7 Chord Progressions That Changed Music History

[Music] do [Music] [Laughter] hello viewers my name is ayla tesler mave and today we are going to be looking at the five chord progressions that changed music history so in my opinion there's no better way to move music forward than by learning from the masters of the past and fully appreciating how they moved music forward i think you can understand a song at a much deeper level if you understand you know the harmonic harmonic framework that made up that song and you'll also start to notice how these songs took influences from the songs and songwriters that came before them and how they move music forward as well so just from a guitar player's point of view it's so helpful to learn these chord progressions just as a an exercise in learning hopefully understanding how chord progressions are put together it's so great so on that note let's take a look at number one the simpler the better the one four five this is without a doubt the chord progression that ruled over and still does blues music all rock and roll music that came from the blues soul music and r b that also was influenced by blues and doo-wop and it sounds like this if you still don't know which one i'm talking about let's try another style [Music] another key [Music] so what was that chord progression well [Music] you could play with open chords c f g but i personally think that the best way to understand a chord progression on the guitar is to use barre chords because this chord progression is actually a one four five referring to intervals this is our one chord this chord is a fourth away [Music] this chord is a fifth away and that makes this chord progression really easily movable to other keys because if you notice when i move to this other key the distance between all those chords was exactly the same and it's actually exactly the same in every key that's just a very important tip i want to give you for your guitar playing and this will be relevant to the rest of the video as well but that was the one four five and if you want to hear it in context you could check out the beatles version of twist and shout rock and roll by led zeppelin la bamba by richie valance or really just about any early blues rock and roll and pop song i'm sure if you keep an ear out for it you will hear it number two tell a story so at a certain point i think it was in the 50s pop got a little bit more sophisticated as did doo-wop and what happened was this 145 chord progression for some people wasn't cutting it we needed a four chord progression and it turned into this one [Music] that's actually known as the 50s chord progression to many people because it really did dominate the sound of the 50s and if you want to know the chords we have a c major our one chord a minor our six chord and then a four five with f major to g major so this is really just the one four five chord progression with an extra chord because one four five becomes one six four five that extra movement going from the one to the sixth just adds so much emotion to it and again it's such a characteristic sound of the fifties so if you listen to any do-op and pop song from that era such as earth angel or the unchained medley or you could even fast forward a few decades and listen to the grease soundtrack and beauty school dropout that's a song that was supposed to emulate the sound of the 50s and it's no coincidence that they chose that chord progression for that song so number three on the list is the pop song formula and i'm going to be honest i'm slightly biased against this chord progression because i feel like it's so overused but that is precisely a testament to how much it's changed history right you probably recognize it sounds like [Music] this so just by hearing that chord progression you might already be thinking of a bunch of songs that use it like let it be that's an iconic example with or without you i will walk 500 miles there are probably about a thousand more and what that chord progression is is one c major five g major six a minor and f major our iv chord [Music] and if you want to learn only one chord progression it might be this one because you'll be able to play so much music just with those four chords so number four i also have to mention this one the jazz progression the two five one it's not just used in jazz you'll hear it in all sorts of pop music you might even hear it in some older classical music it's just been used everywhere and it sounds like this make it more colorful [Music] of course i had to add some extra jazz cords to really sell it and again if you keep your ear out for this one you're probably going to hear it a lot especially if you listen to jazz and what it is is r2 chord in the key of c major chord built on the second scale degree that's d minor just like that then we're gonna play our five chord g major [Music] and then we're going to land on our one chord c major [Music] and then if you want to jazz it up a little bit turn that d minor into a d minor seven because you can always turn your minor two chord into a minor seven and then turn that five chord g major into a g dominant seven like this and then we're gonna land on a c major seven so step one learn it with just the basic major and minor chords and then feel free to jazz it up with those seven chords and you're gonna be able to play all jazz music ever that's not entirely true but slightly true so number five we're gonna get into some more obscure territory but i thought that we had to mention these as well because in my opinion they changed so much music and don't get enough credit for how much they did and so number five this is the take me out and bring me back chord progression which is referring to something called modal interchange which sounds scary but basically all that means is you're taking a chord that doesn't belong to the key you're in bringing it in and it's really effective to use an outside of key chord and then come back to a chord that is familiar that does belong to the key let me give you an example of that used in across the universe by the beatles so it starts with a whole bunch of chords that are in d major then we're going to come across one chord that is not in the key and it's going to really take you by surprise in a good way and it sounds like this [Music] i love that chord progression so much and so there's kind of a lot going on there but take a look at all the chords that are in d major and notice that like i said the first part of this progression is just using diatonic d major chords because we start on d major we move down to our sixth chord b minor move up to f sharp minor which is our three chord and then move down to our two chord e minor and then our five chord a major and then just like with that jazz chord progression we were looking at previously feel free to turn that into an a dominant seven for extra color so far we're just in d major but where things get interesting is at the very end of the next part starts the same d major to b minor f sharp minor e minor to g minor so you might notice by looking at the list of chords that are in this key it should be should be a g major like this [Music] but instead what we have is g minor and it's just such a beautiful chord change and it carries so much emotion and that's the perfect example of a chord progression that takes you out and brings you back to where you started so number six this is my personal favorite and it's kind of building off of what we've been talking about with modal interchange you know taking chords moving to a different key and then coming back to where you started and so brian wilson i am a huge brian wilson fan girl and he has a song that he wrote in 1964 called the warmth of the sun and at that time it was completely unheard of for pop ballads to modulate to another key like this and use such interesting and unique chord changes to me it's probably one of my favorite chord progressions of all time and it sounds like this [Music] do [Music] so what's very cool about this chord progression here which i think reveals just how brian wilson took the convention of the time and turned it on its head because this chord progression starts with a one to six movement and if we bring it all the way back to that 50s chord progression that we looked at which starts with a one to six movement you can hear how this opens with what you think is going to be a really traditional doo-wop ballad sort of situation but what he does is he takes that one to six movement and he moves it up a minor third [Music] so we end up with e flat major to c minor so here we have c major to a minor e flat major to c minor such an unexpected and beautiful lift in the progression and then we're gonna end with the classic two five which ultimately brings back brings us back to the one so using the two five one i told you it was going to be used somewhere that you would recognize and what i also want to mention is you play your g major you play what is called a g augmented chord because that's just a wonderful way to add tension on your five chord so that when you come back to your one chord it feels like a really satisfying resolution and it's a great technique to be aware of as a songwriter and a guitar player so it might not even be this specific chord progression that you hear replicated in other songwriters but that mindset of breaking the rules and you know adding chord changes that will really add emotional depth and you know add a lift to the listener in particular that was what was so groundbreaking and another example of this bringing us to the last on this list number seven the lift me up chord progression this is actually more of a songwriting technique than a chord progression itself but i personally thank people like stevie wonder for really creating such uh iconic status around this chord progression because he has used it in so many songs like golden lady which is the one we're going to look at now and summersoft and you even hear it used today in lots of musical theater or love on top by beyonce that's just an example that comes to mind but essentially what this is is you take a chord progression and then usually towards the end of the song you take that chord progression and you just keep moving it up transposing it by a semitone and it just creates this amazing drama at the end of the song and let me give you an example of what this sounds like in golden lady by stephen what stevie wonder i almost got the name wrong of my favorite songwriter of all time how embarrassing but it sounds like this [Music] so [Music] so what happened there i would say that this chord progression even in one key is iconic in its own right and definitely worth knowing but of course the point is that it kept moving up each time i played through it this is how he ends the song creating this incredible drama and lift right at the end and i think it's a very cool technique to take note of as a songwriter and as a guitar player just as a music fan so what was going on there was we're playing this very cool walk down where you start on a g minor g minor major seven g minor seven then a g minor six and then you land on an a flat major seven chord or in other words the flat two major seven chord which is a very scary theory name you can ignore it for now and just follow along with the chord diagrams but what's so interesting about this chord progression is even though we're descending the song as a whole is lifting because you take that whole chord progression shift it up a semitone to the next key so now we're in g sharp minor we do the same walk down and now we land on an a major seven and then you do it again now we're in a minor [Music] and we land on a b b-flat major 7 and so on and so on so again like with our last example with that brian wilson technique this is not necessarily a chord progression that you'll find in this exact form in every scenario but it's that idea that you can take a chord progression and move it up by a semitone and then again and again and again to raise the drama in a song and this is a technique that is so great for any musician and songwriter to know and it was so groundbreaking at the time so that's it for this video i hope you enjoyed and please leave a comment down below of any chord progressions you think changed music history that i didn't include on this list i think it would be wonderful to hear from you and i hope you have a wonderful day you

Channel: Musora

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Keywords: writing chord progressions, writing chord progressions on guitar, how to write chord progressions, how to write chord progressions on guitar, famous chord progressions, most famous chord progression, famous jazz chord progressions, famous pop chord progressions, chord progressions explained, chord progressions guitar practice, chord progressions guitar beginners, electric guitar chord progressions for beginners, guitar chord progressions for songwriters, guitar lesson, chord

Id: Yz7JjS829vQ

Length: 17min 59sec (1079 seconds)

Published: Fri Jun 04 2021