you are a better man than me... I am tone deaf - I would not be able to distinguish between the various pitches. I would definitely not be able to learn by ear. I am a visual learner. So my problem is being able to know what I am playing.
There's this popular song called "Hidhhda hidhhdai" in Nepal by the band '1974 AD' and it uses the same progression starting from D. When I listened to Something for the first time, it sounded so familiar but I couldn't point out why. It makes sense now
I must really like that chord progression because Something, Give Me Love (Give Me Peace), Kiss Me, It Ain't Over Til It's Over, and Can't Take My Eyes Off You are among my favorite pop songs. Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head was a favorite when I was a kid.
“Everybody’s talking at me” by Harry Nielsen has almost this. It goes to Dm instead of F (which also has that A from the chromatic line) and it also does the “Kiss me” thing of teasing by going between the Cmaj7 and C7.
Another cool thing about “Something” is that later, in the chorus, it has an ascending chromatic line.
I always actually thought the move to the D chord after these four chords was the coolest thing he did as well as his moving to the A major for the bridge which is awesome.
Brilliant job with the chord animations and the explanations. Wonderful editing well done.
At first i did Not understand the words this man spoke
Now after watching at least 50 of David's videos,
It is making sense to me 😊
Thank you for the way you make these videos Good Sir 🎩
You are a Legend and a True Gift to music as a whole 🏆
Ty
I was just figuring out Al Green’s “Tired of Being Alone” right before seeing your (as always, amazing) video. His song features not only the Something line cliché in C, but also the same progression in D, where it stays on that later, changing key.
I guess Al wasn’t really alone at all… he was in good company!
"Last Night on Earth" by Green Day comes to mind when I hear this progression. Beautiful song and I never knew it was the same progression as Something.
I'm not 100% on the chords themselves, but Last Night on Earth actually goes the other way. The fifth note of the chord steps up a semitone each chord, rather than down a semitone like in this progression. So it's a similar effect going on (the line cliche, as he calls it), but it's the opposite direction. Such a beautiful progression
Yeah Last Night On Earth is a great example of a line cliche where you play on the augmented chord: tonic, augmented tonic, 6th, 7th - IV chord, IV minor chord - tonic. Similarities to this
@@King4tadayYep, and he just released a video featuring that chord progression!
@@JJ_TheGreat ha just watched it earlier!
Excellent Tutorial. Learning so much from your teaching.
George had asked Paul to keep the bass simple on Something . Fortunately Macca didn't comply . That bass part is just about my favorite of Paul's. Particularly during the solo . The first part of George's solo is a bit sparse ( sparse and perfect) and the busy bass perfectly fills in the space Harrison is leaving . Just because it's your song doesn't mean you know how the other band members should treat it
Paul’s Bass is incredible on that song, glad he didn’t take George’s request and keep the bass part simple, it would have made the song BORING, and Ringo’s fills and no hi hat during the verse’s are perfect…
Paul himself probably could have taken that advice a time or two lol
I disagree. If a band mate showed me a song they wrote and I thought I could improve it I would give him the suggestion but if he didn’t want it I would back off and do it his way because he wrote it not me. If I had a song idea I was excited about I wouldn’t want someone changing into something else. It’s about band mates respecting each other. You won’t always like each others songs but you compromise. It’d be different maybe if the band were all coming up with the song together. Kinda like the song get back where there sitting around and just start writing the song.
Who cares? The song inspired the bassline not the other way around. The song is epic with or without Bass. Ringo’s drum part is amazing as well; when a songwriter writes a gem like Harrison did, any and all band members will be inspired. That’s all that happened there thanks to George
I know very little music theory, but I've loved music all my life and I am able to follow enough of what you teach that I can understand the basic concepts. I want to thank you for that. I also appreciate your gracious attitude. Keep up the great work and maybe in future you'll offer some beginner lessons to those of us who never learned theory! Many thanks... Doug
I cannot upvote your videos enough, this is perfect. You are very gifted at explaining things!
David, You always amaze me with your relevant,, concise, and detailed content. I really appreciate your song examples. Thank you so much. You’re the best!! 👍
This is so amazing. All these songs are some of my favorite songs from these artists not even knowing this is one of my favorite chord progressions. These vids are really unlocking the piano and the theory behind it. Really appreciate them.
I love the way you teach David. Thank you so much for this it’s a pleasure to watch.
Natural continuation would probably be an 8-chord loop with C Cmaj7 C7 F Fm C D7 G7, it continues with that chromatic descend and nicely resolves back.
Awesome! I’ve been waiting for this video. There is something so satisfying about that chromatic descending line. I would seriously listen to a playlist of nothing but songs that use it.
That’s a really beautiful progression!
your videos make it so simple to be able to visualise!! i wish i’d had a teacher like this when i was studying music, it may have been more enjoyable:’)
I'm glad you find them useful 😁😁
Absolutely wonderful content David ! Thanks !
"Strawberry Swing" by Coldplay is particularly interesting in this case because as far as I know the bass note under the C7 chord changes within the repetitions of the progression
as always: so well presented - a real joy to watch!
Very interesting and useful course, David! It's very professional!
Thank you very much for your work! I've subscribed.)
thanks so so much for using my Bob Dylan cover - that surprised me on a surreal level to hear ~
-Kai
The song “Us” by country rock band Poco uses a D-Dmaj7-D7-G--Gm sequence tuned down a half step to Db, thus continuing the chromatic walk down.
I - IM7 - I7 - IV
The I7 (borrowed from the mixolydian mode) can also be labelled as V7/IV, as it functions as a secondary dominant of IV.
Also it can be viewed as a line cliche because the progression implies a descending melodic line 1-7-b7-6.
Excellent, David,thank you.
Very well done David. This is a very satisfying video.
Sinatra's MyWay has a brilliant variant. D-Dmaj7-D7-B7-Em7-A7-D. The B7 continues the chromatic descent AND acts as a secondary dominant to the next chord, Em7, which acts as the first chord in a ii-V-I turnaround back to the tonic.
Credit to the composer Jacques Revaux 👌
Really enjoyable and informative - Many thanks David.
I’m just about to learn this song on piano and this video showed up on my homepage 🎉 thanks a lot for making my day and the nice illustration of this beautiful chord progression 🫡
The Rain Song by Led Zeppelin has that Something feel too. Love this video so much. Thank you.❤
Yes, Jimmy Page used the Something progression at the beginning of the song in response to Harrison complaining that Zeppelin never did ballads.
Can’t possibly like this twice. Thank you sir for this precious professional knowledge.
Each new "chord progression" video feels like opening up a present. Thanks again, David.
100% and well said
Well done! Nice to hear the pretty descending line brought out (voice leading for the win yet again!)
I have a suggestion. You have done many excellent and insightful videos on harmony with your chord progression videos and with duration/time with your time signature videos, not to mention your genre videos with the classical influences on pop music. May I suggest that you do some videos focusing on melody, especially melodic devices such as sequence, motif, fragmentation, augmentation, diminution, appociatura, passing and auxiliary notes, and suspension in melodies in the. Modern pop/rock genre. There is lots of resources to do with “classical” and jazz but not much on the pop and rock genres. Your insight would be most insightful, inspiring and educational. Thank you and keep up the excellent work.
I love this chord progression so much! My favorite example of it is in the bridge of Surface Pressure from Encanto (with the addition of the iv chord)
Meanwhile, dos oruguitas:
🐛🐛 🍆🍑
"Strawberry Swings" is my favorite Colplay song and I never noticed the wonderful chord progression of Something who is one of the best song of my favorite band... Thanks a lot David I'm stunned!!!
This chord progression sounds amazing!
Omg I'm so glad you mentioned "Give me love" one of my favourite songs ever ❤ I love George
I really love your chord progression analysis ! Thanks ! New subscriber !
A well-known song in the French-speaking world that uses that very same progression is "Sensualité" (1993) by Belgian singer Axelle Red.
Kokomo has that IV-iv change too. Amazing video as always!
A great video, David!
Best piano tone quality of any of your video’s. Ever.
Great video, many thanks.
Great video. I'd love to see a series where you take one particular song in each video and do the similar breakdown of chord progression and harmony, maybe even melody and bass. That would be a dream come true
Something and Can’t Keep My Eyes Off Of You are two of my all time favorite songs. I also really like Kiss Me. I think I just discovered the key to my musical taste. Pun very much intended.
Its my favorite song ❤ thank you for this ❤
The Rain Song
Led Zeppelin
George told one of the members (I think it might have been John Bonham but not sure) that their music was good but they couldn't write ballads, The Rain Song was their reply.
Thanks for making such great instructional videos and for choosing interesting sponsors! I just found them today and am binging.
Sir Paul couldn't've explained it better himself. Thank you. Best! :)
My personal favourite eurovision song from this year "Tell me more" - TuralTuranX uses this progression with the IV iv I, with D, Dmaj7, D7, G, Gmin, D, A
^ The comment I was looking for! :D
That was one of my favourites as well from this year!
Color of your life from Poland 2016 also uses "line cliché" in the verse with
C, Cmaj7, C7, A7 and then Dm, F+, F
“Waste” from Phish also uses this chord progression. D->Dmaj7->D7->G->Gm->D
Enjoyable as always David.
Thanks David
This was a great one!
Idea for a new video you ask? How about: Songs with "line cliches that ASCEND"?
And aren't necessarily limited to staying on one chord, as you touched on in this video.
Your analysis of harmony is THE reason I love this channel so much. :)
So glad you put in Saltwater, it was all I could think about as you were playing that chord progression!
this is my favorite progression ever
Another great video - thanks!
The first song that came into my mind using a variation of this chord progression is "Home sweet home" by Motley Crue.
It's C - Cmaj7 - C7 - F, but the bass is moving from C to B, then to Bb and back to C again.
This is the song I immediately recognized as well.
I've always seen the 2nd chord analyzed as Em/B
@@jasyynnoe8392 The notes are the same of course, but in this special chord progression with the bass moving downwards Cmaj7 over B makes more sense to me.
Abbrechen
Antworten
Merci David.
This should be shown in every copyright lawsuit where chord progressions are at the heart of the case. It clearly demonstrates that progressions, even unique ones, are ubiquitous and part of the public domain.
Totally agree-at this point, there is no new thing under the sun when it comes to chord progressions 😎
@@BlessYourHeart254I hear a lot of people say this but there are actually more possible combinations than there are stars in the sky. Of course if you only have a 3 or 4 chord sequence that's not the case but if you look at 8 or 12 bar sequences it's easily possible to come up with truly unique sequences. For example Mitski's 'Washing Machine Heart' has a 12 bar sequence that really is unique.
My favorite use of this progression is in the exogenesis symphony by muse. Very melancholy but also very powerful.
Chord progressions can not be copyrighted.
I agree, you can't copyright a chord progression, it's ludicrous.
Knowing a fair bit about music theory myself, I like the parts most where you describe what it feels like, what character or color a certain progression produces.
Radiohead also does the same thing in Planet Telex as in Kiss Me. The same chords too. It's really interesting how one chord progression can work in two completely different styles of music.
Paul also used it in Maybe I'm Amazed ("maybe I'm amazed, and maybe you're the only woman who could ever help me..."), and John used it earlier in Strawberry Fields ("let me take you down, cuz I'm going to...").
Hi David, I think the IV-iii-ii-I progression would be worth exploring, personally this one gives me the most nostalgic vibe. Cheers!
Likewise I-ii-iii-IV eg Juliet by The Four Pennies
The chord progression from while my guitar gently weeps is a really great one, and i dont know any other songs that use it
This reminds me of John Hartford's "Gentle on My Mind" as recorded by Glen Campbell. That chord progression is C Cmaj7 C6 Cmaj7 and then to Dm Dm^7 Dm7 G7. It's a strongly leading line cliche with a sweet sound. Love your explanations, BTW!
My favorite example of a line cliche - and imo the only one that doesn’t instantly old fashioned - is from Rush’s song 2112, during the Discovery section.
nice One!
It's a different rhythm, but Paul Simon's "Kodachrome" begins like this as well.
"Can't take My Eyes Off Of You" extends the downward run further by going to the II7 before resolving to the V. Another song to use the progression is BJ Thomas's "Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song".
Quality video, David, as always. Would be good to see a video explaining the chord sequence for Yesterday. If we think of it in the key of G (as those are the chord shapes used on the guitar, but actually tuned down a full tone so really in F) I've seen the non-diatonic chord F#m7 explained as lydian modal interchange, but maybe better viewed as the start of a II V I sequence leading to Em. And later the A7, another non-diatonic chord, being a secondary-dominant that doesn't resolve to it's V chord etc.
Telephone Line by ELO and Can't take my eyes out off you by Frankie Vialli, other examples
Cuban artist Silvio Rodríguez has also a wonderful song that uses this progression: La era está pariendo un corazón (The times are giving birth to a heart).
Also when David talked about the line cliché, I remembered Silvio's "Ojalá".
nice jam 😊
I am the walrus progression. Brilliant David.
The bridge/ prechorus in “I can’t go for that” uses this progression too C Cmaj7 C7 then resolves on Fmaj7 so almost the same. Thanks again for another interesting and entertaining video.
This cord progression really reminds me of the progression used in the Toccata from the 5th Organ Symphony by Charles Marie Widor ❤
gracias
A very strange observation here, but I remember the first instance I heard this chord progression being in the good old Candy Crush theme. The game may be crappy but I will always feel nostalgic for it’s soundtrack.
Absolutely one of your best stuff so far! I really hope you can get more sponsorships from spitfire or any other big vst making brands. And always love anything connected to the Beatles. Amazing outro too! Keep it up David!
Thanks again for a great video David. I would like to see some videos on famous melody lines and what makes them work so well. Keep up the good work.
The chord progression shown on 4:14 was made famous in Brazil by Roberto and Erasmo Carlos' "É Preciso Saber Viver".
Strawberry Fields has E, Emaj7, E7 but then it goes to F#m. John always liked to throw things in from left field.
Bach's prelude BMV 1006 has this really nice arpeggio sequence bar 17 (where he mostly changes one note at a time in the chords) that begins with this progression.
If you're looking for suggestions, idk if there are a lot of other examples of this chord progression outside of my source, but I'd love to hear your take on it:
vi - V- I - IV
I call it the "Friendship is Magic" progression because I mainly hear it in a lot of the songs from My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. It's clearly a variation on the "four chords of pop," but isn't quite the same.
The Kokomo by The Beach Boys
uses this chord progression in the verse, followed by a minor 4, then 1, then 2 - 5 - 1.
The Simple Twist of Fate example is my favorite! It's in Open tuning as well
My first thought of was of that Mötley Crüe song, then I just realized "Don't Let Him Steal Your Heart Away" from Phil Collins has this progression too.
Late to the party - but Al Green's Tired Of Being Alone uses this progression, but ending on Am instead of the F. Fantastic tune
Motley crue home sweet home uses the chord progression in the beginning. Great job with the video i also like learning new progressions to use in my songs.
I really like your videos