Songs that use Secondary Dominants

this video is sponsored by hook Theory to understand what a secondary dominant chord is we first have to understand what a regular dominant chord is the dominant chord is the fifth chord of the key and it functions to resolve us back neatly to the tonic chord the one chord particularly when this chord has a dominant seventh on it it creates this natural pull to resolve to the chord A fifth away [Music] so that's a normal dominant chord but what's a secondary dominant chord well if the normal dominant chord is the chord that resolves us back to the tonic from five to one the secondary dominance are the chords that can resolve us to all of the other chords in the key for example if we were in the key of G major and we want a chord to resolve us to the sixth chord of the key E minor we can use the dominant chord which is a fifth away from that destination of E minor which is a B7 chord foreign this is exactly what happens in the chorus of all you need is love you can hear how the B7 pulls us up onto the E minor chord the B7 is acting as a secondary dominant love if this chord was instead a B minor it would still be a nice chord progression but it wouldn't have that sense of tension and release it wouldn't be functioning as a dominant chord [Music] another song to use this particular type of secondary dominant chord the major version of the three chord is Billy eilish's happier than ever this time we're in the key of C major we can see the same resolution though from the major version of the three chord in this case E7 to the sixth chord of the key A minor I'm happier than ever [Music] wish I could explain it better this chord change has been used in countless songs we can see it here in First Day of My Life by Bright Eyes this is the first day of my life and it's also used here in Abba's Dancing Queen [Applause] [Music] but of course this is only one type of secondary dominant chord we can use a secondary dominant chord to resolve to any of the chords of the key if we want to resolve to the fifth chord of the key for example we once again just have to use the dominant chord which is a fifth away from that destination chord so on this occasion it winds up being the major version of the two chord foreign we can see this secondary dominant in nine to five by Dolly Parton nine to five is in the key of F sharp major so the secondary dominance that will deliver us to the fifth chord of the Key C sharp is the major version of the two chord g sharp seven [Music] just like the previous second dominant chord we were looking at this is a really common chord choice that we can find in a wide variety of songs it's used here in Billy Joel's piano man I'm not really sure how it goes and here in Buddy Holly's that will be the day [Music] everything all of the examples we've looked at so far have been in the major key and this is typically the most likely place you'll find secondary dominance at work but secondary dominance can be used in the minor key for example here on their track time is running out Muse used the major version of the two chord but in the minor key the chord is still working as a secondary dominant though delivering us to the fifth chord of the key [Music] so we've now looked at the secondary dominant that takes you to the sixth chord the secondary dominant that takes you to the fifth chord but what if we want to go to the fourth chord of the key well as always we just need the dominant chord that's a fifth away from the destination to get to the four chord it actually winds up being the dominant chord built on the first degree of the key this is exactly what happens in Hey Jude by the Beatles the middle eight section of Hey Jude begins on the fourth chord of the key B flat so at the end of the verse Paul switches us from the regular tonic chord F major to the dominant seventh version of that chord F7 which points us towards that fourth chord of the key it works as a secondary dominant [Music] [Applause] Delilah by Tom Jones is another good example of this dominant one chord but here used in a minor key here we're in the key of A minor so when the music switches to the A7 chord this is our secondary dominant taking us to the fourth chord of the key D minor [Applause] woman songs will often use more than one type of secondary dominant chord for example Don't Think Twice It's all right by Bob Dylan uses both the major two chord here to take us to the five chord and also the dominant one chord here to take us to the four chords somehow when your rooster crows at the breakdown look at your window [Music] if you're interested in music theory which I'm fairly sure you are then you'll be interested in Hook Theory hook Theory offers various brilliant resources for learning music theory for example their website offers a music theory analysis of over 20 000 different songs they also offer two interactive music theory textbooks where much like my own videos they use pop and rock songs to exemplify and explain music theory Concepts on top of this hook Theory's hook pad is an excellent tool that helps you apply music theory Concepts in your own songwriting follow the link in the description to start using hook Theory today so we've seen three different types of secondary dominant chords so far the major three chord that resolves us to the sixth chord of the key the major two chord that resolves us to the fifth chord of the key and the dominant one chord that resolves us to the fourth chord of the key but as I mentioned before we've got two more types of secondary dominant to look at if we wanted to resolve to the second chord of the key we can use the dominant chord A fifth away from that chord which winds up being the major version of the sixth chord so for example in the key of G major to wind up on the two chord of a minor we use the major version of the sixth chord E7 and this is exactly what happened in Big Al's Don't Cry by Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons [Music] now this particular type of secondary dominant chord is a less common Choice today and is mostly found in songs that came out before the 1990s we can see it here in Maxwell's Silver Hammer by the Beatles [Music] and also here in How Deep Is Your Love by the Bee Gees so now we have just one last type of secondary dominant chord to talk about the secondary dominant chord that delivers you to the third chord of the key and this winds up being the major version of the seventh chord of the key [Laughter] this is perhaps the rarest of all of the secondary dominant chords but it does certainly get used a great example of it in action is in Bohemian Rhapsody at this point in the song We're in the key of E flat major so this D major chord here is the major version of the seven chord a secondary dominant that delivers us to the third chord of the key G minor [Music] we can also see this particular type of secondary dominant at work in Mr Sandman here we're in the key of a major so this G sharp seven chord is the secondary dominant taking us to the third chord of the Key C sharp however what's really interesting about this song is that the C sharp is also a secondary dominant which takes us to the sixth chord of the key which is also a secondary dominant so that in turn takes us to the next chord and so on this song is actually built from a long chain of secondary dominance giving it a super satisfying chord progression [Music] making the cutest [Music] like roses [Music] chaining secondary dominance together into these sequences can be a particularly common technique in older music the bridge of the classic Jazz standard I've Got Rhythm by George Gershwin is a series of secondary dominance which each resolve neatly into the next cilantro the same progression albeit in a different key is actually used in the bridge of Be My Baby By The Ronettes [Applause] [Music] now as you may have already noticed in this video secondary dominance almost always have a dominant seventh on them they're not just the major chords they're seven chords the presence of the seventh degree in the chord really hits home that secondary dominant function it introduces more tension that makes the chord really want to resolve onto its destination a fifth away however even though the inclusion of a dominant seventh in the chord does really bring out that secondary dominant function it's not compulsory you can have a secondary dominant chord that doesn't have a seventh on it for example in the pre-chorus of Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds we're in the key of B-flat major so this c chord is the major version of the two chord and is acting to resolve us onto the fifth chord of the key F it's working as a secondary dominant however it doesn't include that dominant seventh degree of yellow and green [Music] as you can hear we still get that sense of the sea resolving us to F but that secondary dominant function is not as potent as it would be if they had included the seventh degrees in these chords Heart of Glass by Blondie is another example of a secondary dominant chord which emits the seventh degree this F sharp chord at the end of the bridge is a secondary dominant taking us to the fifth chord of the key B okay and one last element of secondary dominance that I want to clear out before the end of the video is that they don't actually have to resolve to the chord of fifth away so far in this video every example we've looked at has been a secondary dominant chord resolving neatly in a perfect Cadence movement to the chord of fifth away and this is certainly the most common use of a secondary dominant chord but in the same way that the normal dominant chord of the key the V chord doesn't have to resolve to one neither does a secondary dominant chord for example in creep this B chord is a secondary dominant it's the major version of the three chord now typically this secondary dominant the B chord in the key of G major would resolve to E minor the sixth chord of the key like this foreign [Music] but instead the chord change that we actually get is the B chord resolving to the c major chord the fourth chord of the key [Music] as you can hear this does provide a certain level of resolution but not a complete resolution and for this reason this Cadence is often called an interrupted Cadence or a deceptive Cadence as it diverges from the more typical and predictable perfect Cadence that we've been looking at so far in this video secondary dominance so one of those music theory Concepts where even if you're not familiar with what they are you have almost definitely used them before for something with such a technical sounding name secondary dominant they're actually so common in music so if you can think of any other examples of secondary dominance and songs that you love then do leave them in the comments down below and as always a massive massive Thanks goes to everyone who supports me on patreon including the names you see on screen right now and Andreas diasa Andy Deacon Andrew Andrew Brown Andrew Sussman Austin Barrack Austin Russell Bob mckinstry boomerdale Whitney Parker Cameron all Villa Colin Aiken Chris Cabell Christopher Ryan David Bennett is heart David Griffiths Donald Howard Dr Darren Wicks and ernestochenko Eugene Leroy FDA [Music] Hugo Miller Ivan Pang Jake Fisher James KO J.A hookensburger John Dye Josh sanderlin Justin Vigor Mark siegenhagen Max O'Keefe Melody Melody squared Melody Shona Michael Vivian Nancy Gillard Nathan Lawrence Nathaniel Park Nick Chang [Music] Roger clay John Kennedy Steve Daly Stephen Lazaro Tim Beaker home aharoni Trisha Adams Tim Payne Victor Levy bidad flowers Vladimir kodakoff volte Whalen Fairbanks and zayford [Music] all right [Music] foreign [Music]

Channel: David Bennett Piano

Views: 291,308

Keywords: dominant, secondary dominant, major, minor, chord, music theory, explained, examples, songs that use

Id: pMopMBiHKfQ

Length: 15min 34sec (934 seconds)

Published: Thu Oct 07 2021