Help Analyzing a songs Chord Progression

B

BeenJammin

New member
Hey was just wondering if some people could help me really pick a part a certain chord progression and figure out why it works so good.

Bright Eyes - First Day Of My Life (Lyrics) - YouTube

Here's the track and the progression goes like this

C-E-Amin-F-G-C
C-E-Amin-D7-G x2

C-G-Amin-F-G
C-C/B-Amin-Dmin-C
Dmin-Fmin

Then repeat the whole thing, basically what i want to know is, if they are in the key of c why do they use the 2 and 3 as major for most of the song? And why does it sound so good, also why does the min fourth and why does it resolve so nice to the tonic? Basically what i'm really looking for is if their is a method to using chords like that or if its more about feeling and experimentation. any help is appreciated.
 
BeenJammin said:
Hey was just wondering if some people could help me really pick a part a certain chord progression and figure out why it works so good.

Bright Eyes - First Day Of My Life (Lyrics) - YouTube

Here's the track and the progression goes like this

C-E-Amin-F-G-C
C-E-Amin-D7-G x2

C-G-Amin-F-G
C-C/B-Amin-Dmin-C
Dmin-Fmin

Then repeat the whole thing, basically what i want to know is, if they are in the key of c why do they use the 2 and 3 as major for most of the song? And why does it sound so good, also why does the min fourth and why does it resolve so nice to the tonic? Basically what i'm really looking for is if their is a method to using chords like that or if its more about feeling and experimentation. any help is appreciated.
Click to expand...

So in the progression we can analyse it as:

C: I-III-vi-IV-V-I-III-vi-II[sup]7[/sup]-V-:||-I-V-vi-IV-V-I-V[sub]/7[/sub]-vi-ii-I-ii-iv || and so on

However, it is more instructive to analyse it as:

C: I-V/vi-vi-IV-V-I-V/vi-vi-V[sup]7[/sup]/V-V-:||-I-V-vi-IV-V-I-V[sub]/7[/sub]-vi-ii-I-ii-iv || and so on

that is to say, that the E and the D[sup]7[/sup] are both acting as dominant chords (i.e. chord V in a temporary sense) of the chords that follow, Am and G. this practice is known as using a secondary dominant, a dominant chord built on one of the secondary degrees of the major scale.

Chords I, IV and V are called primary triads; they are major chords and, more importantly, between they contain all of the notes of the tonic major scale.

Chords ii, iii and vi are called secondary triads; these are minor chords; also between them they contain all of the notes of the tonic major scale.

The dominant chord in any major scale is chord V. It has a strong push to the tonic chord, by virtue of the movement of scale tone 7 (the 3rd of the chord) pushing up to the tonic or scale tone 1. When you turn this chord into a 7th chord, there is a double of the push from it to chord I, because in addition to scale tone 7 pushing up to scale tone 1, scale tone 4 (the 7th of the chord) pulls down to scale tone 3, the 3rd of the tonic chord (I)

The Fm at the end is more of a borrowing from the parallel minor, a sub-dominant minor modal interchange, suggesting either A[sup]b[/sup] or D[sup]b[/sup] with equal possibility.

I'll come back and lay out some notation examples and include some more links to other spots and tutes I have posted here at FP on this very topic....... (secondary dominants and minor modal interchange)
 
Ok so for the E and D chords they are both being used as like an extra push to the Amin and G in s sense right. And the notes that go off probably sound good because they are the sevenths of A and G respectively, ok i think I;m getting it. What would happen if you turned the vi into a dominant chord, would it push to the second? And i'm a little lost on the parallel minor idea for the Fm. Thank you for the detailed response as always, il definitely be sure to look up secondary dominants and minor modal interchanging myself too to get a better understanding.
 
Word thank you was going to ask if you could do that. Your help is greatly appreciated as always bandcoach.

---------- Post added at 09:15 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:11 PM ----------

anything on minor modal interchanging looked real quick but didnt find anything?
 
Thank you i brought me to it pretty easily, last question and this might be kinda of stupid because i feel like its just something you play with and figure out, but if you were some normal major key when and why would you use a secondary dominant chord or a minor modal substitution.
 
Secondary dominants are about push and temporary modulation to related or unrelated keys - in poetical terms it is like shifting the rhyming scheme, or the metrical structure to emphasise a specific thought.

Similarly, in music, secondary dominants are about emphasising a musical movement:
- you might use it to underscore a melodic idea, support non-scale tone use (F[sup]#[/sup] in C major for example)
- you might use it to simply emphasise the lyrics
- in use it certainly gives a sense of having arrived at a point of rest in the progression - the intent of any V-I cadence is to come to rest if only briefly

this might explain it with more clarity, it is one I forgot to include the above set of links:
https://www.futureproducers.com/for...usic-theory-ie-prelude-e-minor-chopin-371454/
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top