40 Songs that use Descending Stepwise chord progressions

this video is sponsored by hook Theory a descending stepwise chord progression is any chord progression that walks step by step down the major scale now it might choose different types of chords to make these steps and we'll see that in a second but the ultimate feature of this is that it starts on the tonic chord the one and then takes a step one by one down the major scale each chord voiced to allow that major scale note to be in the bass line and after we've done the whole major scale we then get a five chord to turn us back around to the top [Music] [Music] Wheels [Music] it's nine o'clock on a Saturday the regular crowd shuffles in there's no combination of words I could put on the back of a postcard no song that I could sing but I can try for your heart I'm in love with the World Through The Eyes [Music] [Music] before [Music] the kids [Music] so as she would have just seen from those different examples although we always have that descending bass line walking step by step down the major scale we can have a different variety of chords actually harmonizing above we'll always start with the one chord the tonic chord but the next step could be our fifth chord in first inversion or it could be our third chord and second inversion very very similar sounds then we'll probably have the sixth chord but likewise we could have the four chord in first inversion for the next step we could have toilet chord in second inversion or we could just have the five chord the fifth step of the progression is is probably the most consistent step it's almost always the fourth chord of the key then we might have the tonic chord in first inversion we then will probably have a variation of the two chord either minor or major and then this is when we get our turn around which will be a five chord taking us back to where we started on the tonic chord so we wrap up with that two five one but that's the full version of the progression where we make it all we make it all the way down the progression all seven steps then turn around and go back to the top but perhaps it's more common to find this progression in a less fully fledged form maybe it only takes six steps down the scale for example that's what happens in Elton John's Can You Feel the Love Tonight [Music] [Applause] oh but perhaps the most common way in which you'll encounter this descending stepwise motion this descending step by its chord progression is five steps in a row starting on the tonic chord obviously in this example then taking five steps down until we reach the fourth chord of the king [Music] she wakes up she makes up she takes her time and doesn't feel she has to work [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] through spend his very last time just trying to hold it up again [Music] [Applause] [Music] alone right on me [Music] [Music] [Music] too now there's only one thing to do three words for you my favorite music [Music] all right I'm ready [Music] give me some time [Music] [Applause] [Music] wake me up thank you [Applause] every musician can benefit from being able to tell how to play a song just by ear while ear training May sometimes seem like learning a new language it doesn't have to be that difficult hook Theory have just released a really fun really effective ear training game called chord Crush chord Crush will play you record progression where only some of the chords are revealed to you and you have to using your ears identify the missing chords even if you've never detected chords by ear before chord Crush starts you at the absolute Basics and then we'll build up the difficulty as you progress subscribe today at hooktheory.com forward slash David Bennett so as you can see it's really common to get this descending stepwise motion for five chords in a row until we reach the fourth chord of the key and then the chord progression will move on in some other direction you can also find it sometimes in a four chord format moving four times down the major scale until we reach the fifth chord of the key and then moving back to the top again to repeat [Music] you would [Music] through town [Music] so what is it about this chord progression this descending stepwise progression that makes it such a popular choice well I think the thing is the major scale itself is almost by definition the most satisfying and pleasing sound we could have that's why we've made it sort of the core of our western music so if you have a chord progression that harmonizes the major scale in the satisfying predictable motion it's just sort of like ear candy all we have to do is add this turn around in to turn it into a functional progression where we can sort of loop it round it's also a very easy chord progression to sort of stumble across as a songwriter because you're just moving one step at a time finding almost The Logical choice for the next chord which I think is why it's been used so many times by different types of songwriter you may have also noticed that it sounds very similar to a chord progression that we looked at last week which is the chord progression from Canon and d and that's because with just a few alterations this chord progression is the same as the chord progression from Canon and D it's just this penultimate chord here which we have to significantly change but beyond that the two chord progressions lead to sending um progression down the major scale and the Canon and D progression are almost identical [Music] thank you [Music] foreign thank you foreign

Channel: David Bennett Piano

Views: 192,578

Keywords: chord progression, descending, bass line, step, line cliche, diatonic, examples, songs, my chemical romance, the beatles, billy joel, music theory, analysis

Id: dyDFcchDl2M

Length: 11min 43sec (703 seconds)

Published: Fri Jul 08 2022