I would argue there are technically more effective ways. For example, if I really wanted to make you cry, do you think I'm going to settle on Adagio for Strings? No! I'm gonna shoot your dog and call it a day. /s, for my own safety.
IV in a minor key gets used in the force theme and it conveys a really powerful sense of hope. You can find it here at 0:18 :) ruclips.net/video/1gpXMGit4P8/видео.html
I think that it is because when you add the major IV to a minor key, it turns the mode from minor to dorian, which gives the music a tinge of hopefulness from the slightly brighter mode
@@joshtheory7172 So would that be like an F minor triad over a D in the bass? Like a voicing of D fully diminished? Or are you saying an F minor triad over an Ab in the bass? Which one is the neapolitan?
@@alexanderyozzo The Neapolitan is the chord on the 4th, but out of the minor scale and a 6th instead of a 5th So if you have a major your chord on the 4th would be d major But now you're using the 4th as a MINOR chord so instead you have d minor Swap the 5th in the chord for a 6th in the chord, that is bflat instead of a and you have the Neapolitan in a major: D in the bass and D, F and Bflat (essentially a Bflat major chord) as the rest of the chord Works the same in minor, just without the step of making it minor cause it already is
I literally just started (as a 39 year old man) trying to learn piano. I have ... only the faintest idea what any of the words mean in this video, but I still love watching it. I *love* how stoked Charles gets when instructing on this kinda' stuff, and it honestly makes me excited to start learning how to play. I want to also be excited about this stuff! Don't ever change, Charles!
I guess you will understand more if you just get a hold on the basic vocabulary. He explains thing quite well, and I love his enthusiasm. Good luck with your playing!
There is a guy on RUclips, Jonny May who has some interesting videos about playing stuff if you are a beginner. Haven't tried to do a lot of stuff though. I think of the FACE chord, which is the Fmaj7 is one I learned from him. I'm just a blues guitar guy who knows a little theory. You can just hit the white notes and you are playing in C major or A minor (my favorite). For your next piece just play random black keys for something different sounding. Don't mix the white keys and the black keys unless you know what you're doing, which I don't. LOL
I’ve been doing music since I was 10 and I’m 41 now, but Charles’ videos get me excited about music the way I did back then. Other than that his analyses are great, that’s why I subscribed to his channel. The thing that I love about people these days is seeing them get excited about something.
The nice thing about your videos is that even if you already know the music theory you talk about, it's still fun to watch your videos because your enthusiasm for it is so captivating.
I always described plagal cadences as a feeling of “longing”. Examples: Creep - Radiohead, In My Life - Beatles, Remember Me - Coco, Last Night on Earth - Green Day, Forrest Gump - Frank Ocean, Are We Still Friends - Tyler the Creator, Fallen Down - Undertale, To Binge - Gorillaz
this chord works literally everywhere, as far back as liszt’s second consolation all the way to film score and even hug all ur friends by cavetown, it is AMAZING
My wife walked down the isle to Leia's theme and now I can never hear that song without being transported to that beautiful moment in my life. Incredible how that short portion you played elicited such a strong emotional response in me. Also, just wanted to say, your videos are really interesting to watch. Your enthusiasm and clear love of music is infectious and engaging. I always rush to my keyboard after watching and play around with what I had learned. I'm sure many viewers would agree that your channel is a treasure.
Disney's recent movie "Encanto" has a song called "Dos Oruguitas" that also employs this cadence. It's used in the most dramatic scene of the film, when the main characters reconcile after they realize that their anger almost destroyed their family. It's a nice chord progression with an inner voice moving chromatically from C down to G: I-iii-I7-IV-iv-I. My wife was crying her eyes out during the scene lol. However, I would argue that the iv-I cadence is still not as strong as a regular V7-I, because it does not have a tritone. But it originates from a minor chord, so the flavor is completely different. It has a delicate, nostalgic and sad feeling that the regular V-I doesn't have. I tend to think of the V-I as a triumphant and victorious resolution, while the iv-I is more of a "make peace with sadness" kind of resolution. I especially like the "journey" aspect of it. The classic cadences of IV-V-I or the ii-V-I are returning home through the V, the dominant, triumphant road. The IV-iv-I and the ii-iv-I are instead going through pain and suffering to get home.
I never realized that song used a minor 4, I’m never gonna be able to unhear that now! It makes sense- that song does make me cry almost every time I hear it. And of course they wouldn’t pull any punches for the emotional climax of the film. Btw not to be that guy, but the song is called “Dos Oruguitas” :)
Holy smokes dude so I was going to learn Dos Orguitas because I’ve been meaning to for a while. Then I said, hey why don’t I watch this Charles Cornell video first for some inspiration. Mind blown at how subconsciously, I gravitated towards the same thing.
WTF are you a mind reader???? That’s LITERALLY the song I thought of when I heard this. I was just coming to comment this. That song immediately makes me cry and I dont even understand the lyrics but I FEEL what it means. I don’t know anything about music. Just found this channel today randomly.
This is a hauntingly fitting video for the events of my day. I just learned a few hours ago that my first music teacher, who has been an impactful part of my life for the last 7 years, passed away suddenly this morning as a result of illness. Really just a great video to cry to and reminisce. Thank you, Charles Cornell, I needed this.
There were a bunch of songs that I loved that had a similar nostalgic bitter-sweet sound to them. I figured out one day that they all have a minor 4 chord in a major progression and it made me really appreciate the value of learning a bit of theory.
Where do you learn music theory? I also really wanna get into it but i just don't know where to start, i can't afford any lessons cause my life is still a bit messy. I play guitar and piano btw
Dvorak - New World Symphony has possibly the greatest use of this particular chord progression. There's a recurring melody in the 2nd movement, which is harmonized with a major 4 chord for almost the entire piece, then finally around the 10 minute mark it uses a minor 4 which sounds INCREDIBLY cathartic. Gives me goosebumps every time. All By Myself also uses this cadence in the verses.
you've probably heard this before, but the melody of all by myself is actually from rachmaninoff's second concerto! (2nd mvt.) i recommend listening to the entire 2nd concerto because the final melody of the 3rd movement hits you in the feels with the minor 4 usage.
I loved that you said “that happy-sad” feeling, because I’m currently in a production of The Addams Family musical and there’s literally a song called Happy/Sad which has a beautiful use of the minor 4 chord!
My dissertation was about this stuff. I did a study on a particular aspect of the emotion and music link and it still completely blows my mind how deeply they are connected. More of this please!
I'm afraid not, it was undergrad and looking back now it would definitely need some edits 😬 As a very brief summary though, I interviewed composers and asked them to choose a 30 second excerpt of their music they believed to be strongly emotional. I then surveyed people online, asking them to describe what they felt when hearing the excerpts and what they thought the composer intended them to feel. Long story short - there's no correlation!
I think, in a way, they (along with a lot of other artists who weren't formally trained) kinda DID know music theory, without knowing they knew it. Like, they knew that different sorts of chord progressions and such work, and produce different kinds of sounds, even if they couldn't sit there and say "well this a plagal cadence so therefore blah blah blah"
Paul was the actual musician in the group though. He may not have gone into depth analyzing like Charles here, but he surely new of that technique of using the minor IV.
@@chrisjamesr77 this. You can have a lot of practical knowledge with it. I've had a friend tell me I'm pretty good at composing theory-wise, despite my actual knowledge and ability to list things off being very simple and limited. Spend enough time writing things and you start to understand it better without the need to even name these things, even if it takes time
@@uncroppedsoop Exactly! I know a fair bit of theory myself, mainly from watching videos like this one lol, but I don't know if it's really made my composing any better, other than that maybe I've been inspired to try a few things that I've learned about.
Leia's theme might be one of my favorite compositions of all time. Evokes the character, sets the tone... perfectly. All without feeling too sappy and heavy-handed.
"Music sounds like feelings feel".. this is something my band teacher taught me while I was in school.. and nothing has ever been more true to me when learning musical impacts on people.. I will admit that I usually cry at most movie or game scenes ALL because of the music compelling my emotions to spike as such.
E7 is a great chord that has this same feeling also. It’s used in this way in two songs that genuinely made me cry “Things We Used To Share” by Thomas Sanders, and “Skeleton Appreciation Day in Vestal, NY” by Will Wood and the Tapeworms
I DID NOT EXPECT TO SEE EITHER OF THOSE MENTIONED AT ALL, BUT IN THE SAME PLACE?????? WOW Hi. I'm a huge Will Wood fan & used to be a huge Thomas Sanders fan.
The chord. The second I heard it my brain immediately went to Final Duet. That scene in Omori genuinely made me cry so many times- it’s just so… bittersweet. I love it.
So that'd be C - FmMaj7? Dude I ran to my piano after writing that first sentence because I realised the Maj7 of an F chord would be the third of C. That sequence alone already sounds so dope.
Yeah especially if that major 7th then goes down to the 6th of the chord creating a wonderful IVmin6 chord (so if we're in C major that chord would be F - Ab - C - D)
I've never found a better example than Radiohead's Creep where it's done similarly to the Beatles song you've mentioned. The whole chord progression of Creep's chorus is miraculous. It goes from I (C) to major III (with a 7, at least my ear really enjoys turning it into an E7), then to IV and finally minor IV. Such strong movements and resolutions packed so tightly. It always hit me hard when listening to it.
That major III7 would be functioning as a secondary dominant.. that would want to resolve to vi but then using a IV chord is clever because it’s a chord substitution of vi sharing 2 of the same chord tones.. then that IV -> iv -> I is gorgeous! Radiohead get that balance of talent / theory / storytelling / social commentary and outstanding musicianship with pushing the envelope and defying expectations SO right! Love the Leia’s Theme - absolutely gorgeous.. the leap up of a 6th giving that hopeful but inherently emotional feeling - masterful writing from Williams 👌🏼
That 'Creep' progression is actually used on a big seventies hit by The Hollies called "The Air That I Breathe". It has a wonderful melody line and a great chorus. Yorke and co know the song for sure.
As a classical music composer I can say that this chord progression is extremelly important it can capture any emotion (therefore it was many times used be Liszt, Chopin, Alkan and other composers of romantism).
I recently learned of the "Black Adder Chord" (name according to "Ongaku Concept") which is a great sounding tension chord. I'd love to see a good breakdown of how this chord works.
One of my favourite uses of this is in Bruno Mars' When I was your man. I love the way he sets it in the chorus. The first two lines are V -> IV -> V -> I and I -> IV -> V -> I. The third and fourth lines he goes from I->IV->V->vi->II7->IV->iv->I. The reason it's so powerful is that he sets the expectation that IV is going to V and then I. When you hit the IV->V and it goes to vi, it catches you a bit off guard. Then it moves down the circle of fifths to II7, which has been minor during the verse. When the minor four actually comes it's a pure, nostalgic, tragic thing. "Now my baby's dancing, but she's dancing with another man".
This chord is often heard in some Pokemon games when certain things happen and the soundtrack always makes me feel nostalgic and gives a wave happiness.
@@jimskywaker4345 Surf theme from Gold/Silver/Crystal was what I was thinking of. (Was just listening to it and went looking for this video afterward lol)
space oddity goes between the IV and the iv a lot in a really effective way, plus the III in the chorus which is always so satisfying to hear. it's great how much it toys with the idea of hope and sadness so effectively.
At 2:50 I had a huge realization. That sounded like it came from I Hear a Symphony from Cody Fry. That whole song sounds like he took D major and waltzed with it. It is so beautiful. Listen to the crescendo! It's exactly what was played at the time stamp!
I've been raving about the IV-iv-I resolution for MONTHS after I figured out it's in some of my favorite songs. Thank you so much for making a video on this!!
Yeah I've been obsessed over the IV-iv-I before I even knew what it was lol. Like noodling around on guitar and coming up with something I almost always throw it in there somehow and it makes me so mad like FIND SOMETHING NEW GAHHH
"When Somebody Loved Me" from the Toy Story 2 soundtrack uses the minor iv chord in the most devastating way. It's the final chord to a descending 4 chord pattern in the beginning, if that makes sense, and it immediately lets you know that this song is going to be sad and will make you cry. It's also used briefly again when the song goes to the bridge and takes a darker turn. I LOVE the minor iv chord, and its sibling the Major IV chord in a minor key song. Just the unexpected change of the 6th note in the key gets to my SOUL every time.
Stevie Wonder is a master of using this. There's a whole video on how Stevie Wonder uses the chord progression I, I7, IV, iv in a lot of songs, but they never sound the same! ruclips.net/video/3Gj0vl2zI58/видео.html
The minor 4th resolution always gave me a sense of sad but accepting nostalgia. Like a grandma going through old photos of passed loved ones, sad that they're gone but happy from all the memories.
A great use of the minor 4 chord is in the final cadence of Chopin's Fantasy in F minor, Op. 49, where a d-flat minor chord resolves to A-flat major, with the soprano voice rising by an octave... within the realm of "classical music", it's a really refreshing change from the typical V7 to I that ends most works...
For me, the feeling of the minor fourth resolution is nostalgic. I think it's brilliant that it plays so strongly in Leia's Theme because you begin the peice with the triumphant and elegant-sounding fifth to third jump at the beginning (which is a modified reversal of Luke's theme) and immediately move into that melancholy nostalgic sound of the minor fourth. It's insane how much John William's music speaks to the characters in the films. You have the Princess with all her elegance and grace, but her life is marred by war and loss and the shadow of all she left behind. If you knew nothing else about Leia and only heard that theme, you would already know enough about her to empathize with her. I like the Beatles example too with the chromatic progression because it adds a kind of insecurity to it. It's like you receive a situation (the fourth), you contemplate on the implications of that situation and how it relates to your past or your trauma (the minor fourth), and then you resolve with a decision or action (the first).
1973 single “Love’s Theme” written by Barry White, Recorded and Released by The Love Unlimited Orchestra, uses the minor 4 chord in a groovy way! Overall, great orchestral/disco song!
This explains why The Lion King by Hans Zimmer makes me cry a lot. Turn off that you know what's behind the music, Mufasa Death, Simba getting to see his father through the clouds saying "Remember who you are" and stuff like that. Those chords man, I truly cry a lot just hearing some specific tracks of the score!
I’m honestly so impressed at how well Charles explains stuff, I feel like I learn so much in every video, now I’m seriously considering joining the improv class
Minor fours are my FAVORITE CHORDS OF ALL TIME and any song that has one is immediately better. I was so excited to see that you did a video on this that I sent it to all of my musician friends and tweeted about it because I harp on this ALL THE TIME 😅 Thanks Charles!
Based off of this major I - minor IV repetition, one hauntigly depressing resolution is to end up resolving from the minor IV to the minor VI; this chord just hits hard because you expected a rather hopeful resolution and got something even more hopeless Love it!
THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT IVE BEEN SAYING TO FRIENDS OF MINE, but they're not into music theory so they all just look at me confused and think im insane, but the minor 4 chord always sounds so beautiful after resolving to the major 1 chord, love ur vids charles
So true about the minor 4 chord making you cry. The moment E.T. holds up his healing finger to Elliot and says “I’ll be right here” and goes to that same D to G minor, my heart sinks to my stomach and my eyes become fish tanks
Creep by Radiohead is a great example of a simple yet powerful chord progression. I III (picadilly third) IV iv. The first half builds it as if great things were about to happen only to crumble in dismay in the second half. Like the life story of the song's proragonist. First they add the major III with the D# as a note outside the scale to add brightness (hope) then when the minor iv hits, that same note D# conveys darkness (hopelessness).
I am sure you know this composer but I would be interested to hear your thoughts on Eric Whitacre and his use of dissonance. Especially in his song Lux Aurumque.
For anyone wanting to look into this chord deeper, I would recommend looking into extensions. iv min/maj7 creates a mysterious sound, iidim contains the minor iv but with a stronger resolution, and IImaj7 contains it as well with a more adventurous and “space like” resolution.
Oh my god!! Charles thank you so much!!! I’m a student and I make music in Korea, but my major has nothing to do with music… I’m all the way self taught, so when I discovered that the minor4 chord works it confused me so much!! I’ve always tried to figure it out but you nailed my 2-year long search in 15 minutes thankyou so much ur the best!!
"Sleepwalk" by Johnny and Santo uses the minor 4th chord really beautifully right before the part that everyone knows right at the beginning of the song. Only it walks down from Db to Bb to A to Ab. It's probably what makes the song so relaxing and melancholic because this resolution happens throughout the whole song
I've seen that IV-iv-I movement called the "plagal sigh", and I really like that because it kind of settles into the tonic. (I've also seen it called the "double plagal " or "minor plagal" but both of those also have other meanings). I've never heard of a name for that other common variation on the IV-I, the IV⁷-♯iv°⁷-I that shows up in the jazz blues and some older R&B, with its chromatic 4̂-♯4̂-5̂ rise. "Plagal climb" maybe?
The intro to Muse's "Falling Away With You" also takes advantage of this chord. The chords are voiced similarly to "Blackbird", and the turnaround at the end uses the 4 => m4 => 1 and is yet another example of a profoundly sad song.
Falling down by Muse also does A,D,Dm. Then in the chorus, it does F#m, then F (not in the scale of A major), then up to A, D, then B7, also not in the A major scale. Chorus ends on E to beautifully resolve back to A. Then you have unintended by Muse, which I think has a minor iv, though I don't really know what key it's in. It's E,Am,D,G,C,B7,E
Ashitaka and San by Joe Hisaishi (Princess Mononoke), Creep by Radiohead, Ain't nobody Business What We Do by Freddie King, AND the Super Mario Bros traditional game over/death theme, all of them use so hard the minor iv ! So nice !!
The link between Radiohead and film music is insane, they basically write music for movies that don't exist. Ashitaka and San is also one of the most beautiful pieces of music ever written.
I cant tell you how many times the 4 Min chord gives me shivers up my spine. It happens every time, no matter what song has that sort of chord progression.
here's a pretty minor four chord example: so I've been trying to figure out this one chord in Genshin Impact's Liyue theme for a while (without googling it), and after watching this video the other day, I jUst realized that the chord in the song is a minor four chord that resolves to a one, just like you mentioned here! so thank you for finally helping me realize that, and also giving me another tool in my arsenal to learn songs by ear 😌 (also, again, highly recommend that song and Genshin's music as a whole tbh)
“Nobody Home” on Pink Floyd’s The Wall has always been one of my favorites…and fun to play. The iv wasn’t something I ever really knew or thought about, but so obvious after watching this video. Thanks for laying it so nicely!
"All by Myself" (Eric Carmen, '75) is based on the second movement of Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2, which uses that chord progression throughout. In both pieces, there's an added 6th in the IV-minor.
Far Away Boys by Flogging Molly is a really simple song but at the end of each verse and chorus there’s a IV-iv-I that really give the whole song a melancholy feel. One of my favorites.
Love the analysis! The reason I've always thought it's so magical is because, for a moment, it's almost like the 'minor iv' chord is actually the i minor chord, and the actual I major feels like the V chord in that minor key. In other words... F minor (minor 4) to C Major (Major 1) can also be F minor (minor 1 in the key of F minor) and C major (Major V in the key of F minor)... and it creates this wonderful, heart-wrenching tension, push and pull between those two worlds.
Interesting thought. Do you have any musical examples that use a mixolydian scale instead of a regular major with a raised 7th that uses this iv chord? Is mixolydian with lowered 6th an actual scale that’s described and uses in some music? Interesting color palate to imagine using! It would be less about subverting expectation but very colorful.
The only time I enjoyed a chord progression really hard was on a song by Beethoven. In "Ode to Joy" there are a lot of beautiful and sometimes strange motives. But at one point the choir sings 3 times "and the cherub stands before God". And when they come to the 3rd time the music plays instead of the expected Dmajor B#major. It is SOOO satisfying!
This channel always blows my mind. I studied classical piano and voice for more than 15 years, did a bunch of theory as part of it, even took the AP theory test in high school...but all I got out of all that was *what* the music was doing, not *why*. You do such a phenomenal job of not only explaining the nuts and bolts of the harmonies but also making sense of WHY the music moves the way it does - and moves us the way it does. Bravo.
So happy someone else fangirls over the iv chord like I do. 😂 Another chord I absolutely love hearing that is rarely used is the iii chord. For example, I absolutely LOVE hearing songs that surprise me after hearing IV-V-vi and then hit you with the iii before repeating the cycle again. Just iii-IV-V or ii-iii-IV-V is one of my favorite progressions. 🤩
I'll Follow You Into the Dark by Death Cab For Cutie and Jar of Hearts by Christina Perri come to mind, but the minor 4 chord is basically universal and absolutely classic and essential in music. I'm a songwriter/composer/pianist and just discovered your channel, I LOVE your content!!! I need to watch all your videos!
About a minute into this video I had the realization that one of my favorite original pieces of music from when I was younger and has stuck with me for years is largely based on alternating between the I and iv chord. I've ALWAYS been obsessed with using the IV iv I ending since, weirdly enough, I learned to play the Mario Bros main theme that has an ending that fits those chords. I wanted to know why I liked it so much so I broke it down and started applying it almost ANY time I wanted to end a song. It's just so much more compelling to me, the 5th feels almost too triumphant, whereas the bit of sadness in that minor 4 chord, especially just having come from the major 4 chord, feels so much more final. As if it's telling a story that maybe doesn't have the happiest ending, but a bittersweet and thoroughly satisfying one.
Music theory has always been such a huge weak point of mine, I just can't seem to understand it. But you explained things in this video so that they made sense, even to me!! Thank you, I love your channel so much
Oh my gosh - where have you been all my life? I just stumbled across this video, and I'm hooked. I bet there are examples of this resolution in hymns of all flavors (especially the sentimental ones). I can just hear the "ah-ah-men" in the chord progression. Great work.
Hi Charles, I really love your videos and what you do. I'm no musician by any definition, but it's fascinating to hear about why music makes me feel the way I do. If you ever run out of video ideas, I hope you'd consider analyzing Tchaikovsky's 6th Symphony. That piece always shatters me and I haven't seen too many analyses on it and why it is so intense despite being mostly a series of scales.
Question: Does this apply to the chords in Opeth’s "Windowpane" bridge (starting at 4:35)? Because those are the most heartbreakingly beautiful chords I’ve ever heard.
My favorite use of the minor IV chord is by far the “Out of Africa” soundtrack by John Barry. It really embodies the haunting beauty you talked about in the video.
My personal favorite song to use this courd is "Duet" from Omori. It gives such a strong feeling with the high sound of the violin with the light sound of the piano. I really recommend listening to it. It's such an inspiring and beautiful piece of music.
I’m so glad you made this video. It’s like you’ve read my mind. I’ve been obsessed with this chord lately and have been writing some music that uses it. I re-watch your other videos that mention it for inspiration
Awesome!! This happy/sad feeling of the minor 4 chord is exactly what you can hear at the end of Super Mario 64 - Credits Theme (Staff Roll), one of the most nostalgic video game music ever!!
Save Me by Avenged Sevenfold has an incredible cadence where it goes from A to am to the root D, and THEN flips that D to dm. It's so perfect because it makes you feel sad and warm with that 4 to 4m to 1, and then throws you off with that 1m. Always gives me chills in the best way.
Another thing I find interesting about the I / minor IV relationship is that minor IV is the exact intervallic reflection of I (using I as the pivot), also the case for minor I / major IV. Both of these are really strong sounding progressions. I wouldn't necessarily say that the reflection aspect is what specifically makes it sound good, but it's just a kind of subliminal extra point.
![Felix "Unfair" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Oswujxm2Ag0/mqdefault.jpg)
Hit me with the best uses of the minor 4 chord that you've heard!
What chord choose?F7 or Adim
And from this( (FACE )(in notes)) FM7 or A7?
Please answer
Beatles - in my life
Princess Leia’s Theme!
minecraft credits theme is full of so many different uses of it
Music is just the most effective tool to shape our emotions.
okay mister mustache weeb
u changed ur pfp :0
Are you trying to go undercover with that profile pic?
I would argue there are technically more effective ways. For example, if I really wanted to make you cry, do you think I'm going to settle on Adagio for Strings? No! I'm gonna shoot your dog and call it a day.
/s, for my own safety.
Just Some Guy my bro what instrument do you play?
So what I've learned about music theory from Charles is:
Minor IV in a major key: Star Wars (sad)
Major IV in a minor key: Avengers
Seems pretty accurate to me
IV in a minor key gets used in the force theme and it conveys a really powerful sense of hope. You can find it here at 0:18 :) ruclips.net/video/1gpXMGit4P8/видео.html
is it redundant to spell it "Minor iv" in lowercase?
@@OdaKa I think so. Cause as a musician you see lower case numerals you automatically think "Oh that's minor" lmao
I think that it is because when you add the major IV to a minor key, it turns the mode from minor to dorian, which gives the music a tinge of hopefulness from the slightly brighter mode
"Remember Me" from Coco is a wonderful example of how powerful the minor 4 can be
That is one of the greatest uses of the minor 4. Nostalgic, loving, but tragic.
Yes, I agree.
I cry every time I see the main scene featuring that song...
i know a creo song uses it
I agree man, it's just tears everywhere whenever that song shows up in the film
An even sadder chord than just a regular old minor 4 chord for me is a minor 4 chord with a 6th
I hear that all the time in Chopin (and Liszt).
Ah yes the Neapolitan, it just crawls up your back withfuzzy feelings
or a vi minor with a Maj7 (FmMaj7 in C)
@@joshtheory7172 So would that be like an F minor triad over a D in the bass? Like a voicing of D fully diminished?
Or are you saying an F minor triad over an Ab in the bass? Which one is the neapolitan?
@@alexanderyozzo The Neapolitan is the chord on the 4th, but out of the minor scale and a 6th instead of a 5th
So if you have a major your chord on the 4th would be d major
But now you're using the 4th as a MINOR chord so instead you have d minor
Swap the 5th in the chord for a 6th in the chord, that is bflat instead of a and you have the Neapolitan in a major: D in the bass and D, F and Bflat (essentially a Bflat major chord) as the rest of the chord
Works the same in minor, just without the step of making it minor cause it already is
I literally just started (as a 39 year old man) trying to learn piano. I have ... only the faintest idea what any of the words mean in this video, but I still love watching it. I *love* how stoked Charles gets when instructing on this kinda' stuff, and it honestly makes me excited to start learning how to play. I want to also be excited about this stuff! Don't ever change, Charles!
dude music theory is so interesting when you start to understand why things sound good, best of luck
I guess you will understand more if you just get a hold on the basic vocabulary. He explains thing quite well, and I love his enthusiasm. Good luck with your playing!
There is a guy on RUclips, Jonny May who has some interesting videos about playing stuff if you are a beginner. Haven't tried to do a lot of stuff though. I think of the FACE chord, which is the Fmaj7 is one I learned from him. I'm just a blues guitar guy who knows a little theory. You can just hit the white notes and you are playing in C major or A minor (my favorite). For your next piece just play random black keys for something different sounding. Don't mix the white keys and the black keys unless you know what you're doing, which I don't. LOL
I’ve been doing music since I was 10 and I’m 41 now, but Charles’ videos get me excited about music the way I did back then. Other than that his analyses are great, that’s why I subscribed to his channel. The thing that I love about people these days is seeing them get excited about something.
The nice thing about your videos is that even if you already know the music theory you talk about, it's still fun to watch your videos because your enthusiasm for it is so captivating.
true!
@mr nobody I'll pass inshallah
@mr nobody In the words of Logan Roy: "FUCK OFF!"
Exactly!
It’s so inspiring
I always described plagal cadences as a feeling of “longing”.
Examples: Creep - Radiohead, In My Life - Beatles, Remember Me - Coco, Last Night on Earth - Green Day, Forrest Gump - Frank Ocean, Are We Still Friends - Tyler the Creator, Fallen Down - Undertale, To Binge - Gorillaz
Try listening to Melancholy Blues by Queen
I couldn't help but hear Bridge over Troubled Water in that IV-I explanation.
Buddy holly by Weezer is a good one
another good one is savior complex by phoebe bridgers
YES I always wondered why that one got so hard
this chord works literally everywhere, as far back as liszt’s second consolation all the way to film score and even hug all ur friends by cavetown, it is AMAZING
YUHHH CAVETOWn
CAVETOWN
CAVETOWNNN
It's liszt's consolation and not consolidation xD
@@Vexalord thank you for pointing out the autocorrect mistake a year after the comment was made, i feel stupid for not noticing sooner 😂
I love how excited he gets. Seeing him get all hyped about chords gets me really hyped about chords.
My wife walked down the isle to Leia's theme and now I can never hear that song without being transported to that beautiful moment in my life. Incredible how that short portion you played elicited such a strong emotional response in me.
Also, just wanted to say, your videos are really interesting to watch. Your enthusiasm and clear love of music is infectious and engaging. I always rush to my keyboard after watching and play around with what I had learned. I'm sure many viewers would agree that your channel is a treasure.
Disney's recent movie "Encanto" has a song called "Dos Oruguitas" that also employs this cadence. It's used in the most dramatic scene of the film, when the main characters reconcile after they realize that their anger almost destroyed their family. It's a nice chord progression with an inner voice moving chromatically from C down to G: I-iii-I7-IV-iv-I. My wife was crying her eyes out during the scene lol.
However, I would argue that the iv-I cadence is still not as strong as a regular V7-I, because it does not have a tritone. But it originates from a minor chord, so the flavor is completely different. It has a delicate, nostalgic and sad feeling that the regular V-I doesn't have.
I tend to think of the V-I as a triumphant and victorious resolution, while the iv-I is more of a "make peace with sadness" kind of resolution.
I especially like the "journey" aspect of it. The classic cadences of IV-V-I or the ii-V-I are returning home through the V, the dominant, triumphant road. The IV-iv-I and the ii-iv-I are instead going through pain and suffering to get home.
Definitely, also Surface Pressure
Beautifully said!
I never realized that song used a minor 4, I’m never gonna be able to unhear that now! It makes sense- that song does make me cry almost every time I hear it. And of course they wouldn’t pull any punches for the emotional climax of the film.
Btw not to be that guy, but the song is called “Dos Oruguitas” :)
Holy smokes dude so I was going to learn Dos Orguitas because I’ve been meaning to for a while. Then I said, hey why don’t I watch this Charles Cornell video first for some inspiration. Mind blown at how subconsciously, I gravitated towards the same thing.
WTF are you a mind reader???? That’s LITERALLY the song I thought of when I heard this. I was just coming to comment this. That song immediately makes me cry and I dont even understand the lyrics but I FEEL what it means. I don’t know anything about music. Just found this channel today randomly.
This is a hauntingly fitting video for the events of my day. I just learned a few hours ago that my first music teacher, who has been an impactful part of my life for the last 7 years, passed away suddenly this morning as a result of illness. Really just a great video to cry to and reminisce. Thank you, Charles Cornell, I needed this.
There were a bunch of songs that I loved that had a similar nostalgic bitter-sweet sound to them. I figured out one day that they all have a minor 4 chord in a major progression and it made me really appreciate the value of learning a bit of theory.
Take me home, country roads
Where do you learn music theory? I also really wanna get into it but i just don't know where to start, i can't afford any lessons cause my life is still a bit messy. I play guitar and piano btw
@@jobfernandez9274 Signals Music Studio has many videos that are very application oriented, with a guitar focus
@@bastienfelix4605 I don’t think that song has a iv chord
@@imlafonz8047 maybe not but it sounds far better with one
Dvorak - New World Symphony has possibly the greatest use of this particular chord progression. There's a recurring melody in the 2nd movement, which is harmonized with a major 4 chord for almost the entire piece, then finally around the 10 minute mark it uses a minor 4 which sounds INCREDIBLY cathartic. Gives me goosebumps every time.
All By Myself also uses this cadence in the verses.
you've probably heard this before, but the melody of all by myself is actually from rachmaninoff's second concerto! (2nd mvt.)
i recommend listening to the entire 2nd concerto because the final melody of the 3rd movement hits you in the feels with the minor 4 usage.
I loved that you said “that happy-sad” feeling, because I’m currently in a production of The Addams Family musical and there’s literally a song called Happy/Sad which has a beautiful use of the minor 4 chord!
YES happy/sad is sooo good
My dissertation was about this stuff. I did a study on a particular aspect of the emotion and music link and it still completely blows my mind how deeply they are connected. More of this please!
Is that somewhere online to be read? Sounds like a super cool study
if it's available to the public, I'd love to read that too!
I'm afraid not, it was undergrad and looking back now it would definitely need some edits 😬
As a very brief summary though, I interviewed composers and asked them to choose a 30 second excerpt of their music they believed to be strongly emotional. I then surveyed people online, asking them to describe what they felt when hearing the excerpts and what they thought the composer intended them to feel. Long story short - there's no correlation!
@@honeycheerios42 oh well 😂 but yes, it's a very interesting subject
I love how most of The Beatles' members doesn't even know much about music theory but still manages to create this kind of compositions.
They knew and covered a lot of songs from all sorts of genres. That's where they got it from
I think, in a way, they (along with a lot of other artists who weren't formally trained) kinda DID know music theory, without knowing they knew it. Like, they knew that different sorts of chord progressions and such work, and produce different kinds of sounds, even if they couldn't sit there and say "well this a plagal cadence so therefore blah blah blah"
Paul was the actual musician in the group though. He may not have gone into depth analyzing like Charles here, but he surely new of that technique of using the minor IV.
@@chrisjamesr77 this. You can have a lot of practical knowledge with it. I've had a friend tell me I'm pretty good at composing theory-wise, despite my actual knowledge and ability to list things off being very simple and limited. Spend enough time writing things and you start to understand it better without the need to even name these things, even if it takes time
@@uncroppedsoop Exactly! I know a fair bit of theory myself, mainly from watching videos like this one lol, but I don't know if it's really made my composing any better, other than that maybe I've been inspired to try a few things that I've learned about.
Leia's theme might be one of my favorite compositions of all time. Evokes the character, sets the tone... perfectly. All without feeling too sappy and heavy-handed.
This, and Marion’s theme from raiders (albeit very similar compositions), are both phenomenal.
"Music sounds like feelings feel".. this is something my band teacher taught me while I was in school.. and nothing has ever been more true to me when learning musical impacts on people.. I will admit that I usually cry at most movie or game scenes ALL because of the music compelling my emotions to spike as such.
E7 is a great chord that has this same feeling also. It’s used in this way in two songs that genuinely made me cry “Things We Used To Share” by Thomas Sanders, and “Skeleton Appreciation Day in Vestal, NY” by Will Wood and the Tapeworms
I DID NOT EXPECT TO SEE EITHER OF THOSE MENTIONED AT ALL, BUT IN THE SAME PLACE?????? WOW
Hi. I'm a huge Will Wood fan & used to be a huge Thomas Sanders fan.
The chord. The second I heard it my brain immediately went to Final Duet. That scene in Omori genuinely made me cry so many times- it’s just so… bittersweet. I love it.
i came here to comment this and i’m glad someone beat me to it :)
that game’s soundtrack is just unfathomably good
Yep. When he played the chords in the first minute i was like "THIS IS DUET"
OK YES, I wasn’t sure but I thought I heard final duet in the minor 4.
I'm convinced that entire song was a buildup to that sting of minor 4
THATS WHAT IM SAYING
I always refer to that playfully as the “romantic chord,” especially when it’s got the major 7th
So that'd be C - FmMaj7?
Dude I ran to my piano after writing that first sentence because I realised the Maj7 of an F chord would be the third of C. That sequence alone already sounds so dope.
@@luukipuuk3537 exactly! Love love love it. Or mess around with variations of IIdim in place of the the IVm/M7
Yeah especially if that major 7th then goes down to the 6th of the chord creating a wonderful IVmin6 chord (so if we're in C major that chord would be F - Ab - C - D)
@@luukipuuk3537 The same is true for a dominant 13 chord. The 13 of G is the major 3rd of C. I loved discovering that.
I've never found a better example than Radiohead's Creep where it's done similarly to the Beatles song you've mentioned. The whole chord progression of Creep's chorus is miraculous. It goes from I (C) to major III (with a 7, at least my ear really enjoys turning it into an E7), then to IV and finally minor IV. Such strong movements and resolutions packed so tightly. It always hit me hard when listening to it.
10/10 song.
That major III7 would be functioning as a secondary dominant.. that would want to resolve to vi but then using a IV chord is clever because it’s a chord substitution of vi sharing 2 of the same chord tones.. then that IV -> iv -> I is gorgeous! Radiohead get that balance of talent / theory / storytelling / social commentary and outstanding musicianship with pushing the envelope and defying expectations SO right! Love the Leia’s Theme - absolutely gorgeous.. the leap up of a 6th giving that hopeful but inherently emotional feeling - masterful writing from Williams 👌🏼
The Beatles used lots of secondary dominants as well - sounds ‘peppy’ and unexpectedly jolly 😂😂
That 'Creep' progression is actually used on a big seventies hit by The Hollies called "The Air That I Breathe". It has a wonderful melody line and a great chorus. Yorke and co know the song for sure.
@@splankhoon I'm sure what you're saying is that The Air that I Breathe is what Creep is based on.
As a classical music composer I can say that this chord progression is extremelly important it can capture any emotion (therefore it was many times used be Liszt, Chopin, Alkan and other composers of romantism).
idk why the chords just reminded me of the song Jawbreaker in the game Geometry Dash
I recently learned of the "Black Adder Chord" (name according to "Ongaku Concept") which is a great sounding tension chord. I'd love to see a good breakdown of how this chord works.
Ah yes.
I’m on their discord.
I love Ongaku Concept.
YES! I love that chord so much, its so interesting
My lord I have a cunning plan........
...what is that chord?
@@nuberiffic its basically an augmented chord over the note a whole step up from the root, so like a C+/D or Eb+/F or an augmented chord over its 9th
One of my favourite uses of this is in Bruno Mars' When I was your man. I love the way he sets it in the chorus. The first two lines are V -> IV -> V -> I and I -> IV -> V -> I. The third and fourth lines he goes from I->IV->V->vi->II7->IV->iv->I. The reason it's so powerful is that he sets the expectation that IV is going to V and then I. When you hit the IV->V and it goes to vi, it catches you a bit off guard. Then it moves down the circle of fifths to II7, which has been minor during the verse. When the minor four actually comes it's a pure, nostalgic, tragic thing. "Now my baby's dancing, but she's dancing with another man".
It's sentimental, it feels happy and sad at the same time, it's almost like a feeling of nostalgia. It's absolutely *beautiful*.
This chord is often heard in some Pokemon games when certain things happen and the soundtrack always makes me feel nostalgic and gives a wave happiness.
let me guess, mystery dungeon games?
@@jimskywaker4345 Surf theme from Gold/Silver/Crystal was what I was thinking of. (Was just listening to it and went looking for this video afterward lol)
space oddity goes between the IV and the iv a lot in a really effective way, plus the III in the chorus which is always so satisfying to hear. it's great how much it toys with the idea of hope and sadness so effectively.
At 2:50 I had a huge realization. That sounded like it came from I Hear a Symphony from Cody Fry. That whole song sounds like he took D major and waltzed with it. It is so beautiful. Listen to the crescendo! It's exactly what was played at the time stamp!
I love that song SO much!
Another good example of this Minor 4 chord is Céline Dion's song All by Myself. And as Charles said, it adds so much emotion. Great explanation video!
Or Eric Carmen’s All By Myself, even
You mean Eric Carmen’s song that Dion covered? Which was really from Rachmaninoff’s piano concerto No. 2
Great use of that change.
@@cliffprowse3341 The more you learn :)
Adam Neely made a video on that song
I see most of us have seen the Adam Neely video on this haha
I've been raving about the IV-iv-I resolution for MONTHS after I figured out it's in some of my favorite songs. Thank you so much for making a video on this!!
Yeah I've been obsessed over the IV-iv-I before I even knew what it was lol. Like noodling around on guitar and coming up with something I almost always throw it in there somehow and it makes me so mad like FIND SOMETHING NEW GAHHH
I love how attached you are to your music. I feel all the emotions your feeling and I am so happy that you show others the same.
Busonni’s piano transcription of Bach’s chaconne in Gm begins with this. It hits you immediately.
"When Somebody Loved Me" from the Toy Story 2 soundtrack uses the minor iv chord in the most devastating way. It's the final chord to a descending 4 chord pattern in the beginning, if that makes sense, and it immediately lets you know that this song is going to be sad and will make you cry. It's also used briefly again when the song goes to the bridge and takes a darker turn.
I LOVE the minor iv chord, and its sibling the Major IV chord in a minor key song. Just the unexpected change of the 6th note in the key gets to my SOUL every time.
😭 GAH MY HEART 💔
🥺🥺🥺 I know the exact song you’re talking about… 😭😭😭 It plucked the strings to my ticker ❤️🩹 pretty hard.
This song crushes me. You’re totally right-that iv-I in that intro is just… ouch. My heart…
The end of Liszt's second consolidation. Played the piece for my senior recital. One of my favorite applications of the beautiful chord.
Most of Liszt’s smaller piano pieces use the chord I think
@@knoxtheox897 yes, I did consolations 1 and 3 as well. He loved to use that chord, it's so stately for romantic era!
He also uses it in the second theme of his Liebestraum n. 3
I thought of the end of Chopin's Revolutionary etude, and it does seem like that uses this as well.
The bridge to "Lately" by Stevie Wonder. The lyrics are perfect! Honestly one of the best and most underrated songs of all time
That Jodeci cover is ther cherry on top
Stevie Wonder is a master of using this. There's a whole video on how Stevie Wonder uses the chord progression I, I7, IV, iv in a lot of songs, but they never sound the same!
ruclips.net/video/3Gj0vl2zI58/видео.html
He also uses it in "You and I" & "Evil"
The minor 4th resolution always gave me a sense of sad but accepting nostalgia. Like a grandma going through old photos of passed loved ones, sad that they're gone but happy from all the memories.
A great use of the minor 4 chord is in the final cadence of Chopin's Fantasy in F minor, Op. 49, where a d-flat minor chord resolves to A-flat major, with the soprano voice rising by an octave... within the realm of "classical music", it's a really refreshing change from the typical V7 to I that ends most works...
For me, the feeling of the minor fourth resolution is nostalgic. I think it's brilliant that it plays so strongly in Leia's Theme because you begin the peice with the triumphant and elegant-sounding fifth to third jump at the beginning (which is a modified reversal of Luke's theme) and immediately move into that melancholy nostalgic sound of the minor fourth. It's insane how much John William's music speaks to the characters in the films. You have the Princess with all her elegance and grace, but her life is marred by war and loss and the shadow of all she left behind. If you knew nothing else about Leia and only heard that theme, you would already know enough about her to empathize with her. I like the Beatles example too with the chromatic progression because it adds a kind of insecurity to it. It's like you receive a situation (the fourth), you contemplate on the implications of that situation and how it relates to your past or your trauma (the minor fourth), and then you resolve with a decision or action (the first).
1973 single “Love’s Theme” written by Barry White, Recorded and Released by The Love Unlimited Orchestra, uses the minor 4 chord in a groovy way! Overall, great orchestral/disco song!
This explains why The Lion King by Hans Zimmer makes me cry a lot.
Turn off that you know what's behind the music, Mufasa Death, Simba getting to see his father through the clouds saying "Remember who you are" and stuff like that.
Those chords man, I truly cry a lot just hearing some specific tracks of the score!
I’m honestly so impressed at how well Charles explains stuff, I feel like I learn so much in every video, now I’m seriously considering joining the improv class
Toward the end of Also Sprach Zarathustra, the minor 4th chord is twisted with an augmented fifth note
Minor fours are my FAVORITE CHORDS OF ALL TIME and any song that has one is immediately better.
I was so excited to see that you did a video on this that I sent it to all of my musician friends and tweeted about it because I harp on this ALL THE TIME 😅 Thanks Charles!
Based off of this major I - minor IV repetition, one hauntigly depressing resolution is to end up resolving from the minor IV to the minor VI;
this chord just hits hard because you expected a rather hopeful resolution and got something even more hopeless
Love it!
THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT IVE BEEN SAYING TO FRIENDS OF MINE, but they're not into music theory so they all just look at me confused and think im insane, but the minor 4 chord always sounds so beautiful after resolving to the major 1 chord, love ur vids charles
I also hear this when going from I to ii-7b5 (D to Em7b5)
It's got the same characteristics as going from D to Gminor.
Beautiful! thanks for the video
I literally got chills when you played the IV > iv > I -- LOVE that progression
Minor Plagal Cadence is the first lesson in theory i ever watched, the Signals Music Studio lesson. It holds a special place in my heart because of it
Same!! I love that channel
Mine was microtonal notes, I think it was a Jacob Collier song review
The devastating last two bars from the first movement of Brahms symphony no.4 🥺
I love how you explain concepts in music theory in a way that's enthusiastic, easy to follow, and fun to watch!
"One day I'll fly away" from Moulin Rouge comes to mind. Gives me the goose bumps everytime I hear her sing the "...fly away" bit.
OMG! Thank you for this, and now I must go and hear that whole soundtrack again.
YES!
So true about the minor 4 chord making you cry. The moment E.T. holds up his healing finger to Elliot and says “I’ll be right here” and goes to that same D to G minor, my heart sinks to my stomach and my eyes become fish tanks
Creep by Radiohead is a great example of a simple yet powerful chord progression. I III (picadilly third) IV iv. The first half builds it as if great things were about to happen only to crumble in dismay in the second half. Like the life story of the song's proragonist. First they add the major III with the D# as a note outside the scale to add brightness (hope) then when the minor iv hits, that same note D# conveys darkness (hopelessness).
You mean a Picardy third. 🙂
Last thing and I’m done. Don’t forget to “add 9” from the main key, on that minor 4!!!! Fire 🔥
@@michellemonet4358 absolutely!!!!
I am sure you know this composer but I would be interested to hear your thoughts on Eric Whitacre and his use of dissonance. Especially in his song Lux Aurumque.
ooh i sang that with my choir last semester
@@anachr0nism104 it’s such a good song! I played the orchestral version in high school.
Once you've done one Whitacre song, you done them all..... trite, predictable, cheap.
@@moirbasso7051 Based.
For anyone wanting to look into this chord deeper, I would recommend looking into extensions. iv min/maj7 creates a mysterious sound, iidim contains the minor iv but with a stronger resolution, and IImaj7 contains it as well with a more adventurous and “space like” resolution.
I really love the iv min7 sound! I occasionally try to compose music and that’s been my favorite trick to make a song sound magical or atmospheric
Minor 4 is one of my absolute favorite harmonic choices
So this is why "Jar of Hearts" has always moved me! I knew it was special and often played those amazing chords on the piano...
Oh my god!! Charles thank you so much!!! I’m a student and I make music in Korea, but my major has nothing to do with music… I’m all the way self taught, so when I discovered that the minor4 chord works it confused me so much!! I’ve always tried to figure it out but you nailed my 2-year long search in 15 minutes thankyou so much ur the best!!
"Sleepwalk" by Johnny and Santo uses the minor 4th chord really beautifully right before the part that everyone knows right at the beginning of the song. Only it walks down from Db to Bb to A to Ab. It's probably what makes the song so relaxing and melancholic because this resolution happens throughout the whole song
I've seen that IV-iv-I movement called the "plagal sigh", and I really like that because it kind of settles into the tonic. (I've also seen it called the "double plagal " or "minor plagal" but both of those also have other meanings).
I've never heard of a name for that other common variation on the IV-I, the IV⁷-♯iv°⁷-I that shows up in the jazz blues and some older R&B, with its chromatic 4̂-♯4̂-5̂ rise. "Plagal climb" maybe?
It's amazing just how much of the range of human experience can be conveyed with music
The intro to Muse's "Falling Away With You" also takes advantage of this chord. The chords are voiced similarly to "Blackbird", and the turnaround at the end uses the 4 => m4 => 1 and is yet another example of a profoundly sad song.
Falling down by Muse also does A,D,Dm. Then in the chorus, it does F#m, then F (not in the scale of A major), then up to A, D, then B7, also not in the A major scale. Chorus ends on E to beautifully resolve back to A. Then you have unintended by Muse, which I think has a minor iv, though I don't really know what key it's in. It's E,Am,D,G,C,B7,E
@@metaltim it is in E! So yeah the second chord in the progression is the minor fourth
I absolutely love how they used it in Remember Me (song from the Disney movie Coco)
Ashitaka and San by Joe Hisaishi (Princess Mononoke), Creep by Radiohead, Ain't nobody Business What We Do by Freddie King, AND the Super Mario Bros traditional game over/death theme, all of them use so hard the minor iv ! So nice !!
The link between Radiohead and film music is insane, they basically write music for movies that don't exist. Ashitaka and San is also one of the most beautiful pieces of music ever written.
I cant tell you how many times the 4 Min chord gives me shivers up my spine. It happens every time, no matter what song has that sort of chord progression.
I'm so impressed that you were just thinking of sounds you wanted to hear as you were talking and your fingers just... made them. Well done 😊
Each time u feel the burning sensation cutting onions....
Its just their defence mechanism! playing this chord in high frequency!
here's a pretty minor four chord example: so I've been trying to figure out this one chord in Genshin Impact's Liyue theme for a while (without googling it), and after watching this video the other day, I jUst realized that the chord in the song is a minor four chord that resolves to a one, just like you mentioned here! so thank you for finally helping me realize that, and also giving me another tool in my arsenal to learn songs by ear 😌 (also, again, highly recommend that song and Genshin's music as a whole tbh)
“Nobody Home” on Pink Floyd’s The Wall has always been one of my favorites…and fun to play. The iv wasn’t something I ever really knew or thought about, but so obvious after watching this video. Thanks for laying it so nicely!
"All by Myself" (Eric Carmen, '75) is based on the second movement of Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2, which uses that chord progression throughout. In both pieces, there's an added 6th in the IV-minor.
I've always wondered why I love F -> Fm -> C, and now I know. Thanks Charles!!
Thanks!
Far Away Boys by Flogging Molly is a really simple song but at the end of each verse and chorus there’s a IV-iv-I that really give the whole song a melancholy feel. One of my favorites.
Love the analysis! The reason I've always thought it's so magical is because, for a moment, it's almost like the 'minor iv' chord is actually the i minor chord, and the actual I major feels like the V chord in that minor key. In other words... F minor (minor 4) to C Major (Major 1) can also be F minor (minor 1 in the key of F minor) and C major (Major V in the key of F minor)... and it creates this wonderful, heart-wrenching tension, push and pull between those two worlds.
And this is part of why I love Mixolydian b6. The b6 in a major key has such a cool sound, especially when used as the third of the iv chord.
Interesting thought. Do you have any musical examples that use a mixolydian scale instead of a regular major with a raised 7th that uses this iv chord? Is mixolydian with lowered 6th an actual scale that’s described and uses in some music? Interesting color palate to imagine using! It would be less about subverting expectation but very colorful.
@@christinaphillips715 It's the 5th mode of melodic minor
The only time I enjoyed a chord progression really hard was on a song by Beethoven. In "Ode to Joy" there are a lot of beautiful and sometimes strange motives. But at one point the choir sings 3 times "and the cherub stands before God". And when they come to the 3rd time the music plays instead of the expected Dmajor B#major. It is SOOO satisfying!
Oh, so that’s~ what that fun little modality I like so much is called.
This channel always blows my mind. I studied classical piano and voice for more than 15 years, did a bunch of theory as part of it, even took the AP theory test in high school...but all I got out of all that was *what* the music was doing, not *why*. You do such a phenomenal job of not only explaining the nuts and bolts of the harmonies but also making sense of WHY the music moves the way it does - and moves us the way it does. Bravo.
So happy someone else fangirls over the iv chord like I do. 😂 Another chord I absolutely love hearing that is rarely used is the iii chord. For example, I absolutely LOVE hearing songs that surprise me after hearing IV-V-vi and then hit you with the iii before repeating the cycle again. Just iii-IV-V or ii-iii-IV-V is one of my favorite progressions. 🤩
I'll Follow You Into the Dark by Death Cab For Cutie and Jar of Hearts by Christina Perri come to mind, but the minor 4 chord is basically universal and absolutely classic and essential in music. I'm a songwriter/composer/pianist and just discovered your channel, I LOVE your content!!! I need to watch all your videos!
About a minute into this video I had the realization that one of my favorite original pieces of music from when I was younger and has stuck with me for years is largely based on alternating between the I and iv chord. I've ALWAYS been obsessed with using the IV iv I ending since, weirdly enough, I learned to play the Mario Bros main theme that has an ending that fits those chords. I wanted to know why I liked it so much so I broke it down and started applying it almost ANY time I wanted to end a song. It's just so much more compelling to me, the 5th feels almost too triumphant, whereas the bit of sadness in that minor 4 chord, especially just having come from the major 4 chord, feels so much more final. As if it's telling a story that maybe doesn't have the happiest ending, but a bittersweet and thoroughly satisfying one.
My very best uses of this are: Bruno Mars's 'When I was your man
Eric Carmen &Sergei Rachmaninoff's 'All by Myself'
and Frank Sinatra's 'My Way
Music theory has always been such a huge weak point of mine, I just can't seem to understand it. But you explained things in this video so that they made sense, even to me!! Thank you, I love your channel so much
I love Lullaby by Billy Joel. It has an awesome minor 4th feel throughout the whole song.
Around the 11:30 mark,when you kept playing the IV and iv, I was dying because it NEEDED that resolution in my head. Music is magic.
Oh my gosh - where have you been all my life? I just stumbled across this video, and I'm hooked.
I bet there are examples of this resolution in hymns of all flavors (especially the sentimental ones). I can just hear the "ah-ah-men" in the chord progression.
Great work.
Hi Charles, I really love your videos and what you do. I'm no musician by any definition, but it's fascinating to hear about why music makes me feel the way I do. If you ever run out of video ideas, I hope you'd consider analyzing Tchaikovsky's 6th Symphony. That piece always shatters me and I haven't seen too many analyses on it and why it is so intense despite being mostly a series of scales.
Question: Does this apply to the chords in Opeth’s "Windowpane" bridge (starting at 4:35)?
Because those are the most heartbreakingly beautiful chords I’ve ever heard.
Long story short, no. That’s in a minor key (not sure which one), and the other chords are the bVI and V (or possibly vii°)
f sharp minor 9th (f# minor being the root key as well) and flat VI 7 ( d major 7) that follows
My favorite use of the minor IV chord is by far the “Out of Africa” soundtrack by John Barry. It really embodies the haunting beauty you talked about in the video.
Extremely great episode. Best chord in the business.
My personal favorite song to use this courd is "Duet" from Omori. It gives such a strong feeling with the high sound of the violin with the light sound of the piano. I really recommend listening to it. It's such an inspiring and beautiful piece of music.
I love how you make music theory look interesting and how you make me actually wanna learn it because of the fun and energy you put in that❤
I’m so glad you made this video. It’s like you’ve read my mind. I’ve been obsessed with this chord lately and have been writing some music that uses it. I re-watch your other videos that mention it for inspiration
Awesome!! This happy/sad feeling of the minor 4 chord is exactly what you can hear at the end of Super Mario 64 - Credits Theme (Staff Roll), one of the most nostalgic video game music ever!!
I'm not that sure (still learning the circle of fifths) but Eart, Wind and Fire's "After the love is gone" uses this cadence quite a lot
Save Me by Avenged Sevenfold has an incredible cadence where it goes from A to am to the root D, and THEN flips that D to dm. It's so perfect because it makes you feel sad and warm with that 4 to 4m to 1, and then throws you off with that 1m. Always gives me chills in the best way.
Another thing I find interesting about the I / minor IV relationship is that minor IV is the exact intervallic reflection of I (using I as the pivot), also the case for minor I / major IV. Both of these are really strong sounding progressions. I wouldn't necessarily say that the reflection aspect is what specifically makes it sound good, but it's just a kind of subliminal extra point.