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The mysterious STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN chord
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- Опубликовано: 2 май 2021
- This is the story about a mysterious chord that after 5 decades still hasn't been discovered... What is it's name? Thanks to @AdamNeely and @RickBeato for helping out!
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I’m actually making a video about augmented chords at the moment in which I discuss Stairway! I describe the chord as “G#+ (#9)” 😉
Hell yeah
I know the notes are correct and the G# note lives in the A major scale that our opening chord gives us, but man, that chord spelling is UGLY!
G# B# D## A## ?? Yikes!
I think it might be kinder to the musician reading sheet music to accept the descending nature of the line and call it a transition from A to Ab. That makes the chord Ab aug add #9 (Ab C E B). The chord spelling looks a lot cleaner.
They both work, though.
@@sdownin72 The problem with Ab is that the piece is in A, and chord naming tends to dictate that one should never put accidentals on the root note of the tonic. For example, F# major has an E#, not an F.
@@colejohnson66 >F# major
You mean Gb :^)?
Lol I just realized that F# or Gb Ionian it has to raise E to E# or C to Cb XD
To me, the genius of the opening chord progression to Stairway lies in the fact that it is simultaneously expressing a descending chromatic line and an ascending diatonic line. In the bass, we have the chromatic line A-G#-G-F#-F. Meanwhile, at the same time, we have the ascending diatonic line A-B-C-D-E (though the last two notes drop down an octave). Considering that this is happening in the first few bars of a song entitled "Stairway to Heaven" raises some interesting existential / theological questions (Which direction does the stairway go? Up to heaven? Or down? Or both? Or does it depend on who is doing the walking?)
This just literally gave me goosebumps ❤️
Great metaphorical analysis,
Yes, I guess it was definitely though/built that way, with the oposite progressions in mind, not "chordwise". Only the G# and B are actually played together which let several options open for the voice melody.
Oh wow that’s an amazing insight. Interesting that the stair case would be easier to walk down than up.
Like an Escher staircase illlusion !
Jimmy Page writing this song: "Ok this is cool AF" The end.
Jimmy Page stealing this song: "Ok this is cool AF, must make it my own" The end.
@@marmotman you’re salty about something that you’re not even right about. Oh...have you been calling this out since ‘71? Didn’t think so. Oh...you took the record off the player when you heard it and never listened again? Didn’t think so either. If Mozart were alive do you figure he would be calling people out for ripping him off? Get over yourself.
@Rodent's Revenge Stairway to heaven and Taurus are very different songs, de you really believe that taking some chords from a tune is stealing? Because in that case, donna lee is a rip off of Indiana as much as Anthropology is a rip off of I've got rhythm. Stealing from a tune would be taking the same thing and same mood and write some lyrics on top. That's clearly not the case here.
@Rodent's Revenge To be honest, trials are everything but fair in copyright. Copyright trials are just big majors willing to do anything to get more money, just take the kate perry trial where what was said to be plagiarism was just a synth line were the synth sound was not the same and the line was not even the same.
The other examples you gave fit more in what I would consider plagiarism though.
Spot on, Marmotman
It is his sense of humor that makes Paul Davids such a joy. The Rick Beato cameo is dynamite.
I suspect Jimmy Page didn't lose any sleep over the chord name. He more than likely thought "bass line goes down, treble line goes up; sounds cool!" - done.
Yes!
No. He just didn’t remember exactly how Taurus went.
@@westernartifact580
Taurus as a tune?- huh, meh. And only the intro sorta sounds like it, but feel is totally wrong. And goes nowhere epic like Stairway. Court ruled "nah" too. Lots of songs sound the same anyway.
It was sue sue sue but with a Tom Petty I don't give a shit, what, Mary's Last Dance was epic so much it spilled to another song? I'm honored!
Stones also relented and released that tune they won rights in court too. Now people who sue are thought of as douchebag money grubbing rodents and it has pretty much ended.
Another major case was changed on appeal, damn, Brittany? Gaga? One was sued and ordered to pay but on appeal it was dismissed too.
I was just coming on here to post the same thing. And it's how we all learned it!
Funny thing is when Bach was doing counterpoint, he never took into consideration the names of the chords he was forming. Everything was figured bass and numbers.
It’s amazing how you can make any chord sound nice if you put it in the right context
Well said man👍
jazz
@@whatskraken3886 lmao
Or, sound "right". Sometimes "right" is not "nice".
@@terryconnell Yep, I've been told, at times I can play all the right notes, just at the wrong time, on occasions...
As my teacher called it, the ''James Bond chord''! love it! The bar chord version especially, perfect for finishing a phrase in melodic minor, or harmonic minor too.
I call it Am9/G#, I think it works well within the context. The base is Am, and his intention is clearly lowering the bass line (hence the /G#) while raising the treble line (hence the 9).
C aug maj7/ 2nd inversion
There is no A though. Why call it any sort of A chord if it contains no A?
@@ibbotsoni It's a C aug maj7/ 2nd inversion.
@@TimothyOBrien1958 yeah that works. To make it shorter perhaps notate it as C+maj7/G#
@@ibbotsoni A is the silent root note.
I feel like Page was playing around on the fingerboard and found a pattern that gave him what he wanted. According to his interview in It Might Get Loud, he was looking for transitions and changes no one would see coming. He was driving for dynamics and tempo changes. He was sick of playing songs in the studio for other people, and wanted to be creative. He was looking to break the rules.
You guys should ask Jimmy. He's a super cool guy!
"He was sick of playing songs in the studio for other people, and wanted to be creative."
So he wasn´t being creative and playing ´funny´ chords for others ?
@@INDYOSKARS well generally if you're being paid as a session musician then you just have to play exactly what they give you, and you can't deviate too much from it.
Yeah I’ll call him right up with my golden guitar phone
Yea bet ? Give me his number I’ll ask
Sick of playing songs in the studio for other people?? But Led Zeppelin already existed a couple of years by that time, he didn't have to be a session guitarist anymore.
My granddaughter once said to me, "Granddaddy, you never make a long story short." She should watch this video. Fourteen minutes and fifty three delightful seconds to talk about one chord. Paul Davids is going to be a great grandpa one day.
"Old man yells at chord."
Ah ... the youth of today. I am forever apologising for rambling on. The best time in my life was when my girlfriend's son was 7 and asking "why" about ANYTHING and EVERYTHING, and I had a receptive audience who was not only fascinated, but kept asking for more. Back in the good old days at the turn of the century...
😉
Since the song works a lot over Am and C chords, the second chord could be a (Cmaj7#5) inversion, which is on A harmonic minor Harmonic Field, with a C on the root. Regarding the E sounding in the chord it could be also a (Cmaj7#5/E)
2nd inversion C+maj7, but it also functions as a dominant, so 1st inv E+ (same as G#+), with the B being a passing note between A and C. Or Eadd#5/G#, or G#+add#9.
You are WAY overthinking this.
@@Mal1234567 Yes I agree actually! I've been playing the song on guitar since the 70s and never thought to theoretically analyse it but my comment was just a technical response to the video's subject. It's really just descending and ascending lines.
What a weird chord!
🤔
Abaug#9?
It's just Am / G# (add9)
@@tedsimmons4756 for the key it would be G# aug (#9)
@@tedsimmons4756 Not really. There can't be A flat, cause we are in the key of A minor)) It must be G#.
I love when my favorite music folks on RUclips get together like this and talk things through. So great, Paul! Oh, and has anyone asked Jimmy yet? :-)
My favorite thing about this video is the cross reference analysis between the most musical experts that I am aware of on RUclips. To know that these back and forth conversations took place between these guys makes me know that thinking about music as much as I do is not at all abnormal in any way. 🙂
First inversion of the Eaug chord or E+/G#
I would also be ok with calling it like, Emb6 (or however you write that, E minor with minor 6 on top) but I don't think it's especially ambiguous at all that E is the root note
The root is an Am... so the 2nd chord of Stairway is Am maj7/9 (1-b3-5-nat 7 - 9) or, A-C-E-G#-B
It's called Reginald
It's a paradiddle. Just ask John Bonham!
@@wayneorendorff5657 That's a perfectly valid answer. The sequence starts with a plain A minor chord and then you add some spice to it. But you can also say it's a transitional dim chord between the A minor and the C major spiced up with a c. Replace the c on the third string with a d to get a regular dim chord and you get the same effect, only not nearly as cool. I can think of at least two other valid answers too but the point is that a chord in a sequence can have several functions at the same time and what you call it depends on which of those functions you focus on.
I have never been this early and i just want to thank you for giving us this quality contents for free.
Thanks for being early 😎
The chord is “ contrapuntal “ which nobody mentioned. But if I “ had “ to name it , I would say Rick is correct AmMaj9 as I feel the 9 or the B is more prevalent than the E note . Excellent subject either way !
Yes!! From the A harmonic minor scale.
However, I don't know that we can simply call it a slash chord or 3rd inversion because here, the bass player really plays G#, a few octaves below.
So, for G# as root, we have the G# Super Locrian bb7 scale, as the 7th mode of the A harmonic minor scale, giving the chord G# sus b4 b6 b10 (= G# sus b4 b13 b10).
This actually also the altered scale, which gives the notation G# b13 #9 for this chord.
It's kind of similar to a G# Hendrickx Chord with its typical major 3rd and sharp 9th (except for its 7th (Gb) that would not fit in A minor harmonic scale).
This chord should be officially called an E-spicy chord (Es), and there's no reason why it shouldn't.
Except that if you wrote that on paper, no one would know what it means.
@@eggmojiivods4098 stop trying your arguments are weak
@@andredepaulagomes xD
the council has decided. E-spicy will be in affect starting immediately
I agree fully
That was awesome seeing Rick show up in your video. Love your show, keep up the good work.
Still a beautiful and iconic song to this day.
We need more of these super long, chorusless, super compelling songs in our music
I've always just heard it as an A minor with two separate line cliches, one going down and one going up
And yes, I know the top line isn't chromatic, but it's close enough
Then the root it has to be G# besides the voicing movement to the ninth..
Yes, I understand
A dissonant passing chord that resolves on the C
A line cliche doesn't have to be chromatic. It just has to move in one direction without big jumps. So yes, it's a descending and ascending line cliche.
@@rome8180 But in this particular case it does.. cuz there a harmonic or progressive movement of the chord progression that it takes a whole bar just like the C.. Fmaj7 or the Am or any other chord of the song!
'Cause, you know, sometimes chords have two meanings.
Thanks Paul, for working with my other favorite music analysts, 12Tone, Rick Beato & Adam Neely. Great Job !
When you said "maybe we can get Rick on the hotline?" at 3:37 I genuinely thought this video was going to be just an elaborate Rick Roll.
😁😊😂🤣
😀😀😀
Rick making B-rolls instead of Paul would fit this perfectly
@@ccelik97 B-rolls instead of rickrolls hehe
I miss the days of the Rick roll . i haven't been rick rolled in a long time .
Always love when my favorite RUclips channels collaborate. Neely, Beato, and Davids together, with a shout out to 12Tone? I'm giddy.
Love the quality of your videos! They are super interesting and well-produced - from the lighting to the colour grade! Good job, Mr Davids!
I love how you get Rick Beato on the case. You experts haha
its actually - A/CMaj7#5
It's the 2nd-STH chord.
@@JacobHeldt The set of important notes in the chord contains a minor second, and the only common chords that contain a minor second would be major seventh chords and a flat ninth chords. To me, that would imply that the chord would be some kind of altered CMaj7 (in particular a CMaj7#5, voiced C-E-G#-B) or some kind of altered B chord with a flat 9th (maybe a B11(b9), voiced B E Ab C). The first of those explanations seems logical and fits with the harmonic function of the chord resolving to C major by moving the augmented fifth downward and the major seventh upward. The second seems extremely dubious by comparison.
IMO Adam's E(b13)/G# makes the most sense by far, cause to me the chords can be thought of as Amin, Emaj, Cmaj, Dmaj, Fmaj, Amin
I agree on the basic chord progression you wrote. It is an E inverted chord with an added C. I'd go for Eb6/G# though.
I agree. I also think the C chord can be interpreted as a G with added 11 (c) and 13 (e) (320010). This turns the chords into Am E G D, which sounds a bit more fluent
Agreed. If you were to play an E7(b13)/G# in its stead, it invokes the same quality. With regards to the line cliche, I could also potentially call it an Am9 (maj7)/G#...
Or a G# Hendrickx chord with a flat 13th (instead of a 7th), from the super locrian scale. :)
As you say, could be many things but the bass player is also playing G#.
Otherwise I'd call it Am-M7-M9 with a suspended root :) from the harmonic minor scale.
im so into all these collaboration vids, its like each channel is a hero and then these collabs are avengers movies
On piano it sounds like you've found a clue in LA NOIRE.
Lmao
Hi Paul,
Firstly, I love watching your videos, they're amazing and so inspirational.
I know you'll probably never see this, but I thought I'd try to let you know, in case you care, that at 2:46 when you say epitome, it's pronounced eh-pit-oh-mee in British English.
I really enjoy watching your videos and learning a bit more of the theory behind the music in the songs I love, and learning to play along with you! Thanks for all the time you spend doing these videos and for the entertainment and knowledge that I get out of them!
Stevyn
Paul, Adam and Rick on the same video? What a nice way to start the week! :D
It’s like top gear for musicians.
This is my favorite kind of RUclips collaboration. It's Paul's video and Paul's style, but he's bringing in some great talent to support his concept.
Grear to see my thee fav youtubers in one video! Thanks a lot!
Indeed!
I am the kind of person who doesn't understand anything that Paul says but watches the full video anyways.
Me too, I play by ear
The beard kinda puts you in a trance like a angler fish. *must keep watching. 😂
Me too! Ha, ha!
ahh... the stuff that keep music theory majors up at night
Then it's better to start more from the beginning, instead on one chord, even Beato isn't very sure to describe. Learning a little bit piano helps a lot.
Wow, taking a deep dive on the mystery chord was a fun ride. Thanks for sharing Paul!!
"Rick sings beautifully" Love it...
Now I've heard there was a secret chord
That Jimmy played, and it pleased the Lord
I see what you did there.
I agree with you %100
That’s true if you’re aware that Jimmy’s lord is satan 👍
Hallelujah!
I don’t think the Lord really likes thievery.
I think the reality is that while we finger it as a chord, it’s not really played that way in the song. The dissonant notes may be ringing together for a bit but what we hear is the different ascending and descending lines. If you finger the chord sequence and pick on any of the string combinations 1-2-3, 2-3-4, or 1-4, there’s no dissonance. I believe that those lines are what our brains pick out of the song, so it’s really two chords that are overlapping in passing.
Well put. That is a very strong observation.
Check out the A harmonic minor scale. A, B, C, D, E, F, G#. The guitar tab for Stairway includes C-flat in the "mystery chord," which is tonally identical to B natural. G# is simply the next note in the descending chromatic bass line starting with A, then followed by G#, G and F#.
Paul I have to say, I come to your channel from time to time and am always entertained, educated and thoroughly captivated by how you deliver your message. I have studied Classical composition for many years and it's funny watching you three talk about this I love this conversation and yes I would call it ... LOL just fun to watch big fan Paul
I would vote for "Am - E b6/G# - C/G - D/F#". It sounds correct when simplified to "Am - E - C - D") and it describes the descending bass line. What really happens in the intro, is just a chromatically descending bass and a diatonic ascending melody (both starting with A) over a C&E pedal.
The App I use for chords, also says E(b6) as the top answer, then Ammaj9, Eb13, Cmaj7/G' and then E(b6)/G#. So I'm going with E(b6)/G# and this good explination.
Note that the bassist stays on the root A thru the 1st four chords when you listen; that way we can read "Stairway" without a bunch of confusing split chords:
Am
Am maj7/9
Am7
Am6
Fmaj7
G
Am
Jim Croce's "Time In a Bottle is composed similarly.
@@wayneorendorff5657 There is no bassist in the intro. Are you referring to another part?
what a great idea for an educational video about how chords are named. A great way to stimulate all of our theory minds while bringing in two jazz theory pros in Rick and Adam. Thanks for getting my brain going for the day in a fun way. I appreciate it : )
This...is where these channels need to go as we, sounds and indeed reality itself move from the functional...to the philosophical. Your best work to date Paul.
Hey Paul. Great video! Next time when doing a phone call with Rick just ask him to record his voice while he’s on the phone with you. Easiest way to do this is FaceTime from the computer and use his voice memo app to record audio. You do the same and then sync up the audio for crystal clear voice on both ends of the phone call. You probably already know this but I see it everywhere on phone call videos. It’s an easy fix. Bad phone audio just drives me nuts. 😂. Keep up the great work!
I feel like he just played a random chord and went: "Yo that sounds cool, anyway..."
😂😂😂
I'm very sure that's exactly what happened lol
Nah Jimmy is a genius mate
@@joalco3 genius at playing, perhaps, but he knew jackshit about musical theory
Music exists, and theory describes it much more than the other way around--well, good music, anyway.
I learnt the song by ear 30+ years ago .. I’ve played it so many times over the years and NEVER wondered what it was called 😂
Same here, I'm mainly a drummer and I learned this song by ear when I was about 14 and I'm now 63 and I've never really wondered what what any of the chords were named, only enjoyed how beautiful they sound together.
I just loved to see Rick Beato! The BEST together!
An awesome explanation regarding how the written notes are just a set of instructions, and the interpretation is left up to the musician turning that set of instructions into music.
let it just be the "Stairway chord"... suits the mysterious presence of the intro as well as the motivation behind using it
I always find it interesting that chords like this sound completely melodic and sweet in thecontext of the sequence but when isolated they sound completely different.
I do not read music but I am very technical and I love music so i was on the edge of my seat hearing all of the technical analysis and wondering what name you were going to hang on that chord. It was amazing to follow your scientific thought processes and to hear you guys collectivrly process all of this information and flowchart your way from one hypothesis to another. It can only be described as sheer brilliance how in the end you decided that because a chord name should be a simple description of the chord's sound and context and because no simple description was applicable to this chord it should go unnamed.
I think identifying the "name" of any one chord in a composition isn't necessarily the right approach; it doesn't NEED to be identified as "a chord," because it's two harmony notes (C and E) with two melody lines moving around them. Instead of taking a jazz/rock voicing approach, I take a classical counterpoint approach to this one. In common practice harmony, there are things called "non-harmonic tones." These are notes that don't belong to a chord, and so don't require a "chord name." You simply don't give a full name to every simultaneous stack of notes in a fugue. You can fight with it for days trying to give every shape a Nashville number or a chord voicing name; it's sort of an impractical level of microanalysis. The chord progression appears to be i - V - III (Am - E - C). Because you simply have the outer voices proceeding in contrary motion, the non-harmonic tone there is the C in the second chord, acting like a suspension.
So E/G#(addb13)? Or you’re saying the C isn’t even integral to the chord itself, it’s acting as a passing tone or leading tone?
@@chrlpolk I'm saying it APPEARS to be some version of a V chord because it contains the E, G# and B (which would make the C a suspension), but also that it's unnecessary to give the actual chord voicing name to every single chord in a passage -- it's more work than necessary for a shockingly small payoff, when it's easier to simply recognize that those are passing notes.
The G# isn't the Leading Tone in this case, because it's descending to a G natural. It's just a chromatic passing tone, IF we're treating all three chords as some flavour of Am.
You gotta love everything about these videos, from the editing , humour to the video content. Great stuff
love how I almost understand nothing about music theory but still watched the whole video
Stairway sounds so resonant and familiar because it’s fundamentally a very simple progression: Am, E, C , D, F. G, Am. Using the E/G# and D/F# inversions give you the walking bass from A down to F and the only “out” note is the inclusion of the C in the E/G# which is the flat 6th. Look up “Barry Harris diminished 6th scale” and you’ll find a whole model of jazz based on exactly this - a major scale with an added flat 6th. I’m not suggesting what Barry Harris is doing has anything to do with Stairway, but it shows that the adding a flat 6th to a major scale/chord is in no way weird.
This is an excellent way to illustrate the relationship between music and maths, and such a great ride of a video
As a keyboard player primarily, if I were writing a chord sheet for myself I'd write it as CaugM7/G#. It makes sense to write it that way for keyboard as it communicates a bass note for the left hand and a root position chord (sans G#) for the right hand.
The context ought to be taken into account. The chord is part of a sequence of three modifications of the original Amin triad. There is a bass line that descends chromatically from A to G, and a melody on top that uses the first three scale tones of an A minor scale. So this particular chord can be seen as an Amin chord with a major seventh and a ninth. A minor interval raised by a semitone is augmented, so to give the greatest amount of information to someone who is new to the piece I would call it Amin9/aug7, or A-9/+7 for brevity. Once you see the interval at a glance, it becomes easier to transpose if there is a singer who requires it. You get the sequence Amin, Amin9/aug7, Amin7, D/3.
@@Ubu987 I wouldn't call it aug7. It's an "A minor Major7th Major9th" from the "A minor harmonic" scale.
However since the bass player is actually playing G#, well if you would consider G# as the root, it's quite similar to a G# Hendrickx chord with it's major 3rd and sharp 9th (while Robert sings the minor third so it's got that bluesy major minor mix going on) but with a flat 13th (instead of the 7th). Thus, G# b13 #9, from the super locrian scale.
@@tanguydelooz2881 You are absolutely right about the aug7. My mistake. An aug7 interval is enharmonically the same as the root. It is a maj7 interval!
Loved the vid!
You know how you guys have done a few collabs where you make Locrian sound good, etc? I think a "Write a song using the 'Stairway to Heaven chord' without sounding like Stairway" would be an interesting one!
DO THIS DO THIS DO THIS
You are incredible Paul.
Cheers from France !
Just the fact that he uses a capo to hold up his phone makes me trust whatever he says
The only proper use of a capo
I believe Paul's idea to follow the song melody gets you there. You can sing easily if you just play Am-E-C-D. So the second chord should be called E with some decorations and omissions in it.
Ahhh... but what are the decorations and omissions? :)
"eh puh tomb" -- rather than rag you on that, it reminds me you are doing this all in a non native language. You rock. "e Pih toe me"
Beautiful analysis and breakdown, Paul. Thanks for the info. Quick note--5:36 Errata: The band is Spirit and the song is Taurus, not the other way around.
When you said, "why don't we get Rick on the line" then the lighting got dark and your outfit changed, and for that split second I thought you were about to do a Rick Beato impersonation lol.
I think Jones's recorder part outlines the chord for you. Out of everyone in the room recording the parts JPJ probably wrote it down. Paul you should ask him so we can all get a good nights sleep.
Just stopping to say that I just listened to the episode of the Shure Signal Path podcast where you were the guest. Enjoyed it immensely.
Ima go with C+ maj7 /G# like Rick said. No tensions, no implied notes that aren't sounded, just a good ol' seventh chord in second inversion.
Just saw the notification in the middle of a lecture ,I kindly excused myself and now I'm here enjoying quality content thanks @PaulDavids
tell me you were the lecturer! ;-)
just a passing chord with a descending bass line when the chords are going from Amin to Amin7 call it Amin9#7.....Latin music uses it all of the time ...Santana's version of Black Magic Woman
awesome video! such an interesting discussion and nice job getting those other two experts that we all watch also!
Soon as i get home ill figure it out instantly for you
It was way cool you let Rick be a part of this vid - you're a class act and a youtube treasure , Paul !!
2:41
The "epi-tome" lol I love that accent, Great video 👍
Interesting and very entertaining video. Three YT music-heavyweights spend an afternoon figuring out the name of a chord. Reminds me of my band-mates and I back in the 70s spending days getting 'Stairway' figured out then after running it down once - looking at each other and saying...let's try another Kiss tune.
Before I watch the video my Wise Publications transcription in their book of _Mothership_ says it's a Am(maj9)/G# and that makes complete sense. It's an inverted Am with a major 9th and a G# on the bottom which has to be written in because it's not in the scale. Not to mention the fact that that book is brilliantly transcribed by a professional (Arthur Dick). You can't change my mind.
I would call it an Am9/G# but I love these other interpretations.
The bassist holds to an A thru the 1st four chords.
The chromatic descent (A-G#-G-F#) is in the chord, not the bass line.
So, here are the first 7 chords to "Stairway":
Am
Am maj7/9
Am7
Am6
Fmaj7
G
Am
Jim Croce's "Time In a Bottle" is composed similarly.
it's fragmented half-demolished flat 22nd chord. everyone knows that.
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!
Actually its fragmented Cmaj7#5.....also fragmented A mmaj 9 ...they are both missing the E on the 9th fret 5th string....and in the case of ammaj9, you would bar the whole fifth fret to get a base A note on the 6th string ...also missing there in stairway...any other chords that everyone knows ?
@@danieljester7752 ok mr. Cleverpants, spell an F# squared 5th dimensional,quantumly entangled add infinity chord. with lasers.
no i'm pretty sure its an Wet-E minor- reverse-time-traveled-rocknroll-devil-chord-of-coolness
Fischer Lynt BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!
I agree with you Paul, definitively it has a dominant sound to it, the melody fits well in a Am, E7, Am7/G, D... progression so being that the case it might be something like E add flat 13/G# (E add b13/G#).
I always thought of it as an Am chord with a falling bass note and a rising top/melody note. So the first three chords were just Am variations.
The first 4 chords are Am variations, the same as in Jim Croce's "Time In a Bottle"
So, here are the first 7 chords to "Stairway":
Am
Am maj7/9
Am9 or Am7/9
Am6
Fmaj7
G
Am
@@wayneorendorff5657 Surely chord 4 is D over an F#. If you're going to call or a variation of Am then it wouldn't it have to be Am6sus4?
It is a chromatic passing chord (also called a voice-leading chord). Passing chords are a bridge between two chords a third apart, in this case Amin to C/G. Passing chords may be consonant or dissonant, diatonic or chromatic. The soprano voice moves up stepwise diatonically between two chord tones and the bass voice moves down chromatically between two chord tones. The B is a diatonic dissonance and the G# is a chromatic dissonance. Chords one and three contain no dissonances. While all the chord names in the video are essentially correct, they didn’t describe the complete context, i.e. how the first chord transitions to the third chord. Yes, I am a huge nerd 🤓 Passing chords can be ambiguous in nature, hence the inability to arrive at a satisfying answer. Great video, love the discussion!
Mmm ... interesting thought, but are you sure? (No offense.) You mention passing chords being "a bridge between two chords a third apart, in this case Am to C/G." If that were the case with this progression, then that passing chord would have to be a B chord of some sort passing from A min to C. Going from A down to G# and then back up to C wouldn't make the middle chord a passing chord. And if you went from A down to G (instead of C), then those tones would be a second apart, not a third.
How about his idea instead: What if we simply call that G#+ chord a voice leading chord since the B in the soprano voice resolves directly up to C in the next chord? And there wouldn't even be any chromaticism, assuming A harmonic minor (the G# being the raised 7th). Your thoughts?
@@Ken5244 thanks for the reply and sharing your thoughts. yes, it is a voice-leading chord. no, it would not need to be a chord rooted with “B.” the bass doesn’t go from A to G# to C - it goes A to G# to G.
@@NickOmiccioli Hi, Nick. Thanks for replying. Interesting topic for sure. I see what you're saying, but then it can't be a passing chord as you described in your original posting -- two chords a third apart -- since A to G is an interval second, not a third. If you want to call the G# note a passing tone from A down to G, I can see that; but, it's not chromatic dissonance since G# is diatonic in A melodic minor. (I keep having to remind myself the song is in A melodic minor, which is a bit unusual in itself.) The G natural is chromatic though.
After much brain crunching, I believe it's either a simple voice leading chord (and thus not subject to strict identification) or an E 6-3 (b6) functioning as an unconventional V chord. Either explanation works IMHO, but I respectfully disagree those in this thread that say it's a G#+ (#9). I say that because it would be extremely odd to see an augmented 7th chord built on the 7th scale degree of a minor scale. I won't presume to speak for Page, but I'd be very surprised if that were his intent.
@@Ken5244 Am to C/G are still two chords a third apart despite the C being in second inversion.
My favorite song of all time.Thank you Paul for honoring the Good ol' Led
You're pretty unindividualistic huh? Your favourite song us stairway...is your favourite band the Beatles too
@@sammaloney1746 Thank you for your nice comment, have a nice day. dork.
@@sammaloney1746 Really, was that reply to Yassine necessary, Sam? Do you feel better inside, having made it? There are probably thousands of people who hold STH as their favourite song, as well as liking the Beatles. Do you look down on them/me as Luddites, or something?
@@rovcanada1 No. More just sheep... people who like what everyone else does.
Now fair enough I'm accounting for the fact that one MIGHT actually find stairway to be their favourite ever song but I posit this position.
If YOUR favourite song is THE WORLDS favourite then you really need to double check...there's a lot of music out there!
That's all I'm saying...it was more a snarky yet genuine question than a snide retort!
@@sammaloney1746 stop being a jerk
I love your theory videos! Thanks, Paul! I've played this song so many times I that needed a "No Stairway To Heaven" t-shirt :).
It must be so nice to have Rick Beato just a phone call away
i would call it a Cmaj7#5 in 2nd inversion.
Sitting in class and see the title pop up... it’s gonna take me everything I have to not take a 15 minute “bathroom break” before the class ends...
Stairway chords...just amazing !
C maj7#5( in bass)69. C E G# B, plus A and D. Relative major of Amin. From A harmonic minor.
This is Cindy, Tom’s wife. He’s played this song his whole life and shared this video with me. I’m a life-long musician and music teacher -really enjoyed your video. You made a comment that sums up why we do anything, music included, regarding the battle between heart and mind when it comes to creativity: “We’re blinded by our own thinking and neglecting how the chord really makes us feel.” Totally profound. Substitute literally anything where the word ‘chord’ is, and therein lies simplicity and beauty, feeling and appreciation vs. artificial limits of theory. It is analysis and Theory and contrived vs. organic, authentic art. How the “color” really makes us feel..how the “texture” really makes us feel, how the “taste” really makes us feel, etc. Analysis is fine, but what really matters in life is how things make us feel. In art, can we really put a name on every color mix? Music is not so different. Labels can be a tool, but, also, can actually limit creativity. Overthinking is the opposite of art, in my opinion! Thank you for that profound and freeing statement. If Jimmy Page were asked to identify that chord, he would probably just laugh. Music like that doesn’t come from theory. It comes from the heart, and theory might not be able to figure it out.
Does Tom know you’re on his account? 😁
@@djfrank68 Thom Karr's wife has got it goin' on.
This may be a "Why not both?" situation. My experience has been that finding musical possibilities by heart, soul, mind and body, and finding musical possibilities by exploring theory and analysis, are both creative tools, and having access to both in my toolkit opens possibilities. I want as many creative tools, as many possibilities, as I can make part of my music.
looks like an A min Maj 9 to me, tho a slash chord would make more sense when you think of the context of what's being played in that song, ie a descending A to G#, so i'd agree with anyone who said A min 9/G#
It's Am(add 9)/G#. The problem with calling it an A min(maj 7) is that it implies that the G# could be in any octave. It's still correct but doesn't have the specific voicing layout you need for that chord in it's name. The E aug 1st inv. works too. To answer another question, when combining chords use a fraction sign for G over C for example. I've seen that used for combining any chords. A nice passage is Am over B5 which longs to resolve to a B major.
In the context of Am, this chord seems to come from the A melodic minor scale(A B C D E F# G#), containing G# B C E. I agree with Rick Beato, is an inversion of the chord Cmaj7#5, which is the 3rd chord of A melodic minor.
It has always felt like Ammaj9 to me. If u play an “A” bass underneath the first 4 chords of stairway, it could all be thought of as Amin. It just has the root “A” move chromatically down to the maj6. The Ammaj9 is borrowed from A melodic minor. Music theory jargon aside, this is the simplest approach and probably the way Jimmy Page wrote it.
The “A” root is left out but still implied. As a result, the chords u get are Amin, Ammaj9, Amin7, Amin6.
Yeah, adding an A as the base note makes everything fit from that perspective.
that is very good point julian
To quote a famous author: "A rose by any other name is still a rose." I think that regardless of what it's called, the sound is still the sound and we all hear it in our head when we here the first chord - we know what's coming.
*would smell as sweet
Literally my three favourite music channels smashed into one - thank you!
I love it ,,,,, you had Beato on the phone...... Yall are good.
It’s a very common chord progression. Summer Rain by Johnny Rivers exemplifies that
Exactly
Right you are... so does Jim Croce's "Time In a Bottle"
So, here are the first 7 chords to "Stairway":
Am
Am maj7/9
Am9 or Am7/9
Am6
Fmaj7
G
Am
Apparently Page was more influenced by “Something” when he wrote “The Rain Song”
The opening two chords are a direct hat tip to the opening two chords on Something. The reason being is that Page wrote the Rain song after George Harrison had asked him why they didn’t write any ballads. So Page did with a nod and a wink to George.
@@arnesaknussemm2427 indeed, I thought so
Nice insight
The second chord is an Emaj-13 plain but not simple. You are right context is critical here. It starts with G# and B plucked together followed by the E played on the 2nd string - that's most definitely an E major triad. Whatever you call this chord is defined by the context of these 3 notes so it has to be Emajor something. But then the C is played on the 3rd string 5th fret while the G#,B and E are ringing. Since the C is a halftone above the 5th of the E major triad, B ... you have a minor 6th. You might technically call this an Emaj-6 for simplicity. However, in chord theory you pile up every other tone of the scale. So you have 1,3,5,7,9,11,13, which in the E major scale is E,G#,B,D#,F#,A.C#. When building these complex chords it is common to omit some of the higher order notes (7,9,11 or 13.) So this chord is an E13 chord with 7,9,11 omitted, but, with the 13 flattened (or diminished) which preserves the consonance with the Am key of the composition. (Update: just rewatched the entire episode and Adam Neely comes to the same conclusion at around time-code 9:20 - somehow that slipped into my subconciousness and I forgot that I had seen it.)
This makes the most sense to me, and I will say why first, then name it. If you simply strum those first three chords of the song and play the open A on the 5th string in the base, it sounds perfectly natural and good (as if nothing had changed from the original recording), which means to me they all are versions of an A minor chord. Am to AmM9 to Am7, which is that old familiar progression except for the 9th in the AmM9 chord which is unique. It is the chromatic descent of the A against the ascending higher A on the first string that makes it interesting and memorable. It makes most sense to me to think of them all as A minor based chords, it's easy to remember, and easy to digest and build the chord in your head. For what it's worth.
This is the chord/sound you hear whenever you find a 'clue' in a detective game. 110% sure.
Bahaha ... so true
LA Noire
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