7 super common chord progressions and why they work 

Pancakes or waffles?

@@nethercreature1624 pancakes

@@DavidBennettPiano ooh ok personally i prefer waffles but i respect your opinion 🧇🧇🧇

@@DavidBennettPiano I've always found it easy to figure out what chords singularly are being played, but recognizing the entire chord progression itself as it's own "color" is far more efficient. Giving names to all of these familiar sounds is helping my ear training a lot. Thank you David !! 😊

@@nethercreature1624 : It's just mean to ask that question in the first place. 💔😭 lols

You didn’t have to cut me o-

Text painting lol

Totes.

Facts

Yea they’re certainly not automatically bad, but a lot of these great songs use those progressions, but use others in the song as well. Whereas a lot of cheap pop songs that come out consist of only a standard 1/4/6/5 or whatever the entire song, no creativity

@@oblivionpro69 a lot of those cheap pop songs put a lot more emphasis on the actual production rather than the harmonic structure of the song.

They're definitely not bad but they're not as interesting as other progressions. You can get tired of them faster.

completely agree. Incredible how many different songs nd melodies are made out of the exact same chords.

I also agree. Well done. I am musically illiterate, even though I play. Beautifully done. I just wish I could understand what it all means.

Agree

did you know, there is a gender that involves music theory. and nobody is inventing new genders, just finding new names for ideas that existed for thousands of years

@@mfrench711 What didn't you understand?

as told by ginger anyone? anybody see that one chris cornell video? no? ok

It’s not difficult to do 😊

@@DavidBennettPiano Right?

Same with taylor swift!

Melissa Etheridge said "The Beatles wrote _all_ the songs. We are just rewriting them."

@@michaeleaster1815 the Beatles and taylor swift are my 2 favorite bands/artists!

This was the best video I've seen regarding chord progression right!

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I don't think Take On Me is 156m7.

it feels like the hero’s journey. The comfortable beginning, the inciting incident that turns the hero’s world upside down, the comeback of the hero, and finally, the triumph over the villain

@@rashotcake6945 the vi chord is way too comfy to be the incident. I would say Hero at home, hero begins his journey, inciting incident, triumph

I love it as well. After listening to a lot of doo wop you get that progression subconsciously ingrained in your mind

I love 1645!!

"In the Still of the Night" is the prototypical doo-wop song to use this progression.

This progression can even be rotated to form 6/4/5/1, sort of a minor version of it. Three examples are: the chorus from "Nobody's Fool" by Cinderella, "Defenders of Legacy" from the Bloody Roar OST, and the chorus from "An Angel Came Down" by Trans-Siberian Orchestra.

The most over-done progression of them all. Best example (maybe): Please Mr. Postman

​@@kdeggraham895Too much black plague for me, but to each their own.

😊

Thanks!

I'll second that! Why did "San Francisco" surprise me ? Brilliant video David, bravo !!!

I agree! Really practical and useful approach to dissecting the emotion behind particular progressions, using familiar examples. Perfect, really!

Love all the examples but this must have been sent into copyright hell!

Actually I was surprised David stayed from the 1950's and forward. I kept expecting music from further back to pop up to show that Musical Generations ARE connected to each other. Personally I think he lost a great chance to show that.

Could do a whole clip on that

@@peterkelley6344 He did the Andalusian Cadence, which goes back as far as Baroque music.

And most recently in Maroon 5's Memories. (Transposed to B.)

I know I saw a video somewhere showing all those comparisons, and most of them are different in musically significant ways. Don't look back in anger, transposed into d for example is: D A Bm F#7 G A D Bm A vs canon: D A Bm F#m G D G A Sure, the first 3 chords are the same, but then Oasis goes to 7th chord instead of a minor, which has a very different sound, and then the rest of the progression is not all that similar. You could argue that the A and Bm are just passing chords, which is fair enough, it's a small difference, but then we also don't hit the G chord, which gives a very different feeling to looping back to the start. When you add up all those small differences, you essentially just have a song that happens to also start with I-V-vi , which I think is not that unusual.

It also has an under appreciated bass line.

You could add "D'you know what i mean?" to that list, Oasis ended up using the same main chord progression for that song that they'd used in Wonderwall.

I was also thinking of that! It's also used in "Not Too Late for The Wine" and "Vilse i skogen".

Was wondering if that one's been bugging anyone but me. Btw there is a super famous mashup called Boulevard of Broken Dreams (Wonderwall vs Boulevard) by someone way more well known than me... I decided last year to extend it to a bunch more songs. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Yds95Pbsx5k.html (though I like my more recent circle of 5ths progression compilation mashup even more. :))

Interesting. A Major7th chord always sounds nostalgic and sort of sad/dreamy to me. Never thought of ionian like that, though. But yeah, mixo can be very bright.

Isn’t Fire and Rain Mixolydian? At least I could hear it during the piano outro David did.

@@user-oy7gz5bf2h Exactly it`s a blues scale a flat 7th of the major scale !

I have my own interpretation of musical theory. I don't think any other modes aside from the Ionian and Aeolian actually exist, as the music pulls you back to the Ionian/Aeolian tonic anyways if you accidentally mis-emphasize the chords. For example, notice how in that last song David played, it's much easier to think of the IV as the tonic, rather than the I. Interpreting it this way, the progression just becomes V-IV-I-V, or I-V-IV if you rearrange it, which is related to the I-V-vi-IV progression, but since it's all major chords, it's actually very happy, and THIS I believe is the root of that happy sound you were referring to. The reason why I think those other modes do not exist is because of the vii° chord, which can pull you back to the I chord if you add the 5th scale degree (thus transforming it into V7, i.e. BDF -> GBDF), or to the vi if you add the 6th degree (BDF -> BDFA). But this vii° can NEVER pull you back to any other scale degree, because it just won't sound resolved. This is the reason why in mode theory, people often talk about "avoid chords", which are chords that one must avoid if one wants to stay in a given mode, because again, modes present false/unstable tonics.

Yeah, the major 7th has a sadness to it. Minor 7th comes to party

Yes. Excellent video. I agree.

I see mixolydian as the "rock and roll" one (read that somewhere), so it makes sense.

@@MisterL777 ACDC!

If you like Mixolydian, then I'm sure you love Mixolydian/b6. It's like an automatic connection between bright-ish Rock and minor-sounding phrases.

That flat major 7 is all over classic rock.

@@MisterL777 -- really it's the blues one first, with I7, IV7, V7, rock drew from that.

Wow I never realised that!

Would be great if that was true, but the I chord is the most complete in a major progression, and the IV is not complete, it's unresolved. But it sounded good.

I was thinking of that song when he played the chords the first time. It was very obvious. Love the Beatles

@@bencleners6655 Probably cause it was only used for one line and every other song in this list flogged it for 3 and a half minutes!!

theres ii used slightly after IV. but they are almost identical chords

I clicked translate to english and it still has roman numerals? RU-vid translate is broken.

@@johnelder3978 That's because the Roman numerals in the comment are English characters.

@@Mabbdaa Why doesn't he write them in the original latin then? Lazy.

@@bobdobbs7828 You should know what Roman numerals are. Especially if you're a musician. If not, learn them now, it's extremely easy to understand.

@@Mabbdaa Why should I? I don't speak no foreign language and I use google translate with anything that is written in one.

same here! it showed up in my recommendations and I had to click it. awesome.

A recent use of this progression is Leave the Door Open by Silk Sonic. Also in western music it was quite common in 70s soul music. But it is indeed in Japanese music that it is the most frequent.

What does the triangle represent ? Anyway I feel this progression is weak. Going 4 to 5 is strong. But 5 to 3 minor is definitely weak. And 3 minor to 6 minor is weak also. No strength of direction. If the 3 chord was major it would be strong.

@@NagoyaHouseHead The triangle is the symbol for major. The IV chord is a major 7th. Honestly I think the lack of strong resolution may be part of the point. It just kinda hangs out, avoiding the tonic for 8 or so bars (sometimes nearly the entire tune), until the songwriter brings it home with a ii-V-I or IV-V-I.

😂 I can’t believe I just got rickrolled in the comments. Nice. And I’m still singing it in my head.

What's the name of this one IVMaj7 - III7 - vi - v?? (EG. JUST THE TWO OF US) very similar...

I've been calling it the Hey Jude progression....

I was calling it the "Back In Black." To me, "Mixolydian Vamp" would just be I-bVII.

I love that progression… I think it’s the progression from the outro of “I Know The End” by Phoebe Bridgers.

@@DavidBennettPiano It's also from the verses of "Mad world", and the rotational variant is from the chorus of "Love really hurts without you" by Billy Ocean. Also, thank you for another amazing video!

@@DavidBennettPiano it’s the progression for the middle section! The outdo is i-bVI-IV in the parallel minor to the key used in most of the song

I-V-ii-IV will always be the Closing Time progression to me, no matter how many times Taylor Swift uses it

@@wyssmaster great song!!

The Bible is truth. Please read at least three books of the Bible, Genesis, Mathew, and one of personal choice. As you do practice forgiveness. This is an important key step. To be forgiven we must forgive. You must do the inner work Jesus Christ taught. Start by forgiving your parents. They’ve loved you. They should be easiest. Look inside for those grievances we all build up and genuinely within your heart, forgive. Mean it. That’s they key. This step is crucial. Breaking down before Jesus Christ and asking for forgiveness really only works once you’ve put his teachings into practice in your life. Please trust me. Jesus Christ is the way truth and life

@@jamesmayle3787 What on earth has that got to do with either this upload or my comment? . . . Nothing. Absolutely nothing. This is a perfect example of zealotism flying in the face of all rationality or reasonableness. Pointless and irrelevant for anything at all to do with David's upload.

Thanks! 😀

"The Bozo Vamp" :-)

Stadium Anthem Vamp... Love it. It may be the best mode for audience participation/sing-alongs - making everyone feel happy

It's amazing how the same progression can sound so different in different hands!

The Monster Mash is my absolute favourite 1/6/4/5

A while ago I listened to some anime songs thinking "what's the "anime" ingredient in there?" as chord progression couldn't be the only thing. If some of you have more insight on this one I'll be glad to listen.

@@MisterL777 Adam Neely has a good video on it that might help answer that question ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-gFXcwv9XISc.html . it might also be the type of instruments used, or that it uses more extensions to be jazzier

@Zeffo Thank you

imma pitch in vi-iii-IV-I

Also the "Sensitive Female Progression"

@@SelfPropelledDestiny indeed

The Bible is truth. Please read at least three books of the Bible, Genesis, Mathew, and one of personal choice. As you do practice forgiveness. This is an important key step. To be forgiven we must forgive. You must do the inner work Jesus Christ taught. Start by forgiving your parents. They’ve loved you. They should be easiest. Look inside for those grievances we all build up and genuinely within your heart, forgive. Mean it. That’s they key. This step is crucial. Breaking down before Jesus Christ and asking for forgiveness really only works once you’ve put his teachings into practice in your life. Please trust me. Jesus Christ is the way truth and life

This kind of sound (to my untrained ears at least!) ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Bs5QGN-zhwM.html

i thought exactly the same thing!

ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-IJMds3jT7c8.html

I was thinking "Night Moves".

Almost “The Way It Is - Bruce Hornsby”

I give a lot of credit to producers for making a hit out of something that would otherwise be one of a hundred similar songs--something that people would otherwise be bored with the week it came out. They come up with inversions and extensions of chords, tweak effects, add overdubs, bring in just the right guy to mix it, etc. It's an art form all its own.

Cheers!

Cheers 😊😊

Cheers Alan!

So what are you favourite ones based on?

Thanks!

Thanks!!

Thanks!

Thanks!