Four Chord Song

Recommended Videos

JPH330

Blogger Person
Jan 31, 2010
397
0
0

Hilarious, but at the same time, does anybody else find this a bit eerie?
 

BonsaiK

Music Industry Corporate Whore
Nov 14, 2007
5,635
0
0
No. Blues uses the same three chords for 95% of songs, but nobody ever complains or says "gee just shows how unoriginal blues is". So does 50's rock. Pop also has its idioms. If anything the video just shows how important other factors like melody, texture, lyrics, and arrangement are in songwriting.
 

JPH330

Blogger Person
Jan 31, 2010
397
0
0
Rainbowloid said:
It's not eerie. It just shows how unoriginal pop music is.
Well yeah, for the most part. The parts that surprised me were the few songs they sang that I actually regard highly, like Under the Bridge.
 

TheKruzdawg

New member
Apr 28, 2010
870
0
0
Great video. Found that myself a few days ago on Stumble. This kind of thing is why so many artists sound exactly the same and you only recognize who it is if you know the words to a particular song. For example, I can't tell the difference between 90% of the songs by All-American Rejects, Yellowcard, and those who sound like them. It also explains every Green Day song ever, at least their older stuff.
 

Contextualizer

New member
Jan 8, 2010
600
0
0
BonsaiK said:
No. Blues uses the same three chords for 95% of songs. So does 50's rock. Pop also has its idioms. If anything the video just shows how important other factors like melody, texture, lyrics, and arrangement are in songwriting.
Exactly. The only people who think there is a clever subtext behind this are the ones with no understanding of music theory/composition.

Up until the 19th century, classical music wasn't too different from in terms of harmonic homogeneity.
 

Luftwaffles

New member
Apr 24, 2010
776
0
0
At least its better than autotune. 4 chords is a neat trick to learn for budding guitarist.
 

Insomniac55

New member
Dec 6, 2008
143
0
0
Hilarious, but cartainly not eerie... it's not as 'perfect' as they make it seem. That chord progression is (obviously) very common... but first off, I bet they've transposed most of those songs so they are the same four chords... if you actually listen to those songs it's likely that most of them are in different keys. Also, a lot of the songs probably use chords similar to, but not identical to the chords being played (E, B, C#m and A). They're using chords close enough to sound right, but probably not exactly what is used in the original.
 

JPH330

Blogger Person
Jan 31, 2010
397
0
0
TheKruzdawg said:
Great video. Found that myself a few days ago on Stumble. This kind of thing is why so many artists sound exactly the same and you only recognize who it is if you know the words to a particular song. For example, I can't tell the difference between 90% of the songs by All-American Rejects, Yellowcard, and those who sound like them. It also explains every Green Day song ever, at least their older stuff.
Yeah, I feel the exact same way about Fall Out Boy and Panic at the Disco. In fact, usually when I hear a song by one of those two I can't tell which band the song was made by.
 

BonsaiK

Music Industry Corporate Whore
Nov 14, 2007
5,635
0
0
Contextualizer said:
BonsaiK said:
No. Blues uses the same three chords for 95% of songs. So does 50's rock. Pop also has its idioms. If anything the video just shows how important other factors like melody, texture, lyrics, and arrangement are in songwriting.
Exactly. The only people who think there is a clever subtext behind this are the ones with no understanding of music theory/composition.

Up until the 19th century, classical music wasn't too different from in terms of harmonic homogeneity.
I agree, classical music is one of the worst offenders of all, with everything essentially being subservient to the deity of V-I.
 

BonsaiK

Music Industry Corporate Whore
Nov 14, 2007
5,635
0
0
Insomniac55 said:
Hilarious, but cartainly not eerie... it's not as 'perfect' as they make it seem. That chord progression is (obviously) very common... but first off, I bet they've transposed most of those songs so they are the same four chords... if you actually listen to those songs it's likely that most of them are in different keys. Also, a lot of the songs probably use chords similar to, but not identical to the chords being played (E, B, C#m and A). They're using chords close enough to sound right, but probably not exactly what is used in the original.
Well, when analysing harmony, transposition is moot in these days of ubiquitous equal temperament. Therefore E B C#m A would therefore be analysed as I-V-vi-IV. Whether it's actually E B C#m A or something else (D A Bm G is also very common, as it's easier to play for guitarists) is not important, as singers transpose according to their comfortable vocal range anyway. It's the relative pitches that are crucial, not the absolute pitches. All songs mentioned do in fact use I-V-vi-IV, in that order (except for "Barbie Girl"). However, you'll notice that some progressions are actually i-VI-III-VII (which is really a relative-minor interpretation of I-V-vi-IV, which is vi-IV-I-V with the cycle started halfway through and the brain thereby registering vi as the minor tonic) and in others, the progression is only used for a small portion of the song, not the whole thing.
 

DarthFennec

New member
May 27, 2010
1,154
0
0
That's ... awesome. But once I get over that initial shock, I'm going to agree with rainbow.
 

Insomniac55

New member
Dec 6, 2008
143
0
0
BonsaiK said:
Insomniac55 said:
Hilarious, but cartainly not eerie... it's not as 'perfect' as they make it seem. That chord progression is (obviously) very common... but first off, I bet they've transposed most of those songs so they are the same four chords... if you actually listen to those songs it's likely that most of them are in different keys. Also, a lot of the songs probably use chords similar to, but not identical to the chords being played (E, B, C#m and A). They're using chords close enough to sound right, but probably not exactly what is used in the original.
Well, when analysing harmony, transposition is moot in these days of ubiquitous equal temperament. Therefore E B C#m A would therefore be analysed as I-V-vi-IV. Whether it's actually E B C#m A or something else (D A Bm G is also very common, as it's easier to play for guitarists) is not important, as singers transpose according to their comfortable vocal range anyway. It's the relative pitches that are crucial, not the absolute pitches. All songs mentioned do in fact use I-V-vi-IV, in that order (except for "Barbie Girl"). However, you'll notice that some progressions are actually i-VI-III-VII (which is really a relative-minor interpretation of I-V-vi-IV, which is vi-IV-I-V with the cycle started halfway through and the brain thereby registering vi as the minor tonic) and in others, the progression is only used for a small portion of the song, not the whole thing.
Yeah, I realise that it's the relation between the chords that matters, not the actual chords themselves. I'm just pointing out that the actual recorded version of the songs that most people are used to listening to probably don't fit those specific chords.
 

RaphaelsRedemption

Eats With Her Mouth Full
May 3, 2010
1,409
0
0
BonsaiK said:
Contextualizer said:
BonsaiK said:
No. Blues uses the same three chords for 95% of songs. So does 50's rock. Pop also has its idioms. If anything the video just shows how important other factors like melody, texture, lyrics, and arrangement are in songwriting.
Exactly. The only people who think there is a clever subtext behind this are the ones with no understanding of music theory/composition.

Up until the 19th century, classical music wasn't too different from in terms of harmonic homogeneity.
I agree, classical music is one of the worst offenders of all, with everything essentially being subservient to the deity of V-I.
You mean: "Thou shalt always finish V-I, or thy music shalt sounds WRONG"?

And: "Thou shalt never use VII-I, because that's just plain STUPID".

I liked VII-I cause I could recognise it in every music exam I ever did :)
 

DazZ.

Elite Member
Jun 4, 2009
5,542
0
41
A lot of those songs don't use those four chords, either that or I'm playing them way out of key.

So basically what Insomniac is saying.
 

Savagezion

New member
Mar 28, 2010
2,455
0
0
Nah, if you get into playing an insturment you will learn this in week 1 of any real lessons.
 

Fists

New member
Apr 16, 2009
220
0
0
Those guys are so awesome (I really didn't intend the pun).

There really aren't that many chord progressions to use and thats just that one that has the simplest appeal, some of those bands have written much more adventurous and complex songs they just weren't realeased as singles because they were too complex and adventurous.