Melody tip: Ignore the chords

A pentatonic melody is one that uses the five-note pentatonic scale. In major, the pentatonic scale includes scale notes 1, 2, 3, 5, and 6. In C major, those notes are C, D, E, G, A. Notice that there's no F or B in a C pentatonic melody.

Pentatonic minor includes notes 1, 3, 4, 5, and 7. In A minor, those notes are A, C, D, E, G. Aren't those the same notes as C major pentatonic? Indeed they are; the difference lies in whether C or A serves as the tonic (the keynote).

One interesting thing about the pentatonic scale is that it doesn't include any half-step intervals. Half-step intervals are central to musical expressions of personal emotion. Without them, pentatonic melodies have a somewhat detached, universal feel. They're great for a big crowd of people singing together.

And the second interesting thing about the pentatonic scale is that, with one narrow exception, you can use whatever chords you want and it doesn't sound wrong. You can use any of your key's six major and minor chords in combination with any series of notes from the pentatonic scale.

The one exception is that the melody can't sit on the 1 note while playing a [three]m or [five] chord. In C major, you can't stay on the C note in the melody while playing an Em or G chord. The C clashes uncomfortably with the B in those chords. But as long as your melody keeps moving around, you won't run into that problem.

Morrissey, lead singer of The Smiths, and many others in the post-new wave/modern rock world use this trick to craft melodies that show an utter disregard for the accompanying chord line. Perhaps it expresses a personal stubbornness, a defiance of authority and convention. But you can't argue with the musical results, which are often quite powerful.

Give this a try: write a pentatonic melody, and then use some random technique for picking chords from the key's six chords. Then try a different random set of chords. You'll see that the melody fits in with both different chord lines.

Melody tip: Work against the chords

As I noted in the previous post, the simple way to make your melody sound right is to emphasize notes that belong to the current chord.

The sophisticated way to make your melody sound interesting is to do the opposite: to emphasize notes that don't belong to the current chord. If you do this carelessly, you run the risk that the melody will just sound wrong. But there is a simple secret to doing things wrong and getting an artful result: craft the "wrong" element into a consistent, discernible pattern. Then it sounds like a deliberate choice instead of a mistake.

As you listen to other people's songs, and as you sing and play them, pay attention to which melody notes fit into the chords and which notes cut against the chords. Skilled songwriters use both kinds.

Chord phrases in 11 other popular keys

Not every song is in C major or C minor. If you need help transposing all of this week's useful chord phrases into other keys, use the Chord Transposition Tool. It works online and on paper.

120 useful chord phrases in C minor

Yesterday we gave you 200 chord progressions — or chord phrases — in C major. Today it's C minor's turn. And the minor key always gets the short stick. There are only 120 chord phrases in this list. But don't worry — with a little ingenuity you can invent plenty more.

1. Cm - - -
2. Cm - E♭ -
3. Cm - Fm Cm
4. Cm A♭ Fm Cm
5. Cm E♭ Fm Cm
6. Cm Gm Fm Cm
7. Cm B♭ Fm Cm
8. Cm Gm A♭ Cm
9. Cm B♭ A♭ Cm
10. Cm B♭ A♭ E♭
11. E♭ - - -
12. E♭ - Fm Cm
13. E♭ - A♭ Cm
14. E♭ B♭ Fm Cm
15. E♭ B♭ A♭ Cm
16. Cm - Gm Cm
17. Cm - G7 Cm
18. Cm - B♭ Cm
19. Cm - B♭ E♭
20. E♭ - G Cm
21. E♭ - B♭ Cm
22. Cm - Fm -
23. Cm A♭ Fm -
24. Cm E♭ Fm -
25. Cm - A♭ -
26. Cm E♭ A♭ -
27. Cm Gm Cm Fm
28. Cm B♭ Cm Fm
29. E♭ B♭ Cm Fm
30. Cm Gm Fm -
31. Cm B♭ Fm -
32. Cm Gm A♭ -
33. Cm B♭ A♭ -
34. Cm E♭ B♭ A♭
35. Cm E♭ Gm Fm
36. Cm - Gm -
37. Cm - G -
38. Cm - B♭ -
39. Cm Fm Cm Gm
40. Cm A♭ E♭ Gm
41. Cm B♭ Cm Gm
42. E♭ B♭ Fm Gm
43. Cm Fm Gm -
44. Cm Fm B♭ -
45. Cm A♭ Gm -
46. Cm A♭ B♭ -
47. Cm E♭ Fm Gm
48. Cm E♭ Fm B♭
49. Cm E♭ A♭ Gm
50. Cm E♭ A♭ B♭
51. E♭ Fm Gm -
52. E♭ Fm A♭ Gm
53. Fm - - -
54. A♭ - - -
55. A♭ - Fm -
56. Fm Cm Fm -
57. A♭ E♭/G Fm -
58. Fm E♭ Em -
59. Fm Gm Cm Fm
60. Fm B♭ Cm Fm
61. A♭ A♭ Cm Fm
62. A♭ Gm Cm Fm
63. Fm Gm Fm -
64. Fm B♭ Fm -
65. Fm B♭ A♭ -
66. A♭ B♭ Fm -
67. A♭ B♭ A♭ Fm
68. Fm - Cm -
69. Fm A♭ Cm -
70. A♭ - Cm -
71. A♭ Fm Cm -
72. Fm - E♭ -
73. A♭ - E♭ -
74. A♭ E♭ Fm Cm
75. Fm E♭ Dm7-5 Cm
76. Fm Gm Fm Cm
77. Fm B♭ Fm Cm
78. A♭ B♭ Fm Cm
79. Fm Gm Cm -
80. Fm B♭ Cm -
81. A♭ B♭ Cm -
82. Fm B♭ Gm Cm
83. Fm - Gm -
84. Fm - B♭ -
85. A♭ - G -
86. A♭ - B♭ -
87. Fm Cm Fm Gm
88. Fm E♭/G A♭ B♭
89. Fm E♭ A♭ G
90. A♭ Cm A♭ B♭
91. Gm - - -
92. G - - -
93. Gm - G7 -
94. B♭ - - -
95. Gm - Cm Gm
96. B♭ Cm Gm -
97. Gm Fm Cm Gm
98. B♭ A♭ Cm Gm
99. Gm - Fm Gm
100. G - A♭ G
101. Gm A♭ Fm Gm
102. Gm - Fm -
103. Gm - A♭ -
104. B♭ - Fm -
105. B♭ - A♭ -
106. Gm Cm Gm Fm
107. B♭ Cm Gm Fm
108. B♭ Cm B♭ Fm
109. Gm Cm Fm -
110. B♭ Cm Fm -
111. B♭ Cm A♭ -
112. B♭ E♭ Fm -
113. Gm - Cm -
114. G - Cm -
115. B♭ - Cm -
116. Gm Fm Gm Cm
117. G A♭ B♭ Cm
118. Gm A♭ G7 Cm
119. Gm Fm B♭ Cm
120. B♭ Fm B♭ Cm

Copyright note: These are commonly used chord phrases, so there are no copyright issues to keep you from using them to create an original song. But please don't copy the entire list and post it somewhere else online. Link back to this blog post instead. Thanks!

200 useful chord phrases in C major

We've spent two full months of this blog exploring the basics of chord writing in rock music so you can create your own chord progressions (or chord phrases, as I like to call them). Personally, I love this stuff! There are so many hidden symmetries to discover, so many subtle relationships between notes that you can play with.

But... I know not everyone wants to master the intricacies of chords. Or even if you want to learn it all, you might have to write a song by tomorrow, with no time to learn even the basics.

All right, then. Here is your cheat sheet: 200 ready-to-rock chord phrases in C major. They'll work perfectly well in any other major key if you transpose them accordingly (or just use the transpose button on your electronic keyboard!).

Wherever you need a phrase of music, just drop in one of these chord phrases. (One key tip: Use repetition; that is, use some of the chord phrases more than once. It helps your song hang together.)

By the way, these chord phrases are not random; they're in a sort of functional order. So don't just pick from the beginning of the list. Use dice or something to choose at random from the entire list.

1. C - - -
2. C Csus4 C Csus4
3. C - Am -
4. C Am C Am
5. Am - - -
6. C - F C
7. C Am F C
8. C E♭ F C
9. C Dm F C
10. C D7 Fm C
11. C Em F C
12. C G F C
13. C B♭ F C
14. C F Dm C
15. C Em Dm C
16. C G Dm C
17. C G F Am
18. Am - F C
19. Am Dm F C
20. Am - Dm C
21. Am - F Am
22. Am F C Am
23. Am G F C
24. Am Em F C
25. Am G F Am
26. C - G C
27. C/G G C -
28. C Am G C
29. C G G7 C
30. C - B♭ C
31. Am - G C
32. Am - G Am
33. C F G C
34. C Dm G C
35. C E♭ B♭ C
36. C F B♭ C
37. C F G Am
38. C F E7 Am
39. C Dm G Am
40. Am F G C
41. Am Dm G C
42. Am F G Am
43. Am F E Am
44. C - F -
45. C Am F -
46. C Am C F
47. C - Dm -
48. C - Dm F
49. C E♭ F A♭
50. C A♭ F -
51. C Am F Dm
52. C G C F
53. C G Am F
54. C Em/B Am F
55. Am - F -
56. C G F -
57. C G Dm F
58. C Em F -
59. C Am E F
60. C Am G F
61. C B♭ F -
62. C E♭ B♭ F
63. C F G F
64. C F G A♭
65. C F B♭ F
66. C F B♭ A♭
67. C Dm G F
68. C Dm Em F
69. C F Em Dm
70. Am G F -
71. Am - Em F
72. Am C G F
73. C - G -
74. C Am G -
75. C - B♭ -
76. Am - G -
77. C F C G
78. C F Am G
79. C Dm Am G
80. C Em/B Am G
81. Am F C G
82. C F G -
83. C C/E F G
84. C Am F G
85. C E♭ F G
86. C F Dm G
87. C Dm F G
88. C D F G
89. C - F B♭
90. Am F G -
91. Am C F G
92. C G F G
93. C G/B F/A G
94. C B♭ F G
95. C B♭ F B♭
96. C B♭ A♭ B♭
97. C Em F G
98. Am Em F G
99. F - - -
100. F - Dm -
101. Dm - F -
102. F C F -
103. Dm C/E F -
104. F Am F -
105. Dm Am F -
106. F Am C F
107. F Dm C F
108. F C Dm -
109. F G C F
110. F G Am F
111. F - G F
112. F C G F
113. F Am G F
114. Dm C G F
115. F C B♭ F
116. F - C -
117. F Dm C -
118. F - Am -
119. F Am F C
120. F C F C
121. F C/E Dm7 C
122. F G F C
123. F Em F C
124. F B♭ F C
125. Dm - C -
126. F G C -
127. Dm G C -
128. F Dm G C
129. F G Am -
130. F B♭ C -
131. A♭ B♭ C -
132. F C G C
133. F C/G G C
134. F Am G C
135. F C G Am
136. F - G -
137. F Dm G -
138. F - B♭ -
139. Dm - G -
140. Dm7 - G7sus4 G7
141. F C F G
142. F Am F G
143. F Am Dm G
144. F Em F G
145. F Em Dm G
146. F C/E Dm G
147. Dm C/E F G
148. Dm Em F G
149. G - - -
150. G - G7 -
151. G - G7sus4 -
152. Gsus4 - G -
153. B♭ - - -
154. G - C G
155. G - Am G
156. G C Am G
157. G Am C/G G
158. Em Am C G
159. B♭ C B♭ -
160. G F C G
161. G Dm C G
162. G F Am G
163. G Dm Am G
164. G - F G
165. Em F G -
166. G F Dm G
167. G C F G
168. G Am F G
169. G - F -
170. Em - F -
171. B♭ - F -
172. G C G F
173. G Am G F
174. B♭ C G F
175. G C F -
176. G Am C F
177. G C Am F
178. G F C F
179. G C C7 F
180. B♭ C F -
181. B♭ F C F
182. G - C -
183. G - G7 C
184. B♭ - C -
185. G - Am -
186. G F G C
187. G F B♭ C
188. G A♭ G C
189. G A♭ B♭ C
190. G F G Am
191. G Dm G C
192. G Dm G Am
193. G C G C
194. G C G Am
195. G Am G C
196. E7 Am G C
197. B♭ F B♭ C
198. B♭ F G C
199. Em F G Am
200. Em F G C

Copyright note: These are commonly used chord phrases, so there are no copyright issues to keep you from using them to create an original song. But please don't copy the entire list and post it somewhere else online. Link back to this blog post instead. Thanks!

sus4, add9 and other leftover chords

The suspended-fourth chord type, abbreviated sus⁴, contains a fourth instead of a third. That is, where a major or minor triad contains a P1 (root), m3 or M3, and P5, the sus4 chord contains a P1, P4, and P5.

This chord is thought to create suspense, in the sense that the fourth is expected to give way to a third. The movement from 4 to 3 "resolves" the suspense.

Csus⁴ C

But you can feel free to use this chord with or without "resolving" the suspension. You can think of sus as meaning substitute. The four note is the substitute for the three.

There is also the less common sus² chord, which works in the same way. In this case a second takes the place of the third.

You can have a ⁷sus⁴ chord. But there's no ⁷sus² chord—that's just called a ⁹ chord. (It's okay if a seventh or ninth chord lacks a third.)

You'll occasionally see a sixth chord, abbreviated ⁶. It's a major chord with an added major sixth. It functions the same as a major chord, but the extra note makes it "thicker." Note that C⁶ is essentially the same as Am⁷/C.

The minor sixth chord is abbreviated m⁶. It's a minor chord with an added major sixth. (Despite the chord's name, the added sixth is major, not minor.) Cm⁶ has the same notes as Am^7-5/C.

Another note that can be added for thickening is the second, which is also called the ninth. The added-ninth chord, abbreviated add⁹ (or sometimes add²) is a a major chord with a second added for thickening.

You can add a ninth to a minor chord as well. It's abbreviated m(add⁹). The half-step interval between the major second (the ninth) and minor third gives this chord an interesting bite.

For maximum thickness, you can add both the sixth and the ninth. The six-nine chord is abbreviated ^6/9. This is the one case in rock chord notation where a slash is not followed by the bass note. Note that this chord contains all five notes of the pentatonic scale.

If you add a major ninth to a seventh chord, it's simply called a ninth chord, abbreviated ⁹. The maj⁹ chord is a maj⁷ chord with a major ninth added. The m⁹ chord is a m⁷ chord with a major ninth added.

Finally, what if you have a ⁷ chord and you want to leave out the fifth and play a major sixth instead? This delightfully dissonant dominant chord is usually written as a ¹³ chord. In theory, the ¹³ chord should contain all seven notes of the scale, but typically some of the notes are left out.

There are still other possible chord types, and if we were writing jazz you'd want to know every single one of them. But rock is not usually very inventive with chords—many rock songwriters go through an entire career without using any of the chords in this post. So don't sweat over learning all the different chords. Learn them when you need to, when they're useful, and when you're feeling adventurous.

Your own personal [four] and [five]

Remember that [one], [four], and [five] are the three chords at the heart of rock music.

I sometimes say that the [one] and [five] are rivals, perpetually battling each other for control of the musical space. And [one] and [four] are buddies, comfortable hanging out together.

Now, remember that every minor or major chord can be a [one] chord if we happen to be in the key based on the root of that chord. For example, the Dm chord is the [one]m chord in the key of D minor.

So think about this: every chord you use has its own rival (its own personal [five] chord) and its own buddy (its own [four] chord) close at hand. It's as if they're on speed dial on the chord's cell phone, ready to weigh in with their own opinion on any given subject at a moment's notice.

Let's look at this example using "personal [four] chords."

C - F/C C | - F/C C - | D - G/D D | - G/D D - |
F - B♭/F F | - B♭/F F - | G - C/G G | - C/G G - |

What's going on in this simple-sounding but complicated-looking chord phrase? At heart, it's this simple four-chord phrase:

C | D | F | G |

...but each of the chords makes a few side trips to its own personal [four] chord.

Now let's look at an example using personal [five] chords. In traditional music theory, these chords are called secondary dominants. They're dominant chords, but not of the main key that we're in.

C E⁷/B Am C⁷/G | F - C - |

In this example, E⁷ is the dominant chord from the key of A minor, and C⁷ is the dominant chord of F major.

Here's another example:

C⁷/E - F - | D⁷/F♯ - G - | E⁷/G♯ - Am - | D⁷/F♯ - C/G G | C

Notice how the bass moves upwards by half-steps. That kind of chromatic movement is easy to do with a combination of secondary dominant chords and chords borrowed from the parallel major or minor key, and it has a fun, ear-tickling effect. Unfortunately, this kind of chord writing is rare in most styles in rock music; you're most likely to find it from songwriters influenced by classical or jazz music.

A more emphatic five

The [five] chord plays such a dominant role in music that it's called the dominant chord. And one of the common uses of alternate bass notes is to build up the dominant chord, to make it more emphatic, and to heighten the sense of expectation that it carries.

Of course, the simplest way to make a [five] chord more emphatic is to add the seventh, making it a [five]⁷. This chord type, a major chord with a minor seventh, is called dominant seventh.

Here are some other chords and sequences of chords that are commonly used to take the place of the dominant chord:

[one]/[five] [five]
In C major: C/G G

[four]/[five]
F/G

[two]m⁷/[five]
Dm⁷/G

[five]sus⁴ [five]
Gsus⁴ G

[five] [five]sus⁴ [five] [four]/[five]
G Gsus⁴ G F/G

[five]⁷sus⁴
G⁷sus⁴

[five] [five]⁷sus⁴
G G⁷sus⁴

[five] [one]/[five] [five]⁷
G C/G G⁷

You can invent other possibilities. The key to all of these is that the bass stays insistently on the dominant (5) note until a cadence is finally concluded with a move to [one]... or sometimes to [six]m.

The descending bass line

As we mentioned yesterday, the use of alternate bass notes in rock songs is mostly limited to a few specific formulas. One of these formulas involves the bass line moving up or down the scale, step by step. The bass line is a secondary melody, after all, and you can give it a graceful and intentional shape.

Many chord progressions start on the tonic chord and then let the bass move down the scale. These examples will all sound familiar to your ear:

C G/B Am G
C G/B F/A G
C Em/B F/A G
C G/B Am Em/G F C/E Dm G
C E⁷/B Am C⁷/G F A⁷/E Dm G

When the bass line descends by half-steps, it might sound a little spooky, ominous, or mournful:

C G/B C⁷/B♭ F/A Fm/A♭ G

You can also start on the tonic and move up the scale:

C Dm7 C/E F

And if we reverse that last sequence of chords, we have a familiar elaboration of the [four] - [one] cadence. You hear this in the Beatles' "Let It Be," for example.

F C/E Dm7 C

The pedal point (or "stuck key")

We haven't talked much about alternate bass notes for chords. Normally the bass note is the same as the chord's root note, but you can specify a different bass when you find a musical need for it.

The bass note follows a slash after the chord name. For example, C/E indicates a C major chord with the note E in the bass.

Any note, whether it's a member of the chord or not, can be specified as an alternate bass note. In theory this opens up a huge range of possibilities -- every single chord has the potential for 11 alternate versions -- but, in practice, alternate bass notes in rock songs are limited to a few conventional formulas.

One of these formulas involves keeping the bass on the same note while the chords move around. This tends to reduce or offset any sense of motion that the chords are creating. Here are a few simple examples:

||: C G/C F/C C :||
||: C Dm/C Em/C F/C :||

Most often, the bass stays fixed in the early part of the verse, so that when the bass later starts moving around freely, the sense of motion is amplified.

The traditional name for this technique is pedal point, and the name refers to the pedals of pipe organs that play the lowest bass notes. An organist could plant one foot on one of the bass notes, while playing moving chords with both hands. (Some adventurous synthesizer players use MIDI versions of these organ pedals, because two hands aren't always enough.)

You could also think of this the "stuck key" technique, because it's as though a synthesizer key has gotten stuck in the down position, so it persists in playing the same note while the rest of the music keeps moving.

Tip: Make it different, but the same

The simplest way to make a song catchy is to repeat some element over and over. For example, you can repeat the same chord phrase through the entire song, perhaps with occasional breaks to help give the song some structure.

Some hit songs that use this technique include

• "Jump" — Van Halen
• "Kids" — MGMT
• "Rebel Rebel" — David Bowie
• "Word Up" — Cameo
  

And these are just random examples off the top of my head. If you run through any list of top hits, you'll find that many of them are extremely repetitive in one way or another.

But there's an obvious pitfall to relentless repetition: it can become tiresome if it's too obvious. Is it possible to make a song catchy without wearing out the listener?

Here's one idea: Create two different version of the same chord phrase. Use the simpler one in the verse, and the more complex one in the chorus. Or, if it suits your song better, you can do the opposite: use the simpler version in the chorus, and the more complex one in the verse.

For example, if you used this simple chord phrase in the verse:

C - - - | - - - - | F - - - | Dm - G - |

...you could use this more elaborate version in the chorus:

C - - - | Am C G C | F - - - | Dm C/E F G |

(By the way, I just made up this pair of chord phrases, so feel free to steal them and write a song with them.)

These two chord phrases have the same basic outline, similar enough to help wear that instant groove in the listener's memory that makes them want to hear the song again, but the phrases are also different enough on the surface to provide some interest and variation.

One song that uses this technique is "Lost in the Supermarket" by the Clash. (I'm sure there are many others, but that's the only one I can think of right now.)

Another way to use the same chord phrase in verse and chorus and have them still be different is to cast the verse and the chorus in two different keys. Two songs that use this technique are:

• "Come On Eileen" — Dexy's Midnight Runners
• "Run Runaway" — Status Quo (actually, this song changes key between the verse and an instrumental theme with the same chords)
  

Here's one more simple technique that does wonders to keep relentless repetition from seeming oppressive: just come to a stop. Land on the tonic chord (or perhaps some other chord) and just sit there for four or eight bars. When you start repeating the chord phrase again, it will seem fresh and interesting again.

(Of course, there are also many arrangement and production tricks devoted to keeping things interesting in a repetitive song. Maybe there's a music production blog somewhere with that group of tips.)

Please post a comment if you come up with other good examples of songs that use any of these techniques — or if you know any other techniques to keep things interesting while repeating a chord phrase over and over.

Thursday is Unruly Tip Day.

Adding a seventh

So far we've talked mostly about two types of chords, major and minor triads. These chords are build of a root note, a major or minor third, and a perfect fifth. (If you need a reminder of what these musical intervals are, start here.)

These three-note chords predominate in rock songs, but four-note seventh chords are also widely used. To turn a triad into a seventh chord, just add a note a third above the fifth (or a second below the root.)

Remember our six diatonic triads? Let's add a seventh to each of them and take a look at our six diatonic seventh chords. In C major:

There are three minor seventh chords, with the m⁷ suffix. These are composed of p1 + m3 + p5 + m7.
[six]m⁷, [two]m⁷, [three]m⁷ — Am⁷, Dm⁷, Em⁷

There are two major seventh chords, with the maj⁷ suffix. These are composed of p1 + M3 + p5 + M7.
[one]maj⁷, [four]maj⁷ — Cmaj⁷, Fmaj⁷

There is one more diatonic seventh chord, with the ⁷ suffix. This is simply called a seventh chord, and to avoid confusion you can call it a common seventh or dominant seventh chord. And this chord is, of course, [five]⁷ — G⁷

Three m⁷ chords, two maj⁷ chords, but only one ⁷ chord. This chord's uniqueness gives it a special role. It's the only chord we've covered so far that can, all by itself, tell you exactly what key you're in. Because, unless non-diatonic notes are complicating the picture, the keynote of a major key is always a perfect fifth below the root of any ⁷ chord you hear.

This unique feature of the ⁷ chord is very handy when you need to change from one key to another. No matter what chords you've wandered through, if you land on a ⁷ chord, people will probably hear it as [five]⁷ and mentally adjust to your new key.

There are other possible types of seventh chords if we acknowledge the usually-overlooked [seven]dim triad and allow for chromatic (non-diatonic) notes.

The diminished seventh chord, dim⁷ or °⁷, is composed of p1 + m3 + d5 + d7. A d7 (diminished seventh) interval is a half-step smaller than a m7, and is equivalent to what we usually call a M6.

The minor seventh with lowered fifth chord, m^7-5, is composed of p1 + m3 + d5 + m7. This is a diminished triad with m7 added.

The minor with major seventh chord, m(maj⁷), is composed of p1 + m3 + p5 + M7.

The seventh with lower fifth, ^7-5, is composed of p1 + M3 + d5 + m7.

The seventh with raised fifth, ⁷⁺⁵, is composed of p1 + M3 + A5 + m7.

Tuesday is Beastly Fundamentals Day.

Messing with "Hey Jude"

On Thursday I asked you to review the fadeout of the Beatles' "Hey Jude," which famously features the [seven]♭ chord. The full chord phrase is:
[one] - [seven]♭ - [four] - [one] -

That great singalong chant melody in "Hey Jude" does not include the subtonic 7♭note, so it wasn't the melody that drove the Beatles to use [seven]♭ instead of [five]. And the rest of the song uses [five] and the regular ionian chords. They pointedly switched to mixolydian chords just for the fadeout of "Hey Jude."

Try singing the "Hey Jude" chant with these alternate chords:
[one] - [five] - [four] - [one] -

You'll notice that those alternate chords work just as well with the melody, but they bring a very different feel to the phrase.

It's hard to remember how groundbreaking "Hey Jude" was in a time when rock hits were trimmed to a length of 3:15 or shorter to meet the demands of radio. Since then, lengthy repeating fadeouts have become a staple of rock music, but at the time it took the biggest stars in music to break the mold and give us a 6-minute-long song with a couple minutes of repetitive ecstatic chanting at the end.

I think the Beatles' choice of [seven]♭ instead of [five] for the fade might make the mood a little more mellow, to help you surrender to the trancey groove instead of becoming impatient with the repetition. It's just my theory, and we'll never if "Hey Jude" might have been just as successful with different chords. But sometimes it's just this kind of subtle thing that makes the different between a good song and a great song.

Favorite guest chord #7

We recently reviewed rock music's basic set of chords for a major key. There are six diatonic triads (chords built from the notes of the major scale), plus nine non-diatonic triads.

Yesterday we learned why the diatonic chord build on the seventh note of the scale, [seven]dim, doesn't get invited to the rock and roll party very often.

But there is one of those nine non-diatonic triads that's more widely used than any of the others, and it happens to be the "other seven chord," [seven]♭. In the key of C major, this is the B♭ chord. This chord is borrowed from the key of C minor, where it serves as the major alter ego for the minor [five]m chord.

You can use the [seven]♭ chord as a substitute for the dominant [five] chord. That is, you can take any of the basic three-chord phrases, and play [seven]♭ in place of [five]. The result is a new chord phrases that has the same harmonic functionality as the original, but with a different vibe. It's more earthy and tribal, less European and imperial.

The [seven]♭ is very popular in rock songs, especially in blues-based rock. Traditional blues melodies eschew the regular 7 note in major (the leading tone) in favor of the lowered 7♭ note, (the subtonic). If you don't sing the leading tone, then it's only natural to avoid chords, such as [five] that contain the leading tone. Of course, you can also go with [five]m, but throughout rock history [seven]♭ has been the favorite substitute dominant chord.

What do you get when you take a major scale and lower the 7 note to 7♭? I know that sounds like the setup for a clever joke, but the straight answer is, you get a different scale, the mixolydian scale. Music that uses the mixolydian scale is said to be in the mixolydian mode. (You can read the whole sordid and convoluted history of mixolydian mode at Wikipedia.)

Many rock melodies are written in mixolydian mode, or alternate between mixolydian and regular major (called ionian mode when you want to be precise about it). And that's just a fancy way of saying that rock melodies often use subtonic 7♭instead of leading tone 7.

Forgotten chord #7

There are seven notes in a major or minor scale, but the basketful of chords that we gathered the other day included only six diatonic triads. What happened to that seventh note? Doesn't it get a chord too?

The answer is yes—and no. There is a chord built on the seventh note of the major scale, but it is very rarely used in rock songs. This forgotten chord is:

[seven]° or [seven]dim
in C major: B° or Bdim

This chord contains the notes 7, 2, and 4 — in C major, the notes B, D, and F. The interval from B to F is a diminished fifth, unlike the perfect fifth found in the other six diatonic triads. And while we love the resonance of the perfect fifth, we squirm at the awkward dissonance of the diminished fifth.

Probably a more important reason for this chord's neglect in rock is that it's just so hard to play on guitar. You have to delicately stop one string from sounding while playing the strings around it. Guitarists are so universally embarrassed about this difficulty that they don't even admit to the existence of the diminished chord. Guitar chord charts universally show the easy-to-play diminished seventh chord when a diminished chord is called for. The diminished seventh chord is an interesting chord in its own right, with a freakish (and useful) four-way symmetry, but it's not the same chord as a diminished chord.

In practice, the diminished chord, when it's used at all, is found in keyboard-oriented songs. The guitar player just sits out that part of the song.

In the minor key, the same points apply to the [two]dim chord. In the key of C minor, this is Ddim, containing the notes D, F, and A♭.

In music theory, the [seven]dim chord is thought of as a stunted version of the [five]⁷ chord. It's expected to be followed by the [one] chord most of the time.

Though this chord #7 turns out the be the neglected runt of the litter, there is another chord #7 that plays a major role in rock music. If you just lower the B note in Bdim, the note becomes B♭, and the chord becomes B ♭, or [seven]♭, the subtonic chord. This glorious major triad is so important in rock that it deserves its own entire post, which we'll get to soon. In the meantime, listen to the fadeout of "Hey Jude," and practice saying the cool Greek word mixolydian.

A bumper crop of chords

Let's go out to our chord garden and gather all the chords we can find! Well, let's start with all the chords we can use in a major key. (We'll take the key of C major as a specific example, but you can translate these chords into any other major key.)

First we pick up the main three major chords. Let's call these the three primary triads of the key. Triad is a name for a three-note chord, basically a major or minor chord.
[one], [four], and [five] — C, F, and G

Then we add the three primary chords from the relative minor key. But these are the three secondary triads in our major key.
[six]m, [two]m, [three]m — Am, Dm, Em

Now we have six chords in our basket. Together these two trios of triads are the six diatonic triads of our major key. Remember that diatonic means these chords are composed entirely of notes that belong to this key.

The rest of our chords will include at least one note that doesn't belong to the key, a chromatic note or non-diatonic note. If you want, you can call these chords chromatic chords or non-diatonic chords.

We're going to borrow the three primary triads from the parallel minor key.
[one]m, four[m], five[m] — Cm, Fm, Gm
But one caution: you'll have to use Cm sparingly, if at all, or this could turn into a song in C minor instead of C major. And no one wants that!

Next we borrow the three secondary triads from the parallel minor key.
[three]♭, [six]♭, [seven]♭ — E♭, A♭, B♭
Look, more major chords to play with! These chords are heavily used in rock, because rock loves major chords but loves to get on the minor side of things. It's a tonal contradiction, one that I would like to blame on The Blues... but that's a story for another day.

That's twelve chords already! Is that enough? Sure, it's enough to write any number of songs with, but there are just three more chords that we can't ignore. It takes some tricky sleight-of-hand to grab these chords. These are the primary triads from the parallel major key of our relative minor key. I know, that sounds so arcane, it's hard to believe that these chords count for anything. And yet many rock songs use them. These chords are:
[six], [two], [three] — A, D, E

Okay, we have fifteen chords in our basket! That's a whole lotta chords to keep track of. But remember, these are all echoes and reflections of our first three chords, [one], [four], and [five]. If it helps, you can think of it as three stars, each of which has several stand-ins and stunt doubles.

Here [one] and its posse:
[one], [six]m, [one]m, [three]♭, [six] — C, Am, Cm, E♭, A

Next, the [four] gang:
[four], [two]m, [four]m, [six]♭, [two] — F, Dm, Fm, A♭, D

And here's the [five] team:
[five], [three]m, [five]m, [seven]♭, [three] — G, Em, Gm, B♭, E

Okay, what if we had gone out into our minor-key chord garden instead?
Actually, we would have ended up with most of the same chords, but in a slightly different order. Only the last three chords would have been something different. We'll be digging for the primary triads of the parallel minor key of our relative major key. These are:
[three]♭m, [six]♭m, [seven]♭m — E♭m, A♭m, B♭m

In minor, the [one] posse:
[one]m, [three]♭, [one], [six]m, [three]♭m — Cm, E♭, C, Am, E♭m

The minor [four] gang:
[four]m, [six]♭, [four], [two]m, [six]♭m — Fm, A♭, F, Dm, A♭m

The minor [five] team:
[five]m, [seven]♭, [five], [three]m, [seven]♭m — Gm, B♭, G, Em, B♭m

Now, what can we do with all of these chords? We'll come back to that question soon.

Theory of Relativity

Yesterday's shocking headline: The Am Chord Unmasked! Actually C in Disguise.

But that was in a publication with a major bias. In another publication, one with a minor bias, the headline was this: C is for Counterfeit! It Was Am All Along.

The thing is, when the key of C major freely uses chords from the relative minor key of A minor, and when A minor uses chords from C major just as freely, you're bound to run into songs where the line between those two keys is completely blurred. Is the song really in A minor or C major? Different musicians may have different answers to that question.

(Of course, we're just using C major and A minor as examples. Any pair of relative keys can present the same conundrum.)

Luckily Einstein helps us out with his Theory of Musical Relativity. The theory says that you can analyze the song as if it's in the minor key or as if it's in the major key, and you'll get an equivalent and logically consistent understanding of the song either way.

C major and A minor share the same six basic chords:

Am, C, Dm, Em, F, and G

But in the key of A minor, we call these chords, respectively:

[one]m, [three]♭, [four]m, [five]m, [six]♭, and [seven]♭

In the key of C major, those same chords are:

[six]m, [one], [two]m, [three]m, [four], and [five]

Secret alter ego chords

Like solving a Rubik's cube, we're working step by step to show how the whole universe of chords in rock songs can unfold from the basic three chords, [one], [four], and [five].

First we learned that there's a minor mode with its own three chords, [one]m, [four]m, and [five]m.

Next we learned about borrowed chords. The key of C major can borrow chords from its parallel minor key, which is C minor. Conversely, C minor can borrow chords from C major.

Now it's time to look at another minor key that has a close relationship with C major. This is its relative minor key, the key of A minor.

C major and A minor share the exact same set of notes, which happen to be the white keys on a keyboard. The only difference between the C major and A minor scales is in the keynote, the first note of the scale — obviously, C for C major and A for A minor.

Every major key has a relative minor key with a keynote (or tonic) a minor third lower, and the two keys share the same set of notes.

This relationship cuts both ways. Every minor key has a relative major key with a keynote a minor third higher. It's almost like two sides of the same coin. Or like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, if you will. Bruce Wayne and Batman. David Johansen and Buster Poindexter. The same person with two different identities.

Now, let's look at the tonic chords of C major and A minor. The C chord contains the notes C, E, G. The Am chord contains A, C, E. The chords have two notes out of three in common. If you're playing a three-note C chord, raise the G one step to A, and the chord becomes Am. Lower that note to a G again, and you're back to the C chord.

In the key of C major, Am is the [six]m chord. The [six]m chord is the next most important chord in rock music after [one], [four], and [five]. It allows for this chord phrase, so popular in rock music c. 1960 that they wore it out:

[one] [six]m [four] [five]
C | Am | F | G

And this chord phrase, featured in so many 1990s hits that you might want to use it sparingly today:
[one] [five] [six]m [four]
C | G | Am | F

As a songwriter, what can you do with the special alter-ego relationship between [one] and [six]m? Quite simply, you can use [six]m in place of [one] just about anywhere! Take any three-chord phrase, and drop in [six]m wherever [one] appears. Suddenly you have a new chord phrase. It still makes musical sense, but it's more subtle, less obvious.

And just to blow this door wide open, the [four] chord also has its own alter ego, [two]m. And [five]'s alter ego is [three]m. In the key of C, we're talking about F and Dm as alter egos, and also G and Em.

Now we have two complementary trios of chords, for a total of six. There is more to this story, so come back tomorrow!

Intervals in music

Second, third, fourth, fifth... sounds kinda like people are waiting in line. But actually we're talking about intervals, which means pairs of notes and their pitch relationship to each other.

If you're an experienced musician, you know this stuff backwards and forwards, and you can skip this post. If you're a beginner, this part of musical terminology takes a bit of explaining, and you should read on.

There's no way to talk about the specifics of music without using metaphors. We say that one pitch is higher than another, but pitch is a metaphor, and so is higher.

A sound is actually a vibration in the air. In a timescale of thousands of a second, some sounds have a regular, repeating waveform, which we hear as a musical tone. A regular waveform has a frequency, which we define as the number of cycles per second. Another word for cycles per second is hertz, abbreviated Hz. Our ears are especially attuned to repeating waveforms, and we hear the frequency as musical pitch.

The A below middle C is traditionally defined as a musical tone with a frequency of 440 Hertz. That means the waveform of the A note has a cycle that repeats 440 times per second.

If a frequency has a higher number, we hear it as a higher pitch. A tone of 880 Hz has a frequency twice as high as the A at 440 Hz. We hear the 880 Hz tone as another A tone, exactly one octave higher that the 440 Hz tone. Twice the frequency equals an interval of one octave.

Our musical system is based on dividing the octave into 12 equal parts. Each 1/12 of an octave is called a half-step or semitone. Musical intervals are defined as the number of semitones you have to travel to get from the first note to the second note. (This is easiest to see on a piano keyboard or a guitar fretboard, where the semitones are clearly marked off.)

If two notes are at the same pitch, the distance is 0 semitones, and the interval is called unison. (For shorthand, unison can be abbreviated P1).
1 semitone is called a half-step or a minor second, abbreviated m2.
2 semitones is called a full-step or a major second, abbreviated M2. (Capital M for major, small m for minor.)
3 semitones is a minor third (m3).
4 semitones is a major third (M3).
5 semitones is a perfect fourth (P4)
6 semitones (half an octave) is an augmented fourth or diminished fifth (A4/d5).
7 semitones is a perfect fifth (P5).
8 semitones is a minor sixth (m6).
9 semitones is a major sixth (M6).
10 semitones is a minor seventh (m7).
11 semitones is a major seventh (M7).
12 semitones is an octave (P8).

The names of these intervals might make more sense if you think about the notes that make up the major and minor scales, and each note's interval to the keynote (the first note) of the scale.

The major scale contains P1, M2, M3, P4, P5, M6, M7.
The minor scale contains P1, M2, m3, P4, P5, m6, m7.

With the sole exception of the M2 in the minor scale, you can see that the major scale contains all the major version of the intervals, and the minor scale contains the minor versions of the intervals.

With this handy vocabulary of intervals, we can also describe the different kinds of chords as the intervals between each note in the chord and the chord's root. So far we've talked mainly about major and minor chords.

The major chord contains P1, M3, and P5.
The minor chord contains P1, m3, and P5.

If you are new to reading music, this vocabulary of musical intervals might seem like a whole lot of details to try to learn. Don't worry! Like everything else in music, it just requires practice.

Tuesday is Beastly Fundamentals Day.

Three-chord rock: example chord phrases

Listed below are 24 examples of 4-bar, three-chord phrases in C major. Feel free, of course, to transpose them into other keys and to use them in your songs. No one owns a copyright on these commonly used chord phrases.

A chord phrase is a sequence of chords for a single musical phrase. You might also hear people use the equivalent terms chord progression or chord change.

Phrases can be various lengths. 4- or 8-bar phrases are typical in rock music, but, as I'll discuss in a future post, you can make your songs more interesting by using phrases of different lengths. It's only in the interest of keeping things simple that all of these examples are 4-bar phrases.

1. C | F | C | -
2. C | - | F | C
3. C | F | C | F
4. F | C | F | C
5. C | - | - | F
6. C | G | C | -
7. C | - | G | C
8. C | G | C | G
9. C | F | G | -
10. C | - | F | G
11. C | F | G | F
12. C | F | G | C
13. C | F | C | G
14. C | G | C | F
15. F | C | G | C
16. F | G | F | C
17. G | C | F | G
18. G | C | G | F
19. C - | F C | - - | F G
20. C - | F - | G - | F C
21. C G | F - | - G | C -
22. C F | C - | - F | C G
23. F C | G - | F G | C -
24. F - | C G | F - | G C
    

Optional assignments (a/k/a your "songwriting homework"):

• Create an alternate version of each phrase by substituting one or more chords borrowed from C minor.
• Try transposing all 24 of these phrases into C minor.
• Create an alternate version of each of the C minor phrases by substituting one more more chords borrowed from C major.
  
• Create one more variation of each of the 24 phrases by making some other change. You could substitute another chord that's not one of the three main chords, you could change the rhythm, change a bass note, play it backwards, add a seventh, or do something even more radical. It's your move!
  

After you complete all four optional assignments, you'll have a list of 120 chord phrases at your disposal. And obviously we're just scratching the surface of the possibilities of "three-chord rock." Even with this limited vocabulary, you can still stay a lot.