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OTOH, I was quite surprised that E minor is used more (17%) than E major (10%) in popular music. In classical music the latter is quite common and the former is

OTOH, I was quite surprised that E minor is used more (17%) than E major (10%) in popular music. In classical music the latter is quite common and the former is very rare.

lowercased 8y ago
With GFC being most popular, I'd expect Em more, because it more fits with those major ones. Emin vs Emaj - my gut would say Emin is going to fit in with keyboard/piano stuff easier, and there's more of that type music overall. When I think Emaj, I think guitar stuff (EAD stuff), and there's been less of that overall compared with keyboard-based music.
- elektronaut 8y ago
  Em is the iii chord in C, and it’s rarely used because it doesn’t really add any movement. Harmony is all about the cycle between tension and release, and there are other chords that do a much better job at filling the roles a iii chord could have. It’s useful for dreamy and somewhat static chord progressions though.
  - lowercased 8y ago
    True. Was thinking more about the G - again, another common pianoish base (in my experience, anyway). D/E/A - again, ime - were always "guitarish" songs. GCF always seemed to be more "pianoish". Just my own observation/experience - it may not be true of everything, but seems to be true about much of the stuff I've listened to (and tried to play).
    - elektronaut 8y ago
      Yeah, C major (C/F/G) can be a bit awkward on guitar, the F barre chord is a painful hurdle for new players to get over. A major (A/D/E) is probably the easiest key to play. G major is arguably the most useful, because you have access to all the important chords in open position: G, Am, C, D, Em.
ubercore 8y ago
If the most popular key is Cmaj, Emin makes more sense than seeing Emaj.
- luckydata 8y ago
  Technically C major is not a key, is a chord.
  - maroonblazer 8y ago
    It’s both.
    - luckydata 8y ago
      Ok I checked the terminology and you're right, in Italian we call it "C natural" to distinguish it from the chord. Apparently in English you don't.
      - palimpsests 8y ago
        Context makes it clear whether the topic of discussion is the key of the song or a type of chord. Also, in this way we can say "C major" or "C minor" to refer to the key of the song. We use "natural" when its important to distinguish from a note that has a sharp or flat - e.g. C# versus C natural. In Italian, how would you refer to the key of Db major - "Db natural"? How would you refer to the key of Db minor?
        luckydata 8y ago
        You just specify the "minor", "major" is implied otherwise.
bambax 8y ago
They transposed all songs in C in order to be able to compare chords by name (which is a weird methodology but whatever). By that measure it's only natural that Em (iii) is more common than E (which is non-diatonic to C).
chrisweekly 8y ago
On a guitar in standard tuning (EADGBE), the Em chord can be played by fretting only two strings (the A and D), both on the 2nd fret. It's basically the easiest chord to learn to play. And if you start in Em, it pairs with G, Am, C and D -- all of which are also very simple fingerings. Correlation isn't causation, but I'd bet dollars to doughnuts this is a factor, given the absolute dominance of the guitar in popular music songwriting.
- mjaniczek 8y ago
  This is written with all songs converted to the key of C though. So in guitar-friendly keys you're probably looking at the key of E and there the Em becomes G#m; or key of A and C#m.
  - chrisweekly 8y ago
    Sure -- slap a capo on the 4th fret and there it is. :) (Also, songs are often written in one key, then transposed in the studio.)
    - nkozyra 8y ago
      Oh, I wouldn't slap it on the fret ;)
- ssharp 8y ago
  There’s a key frequency chart and it makes sense that C and G are so popular. What didn’t make sense to me is why D and A aren’t more popular. Eb and F are somehow more popular. If this list is dominated by guitar, I’d expect D and A to be more popular since you can play I, IV, and V in those keys using open chords.
  - arthurdenture 8y ago
    Eb is probably disproportionately popular due to the common practice of tuning guitars down a half step, making Eb instead of E the natural/easy root chord. I'm not sure why F would be more popular than D and A. One hypothesis would be that it has fewer accidentals; it's not a fun key for guitars, but many contemporary pop songs aren't guitar-driven anyway.
luckydata 8y ago
Not that surprising considering natural C is the most common key for songs.
deleted 8y ago
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coldtea 8y ago
The Em is the "default" guitar chord --sort of like the C scale is the "default" piano scale (easiest, most convenient, etc)...

OTOH, I was quite surprised that E minor is used more (17%) than E major (10%) in popular music. In classical music the latter is quite common and the former is very rare.

lowercased 8y ago

With GFC being most popular, I'd expect Em more, because it more fits with those major ones. Emin vs Emaj - my gut would say Emin is going to fit in with keyboard/piano stuff easier, and there's more of that type music overall. When I think Emaj, I think guitar stuff (EAD stuff), and there's been less of that overall compared with keyboard-based music.

elektronaut 8y ago
Em is the iii chord in C, and it’s rarely used because it doesn’t really add any movement. Harmony is all about the cycle between tension and release, and there are other chords that do a much better job at filling the roles a iii chord could have. It’s useful for dreamy and somewhat static chord progressions though.
- lowercased 8y ago
  True. Was thinking more about the G - again, another common pianoish base (in my experience, anyway). D/E/A - again, ime - were always "guitarish" songs. GCF always seemed to be more "pianoish". Just my own observation/experience - it may not be true of everything, but seems to be true about much of the stuff I've listened to (and tried to play).
  - elektronaut 8y ago
    Yeah, C major (C/F/G) can be a bit awkward on guitar, the F barre chord is a painful hurdle for new players to get over. A major (A/D/E) is probably the easiest key to play. G major is arguably the most useful, because you have access to all the important chords in open position: G, Am, C, D, Em.

ubercore 8y ago

If the most popular key is Cmaj, Emin makes more sense than seeing Emaj.

luckydata 8y ago
Technically C major is not a key, is a chord.
- maroonblazer 8y ago
  It’s both.
  - luckydata 8y ago
    Ok I checked the terminology and you're right, in Italian we call it "C natural" to distinguish it from the chord. Apparently in English you don't.
    - palimpsests 8y ago
      Context makes it clear whether the topic of discussion is the key of the song or a type of chord. Also, in this way we can say "C major" or "C minor" to refer to the key of the song. We use "natural" when its important to distinguish from a note that has a sharp or flat - e.g. C# versus C natural. In Italian, how would you refer to the key of Db major - "Db natural"? How would you refer to the key of Db minor?
      - luckydata 8y ago
        You just specify the "minor", "major" is implied otherwise.

bambax 8y ago

They transposed all songs in C in order to be able to compare chords by name (which is a weird methodology but whatever). By that measure it's only natural that Em (iii) is more common than E (which is non-diatonic to C).

chrisweekly 8y ago

On a guitar in standard tuning (EADGBE), the Em chord can be played by fretting only two strings (the A and D), both on the 2nd fret. It's basically the easiest chord to learn to play. And if you start in Em, it pairs with G, Am, C and D -- all of which are also very simple fingerings. Correlation isn't causation, but I'd bet dollars to doughnuts this is a factor, given the absolute dominance of the guitar in popular music songwriting.

mjaniczek 8y ago
This is written with all songs converted to the key of C though. So in guitar-friendly keys you're probably looking at the key of E and there the Em becomes G#m; or key of A and C#m.
- chrisweekly 8y ago
  Sure -- slap a capo on the 4th fret and there it is. :) (Also, songs are often written in one key, then transposed in the studio.)
  - nkozyra 8y ago
    Oh, I wouldn't slap it on the fret ;)
ssharp 8y ago
There’s a key frequency chart and it makes sense that C and G are so popular. What didn’t make sense to me is why D and A aren’t more popular. Eb and F are somehow more popular. If this list is dominated by guitar, I’d expect D and A to be more popular since you can play I, IV, and V in those keys using open chords.
- arthurdenture 8y ago
  Eb is probably disproportionately popular due to the common practice of tuning guitars down a half step, making Eb instead of E the natural/easy root chord. I'm not sure why F would be more popular than D and A. One hypothesis would be that it has fewer accidentals; it's not a fun key for guitars, but many contemporary pop songs aren't guitar-driven anyway.

luckydata 8y ago

Not that surprising considering natural C is the most common key for songs.

deleted 8y ago

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coldtea 8y ago

The Em is the "default" guitar chord --sort of like the C scale is the "default" piano scale (easiest, most convenient, etc)...