Post 326: THE FIRST CHORD

I wanted to find out on what chord most of the popular old songs start, and what effect this chord has.

I selected 60 songs that have stood the test of time - tunes such as Tea for Two and I Can't Give You Anything But Love and It Had To Be You. I then noted the chord with which they start. I am referring to the first chord of the first bar of the Chorus (i.e., omitting any anacrusis).

Five of the tunes turned out to be in minor keys. That's just 8% of the total. These tunes certainly had a 'minor' feel but this did not necessarily make them sad.

I am going to give my attention to the other 92% - those in major keys.

Of these, no fewer than 50 tunes (that's a whopping 83% of all the tunes I looked at) started on the major chord of the tune's key. A tune in the key of F, for example, would start on the chord of F major.

I found the effect of this is to establish firmly and clearly where we are: there's no attempt at subtlety.

Of these 50 tunes, I categorised 38 as bright and cheerful in character, which means about 63% of all popular tunes are likely to be bright, cheerful, un-challenging and starting on the major chord of the home key.

The figure is about what I would have expected.

But this leaves twelve tunes (20% of all I studied) that begin on the major chord of the home key but are more subtle and complex, perhaps with elements of sadness, nostalgia or melancholy. These include such tunes as I'm In The Mood For Love, Smoke Gets In Your Eyes and I'm Getting Sentimental Over You. If you look at the inner workings of these tunes you find minor chords, diminished chords and other surprises (such as a 7th based on the flattened third note of the scale in I'm In The Mood For Love). These chords make the tunes harder to learn but they also give the songs their distinctive colours and make them linger in our minds, it seems to me.

The only tunes from my original 60 not yet considered are five in major keys that do not start on the chord of the major key, so that's just 8% of the total. Four of these are 'bright' tunes, the other one less so. These tunes do not seem to lose any impact as a result of not starting on the key chord. Usually they begin on the Dominant 7th, and very quickly inform our ear of the key we are in. An example is (The Bells Are Ringing) For Me And My Girl.
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To sum up some findings:

83% of popular songs are in major keys and begin on the major chord of the home key.

8% of popular songs are in minor keys.

(Percentages are rounded to the nearest whole number. This was an unscientific survey. But I wouldn't be surprised if my general conclusions are about right.)

Post 283: CHORDS INSIGHT ('OWL CALL BLUES')

Pianist and blog-reader Peter Petrovič from Slovenia has been transcribing Owl Call Blues, the lovely tune composed during a tour in France by Shaye Cohn and Erika Lewis. He kindly sent me a copy.

Erika and Shaye

He also added some interesting information about chords.

Regular readers will know that I, as a self-taught musician, have been struggling for months to come to some understanding of chords, chord sequences and how they work, so every snippet that comes to me is eagerly gobbled up.

Here's what Peter told me:

The chord sequence "  Bb7     C#dim7     Cm7-5 " (here at the beginning of Owl Call Blues)  is often used in the 11th bar of a 12-bar blues composition and dissolves very well into Bb in the last bar.

Peter gives this as the chord sequence for the first seven bars of Owl Call Blues:

I feel sure he is right and I now appreciate that this sequence of chords contributes so much to the quality of this song. It is a most beautiful, hauntingly sad and satisfying sequence. Shaye has been very clever in spreading it over the first eight bars of a slow-paced song, rather than employing it only in its usual position - crushed into one bar, bringing a 12-bar blues to an end.

I shall try to memorise that sequence and think of it as The Owl Call Sequence from now on. It may be expressed as:   I⁷   -  III^bo7   -   II^m7-5  -  I.

I wonder whether it occurs at the start of any other tunes. Can we think of one? I doubt it.

You can listen to Tuba Skinny playing Owl Call Blues, with Erika singing, BY CLICKING ON HERE. And you can read what I wrote some months ago about Owl Call Blues BY CLICKING HERE.

Post 146: THE HARMONIC IMPACT OFTHE FIRST NOTE

I wanted to find out on what chord most popular songs start, and what effect this chord has.

I carried out an unscientific survey. But I believe my general conclusions are about right.

I selected at random 60 songs that have stood the test of time - tunes such as Tea for Two and I Can't Give You Anything But Love and It Had To Be You. I then noted the chord with which they start. I am referring to the first chord of the first bar of the Chorus (i.e., omitting any anacrusis).

Five of the tunes turned out to be in minor keys. That's just 8% of the total. These tunes certainly had a 'minor' feel but this did not necessarily make them sad.

I am going to give my attention to the other 92% - those in major keys.

Of these, no fewer than 50 tunes (that's a whopping 83% of all the tunes I looked at) started on the major chord of the tune's key. A tune in the key of F, for example, would start on the chord of F major.

I found the effect of this is to establish firmly and clearly where we are: there's no attempt at subtlety.

Of these 50 tunes, I categorised 38 as bright and cheerful in character, which means about 63% of all popular tunes are likely to be bright, cheerful, un-challenging and starting on the major chord of the home key.

The figure is about what I would have expected; and probably you would too.

But this leaves twelve tunes (20% of all I studied) that begin on the major chord of the home key but are more subtle and complex, perhaps with elements of sadness, nostalgia or melancholy. These include such tunes as I'm In The Mood For Love, Smoke Gets In Your Eyes and I'm Getting Sentimental Over You. If you look at the inner workings of these tunes you find minor chords, diminished chords and other surprises (such as a 7th based on the flattened third note of the scale in I'm In The Mood For Love). These chords make the tunes harder to learn but they also give the songs their distinctive colours and make them linger in our minds, it seems to me.

The only tunes from my original 60 not yet mentioned are five in major keys that do not start on the chord of the major key, so that's just 8% of the total. Four of these are 'bright' tunes, the other one less so. These tunes do not seem to lose any impact as a result of not starting on the key chord. Usually they begin on the Dominant 7th, and very quickly inform our ear of the key we are in. An example is (The Bells Are Ringing) For Me And My Girl.

To sum up my main findings:

83% of popular songs are in major keys and begin on the major chord of the home key.

8% of popular songs are in minor keys.

(Note: all percentages are rounded to the nearest whole number.)