What are the chords/progression to this?

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Return2forever

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soundcloud.com/hazeldizzy/keishaleisha-should-i-new

I'm having difficulty figuring out the chords and progression to this. Is it a 5-1-6-2?

Is seems like this should be really simple to figure out and maybe my approach to analysing songs isn't the best.

Any help would be much appreciated..

Thanks
 


so the main progressions is quite interesting, being a 2 bar sequence that moves up a tone and then starts over every 4 bars

E[sup]b[/sup]m-B[sup]b[/sup]m-Fm-Cm

could also be rendered as

D[sup]#[/sup]m-A[sup]#[/sup]m-Fm-Cm

or treated as extended chords of the maj 7 like so

Bmaj7-F[sup]#[/sup]maj7-C[sup]#[/sup]maj7-G[sup]#[/sup]maj7 or C[sup]b[/sup]maj7-G[sup]b[/sup]maj7-D[sup]b[/sup]maj7-A[sup]b[/sup]maj7

E[sup]b[/sup]m = D[sup]#[/sup]m = E[sup]b[/sup]-G[sup]b[/sup]-B[sup]b[/sup] = D[sup]#[/sup]-F[sup]#[/sup]-A[sup]#[/sup]
B[sup]b[/sup]m = A[sup]#[/sup]m = B[sup]b[/sup]-D[sup]b[/sup]-F = C[sup]#[/sup]-E-G[sup]#[/sup]
Fm = F-A[sup]b[/sup]-C
Cm = C-E[sup]b[/sup]-G
Bmaj7 = C[sup]b[/sup]maj7 = B-D[sup]#[/sup]-F[sup]#[/sup]-A[sup]#[/sup] = C[sup]b[/sup]-E[sup]b[/sup]-G[sup]b[/sup]-B[sup]b[/sup]
F[sup]#[/sup]maj7 = G[sup]b[/sup]maj7 = F[sup]#[/sup]-A[sup]#[/sup]-C[sup]#[/sup]-E[sup]#[/sup] = G[sup]b[/sup]-B[sup]b[/sup]-D[sup]b[/sup]-F
C[sup]#[/sup]maj7 = D[sup]b[/sup]maj7 = C[sup]#[/sup]-E[sup]#[/sup]-G[sup]#[/sup]-B[sup]#[/sup] = D[sup]b[/sup]-F-A[sup]b[/sup]-C
G[sup]#[/sup]maj7 = A[sup]b[/sup]maj7 = G[sup]#[/sup]-B[sup]#[/sup]-D[sup]#[/sup]-F[sup]##[/sup] = A[sup]b[/sup]-C-E[sup]b[/sup]-G

as such this progression avoids easy categorisation into chord number movement, as it is constantly modulating up a tone down a tone

best that can be suggested would be

iv - i - v - ii if we treat it as a minor progression

IV - I - V- II if we treat it as a major progression

been thinking about this over night and here is way to understand why this progression works:

Ebm-Bbm-Fm-Cm-Ebm etc

E[sup]b[/sup]mB[sup]b[/sup]mFmCmE[sup]b[/sup]mB[sup]b[/sup]mFmCmE[sup]b[/sup]mB[sup]b[/sup]mFmCmE[sup]b[/sup]m
B[sup]b[/sup]B[sup]b[/sup]A[sup]b[/sup]GG[sup]b[/sup]FFE[sup]b[/sup]E[sup]b[/sup]D[sup]b[/sup]CCB[sup]b[/sup]
G[sup]b[/sup]FFE[sup]b[/sup]E[sup]b[/sup]D[sup]b[/sup]CCB[sup]b[/sup]B[sup]b[/sup]A[sup]b[/sup]GG[sup]b[/sup]
E[sup]b[/sup]D[sup]b[/sup]CCB[sup]b[/sup]B[sup]b[/sup]A[sup]b[/sup]GG[sup]b[/sup]FFE[sup]b[/sup]E[sup]b[/sup]

as the progression moves forward it duplicates the notes used in its voicing by rotating the position within the chord.... put another way: the progression consists of a single descending line (B[sup]b[/sup] - B[sup]b[/sup] - A[sup]b[/sup] - G - G[sup]b[/sup] - F - F - E[sup]b[/sup] - E[sup]b[/sup] - D[sup]b[/sup] - C - C - B[sup]b[/sup]) that is shifted 4 beats/bars for each layer of the chords notes - it's kind of like a musical barbers pole
 
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Ahh I see!

So the modulation is going into a different key? If so, I'm assuming the vocalist is staying within the common notes?

Sorry for the million questions but is there a thread that goes into this more? I would like to do some brain feeding so I can implement this into my compositions.
 
not much around that actually addresses this - it is only because I was dreaming about how to explain it (I dream about the strangest things....) that I wrote the second part of my post to begin with.

this kind of elisive movement (it slides from chord to chord by retaining common tones) is a common factor in some C20 art music harmonic practices, but almost entirely uncharted in terms of pop music, although there are the occasional dalliances like this piece.

the harmonic practice referred to above is based on moving by a 3rd up or down so that the chords are related by scale tone 3rds. e.g C-Am-F-Dm-Bmb5-G-Em-C is one rendering, i.e. I-vi-IV-ii-viib5-V-iii-I. You can also play this in reverse, C-Em-G-Bmb5-Dm-F-Am-C, i.e. I-iii-V-viib5-ii-IV-vi-I

Alternatively you can apply a little parallel borrowings and come up with something like this:

C-Am-F#m-D-Bm-G-Em-C, i.e. I-vi-#iv-II-vii-V-iii-I (the F#m comes from the parallel major of A, as does the Bm)

CAmF#mDBmGEmCAmF#mDBmGEmCAmF#mDBmGEmC
CCC#DDDEEEF#F#F#GGGAAABBBC
GAAABBBCCC#DDDEEEF#F#F#GGG
EEF#F#F#GGGAAABBBCCC#DDDEE

Moving by 5ths we might get something like this:

C-F-Dm-G (I-IV-ii-V), a fairly common turnaround

CFDmGCFDmGCFDmG
GAABCCDDEFFG
EFFGGAABCCDD
CCDDEFFGGAAB
 
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