I got question about chord progression

dominic94

dominic94

New member
Hello,

So today I tried to analyze the Avicii - Levels melody and I am lost on the chord progression because I just do not understand what kind of chord progression that is.

This song is on the Emajor key. And just please look at those chords here Musicnotes.com: Unsupported Browser or Operating System The chords starts at C# which is vi chord of the scale then it goes to E (I) then to B (V) and then from V chord it goes to IV chord which is against "rules" of the chord progressions. Also it goes from IV to vi chord which is wrong too.

Can somebody explain me what kind of chord progression that is, because I just do not understand.

Thanks
 
where do you get "this is wrong" from?

vi-I-V-IV and repeated is a common enough progression

According to Tchaikovsky in his text "guide to the practical study of harmony", written in 1871, all of the following progressions are permitted to the beginner (these are stated in the first few pages, he permits more later in the text after the student has mastered these):

vi-I vi-ii vi-iii vi-IV I-vi I-iii I-IV I-V ii-vi ii-IV ii-V iii-vi iii-I iii-V IV-vi IV-I IV-ii V-I V-ii V-iii (20; some of these are repeated in various forms, see diagrams below)

Tchaikovsky presents these all in reference to C major as follows:

tch-progs-01.png


-> = can move to

<-> = can move from or to

{ simply groups all possible targets/sources

note that Tchaikovsky is using capitals for major chords and lower case letters for minor chords

rendering it as we would do it today we would instead show it as

tch-progs-02.png


He further breaks the triads into 3 groups

Tonic: I and vi
Dominant: V and iii
Sub Dominant: IV and ii

from this we can further assert that the following also holds true:

ChordGoes to
II, ii, iii, IV, V, vi
iiii, IV, V, I
iiiiii, ii, IV, vi, I
IVIV, I, iii, V
VV, I, vi, IV
vivi, ii, IV, V, I

by use of direct substitution of I for vi and vi for I , IV for ii and ii for IV, V for iii and iii for V the table can be further modified to be

ChordGoes to
II, ii, iii, IV, V, vi
iiii, IV, V, I, iii, vi
iiiiii, ii, IV, vi, I, V
IVIV, I, iii, V, ii, vi
VV, I, vi, IV, iii, ii
vivi, ii, IV, V, I, iii

that is to say any chord may move to any other other chord excluding the chord built on the 7th degree of the major scale

this contradicts the advice given over here but is a better translation of Tchaikovsky's intent
 
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Bandcoach gave you one way to look at it....

Another way would be. Why are you so caught up in the "rules" that his song doesn't work. I can tell you that "levels" house track made avicii huge! Such a catchy track that got everybody moving even if you didn't like that kind of stuff.

Don't take music so literally by the book man, if it sounds good it sounds good. People question too much they forget to actually listen
 
Wapiti said:
Bandcoach gave you one way to look at it....

Another way would be. Why are you so caught up in the "rules" that his song doesn't work. I can tell you that "levels" house track made avicii huge! Such a catchy track that got everybody moving even if you didn't like that kind of stuff.

Don't take music so literally by the book man, if it sounds good it sounds good. People question too much they forget to actually listen
Click to expand...

First off, what are these "rules" people talk about?
Second, "if it sounds good, it is good" means nothing if you don't understand how to get to what it is that sounds good in your head.
 
Pumpthrust said:
First off, what are these "rules" people talk about?
Second, "if it sounds good, it is good" means nothing if you don't understand how to get to what it is that sounds good in your head.
Click to expand...

There are rules called "music theory" you can study them from a book or just play notes. Music theory is man made. Some human had to write music theory just by listening. Why don't we all teach ourselves? Listening is the quickest way and can actually leave us with a personal way of understanding music. Everyone's brain is wired differently. It makes sense if we all understand how music works interpreted by our head not someone elses.

In other words:
If you produce music for three years your ear will develop enough to distinguish notes. It's not for the impatient, but you're understanding of music will be so personal you can truly express yourself in a melody
 
Wapiti said:
There are rules called "music theory" you can study them from a book or just play notes. Music theory is man made. Some human had to write music theory just by listening. Why don't we all teach ourselves? Listening is the quickest way and can actually leave us with a personal way of understanding music. Everyone's brain is wired differently. It makes sense if we all understand how music works interpreted by our head not someone elses.

In other words:
If you produce music for three years your ear will develop enough to distinguish notes. It's not for the impatient, but you're understanding of music will be so personal you can truly express yourself in a melody
Click to expand...
Ummm...music theory isn't rules. Music theory really isn't more than a description of what it is we're hearing. I've studied theory for nearly four years and have yet to come across any sort of "rules" or anyone who insists that theory is "rules" that can explain to me what these specific rules are.
 
scrapheaper said:
Damn... the most famous chord progression ever, the 12 bar blues, is wrong. :D
Click to expand...


holy cow, you are super right. I knew those rock, blues, jazz and other popular forms but I absolutely forgot about them. 12 and 24 bar blues got those chord progressions. The reasons why I told that it is against the rules is because I have read several books of music theory and music composition and in all those books says that in western music major scale V chord leads to I and vi chords. I am a little bit confused d-_-b
 
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dominic94 said:
holy cow, you are super right. I knew those rock, blues, jazz and other popular forms but I absolutely forgot about them. 12 and 24 bar blues got those chord progressions. The reasons why I told that it is against the rules is because I have read several books of music theory and music composition and in all those books says that in western music major scale V chord leads to I and vi chords. I am a little bit confused d-_-b
Click to expand...
If you understand that there are no rules, but guidelines for creating within a particular style, you will never be confused. Most textbooks teach theory from a classical standpoint. If someone was teaching it to you from a jazz or blues perspective, the underlying theoretical concepts would be the same, but certain things would be different based on the accepted conventions of those particular genres. For example, if I wanted to create a standard blues tune, I would start with the 12 bar blues. There's no "rule" that says you must use the I IV V progression to create a convincing blues tune, but those guidelines are a start. In fact, most basic blues tunes use all dominant chords and get even crazier than that.
 
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and then we go to the minor blues; following is a progression I was taught in 1978 as part of my first year of lessons on guitar (stil a I IV V progression in the main but some decoration here and there and I is now i)

Am7 / / / | Db9)D9 / / / | Am7 / Bbm7 / | Am7 / Am13 Am9b13 |

Db9)D9 / Db9)D9 / | Db9)D9 / Db9)D9 / | Am7 / Bm7 / | C#m7 / F#9 F9 |

E9 / / Eb9 | D9 / Db9)D9 / | Am7 / Db9)D9 / | Am7 / F9)E9 - :||

Db9)D9 means slide from Db9 to D9 and so

happy to record me playing this (slow tempo ca 72 bpm) or put the voicings down as well
 
Yeah, I play a lot of blues and it seems to have it's own little branch of theory.

One fun thing I have done is to intergrate all 12 chromatic tones into a single 12 bar cycle improvisation without it sounding weird.
 
taking this

Am7 / / / | Db9)D9 / / / | Am7 / Bbm7 / | Am7 / Am13 Am9b13 |

Db9)D9 / Db9)D9 / | Db9)D9 / Db9)D9 / | Am7 / Bm7 / | C#m7 / F#9 F9 |

E9 / / Eb9 | D9 / Db9)D9 / | Am7 / Db9)D9 / | Am7 / F9)E9 - :||

we have

Am7 ~ A-C-E-G
Db9 ~ Db-F-Ab-Cb-Eb
D9 ~ D-F#-A-C-E
Bbm7 ~ Bb-Db-F-Ab
Am13 ~ A-C-E-G-B-F#
Am9b13 ~ A-C-E-G-B-F
Bm7 ~ B-D-F#-A
C#m7 ~ C#-E-G#-B
F#9 ~ F#-A#-C#-E-G#
F9 ~ F-A-C-Eb-G
E9 ~ E-G#-B-D-F#
Eb9 ~ Eb-G-Bb-Db-F

extracting out to single note names

A-C-E-G-Db-F-Ab-Cb-Eb-D-F#-Bb-B-C#-G#-A#

rearrange sequentially

A-A#-Bb-B-Cb-C-C#-Db-D-Eb-E-F-F#-G-G#-Ab

remove enharmonics (A#=Bb B=Cb C#=Db G#=Ab)

A-Bb-B-C-C#-D-Eb-E-F-F#-G-G#

all 12 tones are present and therefore viable for soloing with
 
Specifically, if I am playing in C major (for the purposes of the example) I like to use the C major pentatonic and C blues scales (C-D-E-G-A and C-Eb-F-F#-G-Bb) horizontally over the left hand.
Now the only notes left to intergrate into the solo are C#, G# and B.

B can be worked in easily when playing chord V7(G7)
G# can be used as a b3 blue note when playing any IV7 chords
C# can be used as a passing note betweens chords V7 and IV7

That's probably the most obvious way of doing it in a standard 12 bar major blues (With the V7-IV7 in bars 9 +10)
 
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