They make me feel just a little bit smarter and also introduce me to some songs I've ever never heard or made me look at songs I knew in a completely different light.
I just can't comprehend the encyclopedic knowledge of music he must have in order to provide so many examples for each progression...and at such a young age!
"It's My Party and I'll Cry If I Want To," recorded by Lelie Gore. The chorus chord progression is I, I+, IV, iv. The top note climbs to the 6th but becomes part of the IV chord when it gets there, then comes back down to IV minor,
@@annaclarafenyo8185That's certainly not the first piece of music to ever use this progression, the 5-#5-6-b6 idea has been around forever. Edit: Guess who was right all along? Bobby Vinton's Mr. Lonely uses the same progression and predates It's My Party by a few months. Still, the general idea of the chromaticism from the 5th to the 6th and back has probably been around ever since Jazz in he early 20th century at least.
Life On Mars was the first example that popped into my head! It's also worth mentioning the song that inspired Life On Mars - Frank Sinatra's 'My Way' - which itself borrowed the tune from a French song called Comme d'habitude.
@@damefawndenier If the melody were singing the enharmonic #5 and the rest of the arrangement stayed on the I chord, you'd be hearing the I(b6) chord, which would sound pretty much like the same thing yeah, except it would technically be a b6 rather than a #5 so not really an augmented chord. Don't actually know what that song sounds like though but I'd assume it's just the I+ chord. Edit: Yeah it's just the augmented I chord.
I'd love to see a video on the augmented 6th chords... Italian, German, & French augmented 6th chords. I think you do an excellent job of presenting digestible information & it would be rad to see you cover this topic.
@@audiokyle I've always been a big fan of theory but I never felt like I fully comprehended the Neapolitan 6ths...the French Augmented 6th, Italian Augmented. 6th, or German Augmented 6th chords & how to properly use them. This channel does such a great job explaining everything in a voice that is easily digestable for me. Fingers crossed for a dedicated video on this topic!
Coldplay's Coloratura also uses this progression, exactly the same as used in Last Night on Earth (in the key of D: D D+ D6 D7 G Gm), but the interesting thing is that right after it resolves back to the tonic chord of D, it repeats the progression, going to D+ after only one bar of D, giving us an irregular phrase pattern.
Yeah, Coloratura does use this same line cliche, but it uses slightly different chords: D/A, Gm6/Bb, Bm7/D (D6), D7sus4/C. In other words, it’s slightly more complex than the Green Day song. It also uses the Gm6 on the way back down to the D/A from the G that the D7sus4/C leads to. It’s a fantastic song and I think is the prime example, along with Good Vibrations, of a “pocket symphony”.
Indeed. I find there to be quite a lot of gems hidden in the Green Day discography. Perhaps tides will one day turn, and they will get the recognition they deserve!
It is nuts that these lessons are free! Of such value to an older lifelong music hobbyist. I wouldn't mind seeing a whole presentation on Scott Walker (or Jacques Brel, for that matter), if relevant...
There used to be a principle that all knowledge should be free and that there would be "education for all". This is basis on which public libraries were built. The scientific method also relies on free publication for peer review. Universities used to be funded by the taxpayer - no student loans and fees. And all "open source" technologies are rooted in that idea, including something like Wikipedia. One could say that the actual modern aberration here is that this principle has increasingly become ransomed away by profit-making corporations. This was - and arguably should remain - the default. But, yes, more and more education is being paywalled for profit. Consider the very notion of paywalling the news, as many of Murdoch's publications now do, is implicitly saying that only the rich should know what's going on in the world. Imagine asking a friend "how's things going?" and they'll only answer you, and tell you the news in their life, if you pass some silver over their palm first and pay for it. That's the true aberration here. Profit-making from merely distributing facts, so we now have to talk about "open source" this and that, to actually refer to something that used to be the implicit default.
Pink Floyd's "The Gunner's Dream" also uses this chord progression. Water perfectly draws the sadness, pain and melancoly of the human life. This song gives me chills.
There are 2 songs with this progression that come to my mind more than any others and you didn't mention either! (Just Like) Starting Over by John Lennon, and of course THE DEFINITIVE example of this progression, Laughing by The Guess Who. Great channel! thank you for these awesome videos!
When Green Day use the minor iv to extend the chord progression, it continues the pretty voice leading (chromatic line), as the top note can go up and then down, half-steps all the way: E F Fsharp G Fsharp Fnatural(on iv chord) E
I’ve always loved this Green Day song so it’s cool seeing a video on it, I’m definitely going to use this progression for myself with my band sometime. Great video as always, David, keep it up
I think these songs also fit the bill.: Dave Clark Five - Because Mark Owen - Child John Lennon - Just Like (Starting Over). This is one of my favorite progressions. Thanks David.
The pre-chorus to ‘Hooked on a Feeling’ has similar chromatic movement in that it goes A-C#7-F#m-A7, so you end with the 5th of the A chord (E) going to the 3rd of the C#7 (F), then to the tonic of the F#m (F#), and, finally, to the dominant 7th of the A7 chord (G).
I've always loved the Last Night On Earth chord progression and have even had a tough time figuring out what was being played. Love how you broke it down and shed some light on a song from my favorite Green Day album!
In the comments of another video ("40 Songs that use Descending Stepwise chord progressions") he once said it was a mixture of his own knowledge and database.
@@X-UP-and-DOWN-X Perfect pitch is something different than recognizing chord progressions, it means that you are able to recognize a tone absolute, without context and relation to other tones, e. g. an e as an e.
@@Ron-go8cf oh I’m aware. I was referring to the fact that he has so many uploaded, in-depth videos on many different chord progressions, that I thought he was using perfect pitch to quickly identify songs that share same progressions. Or maybe very good relative pitch. Those, OR, he’s just extremely dedicated to his research and videos.
A lot of songs from Hamilton that have the urgency and danger embodied by the song also heavily lean on this whole climbing augmentation thing like Say no to this (for more on that one btw and how it functions in Hamilton I'd heavily recommend Howard Ho's How Hamilton Works: Why Stay Alive sounds like Bond. It goes all into the difference between going from I -> I+ -> I6 -> I+ and getting stuck in a loop and why that's significantly different to I -> I+ -> I6 -> I7)
Worth mentioning that the line cliche also makes the change from IV to IVm and back to I sound so natural at the end. The rise by half-tones is then mirrored by a fall by half-tones back to the original position. I always call this the "Isolation" progression, after the John Lennon song. One of my favourite ascending line cliché songs is Brian Eno's "Some of Them are Old".
Very interesting. As a guitar player who dabbles in piano this is exactly what a guitar player would come up with. Ive also played These arms of mine for 30 years and never thought about the chord progression because the guitar plays a single note line there. Thanks for all the great videos!
love Ben Folds appearing here! I believe the yacht rock classic "Steal Away" also uses the chord progression. great video as always, I adore these chord progression based videos, even if I don't understand the theory to a lot of them.
I would like to mention that this chord progression shares a very similar sound with I-III-vi-v-IV-(iv)-I-I as the I+ shares the Aug 5th with the III chord and the I6 chord can be considered as the vi chord. Also the minor 7th in the v chord is shared with the I7 chord. Different namings but very similar movements between the notes. It's a very common chord progressions in Japanese music, one example that I can think of is the song here with me by d4vd, if I'm not wrong
Good point, although I'm wondering if you mean to write the IV chord after III? The F major (VI) uses the A note, which continues the climb, whereas Fm (iv) would stay on the A flat note.
Barenaked Ladies, it's all been done before was my introduction to this, "You were wrong, I was right, you said goodbye I said good night..."something like that😊 Then my friend Gary Myers, brilliant old musician from Milwaukee living in California, pointed out that there's a kind of hush all over the world by Herman's hermits He used that, and I started hearing it more places in my head.
There is one epic type of chord progression that truly proves that even songs with modal mixture can sound grand. That is one that starts with a major tonic and then climbs up on the steps of the minor scale. Example of songs: Sting - If I Ever Lose My Faith in You (1993) Jacob Kilström - Klassresa (2023) Yes - Homeworld (1999) These are very clear examples and I'm sure that there are more.
@@saswatamohanta1023 Yea, if you use modal mixture, you can base a chordprogression on minor scale steps despite major tonic chord. Example of a modal mixture, when The Beatles use a bVI chord in "Hello Goodbye".
When I heard the example of Green Day, I suddenly thought of "Losing my Mind " from the musical "Follies", been made famous to the radio by Liza Minelli & The Pet Shop Boys.
I've found the chord progression i / III / VII / VI to sound really good. It's used in "Mad World" by Tears for fears and "Boulevard of broken dreams" by Green Day.
The entire video, I'm thinking that the second half of the second set of chords would be well served by a sus4 resolving back down, and then at the end of the video, you did exactly that. Very satisfying.
The love song from “Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared” is very similar. You should look at all of those songs, some of them are very interesting. You can tell they know how to write music.
The Gunner's Dream on Pink Floyd's album The Final Cut has this progression. This was the first one where I was able to hear another song in my head. I must be learning something!
Kander and Ebb have used this a couple times: Funny Honey from Chicago uses the 'Last Night on Earth' progression, and Maybe This Time from Cabaret uses the 'double augmented' progression. It's interesting how this progression works really well in jazz as well as pop/rock.
I only ever knew this progression as the prechorus to "It's All Been Done" by Barenaked Ladies. Never knew it was decently popular. It's really good to build up tension for a chorus that starts on a IV chord. A progression I like a lot is the Stairway Progression. Sorta like the Beatles-Something chord progression but in a minor key: i, imaj7, i7, IV. Most of the time the bass drops with the chromatic line-cliche too. Like, if in Amin, it would be Amin, Aminmaj7/Ab, Amin7/G, D/F#.
Imaj - I+ - I6 - I7 The fifth of the first chord climbs up chromatically, while the other voices remain still The I6 and I7 chord usually have a fifth also The I7 usually resolves to the IV, and is commonly followed by : iv - V - I IV+ - IV6 - IV7 Stevie Wonder plays around this chord progression by sharpening the root of the I7 chord, which then becomes a rootless VI dom7(b9) As Stevie Wonder shows, such a chord progression can be modified, and changed halfway into another
Id be interested to see the most common chord progressions that specific artists use. Like is there one in particular that Michael Jackson used? The Killers? How about MCR?
Good one! Bohemian Rhapsody has one section where it "climbs down" with bass, but I guess it's due to copy rights that you can not discuss about it. I enjoy these type of videos the most, as they are fun and concise.
Copyright doesn’t prevent David from talking about “Bohemian Rhapsody.” He did “A Brief Analysis of Bohemian Rhapsody” four years ago (which, at just over 20 minutes, isn’t all that brief), which is well-worth checking out.
Im writing a song for my unborn son. Im using the "let it be" (I V vi IV) for the verse and a modified "running up the hill" (IV V III vi) for the chorus. I consider those the ultimate catchy structure
Hello David! If you have a broader video subject into which it can fit, I'd love to hear an analysis of the pre-chorus of "Our Lips Are Sealed" by The Go-go's. There is some seriously odd stuff happening in that section, especially for what is supposedly a fluffy pop hit, and I think it would be interesting to explore why it works.
Sorry but I have to chime in here because I recently analyzed this song after watching The Go-Gos documentary. I had never realized what an odd chord progression it was until I heard Jane's acoustic demo, so I went to the keyboard and here's what I got. The verse is I- flatVII - IV, the pre-chorus is flatVI - IV - flatII - V, then the refrain/chorus is just a I - IV vamp. So the flatVI and flatVII are merely borrowed chords from the parallel minor, quite common. But that flatII, I have no idea how to analyze that in its functionality, other than being a borrowed chord from the Phrygian mode (?), which is very unusual considering that the song is in a major key. In fact, if you notice, EVERY chord in the song is a major chord, which is why it still sounds so "poppy." Anyway, hope that helps.
@@dgemini2 thank you for the chords, and you are right, with major chords is easier to borrow surprising chords.. that flat II is there in my opinion to have the IV-bII combination mirror the I-IV cross relation..
@@dgemini2 Yes, this is exactly what I was referring to! That borrowed Phrygian chord is the kicker, a lot weirder than the borrowed minor chords. I find the fact that there are so many borrowed chords in the progression to be pretty interesting as well, though. It's well-documented that The Go-go's at this point were very musically green (by their own admission), so I'm sure they came up with that chord progression just by experimenting with different major chords until they found something they liked. But I'm really interested in understanding why this particular sequence of chords fits so well together, despite looking odd on paper. There's a strong sense of direction to the progression, so I wouldn't be surprised if voice leading has something to do with it.
Pink Floyd's "The Gunner's Dream" also does this in G. From G, up through G+, then what is typically transcribed as Em/G (Em in first inversion) can be conceptualised as a G6, then on to C and continuing from there.
Awesome! Can you make a video on the Where Is My Mind chord progression? It's I-vi-III-IV, though a more common variation is the same progression but starting on the vi chord, like vi-III-IV-I Other songs that use it are: - Suddenly I See - KT Tunstall - Cradles - Sub Urban - Cigarette Duet - Princess Chelsea - Say It Ain't So - Weezer - Cake - Melanie Martinez - Good in Goodbye - Madison Beer At least those are the ones I've found. Edit: Actually another one would also be the "minor version" of the augmented climb progression, i-bVI-IV, which often has a vi° chord instead of the IV, but that's functionally the same thing. It's the classic James Bond progression. Other songs that use it off the top of my head are: - Skyfall - Adele (obviously that's based on the James Bond theme) - Caravan - Duke Ellington - Help! - The Beatles - Heart-Shaped Box - Nirvana - In Bloom - Nirvana - The Avengers main theme - Alan Silvestri - Around the World in 80 Days main theme - Hans Zimmer - Atomic - Blondie - Monde Nouveau - Feu! Chatterton - Guardians of the Galaxy main theme (I think, it's similar to the Avengers theme) - Du côté de chez Swann - Dave - Seventeen - Ladytron - BABY SAID - Måneskin - Sunday Morning - The Velvet Underground; Nico - Femme Fatale - The Velvet Underground; Nico (though both of these, much like Help! actually, use it from the perspective of the ii chord as the i) - and and as an honorable mention, All Star - Smash Mouth, which uses the same progression in its chorus but with the relative major instead of the relative minor.
Listening to this through made me realize one of the more pleasant, serene, parts from my favourite album does the I IΔ⁷ vi V progression that feels like very strongly connected to the I IΔ⁷ I⁷ IV progression (at first I thought it was that progression), YUP - Mitä elämän jälkeen.
Tapioca Tundra by Mike Nsemith (The Monkees) progressions is: A A+ F#m which has that E F F# climb, but the next chord is A° which resolves to Bm. I I+ vi ii
I wrote a song with this progression after your last augmented video! The F to Fmadd9 back to C is also super satisfying after it (the add9 being sung in the vocal melody).
"Because" by the Dave Clark Five starts the verses with this progression (G to G+ to G6 to G7) though rather than resolving to the IV (C) as one might expect with a secondary dominant it instead goes to the ii (Am).
The Barenaked Ladies' 'It's All Been Done', Buddy Holly's 'Raining in my Heart'; The Dave Clark Five's 'Because'; The Crickets' 'Don't Ever Change' (variant on this theme).
Because by the Dave Clark Five uses the Augmented climb chord progression, as well, but instead of resolving to the IV after the I7, it leads us to the ii (which, arguably, would have the same structural purpose as a IV, to some extent). The ii then becomes a II7, then a V, and, similarly, in keeping with the Augmented climb theme of the song, becomes a V+. So the chord progression in this song goes something like: I I+ I6 I7 ii II7 V V+. Absolutely love your videos! I've been following for the longest time. Cheers!
BEAUTIFUL VIDEO MR. BENNETT. Sometimes I think I can't love music any more and then I watch one of your videos and you prove me wrong. Keep on fighting the good fight!!
The Wakeman cover of Life on Mars is interesting, because he played piano on the original recording. He may have had a hand in writing the chord progression to Bowie’s melody and lyric.
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I found a really interesting chord progression in "Little Wonder" by David Bowie: I | vi | IV | ♭VI, could you check it out?
Can you really recommend donner? Is the quality nice?
The chord-progression videos are outstanding.
Thanks!
They make me feel just a little bit smarter and also introduce me to some songs I've ever never heard or made me look at songs I knew in a completely different light.
I just can't comprehend the encyclopedic knowledge of music he must have in order to provide so many examples for each progression...and at such a young age!
My favorite series. I try the chord progressions in new songs immediately; such great springboard and inspiration)
Really agree they are fantastic videos. Going to nick, I mean get influence from this progression for my next song
The minor 4th just makes everything better. It’s a more bittersweet resolution
It's also the solution in I-III-IV-iv Like in Creep, by Radiohead
I think green day has used this progression in the most beautiful way. It's the perfect balance and the minor chord just layers it beautifully.
It sounds extremely betlesesque. Especially the vocal processing
Green Day is pretty cringe
Sounds just like Just Like Starting Over
@@SonyaBladesBooty IYO!
@@feeno1188 I thought so too.
"It's My Party and I'll Cry If I Want To," recorded by Lelie Gore. The chorus chord progression is
I, I+, IV, iv. The top note climbs to the 6th but becomes part of the IV chord when it gets there, then comes back down to IV minor,
Good shout
This is the original, and everyone else is ripping it off.
@@annaclarafenyo8185 you can't claim a chord progression
@@randomkid8999 It's not a claim of royalties, just a claim of originality.
@@annaclarafenyo8185That's certainly not the first piece of music to ever use this progression, the 5-#5-6-b6 idea has been around forever.
Edit: Guess who was right all along? Bobby Vinton's Mr. Lonely uses the same progression and predates It's My Party by a few months. Still, the general idea of the chromaticism from the 5th to the 6th and back has probably been around ever since Jazz in he early 20th century at least.
Life On Mars was the first example that popped into my head! It's also worth mentioning the song that inspired Life On Mars - Frank Sinatra's 'My Way' - which itself borrowed the tune from a French song called Comme d'habitude.
Plus Bowie first worked on a previous attempt at adapting comme d'habitude
@@feeno1188 Guess who made a very informative video about it: ruclips.net/video/dd-b8GbOPKg/видео.html
sinatra's my way it's a different chord progression the song uses a Maj7 instead of a 6 and don't use the augmented first at all
I heard that climb and I thought, “that feels very Sinatra-like” I didn’t have a song in mind, just that thought.
Maybe This Time from Cabaret was the first one that came to my mind. Also love the nod to Ben Folds Five, excellent!!
No way, Paint watches David Bennett?
Yeah, I had Underground in mind. Such a great chord progression in that song!
I also thought of Maybe this time but perhaps the ascending part is just the melody and the chord is just the I chord?
@@damefawndenier If the melody were singing the enharmonic #5 and the rest of the arrangement stayed on the I chord, you'd be hearing the I(b6) chord, which would sound pretty much like the same thing yeah, except it would technically be a b6 rather than a #5 so not really an augmented chord. Don't actually know what that song sounds like though but I'd assume it's just the I+ chord.
Edit: Yeah it's just the augmented I chord.
I'd love to see a video on the augmented 6th chords... Italian, German, & French augmented 6th chords. I think you do an excellent job of presenting digestible information & it would be rad to see you cover this topic.
I would too. I took music theory a lot, but just up to that point. Then I skipped to jazz theory
@@audiokyle aug6ths are pretty much classical tritone subs
@@audiokyle I've always been a big fan of theory but I never felt like I fully comprehended the Neapolitan 6ths...the French Augmented 6th, Italian Augmented. 6th, or German Augmented 6th chords & how to properly use them. This channel does such a great job explaining everything in a voice that is easily digestable for me. Fingers crossed for a dedicated video on this topic!
An interesting aspect of Something is that the intro climbs up the same chromatic line A, Bb, B, C, before the verse climbs it back down. Brilliant!
Coldplay's Coloratura also uses this progression, exactly the same as used in Last Night on Earth (in the key of D: D D+ D6 D7 G Gm), but the interesting thing is that right after it resolves back to the tonic chord of D, it repeats the progression, going to D+ after only one bar of D, giving us an irregular phrase pattern.
Yeah, Coloratura does use this same line cliche, but it uses slightly different chords: D/A, Gm6/Bb, Bm7/D (D6), D7sus4/C. In other words, it’s slightly more complex than the Green Day song. It also uses the Gm6 on the way back down to the D/A from the G that the D7sus4/C leads to. It’s a fantastic song and I think is the prime example, along with Good Vibrations, of a “pocket symphony”.
Im so glad Last Night On Earth is getting recognition. It's such a beautiful song. So underrated
Indeed. I find there to be quite a lot of gems hidden in the Green Day discography. Perhaps tides will one day turn, and they will get the recognition they deserve!
Came here to say this, too. One of my favorites!
It is nuts that these lessons are free! Of such value to an older lifelong music hobbyist. I wouldn't mind seeing a whole presentation on Scott Walker (or Jacques Brel, for that matter), if relevant...
Me too! Scott Walker 3 is my avatar!
Yes, I agree, but I want to see songs from Tilt onwards get analysis
Great shout - walker and brel so amazing. Would love an analysis of the seventh seal
Oh, absolutely!
But, if we are putting together a Wish List, I nominate Serge Gainsbourg, Randy Newman, Jeff Buckley...
There used to be a principle that all knowledge should be free and that there would be "education for all".
This is basis on which public libraries were built. The scientific method also relies on free publication for peer review. Universities used to be funded by the taxpayer - no student loans and fees. And all "open source" technologies are rooted in that idea, including something like Wikipedia.
One could say that the actual modern aberration here is that this principle has increasingly become ransomed away by profit-making corporations.
This was - and arguably should remain - the default. But, yes, more and more education is being paywalled for profit.
Consider the very notion of paywalling the news, as many of Murdoch's publications now do, is implicitly saying that only the rich should know what's going on in the world.
Imagine asking a friend "how's things going?" and they'll only answer you, and tell you the news in their life, if you pass some silver over their palm first and pay for it.
That's the true aberration here. Profit-making from merely distributing facts, so we now have to talk about "open source" this and that, to actually refer to something that used to be the implicit default.
I am learning so much about chord progressions thanks to your videos. Keep them coming, I love them!
Glad you like them!
Pink Floyd's "The Gunner's Dream" also uses this chord progression. Water perfectly draws the sadness, pain and melancoly of the human life. This song gives me chills.
YES!
First one I thought of too. It all time fav song of mine! Extremely underrated album
How amazing was the version during lockdown?
What a song.
ruclips.net/video/LSE7qdjy3Q0/видео.html
I thought of that song too. Great song by Pink Floyd
2:37 Another song which does this is (Just Like) Starting Over by John Lennon, who also had Isolation as another sing which uses this progression.
Steal Away by Robbie Dupree uses this progression twice. Intro/verse in off of the 1 chord A then in the bridge off the 4 chird D. Love the videos!
One of the most interesting places I've seen this chord progession in is the "love" song from DHMIS, which also has a VI vi I progression after.
There are 2 songs with this progression that come to my mind more than any others and you didn't mention either! (Just Like) Starting Over by John Lennon, and of course THE DEFINITIVE example of this progression, Laughing by The Guess Who. Great channel! thank you for these awesome videos!
Thank you! I thought I was going crazy cuz nobody had brought it up!
Yes! Starting over came to my mind, too!
“Isolation” by John Lennon comes to mind...
When Green Day use the minor iv to extend the chord progression, it continues the pretty voice leading (chromatic line), as the top note can go up and then down, half-steps all the way: E F Fsharp G Fsharp Fnatural(on iv chord) E
i love the way this progression is used in nowadays from chicago, your videos always break things down so well
I think “Funny Honey” from _Chicago_ uses the same (or similar) chord progression-but I’m no music maven so don’t hold me to it.
Yeah this is the song I think of when I hear those chords
What?! Stumbled on this by accident. Incredibly interesting and well-done video. Enjoyed it immensely.
Thank you!
I’ve always loved this Green Day song so it’s cool seeing a video on it, I’m definitely going to use this progression for myself with my band sometime. Great video as always, David, keep it up
I think these songs also fit the bill.: Dave Clark
Five - Because
Mark Owen - Child
John Lennon - Just Like (Starting Over). This is one of my favorite progressions. Thanks David.
I was looking for that comment 😆
First music that came into was Just like (starting over)
OOH! Ooh, ooh, ohh! Because. GREAT progression.
The pre-chorus to ‘Hooked on a Feeling’ has similar chromatic movement in that it goes A-C#7-F#m-A7, so you end with the 5th of the A chord (E) going to the 3rd of the C#7 (F), then to the tonic of the F#m (F#), and, finally, to the dominant 7th of the A7 chord (G).
Thanks for another lovely video! This chord progression immediately reminded me of "Nowadays" from the musical Chicago.
I've always loved the Last Night On Earth chord progression and have even had a tough time figuring out what was being played. Love how you broke it down and shed some light on a song from my favorite Green Day album!
How do you know/find so many examples of every chord progression. Insane
As a matter of fact I would really ask David if he knows all these tunes by heart or if he perhaps uses some kind of database.
In the comments of another video ("40 Songs that use Descending Stepwise chord progressions") he once said it was a mixture of his own knowledge and database.
I’d take a guess and say he has perfect pitch
@@X-UP-and-DOWN-X Perfect pitch is something different than recognizing chord progressions, it means that you are able to recognize a tone absolute, without context and relation to other tones, e. g. an e as an e.
@@Ron-go8cf oh I’m aware. I was referring to the fact that he has so many uploaded, in-depth videos on many different chord progressions, that I thought he was using perfect pitch to quickly identify songs that share same progressions. Or maybe very good relative pitch. Those, OR, he’s just extremely dedicated to his research and videos.
A lot of songs from Hamilton that have the urgency and danger embodied by the song also heavily lean on this whole climbing augmentation thing like Say no to this (for more on that one btw and how it functions in Hamilton I'd heavily recommend Howard Ho's
How Hamilton Works: Why Stay Alive sounds like Bond. It goes all into the difference between going from I -> I+ -> I6 -> I+ and getting stuck in a loop and why that's significantly different to I -> I+ -> I6 -> I7)
Ooh this is a great example!
I know this chord progression best from the overworld theme of Super Mario Land "Birabuto Kingdom". Very nostalgic sound
Worth mentioning that the line cliche also makes the change from IV to IVm and back to I sound so natural at the end. The rise by half-tones is then mirrored by a fall by half-tones back to the original position. I always call this the "Isolation" progression, after the John Lennon song. One of my favourite ascending line cliché songs is Brian Eno's "Some of Them are Old".
Very interesting. As a guitar player who dabbles in piano this is exactly what a guitar player would come up with. Ive also played These arms of mine for 30 years and never thought about the chord progression because the guitar plays a single note line there. Thanks for all the great videos!
love Ben Folds appearing here! I believe the yacht rock classic "Steal Away" also uses the chord progression. great video as always, I adore these chord progression based videos, even if I don't understand the theory to a lot of them.
I would like to mention that this chord progression shares a very similar sound with I-III-vi-v-IV-(iv)-I-I as the I+ shares the Aug 5th with the III chord and the I6 chord can be considered as the vi chord. Also the minor 7th in the v chord is shared with the I7 chord. Different namings but very similar movements between the notes. It's a very common chord progressions in Japanese music, one example that I can think of is the song here with me by d4vd, if I'm not wrong
Good point, although I'm wondering if you mean to write the IV chord after III? The F major (VI) uses the A note, which continues the climb, whereas Fm (iv) would stay on the A flat note.
@@urbangorilla33 sorry my bad, I meant the sixth chord. I just edited the comment :)
@@carlosmartinez5128 I love how the III chord is just the I+ withe root lowered by a semitone.
Do one on the Hey Bulldog chorus...that is so intense with Lennon's voice and melody above it
That riff is the blues scale I think? So so good
Barenaked Ladies, it's all been done before was my introduction to this, "You were wrong, I was right, you said goodbye I said good night..."something like that😊
Then my friend Gary Myers, brilliant old musician from Milwaukee living in California, pointed out that there's a kind of hush all over the world by Herman's hermits He used that, and I started hearing it more places in my head.
Great example re: Barenaked Ladies' "It's All Been Done"!
John Lennon’s “(Just Like) Starting Over” has an augmented climb in A. great song
Love the message from it too - so personal - not sure about the Elvis thing but a classic classic song
There is one epic type of chord progression that truly proves that even songs with modal mixture can sound grand. That is one that starts with a major tonic and then climbs up on the steps of the minor scale.
Example of songs:
Sting - If I Ever Lose My Faith in You (1993)
Jacob Kilström - Klassresa (2023)
Yes - Homeworld (1999)
These are very clear examples and I'm sure that there are more.
Wdym by climbs up the minor scale?
@@saswatamohanta1023 Yea, if you use modal mixture, you can base a chordprogression on minor scale steps despite major tonic chord. Example of a modal mixture, when The Beatles use a bVI chord in "Hello Goodbye".
"Nowadays" from Chicago and the ending of "Mornings" by Portugal. The Man!
Did anyone mention "Hooked on a Feeling"? That's all i hear over those chords in my head.
Same!!!!!!! I was gonna comment that if you hadn't 😆
ruclips.net/video/uQQpYD0nDNk/видео.html
This is the one I was looking for.
When I heard the example of Green Day, I suddenly thought of "Losing my Mind " from the musical "Follies", been made famous to the radio by Liza Minelli & The Pet Shop Boys.
That's like in Super Mario Land
My fave use if this is in Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared “Love”
I was hoping someone would say this
I've found the chord progression i / III / VII / VI to sound really good. It's used in "Mad World" by Tears for fears and "Boulevard of broken dreams" by Green Day.
David did a video on that one, it’s called the Phrygian cascade, it’s also used in wonderwall
Polly nirvana
@@youngwt1 It's in the dorian mode, not phrygian
Pumped up kicks uses that as well
i / III / VII / iv
Thats a classic. One my favorits the Guess who Laughing
i think 'Hey Bulldog' by the Beatles has a part with a sort of minor key version of the augmented climb. Idk if that still counts !
yes! there is a bm augmented climb and an f#m augmented climb in the chorus.
The entire video, I'm thinking that the second half of the second set of chords would be well served by a sus4 resolving back down, and then at the end of the video, you did exactly that. Very satisfying.
The amount of times I've heard this chord progression is uncanny
dont think this in intentional but BA DUM TSSS
I don't know much if anything about music theory, but my ears tell me that this is one of the most beautiful chord pregressions ever!
I kept waiting for you to mention Buddy Holly, "Raining In My Heart" as one of the early examples of this in popular music. 🙂
thank you for mentioning it. It's the first that came to my mind, too
Hey David thank you for this lesson man. I'm a guitar player and I love these augmented voicings
The love song from “Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared” is very similar. You should look at all of those songs, some of them are very interesting. You can tell they know how to write music.
I was looking for this comment
The Gunner's Dream on Pink Floyd's album The Final Cut has this progression. This was the first one where I was able to hear another song in my head. I must be learning something!
Kander and Ebb have used this a couple times: Funny Honey from Chicago uses the 'Last Night on Earth' progression, and Maybe This Time from Cabaret uses the 'double augmented' progression. It's interesting how this progression works really well in jazz as well as pop/rock.
I came here to say Nowadays from Chicago
@@melvt Haha I thought the same, John Kander's "vamp" motif
Kander and Ebb used this chord progression in the song 'Nowadays' from Chicago. Maybe this time from Cabaret is very similar too.
that augmented chord progression sounds like heaven to me...
This has always been one of my favorite chord progressions. Glad you made a video on it! :D
I only ever knew this progression as the prechorus to "It's All Been Done" by Barenaked Ladies. Never knew it was decently popular. It's really good to build up tension for a chorus that starts on a IV chord.
A progression I like a lot is the Stairway Progression. Sorta like the Beatles-Something chord progression but in a minor key: i, imaj7, i7, IV. Most of the time the bass drops with the chromatic line-cliche too. Like, if in Amin, it would be Amin, Aminmaj7/Ab, Amin7/G, D/F#.
Green Day really are underrated songwriters
You mean Billie Joe
No
Drugs help
they arent, i just checked and they have 27 million monthly listeners on spotify
So they have one song that isn’t entirely composed of power chords…
Imaj - I+ - I6 - I7
The fifth of the first chord climbs up chromatically, while the other voices remain still
The I6 and I7 chord usually have a fifth also
The I7 usually resolves to the IV, and is commonly followed by :
iv - V - I
IV+ - IV6 - IV7
Stevie Wonder plays around this chord progression by sharpening the root of the I7 chord, which then becomes a rootless VI dom7(b9)
As Stevie Wonder shows, such a chord progression can be modified, and changed halfway into another
Id be interested to see the most common chord progressions that specific artists use. Like is there one in particular that Michael Jackson used? The Killers? How about MCR?
The song Viva La Gloria, also by Green Day, has a chord progression that captured my attention:
I | iii | vi | IV | iv | I-V-vi | VI | V
Good one! Bohemian Rhapsody has one section where it "climbs down" with bass, but I guess it's due to copy rights that you can not discuss about it.
I enjoy these type of videos the most, as they are fun and concise.
Copyright doesn’t prevent David from talking about “Bohemian Rhapsody.” He did “A Brief Analysis of Bohemian Rhapsody” four years ago (which, at just over 20 minutes, isn’t all that brief), which is well-worth checking out.
Yes, and Rick Beato analyzed Bohemian Rhapsody, too! In fact, Rick Beato had analyzed a bunch of classic songs.
the climb creates great emotion. life on mars is the best example of its power
Im writing a song for my unborn son. Im using the "let it be" (I V vi IV) for the verse and a modified "running up the hill" (IV V III vi) for the chorus. I consider those the ultimate catchy structure
Thank you Mr. David I really enjoyed this lesson😊
Hello David! If you have a broader video subject into which it can fit, I'd love to hear an analysis of the pre-chorus of "Our Lips Are Sealed" by The Go-go's. There is some seriously odd stuff happening in that section, especially for what is supposedly a fluffy pop hit, and I think it would be interesting to explore why it works.
there's some cross relations between chords borrowed from the parallel minor.. it's a very common trick in 80s pop
Sorry but I have to chime in here because I recently analyzed this song after watching The Go-Gos documentary. I had never realized what an odd chord progression it was until I heard Jane's acoustic demo, so I went to the keyboard and here's what I got. The verse is I- flatVII - IV, the pre-chorus is flatVI - IV - flatII - V, then the refrain/chorus is just a I - IV vamp. So the flatVI and flatVII are merely borrowed chords from the parallel minor, quite common. But that flatII, I have no idea how to analyze that in its functionality, other than being a borrowed chord from the Phrygian mode (?), which is very unusual considering that the song is in a major key. In fact, if you notice, EVERY chord in the song is a major chord, which is why it still sounds so "poppy." Anyway, hope that helps.
@@dgemini2 thank you for the chords, and you are right, with major chords is easier to borrow surprising chords.. that flat II is there in my opinion to have the IV-bII combination mirror the I-IV cross relation..
@@dgemini2 Yes, this is exactly what I was referring to! That borrowed Phrygian chord is the kicker, a lot weirder than the borrowed minor chords. I find the fact that there are so many borrowed chords in the progression to be pretty interesting as well, though.
It's well-documented that The Go-go's at this point were very musically green (by their own admission), so I'm sure they came up with that chord progression just by experimenting with different major chords until they found something they liked. But I'm really interested in understanding why this particular sequence of chords fits so well together, despite looking odd on paper. There's a strong sense of direction to the progression, so I wouldn't be surprised if voice leading has something to do with it.
Pink Floyd's "The Gunner's Dream" also does this in G. From G, up through G+, then what is typically transcribed as Em/G (Em in first inversion) can be conceptualised as a G6, then on to C and continuing from there.
Does the donner come with garlic sauce?
Okay, okay, I’ll let myself out 😅
Hahah, really enjoyed that kebab joke
My favourite example is the intro to Just Like Starting Over
Awesome! Can you make a video on the Where Is My Mind chord progression?
It's I-vi-III-IV, though a more common variation is the same progression but starting on the vi chord, like vi-III-IV-I
Other songs that use it are:
- Suddenly I See - KT Tunstall
- Cradles - Sub Urban
- Cigarette Duet - Princess Chelsea
- Say It Ain't So - Weezer
- Cake - Melanie Martinez
- Good in Goodbye - Madison Beer
At least those are the ones I've found.
Edit: Actually another one would also be the "minor version" of the augmented climb progression, i-bVI-IV, which often has a vi° chord instead of the IV, but that's functionally the same thing. It's the classic James Bond progression. Other songs that use it off the top of my head are:
- Skyfall - Adele (obviously that's based on the James Bond theme)
- Caravan - Duke Ellington
- Help! - The Beatles
- Heart-Shaped Box - Nirvana
- In Bloom - Nirvana
- The Avengers main theme - Alan Silvestri
- Around the World in 80 Days main theme - Hans Zimmer
- Atomic - Blondie
- Monde Nouveau - Feu! Chatterton
- Guardians of the Galaxy main theme (I think, it's similar to the Avengers theme)
- Du côté de chez Swann - Dave
- Seventeen - Ladytron
- BABY SAID - Måneskin
- Sunday Morning - The Velvet Underground; Nico
- Femme Fatale - The Velvet Underground; Nico (though both of these, much like Help! actually, use it from the perspective of the ii chord as the i)
- and and as an honorable mention, All Star - Smash Mouth, which uses the same progression in its chorus but with the relative major instead of the relative minor.
That one club penguin gadget room theme
@@SmashSSL Link?
"Because" by The Dave Clark Five. Written by Dave Clark. Key of G. And does the classic IV to IV minor move too...
Hey, David, a suggestion:
How about the NEAPOLITAN chord? I know it is rarely used in pop-music, but I hope there must be examples.
Carinhoso from the brazillian composer Pixinguinha also has this augmented chord progression. Great tune.
The jazz standard "Deep in a dream" uses a sequence of this progression.
C, C+, C6, C7
F, F+, F6, F7
Bb, Bb+, Bb6, A7, D-, Bb
A-, D-7, G7, C
Listening to this through made me realize one of the more pleasant, serene, parts from my favourite album does the I IΔ⁷ vi V progression that feels like very strongly connected to the I IΔ⁷ I⁷ IV progression (at first I thought it was that progression), YUP - Mitä elämän jälkeen.
Tapioca Tundra by Mike Nsemith (The Monkees) progressions is: A A+ F#m which has that E F F# climb, but the next chord is A° which resolves to Bm. I I+ vi ii
Nowadays from Chicago uses this one as well. Love your chord progression videos!
AfterSchool/Orange Caramel's song "마법소녀" (Magic Girl) uses the Bm - BmM7 - Bm7 - Bm6 (i- iM7 - i7 - iadd6) progression.
I believe the first time I ever heard this progression was in the song "The Gunner's Dream", from the album The Final Cut by Pink Floyd.
I wrote a song with this progression after your last augmented video! The F to Fmadd9 back to C is also super satisfying after it (the add9 being sung in the vocal melody).
Impossible Year was literally the first song I thought of seeing where this was going, and it was almost the first song in the video (:
"Because" by the Dave Clark Five starts the verses with this progression (G to G+ to G6 to G7) though rather than resolving to the IV (C) as one might expect with a secondary dominant it instead goes to the ii (Am).
The Barenaked Ladies' 'It's All Been Done', Buddy Holly's 'Raining in my Heart'; The Dave Clark Five's 'Because'; The Crickets' 'Don't Ever Change' (variant on this theme).
"I'll Be on My Way" by The Beatles / Billy J. Kramer with the Dakotas
Starting Over - John Lennon
Super Mario Land's Birabuto Kingdom (first level overworld theme) also uses this progression.
Because by the Dave Clark Five uses the Augmented climb chord progression, as well, but instead of resolving to the IV after the I7, it leads us to the ii (which, arguably, would have the same structural purpose as a IV, to some extent). The ii then becomes a II7, then a V, and, similarly, in keeping with the Augmented climb theme of the song, becomes a V+. So the chord progression in this song goes something like: I I+ I6 I7 ii II7 V V+.
Absolutely love your videos! I've been following for the longest time. Cheers!
My 5 year old daughter is a big fan of your work. ❤ She would check your channel daily and prefer it to cartoons. 🥳
carinhoso,listen to this song too,very beautiful augmentend chord progression
I really like this kind of videos. Thank you!
Thanks I appreciate your work always interesting and very helpful for understanding music
BEAUTIFUL VIDEO MR. BENNETT. Sometimes I think I can't love music any more and then I watch one of your videos and you prove me wrong. Keep on fighting the good fight!!
The Wakeman cover of Life on Mars is interesting, because he played piano on the original recording. He may have had a hand in writing the chord progression to Bowie’s melody and lyric.
I've seen this chord progression also in the song "Coloratura" by Coldplay. Another fantastic use of this harmony
I’ve used a similar progression in my own concepts, so hearing this is pretty cool
Really enjoyed the breakdown of these songs
Every time it starts ascending, Baby I'm Amazed vocals go off in my head.
Because by The Dave Clark Five and, as I recall, Raining in My Heart by The Crickets.
Thank you David for another great video! A song that came to mind (slightly different progression) was "it's my party" by Lesly Gore.
I love this progression.