4 ms·

> Even though there is a great variety of chords and chord progressions, progressions involving 1,4,5, and 6 are favoured, probably because they ‘sound good’ to

by cjslep 12y ago

> Even though there is a great variety of chords and chord progressions, progressions involving 1,4,5, and 6 are favoured, probably because they ‘sound good’ to our brain. I drive my girlfriend nuts because of this. I don't typically listen to the pop/country songs that are popular with our local radio but when she has it on in the car, every once in a while a song will come on and I'll think "I know this" and start singing an older (wrong) song that fits the progression pretty well.

chaosphere2112 12y ago
I'm fond of this video that illustrates this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOlDewpCfZQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOlDewpCfZQ
- scott_karana 12y ago
  That video is, of course, linked in the article... ;)
  - matthijs_ 12y ago
    This is a different one actually than the one in the article!
- yellowapple 12y ago
  That is incredibly beautiful. :')
ssharp 12y ago
Do you really listen to the chords that closely? For a lot of music, the chords are either largely hinted at (bass notes, the lead guitar or rhythm guitar lick, and how the melody move) and if there is an instrument banging out the exact chord progression, it's usually buried under the stuff or at least the vocal. If I'm writing a song, I'm spending almost all of my time doing things tangential to the chord progressions, but rarely any time on the chord progressions themselves. So usually I'll start with a guitar lick or vocal melody, put a chord progression behind it, and then figure out the rest of the arrangement. If there's a song that's memorable to me, it's almost always because of the main melody or guitar, not the underlying chords. I'm only talking about pop-based music here, so rock, pop, country, etc.
- cjslep 12y ago
  > Do you really listen to the chords that closely? > I'm only talking about pop-based music here, so rock, pop, country, etc. I rarely willingly listen to pop-based music. I don't consciously focus on the chords that closely, but then again I haven't really thought that maybe how I hear songs is different than another person (like the "do you see a duck or rabbit" visual illusion, but with sounds). For the really curious, the first album I really remember getting into as a kid was Paul Van Dyk's Seven Ways album, which is a pretty minimal trance album (compared to today's "edm") with very few vocals. At the same time, I was getting into guitar with my cousins and playing instrumentals such as Metallica's Orion or Call of Cthulhu. Also around that time my stepfather entered my life. He played violin for a symphony and exposed me to the world of classical music. So while I've realized my musical tastes are strange (trance, heavy metal, classical are still my go-to genres), I haven't really payed attention to how I listen to music.
- twerquie 12y ago
  OP mentioned the pop/country genre, which is typically very heavy-handed with the chord progressions.
zwieback 12y ago
1-4-5 songs are great for jams for that reason. You can play along to a lot of songs even if you don't know them.

by cjslep 12y ago

chaosphere2112 12y ago

I'm fond of this video that illustrates this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOlDewpCfZQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOlDewpCfZQ

scott_karana 12y ago
That video is, of course, linked in the article... ;)
- matthijs_ 12y ago
  This is a different one actually than the one in the article!
yellowapple 12y ago
That is incredibly beautiful. :')

ssharp 12y ago

Do you really listen to the chords that closely? For a lot of music, the chords are either largely hinted at (bass notes, the lead guitar or rhythm guitar lick, and how the melody move) and if there is an instrument banging out the exact chord progression, it's usually buried under the stuff or at least the vocal. If I'm writing a song, I'm spending almost all of my time doing things tangential to the chord progressions, but rarely any time on the chord progressions themselves. So usually I'll start with a guitar lick or vocal melody, put a chord progression behind it, and then figure out the rest of the arrangement. If there's a song that's memorable to me, it's almost always because of the main melody or guitar, not the underlying chords. I'm only talking about pop-based music here, so rock, pop, country, etc.

cjslep 12y ago
> Do you really listen to the chords that closely? > I'm only talking about pop-based music here, so rock, pop, country, etc. I rarely willingly listen to pop-based music. I don't consciously focus on the chords that closely, but then again I haven't really thought that maybe how I hear songs is different than another person (like the "do you see a duck or rabbit" visual illusion, but with sounds). For the really curious, the first album I really remember getting into as a kid was Paul Van Dyk's Seven Ways album, which is a pretty minimal trance album (compared to today's "edm") with very few vocals. At the same time, I was getting into guitar with my cousins and playing instrumentals such as Metallica's Orion or Call of Cthulhu. Also around that time my stepfather entered my life. He played violin for a symphony and exposed me to the world of classical music. So while I've realized my musical tastes are strange (trance, heavy metal, classical are still my go-to genres), I haven't really payed attention to how I listen to music.
twerquie 12y ago
OP mentioned the pop/country genre, which is typically very heavy-handed with the chord progressions.

zwieback 12y ago

1-4-5 songs are great for jams for that reason. You can play along to a lot of songs even if you don't know them.