Taylor Swift's 5 favourite chord progressions

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Taylor Swift has an interesting habit of returning to the same old chord progressions time and time again. So I decided to go through her entire discography and work out which chord progressions she is using the most.
Here’s the full list of songs for each chord progression I talk about in this video:
I V vi IV
- Should've Said No
- Teardrops On My Guitar
- Bye bye baby
- Love story
- Champagne problems
- Mean
- Crazier
- Change
- All too well
- Eyes open
- I knew you were trouble
- Out of the woods
- Clean
- This love
- The archer
- Midnight Rain
- Cornelia street
- We were happy
- Cold as you
- Epiphany
- Christmas Must Be Something More
I V ii IV
- Wildest dreams
- I know places
- Beautiful eyes
- Only the young
- Crazier
- Invisible
- Fearless
- The outside
- Tied together with a smile
- You belong with me
- Superman
- The way I loved you
- Afterglow
- Sad beautiful tragic
- Speak now
- Daylight
- Getaway car
- King of my heart
- Bigger Than The Whole Sky
- Treacherous
I vi IV V
- Blank space
- I wish you would
- Teardrops on my guitar
- White horse
- Sweeter Than Fiction
- The best day
- Ronan
- It’s time to go
- London boy
- Illicit Affairs
- Tim McGraw
- Beautiful
- Me
- Last kiss
- This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things
- Everything has changed
- New Year’s Day
vi IV I V
- Teardrops on my guitar
- You’re not sorry
- Sparks fly
- Christmas Must Be Something More
- Better than revenge
- Snow on the beach
- A Place in this World
- Haunted
- Marjorie
IV I V vi
- All you had to do is stay
- We are never ever getting back together
- Bad blood
- Wonderland
- Breath
- Tell me why
- I Don't Wanna Live Forever
- Anti hero
- Midnight rain
The outro music to this video is my track "The Longest March" which you can hear in full on Spotify: sptfy.com/davidbennett 🎶
And, an extra special thanks goes to Douglas Lind, Vidad Flowers, Ivan Pang, Waylon Fairbanks, Jon Dye, Austin Russell, Christopher Ryan, Yu Kyung Chung, Toot & Paul Peijzel, the channel’s Patreon saints! 😇
SUPPORT ME ON PATREON: / davidbennettpiano 🎹
0:00 Introduction
1:15 her 5th favourite progression
2:43 her 4th favourite progression
4:22 her 3rd favourite progression
8:22 her 2nd favourite progression
11:35 Taylor's favourite progression!
14:41 is this a problem?
16:49 Patreon

Опубликовано:

28 май 2024

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Комментарии : 1,4 тыс.

@DavidBennettPiano Год назад

Get 20% off of my music theory for beginners course with code DAVID20 over at Artmaster: www.artmaster.com/course/music-theory?+video&+theory+david+bennett 🎼🎶

@sunblock8717 Год назад

Thank you for making this video but I wish you hadn't mixed and matched the examples. It's hard to hear the full chord progression when you keep switching from one song to the next midway through. It's also hard to hear when more than one song is played at the same time.

@schitlipz Год назад

What was that telegram thing?

@DavidBennettPiano Год назад

@@schitlipz any telegram things you see on RU-vid are scams!

@schitlipz Год назад

@@DavidBennettPiano Oh. Sorry pal. Nice and quick reply. I like that. You're good at all the music stuff. Thanks for some of the things you're helping me figure out. Ok. Later.

@jpshy1130 Год назад

@@sunblock8717 I disagree He was literally playing it on the piano, and the renditions of all the songs were beautiful Please keep doing these

@thebeachisdark7 Год назад

the mashups are so beautiful!! Honestly this video was so well done and edited perfectly

@DavidBennettPiano Год назад

😊😊 thanks!

@GizzyDillespee Год назад

Right after I read your comment, I paid extra attention to the audio editing. It was right around 4:00... talk about bad timing! (I mean the deep rumble stuff... probably I wouldn't have even noticed it if not for the just reading the comment about great editing. This isn't a complaint about the rumble (it didn't bother me), just noting a weird coincidence of timing while reading g the comments. Plus, I had to pause the vid to prepare myself for the 3 truly overused chord progressions... perfect time to write my own comment...EDIT: ah, the rumble is during all the Nord recordings, I think. Maybe check for this in the future.

@delroyopondo Год назад

Honestly though,David has done an absolutely wonderful job with this

@nicetomeetyou701 Год назад

@@GizzyDillespee dude no one cares

@lolzlarkin3059 Год назад

@@DavidBennettPiano was that just a way to get around copyright strikes?

@TheMOReviewers Год назад

A lot of people mention Swift's lyrics, which are definitely very good most of the time, but I actually find her melodies her most enjoyable parts. The fact she can weave such diverse melodies and emotions over such generally simple chord structures is one of her strong suits. She also does have nice ways of mixing things up with the way she plays the chords (often incorporating some kind of drone note, or adding 9ths or sussing chords). Also, increasingly, and in part thanks to her collaboration with Jack Antonoff, her arrangements and harmonies are very interesting, and lend themselves very well to repeat listens. Edit: For instance, All Too Well, Out of the Woods and Should've Said No are very different sounding songs with completely different energies, even though they use the same chord progression.

@guitarpaul3645 Год назад

100% and absolutely correct, and what I said in my comment. I can't believe David didn't point this out in the video. Her musical genius without doubt is her outrageous gift for melody. Almost anybody can pick up a guitar and play a simple progression, but coming up with dozens and dozens of beautiful hook melodies is a LOt more challenging. "Forever and Always" is an absolute masterclass of melody. As is "Blank Space". It is great melodies that will make millions of people fall in love with your songs/music. Ask John Williams.

@two-handpianist4517 Год назад

Thank you so much for appreciating her melodies. It's what i've been trying to point out as a fan of her while explaining why i love her music so much. Repeated chord progressions, yes, but you can tell most of the times that her songs are different from each other (with a few exceptions from lover area, i think)

@TheflyingkiwiRC Год назад

Couldn't agree more. Her genius lyrical talent is only exceeded by her ability to find beautiful melodies amongst such well used chord progressions. I find this video somewhat simplistic because there are no mentions of her great middle eights or the way she moves around within the 4 chords that always seems to work.

@TheMOReviewers Год назад

@@TheflyingkiwiRC Oh yeah her bridges are goated, great point! How You Get the Girl is a great example. It's just the same 1-5-4 progression, but has such an incredibly tasty and different feeling melody over it. Loving all the points y'all are making in this thread, keep em coming!

@nuclearcatbaby1131 Год назад

I think working with Jack Antonoff too much ruins her melodies. Her self-written songs are best.

@Aleximo Год назад

I’m not even a big Swift fan but I love this, it shows how even if her genre has changed over the years she still writes similarly to her old country music

@jcarty123 Год назад

Musically, she's boring AF. And yall call it, keeping her unique style. Good one. I'll remember it the next time I want to insult-without-insulting some artist for being very, very, very limited & repetitive. "Oh, she's so loyal to her own style & vision" wink wink.

@qqw743 Год назад

Without saying I like it or dislike it, I'll say that I'd be hella bored if I were the artist. I feel the same way about 12-bar-blues artists, or reggae 2-bar bands. Dontcha wanna try something else? Especially Swift, who can do just about anything she pleases and retain fans. Try some wacky new chords, collaborations, instrumentation, beats,... I know she's a Beatles fan. Let's look at all the experimentation they did. John would have hit himself in the head with a rock if he had had to keep playing Love Me Do music, and Paul is always trying something new.

@rain.faded. Год назад

@ghost mall Using super common (and overrused) chord progressions isn't a "style" lol

@tatereis4031 Год назад

@@jcarty123 Musically everything pop is boring. She is an artist targeting teens/young girls as her audience and in that category I have mad respect. She has limited grasp of musical concepts, plays her own instrument and seems open in regards to the fact that she's not a musicians musician, this is all I can ask of a pop artist. Most of them surround themselves with incredible musicians and give little to no credit. Also, in her Demographic (Young/Teen girls), she is in a powerful position of providing consistent music to people who DONT understand theory. All of us on this channel have a higher than average understanding of what goes into making music, people who just listen to Taylor Swift have no idea she's reusing chord progressions.

@jcarty123 Год назад

@@tatereis4031 Nice tone, very nice try, I like it.... so.... I do feel sorry to point out that you're still in the position of having to defend a s--- sandwich. "everything pop is boring" - TODAY. Which gets us to the discussion of how pop since the 2000s got fundamentally less varied. Suffice to say: Even teenage girls used to demand more. Beatles, Elton John, Zep, Clash, Nirvana, even Michael Jackson - all writing for teenage girls, all tried to make each track different from the last.

@vvilliam5677 Год назад

I think these chord progressions also elicit a pretty strong emotional reaction which is why they’re so effective

@AutPen38 Год назад

Much of modern pop has something in common with old folk songs or nursery rhymes. The harmonies are so predictable and comforting, but a bit too childlike or even boring to those of us that grew up in a different era. That said, Taylor must be greatly talented to keep finding something new and interesting to say over chords we've heard millions of times.

@Samantha-vlly Год назад

@@AutPen38 I was never a listener to her song and belong to Gen Z, but I agree. I listen mostly old pop songs from 70s and 80s simply because of how creative their overall making of that music.

@TrevorParsnips Год назад

Taylor is pretty lazy at this

@silly_hue-wheat 8 месяцев назад

expression and delivery too

@catsinwonderland7473 7 месяцев назад

@@TrevorParsnipsnah

@morganontheviolin Год назад

I second the lyrics being the key selling point of her music. I think the variety of styles and layers of textures she and the musicians she works with are able to bring in with instrumentation also helps keep her music fresh. Also, great job on the mashups.

@RadioMuse1 Год назад

I agree with all of that. I also think she focuses deeply on the rhythm of the vocal as well as the melody. I would imagine the chords - initially sketched out on piano or guitar - are secondary in her writing process to the lyrics and the means by which they're delivered. I doubt that she writes to backing tracks very often (I think I remember an interview regarding "Out of the Woods" that attested to that - because that was a Jack Antonoff backing track that Taylor then wrote to - which was unusual for her). Anecdotally - when I've tried to write songs melody-first* I tend to find the chord progressions naturally end up pretty simple - a lot of 2, 3, or 4 chord loops and consisting of only I IV V and vi. I can jazz it up with substitutions, but that can easily start stepping on the the vocal. And in pop music there's no bigger crime than stepping on the vocal. *I typically write "harmony first" - which I think is pretty common of "rock" and "jazz" musicians and less so of "pop" musicians. But by writing that way and trying to craft the melody to fit the chords it's a lot easier to end up with "special" chord changes.

@jaydenli8089 Год назад

^^ this

@guitarpaul3645 Год назад

Yes, the lyrics are important to many of her fans, but one thing that was overlooked here was Taylor's utterly amazing sense of melody. Melody, and strong melodies at that, are a huge key to making memorable songs that people fall in love with. Her variety in melody makes songs which happen to have the same progression sound distinctly different harmonically.

@guitarpaul3645 Год назад

@Hazel Allison As a percentage, the songs she has "written to track" are pretty small. Taylor's real musical brilliance is her melody composition, and she is still doing that even if someone else crafted a backing track. On 1989, "I Wish You Would" has an awesome vocal melody hook, and she composed that. And it would be no different if she was in a band.. other members coming up with various instrument parts. I think she really enjoys writing with others because it is fun. Even when she takes a song she essentially wrote herself (like Blank Space .. pretty much) to a producer, there's a ton of fun to be had adding all the instrumentation etc.

@CG-tt3ny Год назад

The chills I get every time a new group of songs is played.

@DavidBennettPiano Год назад

😃😃

@MikeShawaluk Год назад

The first time you played the 4 chords of her most used progression (I V vi IV), my mind automatically filled in "... speaking words of wisdom, let it be."

@BeatlesCentricUniverse Год назад

Amen!

@blunderr6113 Год назад

As did my mind lol

@PaulRippey Год назад

Me too!

@guitarpaul3645 Год назад

Yeah, a progression is just a backbone. The melodies make the song. Let It Be is a beautiful melody. And Taylor is a first class melodist.

@noradosmith Год назад

I swear sometimes the internet just reads my mind

@habsmcj Год назад

This just gave me the sudden urge to learn every single Taylor Swift song on piano.

@jaybonn5973 29 дней назад

I appreciate the subtle effort to make these medley transition nicely between each other. That's how you know you care about the music, becuase you want it to ound nice even when you're making a point.

@mathmusicstructure 11 месяцев назад

This actually turned out to be a demonstration of how much the melody makes the song.

@kristinabeiermann Год назад

Thank you for the way this was presented. I feel like I’ve seen these types of videos before where the person calls this type of pattern “lazy and bad writing” because of the repeated chord progressions. But this was very educational and respectful of Taylor’s craft, which I appreciate so much.

@guitarpaul3645 Год назад

Anyone who says it's lazy and bad is just wrong. A chord progression is just the harmonic backbone of a song, the melodies, rhythms and instrumentation and arrangements create a unique song. And Taylor is a genius melodist.. melody is where it's at. Nobody, and I mean nobody, does it better than she does.

@guitarcontestthrowaway7809 Год назад

It may not be bad, but it is lazy and leads to predictable melodies.

@caitlinx4962 Год назад

@@guitarcontestthrowaway7809 if you think her melodies are boring and predictable you’re clearly unfamiliar with her music

@floh2959 Год назад

@@guitarcontestthrowaway7809 agreed

@GoodFang Год назад

@@guitarcontestthrowaway7809 you think you have a clue but you don't.

@kxxn693 Год назад

The entire Red album was written the with C G Am F chords (not in that order, but only those chords were used). That album is completely versatile and is a great example how four chords can change so much Edit: I meant 1-5-6-4 chords, not C G Am F

@mirufiyu4810 Год назад

I remember learning to play guitar because of Taylor Swift and her Fearless album has a lot of D A Em G chord songs, easiest way for me to learn guitar with my favorite songs of her that time 😍

@rokale7418 Год назад

And how to give another boring, commercial, uninventive album

@kayajones7629 Год назад

actually if I remember correctly, Red was mostly in the key of E. So E A Bb and C#m. there may have been a song or two in C (all too well maybe), but saying that C G Am and F were the only chords used on the entire album is very not true.

@kxxn693 Год назад

@@kayajones7629 actually I meant that if you play all the songs on the guitar, you can capo it for some songs and it'll all end up using those four chords. For example, you can capo your guitar on the 4th fret and play those chords and the result would be Red

@Jojo13Lorin Год назад

By the way- this is called the I- V- vi- IV progression; it's relative to whatever key the song is set in

@ziggystardog Год назад

Oh boy, the Swifties are going to love this. Might take their mind off of Ticketmaster.

@joeyscerbo7776 Год назад

I think everybody should be thinking about how awful Ticketmaster is, not just Swifties

@CommanderGinyu Год назад

As a European Swiftie I have no connection to Ticketmaster whatsoever and since she’s probably not even doing a European tour this time I care even less. She’s just not popular enough here which is a shame but I still think Americans overstate her worldwide popularity

@erik5374 Год назад

I think David is very aware of the Swifties jumping onto this vid.. Might be interesting what Swift inc. is going to do. The vid is for educational use and friendly to artist and fans.

@ziggystardog Год назад

Like the video, the comment’s intended to be neutral, read into it what you will. Swifties aren’t exactly known for their nuanced online behavior, or understanding of issues. Hard to say how many knew of Ticketmaster’s history with Vedder or Pearl Jam until they “discovered” it. Or whether they’d stick around for David’s summary at video’s end or how they’d take it. Swift’s music is perfectly fine in my book, but I’m more impressed by her storytelling and production. Her fandom is another story, but that may be more a product of it growing up with social media. I feel Swift could do more to tame its more toxic elements, however.

@LovestarVGC 2 месяца назад

@@CommanderGinyujust wanted to drop in and say this comment aged like Milk 😂

@AP-ds9pj Год назад

It’s so weird when I heard the I V ii IV chord progression by itself, I instantly recognised it and it made me feel like home.

@halaileybailey Год назад

As soon as I heard it, I thought of Getaway Car and Wildest Dreams, which are my two favorite TS songs haha

@sunlakestar2549 Год назад

I think it's her most recognizable chord, at least for me anyways. I heard it and started blasting out all the songs that came up after. For her #1 chord progression, I didn't actually recognize it until Love Story.

@MJ-he1hf Год назад

Hearing all her songs mixed together so beautifully made me so emotional 😭 You are absolutely right about these chord progressions being a familiar "bed" for her lyrics and stories to lay on. That is why so many like me always come back to her music. It's ever-changing but always feels like home 🥰

@Razalhague Год назад

Interesting to note is that her 4th and 5th most common progressions (vi-IV-I-V and IV-I-V-vi) have the same chords in the same order, they just start the loop in a different place.

@mastod0n1 Год назад

It's also the same as her most used chord progression. It's just the axis of awesome chord progression but with different starting points.

@dragonspider275 Год назад

your mashups here are really beautiful! as a huge swiftie, I was amazed at how many times some of these have been used great video!

@absolving Год назад

don't you feel like a fool when you realise your favourite musician is just recycling the same shit over and over again?

@J11R6B97 Год назад

i think a very cool thing of hers is that she can hold on to a chord for a long time. many people go through the progression very quickly, but she usually holds each chord in the progression for a long time, making the melody kind of more satisfying. that's why she doesn't need that many weird or varied chords, because her melodies already do so much within each single chord

@SheetFiber Год назад

I think the ability to create an interesting melody is one of her very strong points. It's so catchy, even with just using a common chord progression. Freaking 41 different sequences of melodies and lyrics written in just 2 chords progression and all of them sounds different but still nice and catchy. Not many artists can pull that stuff. Buying her album is not something I regret. It mostly contains 15++ songs (over 60 minutes) and all of them sound nice.

@guitarpaul3645 Год назад

Bingo. Her melodies are her genius.

@noradosmith Год назад

Agreed. It's incredible really how she does it. Her last album hasn't got a bad track on it. They're all catchy.

@oliverwarren1074 Год назад

@@noradosmith When you (and others) say "she", are you suggesting she writes her own melodies? There's like half a dozen people credited each on these tracks.

@jasonfanclub4267 Год назад

Her melodies or the melodies of her composers? 👀

@guitarpaul3645 Год назад

@@jasonfanclub4267 What?!? Do you know anything about Taylor? She composes virtually all her songs herself. More than 50 of her songs are solo written (including an entire album), and include some of her BEST songs like Red, Forever and Always, Love Story, and Blank Space (yep, she wrote that on guitar, Max Martin just changed into a synth pop track and helped with arrangement). When she collaborates, she usually does most of the vocal melodies, on songs like Out Of The Woods, Wish You Were and Getaway Car.

@zachary963 Год назад

As a huge fan of what some might consider weird music, here’s a takeaway I have: All of these chord progressions are strictly diatonic. There’s nothing weird about them. That makes them feel comfortable and familiar, and easy to listen to. Contrast that with songs like Bliss by Muse, which is in C minor for the verses and switches to C major for the chorus, or The Cure’s song End which has a G minor, G major, F sus2 chord progression. Chromatic and adventurous chord progressions like that intentionally interrupt the flow, change the mood, and shake your foundation, and probably would not be appropriate for storyteller songwriting like Taylor uses, simply because it would be distracting.

@Stratlover Год назад

True! Im not a fan of her music, but i listen edm music mostly, these chord progressions are edms base of emotion, and im happy with it

@leikfroakies Год назад

She also uses unconventional chord progressions on occasion which are only unconventional when used on occasion. Not exactly the same thing but the reason her two 5/4 songs (tolerate it and closure) work so well is because they break from convention and use the time signature to convey a very specific message - the cognitive dissonance of unappreciated love or a situation in which the narrator is barely holding back her anger

@elmo44449999 Год назад

It's worth noting that she uses some chromatic chords too (like in Lover or Sweet Nothing); they're just not among her most common progressions.

@merna5685 Год назад

this doesn't make any sense, especially considering how a lot of folk and popular songs are written in modes (like Mixolydian or Dorian). You can write songs in non diatonic way it has nothing to do with interrupting the flow

@womplestilskin Год назад

@@merna5685 modes are diatonic, you have to go outside the key to be non diatonic. There's 7 diatonic modes in any key.

@NeonRadarMusic Год назад

A student of mine told me that she has a friend who only knows 4 chords and played the same 4 chords for an hour and figured out 20 Taylor songs. Also, you should really do a video on Bob Dylan's chord progressions. A lot of people say that his lyrics are better than his music and while that is largely true, he's quite clever with his chord choices and very often they act as the song's main hook, more than the melody. You can recognize several Dylan songs just by the chords.

@minoena Год назад

yup

@gamer966 Год назад

wow! any particularly noteworthy examples?

@NeonRadarMusic Год назад

@@gamer966 Simple Twist of Fate, Idiot Wind, Just Like A Woman, Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands, Hurricane, Dark Eyes, As I Went Out One Morning, It's Alright Ma, This Wheel's On Fire and many more.

@gamer966 Год назад

@@NeonRadarMusic thanks a lot! have a nice day

@ricocinna 6 месяцев назад

@@NeonRadarMusic perfect!

@nilzor 5 месяцев назад

I don’t listen to contemporary music but it’s refreshing to know that someone still uses the good old I vi IV V progression

@kevincaz Год назад

Yo, give this to Taylor Swift, she's gonna need it for all the mashups in the Eras Tour 😂

@ricocinna 6 месяцев назад

she just did a mashup in Buenos Aires. I'm hoping she'll do more!

@Mololo Год назад

This teaches us music, not that she is limited. A Chord progression contains infinite songs.

@Jantonov1 Год назад

Bennett doesn't really say that. Clearly he has respect for Taylor but what I got from the video is that she repeats herself often. And that's her sound.

@LS-us1jm Год назад

No she’s pretty limited

@viktor_h787 Год назад

@@LS-us1jm limited or not, she the 3rd biggest artist in the world on spotify so who cares

@happygilmore8321 Год назад

@@viktor_h787 the people who would care are those who know better songwriters and artists exist out there and aren't getting the recognition they deserve. While someone else can repeat the same chord progression 21 times and make it to the top 10. Not saying she's bad or lazy even, just that other people may also deserve that kind of recognition. I like Taylor Swift tho. She has some great music

@viktor_h787 Год назад

@@happygilmore8321 yeah but you cant force the people to discover said great songwriters. it either happens or doesnt happen, so we might as well not shit on the ppl that are currently in the spotlight

@rachelwyen Год назад

I’ve been arranging covers of 13 songs from each of her albums (did 13 Days of Red last year for the re-recording release) so thanks for saving me a lot of time going forward 😂 Also the mashups are a great example of how she could go about performing more than 10% of her output for the Eras tour. 👏

@MJ-he1hf Год назад

Can you imagine if she did huge mashup/medleys like this on tour 😱😱 Amazing 😭

@jennym7786 11 месяцев назад

@@MJ-he1hf i remember when she did a medley of back to decemeber/apologize/you're not sorry during her speak now tour and i loved that arrangement, especially with the strings.

@darcycordell2757 Год назад

Also, 3 of the 5 chord progressions are just shifted versions of each other (the chord sequences are identical, it's just which chord you start on that changes). So you could play 39 of the songs using the exact same loop of chords, you would just need to shift the start of your lyrics phrasing.

@georgiak8803 Год назад

i remember learning all too well on the piano for the first time and being like "cool..." and then i learned champagne problems and i was like "woahhhh these are the same chords!!" and then learning cornelia street... "THESE ARE STILL THE SAME CHORDS!!" i do realize i chose the most similar-sounding songs out of all her songs with this chord progression (what can i say i love a good cry) but i love how she uses melodies, lyrics, beats and other parts of the song to make songs with even the most basic chords extremely intriguing and different from each other. great video!!

@thesahel7218 Год назад

this is inspiring. it always feels a bit like cheating anytime i use a chord progression more than once

@badgasaurus4211 Год назад

I’d say it is

@slidenaway Год назад

@@badgasaurus4211 well cheating seems to contribute to Taylor’s massive success so… why wouldn’t you cheat lol

@bonkknob3240 Год назад

@@badgasaurus4211 how

@thesahel7218 Год назад

@@badgasaurus4211 it's statistically impossible. There are only so many progressions and songwriters write hundreds of songs (usually all in genre)

@ninabru7528 Год назад

@@badgasaurus4211 why?

@altheaosborn2648 Год назад

Let's also remember that Taylor has a discography of over 200 songs at this point. Most artists are lucky to ever reach that number. Of course there's gonna be stuff that gets repeated.

@craigmoon2121 Год назад

That's what I was thinking. This video was well-presented though.

@keith1222 Год назад

The Beatles had well over 200 songs (in only 7 years), but I don't hear them constantly repeating themselves by using the same chords and the same (autotuned) sound.

@craigmoon2121 Год назад

@@keith1222 Autotune's kinda a problem with modern music, but Taylor's a really bad example of complaining about autotune cuz she hardly ever uses it.

@leon723 Год назад

It's a LOT of repeating, not just some stuff.

@rokale7418 Год назад

@@craigmoon2121 WHAT? You have big ear problems if you don't hear the use of her autotune on her songs

@rosehipowl Год назад

I really like your conclusion to this, that chords are colours and painting and liking the same colours isn't always a bad thing. I think Taylor Swift does it well because while I knew some of her songs had similar progressions, I had no idea about the amount that shared the exact same ones (and I've been a big Taylor Swift fan since my teenage years when I first heard Love Story). They sound similar but different enough, and I enjoy that, honestly. It made me curious about an album that's just one singular progression but each song is done differently, trying to make it sound unique despite sharing that progression. I don't know if anyone has done this - and I'm definitely not the right person to do this!!! - but I would be really interesting in it if they have.

@ReprobateMind Год назад

I like this idea alot, I'm probably going to steal it for a project. But I'll let you know when it's done haha

@91fallings Год назад

replying here so that i’ll get notified cause i’m genuinely curious and excited about the project :)

@VivekPatel-ze6jy Год назад

@@91fallings Same :)

@atomsofstardust Год назад

Honestly, it’s quite understandable that these are her favorite chords if you remember her background is playing a guitar and all that country music. Those chords (C, G, D, Am, F) are basically the most popular chords and kinda the first chords any person learning a guitar would in fact learn. Lots of rock music (played with a guitar obviously) is played basically with only those chords, with a few additions here and there. It all makes sense. She isn’t some Jimi Hendrix type of a person, she’s a lyricist first, so it makes sense that her music might be seen as quite basic in terms of chords. UPD: corrected guitar virtuoso's name

@locustkllr Год назад

Exactly and those 5 chords are also physically easy to play and mess around with. When was the last country or pop music song that had a Bm7 in it?

@pedrofauluchi7540 Год назад

Not only because of the lyrics. For someone that likes to improvise on a base (not taylor's case), those chords are simple and easy to play with

@memeteam2692 Год назад

@@locustkllr F physically easy to play???

@mikebarrett1466 Год назад

@@memeteam2692 lol

@wingracer1614 Год назад

@@locustkllr I have no idea and I'm not about to go looking for it (I hate country) but I'd be willing to bet Kieth Urban has played it.

@thehecticglow_ Год назад

When I taught myself to play guitar, all I played was Taylor Swift songs because I could play so many of them with the few chords I knew. Definitely an interesting topic for a video! It brought me back to that for a minute

@CurbsideCurse Год назад

Even as a budding music theory snob (and marginal TS fan), I've never detected all these chord progressions she uses so much--I think it's a bit of a testament to how she's able to make them sound so different with her lyrics, vocal melodies and rhythms, etc. It's cool; thanks for the video!

@milanforever7014 Год назад

if you haven't detected that, you are obviously not a music theory snob dude sorry

@guitarpaul3645 Год назад

Exactly, it's her MELODIES that are her genius, and she creates so many memorable and beautiful ones. That's what maked people fall in love with her songs... melody is always the strongest suit in music IMHO.

@cherrymelonlps Год назад

your mashups give me major goosebumps. as someone who’s grown up with taylor, they hit so hard. someone must be cutting onions in here

@jacval6765 Год назад

Awesome video. I feel like the reason Taylor uses so many simple chord progressions stems from the fact that she focuses so heavily on lyricism and telling a story in her songs which can be difficult to portray on top of having complex chord progressions

@AutPen38 Год назад

In the past, there were "storytelling songs" that also had chord structures that wandered off in interesting directions (e.g. The Beatles), but I don't think modern audiences have the attention spans that listeners had in the past. We all just want simplicity served up these days. Fast food microwave pop music. There's nothing wrong with it, per se, as the world has changed since the old days, but one has to wonder where pop goes next. I can't see any reason why we'd go back to using 8 or 10 different chords in a song, when the message can be understood with 3 or 4.

@zeejay4458 Год назад

So it’s fair to say T Swift is bad at guitar then right? Because she’s a lyricist first?

@nuclearcatbaby1131 Год назад

Danny Elfman wrote very complex music for his band Oingo Boingo but his lyrics were really good as well. Though I have to say that his songs that are stronger musically are weaker lyrically and vice versa.

@aliyaf9869 Год назад

@@digitaldirtbagg David is a good musician and teacher, I wish I could get lessons from him. He knows how songs work and their structure regardless of who he’s talking about. He’s never bashed an artist but understands things from their point of view. He’s one of my favourite RU-vidrs but unfortunately he attracts a lot of pretentious music chords with one armed arguments, just like Taylor being bashed for the ‘same chord progression’ when many artists will do the same including people from the rock and punk genre.

@sirB0nes Год назад

As soon as I realized that #5 was just a cyclic reordering of the I-V-vi-IV, my immediate reaction was, "Oh, man, are they all like that? Is that the whole list?!" It's not. But, with the exception of that ii in the "Believe" progression, they are all _permutations_ of I-V-vi-IV.

@jhazscx Год назад

I thought I was the only one who pays attention to the chords Taylor uses in her songs lmao and immediately whenever she has a song with the chord progression IV I V vi, I fall in love with it because it's just beautiful. I also love it when she uses IV vi V ii like in New Romantics, it's just a pretty chord progression.

@Mermelephant Год назад

Kinda silly you thought you were the only one listening to the chords used by one of most prolific American singers of this generation.

@womplestilskin Год назад

@@Mermelephant music training is cut from education and not a lot of theory analysis is done on pop music. while you might be right in any absolute sense (there's more than a handful) the relative number of people allen might encounter in life or social media is objectively tiny.

@jhazscx 9 месяцев назад

the thing is, realistically, no one cares about chord progressions, unless you're really into music. as someone who grew up with music, I pay attention to even the tiniest details, and with Taylor, I pay attention to her chords usage. You might think it's silly but throughout my life, I have never met someone who is as interested to chords as I am. But I do agree that she is one of most prolific American singers of this generation; I can't argue with that.

@melss94ish Год назад

Hearing all of these repeated chord progressions makes me think that this is what makes so many of her songs feel familiar and like instant loves when she creates new albums and new songs. These chords are the building blocks that create the whole vibe and atmosphere we associate with her.

@adam-yk6yd Год назад

“Now you come around here just to break me like a promise / so casually cruel in the name of being honest.” That’s such a good lyric that it’s going to get people regardless of how many times you’ve heard it before

@XxBloggs Год назад

That’s not what she sings. It’s “and you call me up again just to break me like a promise”

@StephenJPilat Год назад

These mashups made me cry. Goes to show just how effective her melodies are.

@jayazoriginal4879 Год назад

You've Just sensitive

@craigmoon2121 Год назад

@@jayazoriginal4879 It's nearly impossible for anyone with a heart to listen to Ronan without at least wanting to tear up though.

@luisjalabert8366 18 дней назад

and here I was, wondering who could like this trash, most generic and boring kind of music...

@aurelien_mo7388 Год назад

Thanks for being so humble, modest and benevolent ♥️

@DavidBennettPiano Год назад

Thank you!

@christywillis1707 Год назад

Ok, I've never really been a Swiftie, but the mashups you made were so beautiful that it's got me interested in digging into some of her back catalog to see if I can get more into it. Great video!

@HoustonPaul Месяц назад

I think it really shows her roots in country music. It’s about the story, not complicated arrangements.

@icydelight3693 Месяц назад

Taylor’s musical talent doesn’t lay in using complex chord progressions… it’s about creating melodies and bridges that stick in your head over simple chord progressions… and in that regard, she knows how to create a hook like few others. Also, lyrically she does have a great touch, she knows how to put feelings into words. That’s why she is so successful. How about we appreciate the fact that she actually writes her own music, sings it live and play her instruments while singing? Most pop artists these days don’t play instruments and have their songs written for them by others. Pop music as a whole mostly relies on repetitive chords progressions… but what makes a song great is not just how complex it is! The point of a pop song is that it has to be catchy and that it’s supposed to make you feel something, Taylor succeeds at it. Besides, while she has indeed used repetitive chord progressions, she has changed genres and themes many times, so overall I’d say her artistry is pretty diverse. Complexity for the sake of complexity isn’t a synonym of good quality

@odarting Год назад

Fantastic video! The amount of work involved in splicing and tempo-shifting those mashups must have been immense, but so worth it. Chord recycling aside, I think Taylor’s genius (and yes, i think she is one) is in finding unique and memorable hooks that fit over these classic progressions. Her lyrics are relatable and often striking too, but her melodic sense is unmatched, while never being pretentious (unlike this comment 😬)

@djnoy842 8 месяцев назад

Agree!

@ricocinna 6 месяцев назад

Love 😃

@michaelwood3099 Год назад

Lots of artists do exactly the same, virtually all Noel Gallagher songs are Wonderwall with a different melody. What you say is so true, if the listener likes something then they usually want more of the same.

@katiukulele Год назад

I know I already said it but it deserves it's own comment alone: The vocal editing showing the progressions and songs and how they work together are brilliant! Beautiful! Amazing!

@SketchyTigers Год назад

I think to me her 2nd most common progression I V ii VI is what I most associate with her music. It might just be that they're the songs I listened most to other than her axis of awesome progression

@zacyoung6411 Год назад

It feels like coming home. I can’t describe it any other way

@gudegudemeh5195 Год назад

Same! A lot of my most favorite songs from her are in the list.

@heyjude6680 Год назад

all of those mashups were so beautiful and actually got me emotional 😭😭

@oakvalepennybridge Год назад

I think this makes me respect her more as a songwriter actually, to have reused the same progressions so many times but without the songs sounding like each other. I've never noticed any of her songs being just like an old one. That's impressive

@Cj-ny8tf Год назад

How can you use the same 5 chords and still make it sound new and fresh every time you apply it to a song. Taylor!!!!!!! How?!!!!

@Luna-zx4nc Год назад

I dont know a thing about music theory but the proof in the mashups are amazing

@CalvinG973 Год назад

As a Taylor fan, I love to sing the lyrics of one TS song over the chord progression of another when I hear they match, and I try to see how many other of her songs I can fit in. She is such a talented storyteller and songwriter that the chords are just the vessel for her words - and she is a pop writer after all so… those satisfying chords are gonna come up a lot to make hit songs.

@genevievermore7930 Год назад

These mashups give me chills. I need full versions

@KevinMAbraham Год назад

i think one of the reason why she used repetitions chord in her discography is because whenever she writes a song, she IMMEDIATELY goes to those chords cause of the sense of familiarity and “comfortability”. When she felt comfortable to use that, the hands are on autopilot and she can focused her energy and creativity on the melodies, lyric, storyline, structure, while all remembering how she felt, what mood to represent, and basically the whole other packages that made the song (even with same chord progression over and over again) make each songs feel different and authentic.

@elizabethwaldorf9275 Год назад

Really good video. The production of this was so creative in how you mixed the examples of the songs.

@tylerappleby9 Год назад

Dude the mashups are masterfully done - your quantization skills are insane 👍

@Joffa1994 Год назад

chills mate listening to the compilation of Taylor songs clipped together

@rachael7181 Год назад

I love your videos but this video has quickly become such a calming presence for me, something about your voice and how the video is arranged. Was super anxious today and this really helped.

@LindaDulcinea Год назад

So insane that these songs all sound so different. I can’t handle this woman’s genius. Great mashups in this video!

@jonasvalero Год назад

Lol, it doesn't take a a genius to write familiar music once you recognize a pattern.

@Will-sb4hf Год назад

@@jonasvalero Then why are not having more people like her?

@rickytikitavi4101 9 месяцев назад

@Will-sb4hf Because most people don't have the rare combination of good looks, determination, and an extremely wealthy family.

@rommel500 8 месяцев назад

lol "genius"

@jfacts2113 7 месяцев назад

they don't sound different at all and there is nothing genius in what she does. you can find these melodies in countless other songs done before

@sirkomic8474 Год назад

Nice work! I always watch your videos, cuz I find they help me with my guitar journey! Keep making videos!

@jasonanthonywebster8859 Год назад

I really did enjoy the mash ups, I've had my fill of Taylor for the day haha! Thank you for the wonderful explanation and tips of what chords are best to use.

@whatandiesupto Год назад

the intense effort put into this video is astounding- as a major swiftie thank you!!!!

@lisa_vxng Год назад

"when she re-recorded it a couple of years ago" ... i know time feels weird but Red (TV) only came out last november

@deerlyXO Год назад

I appreciate how much work you put in this video!!! I love Taylor and I’ve been working on playing some songs on piano and this makes things so much easier. Not to mention the mashups and editing. Thanks for this (:

@aaronclift Год назад

I guess you could say that she Taylors her music to her lyrics.

@DavidBennettPiano Год назад

😂

@mmdrums97 Год назад

really appreciated your mashups here. great video

@nvadqs 3 месяца назад

What a video! So much work behind! The second you put for me sounds Cold Play

@andyking7437 Год назад

This is a great video, thanks for being so thorough and informed. I do agree that the lyrics are why we keep coming back to her music, but for her there is also an element of performing the songs. She often plays her own instruments, there are so many words to all her songs lol and she’s also performing with her entire self. There’s only so much room for mistakes this way, and allows her to mash the songs together easily when singing live

@J.M.81 Год назад

Can’t blame her - those progressions are so in our ears - they just will work. Thanks for this Video (I never followed her)

@Esmee11111 Год назад

I love the mashups! So well done and sounds really pretty 😊

@arcynic5404 10 месяцев назад

I love how Bennet never criticizes Taylor Swift for her repetitiveness, he presents a neutral video with respect for her music. Also, since he doesn't criticize her, he's left all the fun for me!

@ereiniongil-galad Год назад

Can we just appreciate the fact that this guy took the time to go through Swift's WHOLE DISCOGRAPHY? And not just to casually have it as background music, but to be listening carefully to each song, looking for similar chord progressions? At 200+ songs (according to one of the comments here - I didn't count for myself), that's gonna take an incredibly LONG time (speaking partially from personal experience). Huge props to this guy for his dedication!!!

@swan6630 11 месяцев назад

Ikr!! He even included songs like Crazier, Only the Young, the Christmas songs, and Beautiful Eyes! Massive respect

@Mhochul Год назад

The sheer volume of songs she has written and released I had no doubt that she would repeat chords

@Cordovsify Год назад

video production on point. explanations on point. summarization on point. subscribed.

@LaurierLachance Год назад

Love the concept and execution of this! Beautiful to watch, easy to follow. 🤙

@barryfarmer5325 Год назад

Interesting piece and your comment at the end, that TS is simply using a reliable foundation for her story-telling is very true. They may have similar chords but they certainly don't all sound the same! (By the way, you're picking-up a lot of low-freq. stuff on your mic - you might try a bit of roll-off).

@eryqeryq Год назад

Now I want full length Swift + Swift + Swift mashups

@EjayT06 Год назад

Wow. All I can say is wow... what an amazingly compiled and edited video. Thoroughly explained the use of each of the chord progressions which was amazing, and the mashups of each of the songs that use the chord progressions were absolutely beautiful. Genuinely incredible, appreciate the hard work. Wish more people put this much effort into their videos, it's definitely something to admire!

@kylehouston5393 Год назад

This is simply brilliant! Thank you so much for giving me my Saturday morning Taylor buzz - those mashups are so good!

@SongsbyCharleneApril Год назад

Thank you! Very cool! It’s like chocolate chip cookies have certain ‘main’ ingredients but can taste quite different depending on the person (or company) that makes them. She makes sweet songs because she has a solid base recipe and then her lyrics/vocals are the different added ingredients or toppings.

@pacorka9943 Год назад

I get so hyped for every new video of yours!! Also, no copyright issues for these songs??

@DavidBennettPiano Год назад

Oh, rest assured, there are copyright issues 😅

@pacorka9943 Год назад

@@DavidBennettPiano Lol I figured. I don't know much about copyright but I know Taylor Swift's songs are all in a weird place being owned by her and her old record studios.

@richarddoan9172 Год назад

I'm guessing -- extract the vocals from the recording, trim to a short segment, then change them to be in the same key and tempo for the mashup. Voila! Algorithm thwarted.

@pacorka9943 Год назад

@@richarddoan9172 lol. Honestly makes sense considering the format of the video.

@jjsdumbshit2792 Год назад

the editing is crazy!!

@nvadqs Год назад

Thanks a lot. Informative, respectful, with lots of work from you behind the montages. Thanks!

@LeifNelandDk Год назад

We need an Axis of Awesome medley of Taylor Swift songs

@chainringcalf Год назад

I don't know how anyone can belittle this style of songwriting while praising 12-bar blues, or minor pentatonic solos, or any other genre-defining trope. It serves its purpose beautifully, even if it's not the purpose some of us would prefer.

@jcarty123 Год назад

Yes, Taylor Swift is the new Robert Johnson! So gritty! So authentic! No one can share the pain of being a wealthy female celebrity like Taylor!😜

@BeatlesCentricUniverse Год назад

@@jcarty123 Trying to be funny and edgy, but dumb comment really.

@jcarty123 Год назад

@@BeatlesCentricUniverse If (if) that's your manner of defending Taylor's poor "music", your criticism works out as a compliment. Thank you.

@BeatlesCentricUniverse Год назад

@@jcarty123 I stand by my 1st comment.

@jcarty123 Год назад

@@BeatlesCentricUniverse Pissing off Taylor-supporting dummies isn't my chief intention - yet proves to be fun anyway.

@redcory2637 4 месяца назад

Great study of popular chord progressions. I didn't know many of these songs, and may have gained more respect for Taylor as a musician. Love how he explains and makes like medleys of songs to demonstrate the progression he's highlighting.

@AndrewChinco Год назад

I love this video so much. Thank you for the hard work you've clearly put into it.

@T_Mo271 Год назад

All those progressions tend to form nice comfy loops. They set a mood for the story in the lyrics. Seems to work just fine.

@jonmaddison Год назад

Great timing for me, seeing this, as I just created a cover of Love Story which has 1564 in the chorus but also other progressions in the verses, refrain and bridge. And a massive key change at the end.

@ruru.242 3 месяца назад

This vidio is edited so beautifully and perfectly!

@KatherinePierce7 Год назад

This is such a great video and I adore the mashups!

@stereoroid Год назад

Cardigan caught my ear, it got me doing some analysis to figure out what what’s going on. Eb Major, with the verses going ii V IV V, no I until the chorus. Later the vi is used oddly, sometimes vi V IV.

@Gand0har Год назад

Thank's for this massive effort you put into these videos! I have an video idea: There is a long tradition of these 'story-telling songs' in pop music you mentioned at the end of your video. All the classic song writers have a few 5min+ songs with a simple chord progression looped throughout. Newer examples I can think of are eg by Father John Misty or also The National (Not in Kansas)

@livelurklaugh Год назад

this video is so cool! the editing is also well done

@jadecutter1760 Год назад

Such an awesome analysis and those mashups are beautiful!! Thank you so much for your work! I’m off to listen to her the rest of the day now❤

@AutPen38 Год назад

The first thing I thought of when you showed the #5 progression was "That's the Axis loop, but starting at a different point" and then you showed #4 which was that same progression but starting on another chord. It became quite obvious what the #1 would be. It's really quite remarkable how many songs can be harmonized with simply the 1-5-6-4 chords. Congrats on this video by the way. I think it will prove to be one of your most popular uploads, but it must have driven you half mad getting all the bits together and then syncing up the various album covers. Well done!

@HappyNBoy Год назад

There's a song by the Mountain Goats where the entire first verse just goes: "This is a song with the same four chords I use most of the time When I've got something on my mind And I don't want to squander the moment Trying to come up with a better way To say what I want to say" I think there's a lot of wisdom in not putting too much effort into the process of messing with the tune when you just have to get something out of you.