Why are Minor Chord Songs so rare?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 1 มิ.ย. 2024
- It's not unusual at all to find a song that only uses major chords. But songs that exclusively use minor chords are actually quite a rare find. Even when you do find a minor-only song they rarely offer much of a chord progression, generally sticking to just a couple of chords, if that! So why is it so hard to write a song that only uses minor chords?
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writing a song with nothing but diminished 7th chords
TheFrieDCDB You’re not wrong
You've really only got three to choose from....good luck.
nothing but neopolitan 2nd
Try some Strauss, Mahler, Wagner
You only need three!
Never thought I’d see alex turner in one of these thumbnails
Same, instantly clicked
@@marcotapia7068 anything for Alex.
The reason I clicked
Next to Miles Davis too
Same here
I can’t even read music and I enjoy this guy’s videos.
I can't even read english and I enjoy this guy's comment.
Neither and I take gcse music😳
I don't even know how to use internet and here I am
I cant even and i enjoy
It's all about feelings after all
""Slow Down" and "Blue Chair" by Morcheeba are the best example of songs that consist only of minor chords without sounding weird!!! Absolutely masterpieces!
Indeed!
Yeah and the guitar solo of Slow down is another Unverse 👍👍
Thanks for the introduction to Morcheeba
@@choukribendiha9044 😎😎😍😍😎😎
Wow, I never realized all those hits were just one or two chords...
Great job.
L A me neither!
Pink was obvious. Never realized it about Marley tho.
Most of them use c minor a flat major g major...
@@magicmulder I never noticed the Pink one though. But he pointed it out, and it kind of clicked, honestly
@@magicmulder he says Pink's song is only one chord which is not really correct. You can clearly hear the bass going from a B down to an E. I haven't listened to the whole peace but that specific example wasn't correct.
Songs with only minor chords?
Old school black metal.
@Craig Yates the oldest metal...
As a huge black metal fan, my first thought was "wtf? this is rare?" until I thought about it more and realized that I couldn't think of any non-bm examples
The donor - judee sill
@@j_c_93 I love this phrase you've used "huge black metal fan". It can be read so many ways: 1. A literal black-colored, large, air-circulating machine made of metal; 2. A person who very much enjoys the genre "black metal"; 3. A person, who is black, and greatly enjoys metal music; 4. A person who is both large in stature and black, who enjoys metal music; 5. A person who greatly enjoys metallic materials which have been painted black or are black in color by nature; 6. A person who is large of stature and greatly enjoys the genre "black metal". I love the English language as much as I hate it.
@@HaydenX Any one of those could be true ;-)
"Smooth Operator" (Sade Ado): dm7 - am7 - gm7 - am7 etc. I love that song, that's why I remembered it immediately in the context of a 'minor only' chord progression.
Raiders of the Lost Ark - The Map Room Theme is all minor chords
Hey! You’re the stylophone guy!
@@elektrik-fz4up lol, yes
@@maromaro1337 hi stylophone guy!
maromaro1337 hi stylophone guy!
@@aazreaal sti, hylaphone guy
That would kind of explain why 505 is so rough on my poor little heart
gotta do a separate video on "1 chord songs!"
BigSh00ts that has been on my list for a while
David Bennett Piano well I’ll be happy to watch it.
You pretty nearly just watched it
David Bennett Piano please include Tomorrow Never Knows🥺
@@DavidBennettPiano my mom used to tell me that punk rock sucked because it was all "one chord" she and a friend would always be gone friday and saturday night leaving me alone, and I would ask her where they went and she told me to go watch punk bands play at club foot and rauls. this was back in 1982.
I am just an Arctic Monkeys fan.. I see Alex I click..
Here’s a list of other minor-only songs I can think of, many of which I’m pretty sure I am correct about:
1. Dr Dre ft Snoop Sogg - Still D.R.E. (Rap song with Am and Em throughout).
2. Gorillaz - Dirty Harry (Bbm, Fm and Ebm11 throughout) and GorIllaz - DARE (Gm and Cm13 throughout, although there is an implied E natural in the main hook).
3. Bilderbuch - Maschin (Cm, Fm, Gm)
Do any these songs (1, 2 or 3) actually use functional harmony?
I should also add that the British song Sewn by The Feeling has verses only in minor (Gm - Dm7 - Fm7 - Cm7)
@@Myrtone I mean, all the songs use a pop chord progression, just like the songs shown in this video.
And if diminished chords are counted as minor?
That was amazing - expertly researched, compiled, and taught..
I better go to sleep now
You watching this at 5am too?
Same
Dance music is also very often written in minor keys specifically to avoid sense of movement and then builds musical interest through progressions of changing instruments, tones, drum loops.
A second reason is that it is often built on samples (eg minor 7th) that are transposed in sampler to form parallel harmony. Great example is famous "big fun" by Inner Coty where sampled minor 7ths give it sense of suspension, timelessness, sadness, and nostalgia that amazingly clashes with lyrics "we're having big fun". Though one can argue that m7ths have a major triad in them and don't function the same way as pure minor triads would.
Well said!!
*Inner City
Bart yes definitely. Disclosure use the minor 7/9 chord all over the place in loads of their songs.
Minor 7ths are pretty much the sound of house
Yes, euro dance from the 90s was usually composed in minor keys.
❗️CORRECTION: I've decided to cut out "Get Up, Stand Up" and "He's The Greatest Dancer" from this video as, although both songs are almost exclusively minor chords, they both do contain small moments of other types of chords. Sorry for any confusion caused.
What are the other chords in Get Up, Stand up? In the keyboard line I guess?
Isn't there any song with 4 or more chords, all minor?
Cool video, thanks!
Feel good Inc by the Gorillaz?🤔 Sorry I'm late the party
@@CTABPOGIN Bb major
What about literally every black metal song?
No confusion for me and no need to apologize. Those songs are in agreement with your larger point. I always love your analysis!
Freelove by Depeche Mode must be all minor chords. It's such a sophisticated song. Most might not catch the tricky modulations, until trying it on the guitar
Andriy Vasylenko hi Andriy i like your videos
Hi frrrrrrriends
Glad to find You here frrrriend 🤘😎
Yeah and enjoy the silence
Although im pretty sure it both uses F and C major
My favorite Bill Evans piece which uses non-functional harmony is “Time Remembered.” It only uses minor and major 7th chords, no dominants, yet it has its own inner logic and is absolutely gorgeous.
This exact tune came to mind for me too, kudos!
Yes!!
A lot of Pink Floyd's music and the new Arctic Monkeys album is written predominantly with minor chords, but they often use it to make any switches to major that much more epic-sounding (like with the Eb in Imperial March).
"Lick My Love Pump" by Spın̈al Tap was written in D minor, which is the saddest of all keys, I find.
No such thing as saddest of all keys, it's been debunked and explained
@@ernestzurek5884 its a joke
Why was Dm so sad? Because it couldn’t B C.
@@ernestzurek5884 r/woooosh
Simple lines intertwining. A Mach piece.
Money by Pink Floyd. Moves between Bm, F#m and Em throughout the song, in various modes. Still manages a pretty fluid and diverse harmonic progression, the guitar solo alone has 3 distinct sections that sound totally different despite all being built around these three chords.
I've decided to bite the bullet and start learning music theory via youtube after watching your videos for ages and wishing I fully understood! I've only just started but it allowed me to follow what you were saying a lot better! Thanks for always making great and really informative videos! Could you please do one on typical chord progressions in gospel? I'd love to learn that, gospel often sounds so upbeat and I'd love to know the science behind it!!
Ayesha Sha Sha! i’ve taken a look at your channel and OMG your style is so pleasing and beautiful!!
Dear Ayesha i would love to learn music theory too. How and where to start?
@@yebiased246 aaawwwww thank you SO much! That's lovely of you to say!
@@DoctorSwagger it's never too late to start really! I got my keyboard out and a book and started learning from this playlist: th-cam.com/play/PLUyDmNalB0rjteAmf8ciJ1zL2GqnzryS_.html
Hope David doesn't mind me putting that there! Good luck!!!
@@AyeshaShaSha thanks a lot!
"Everybody loves the sunshine" - Roy Ayers, four minor chord progression, and not within a same minor mode.
Phenomenal track
Yes. Lyrically it's very happy, but the actual chords sounds dark and sad.
@@viralbuthow000 Strangely and ironically, so does "Happy" - Pharrell Williams, and many others
oueikak! Would u say that’s a good strategy to make positive lyrics stand out by using minor chords?
@@viralbuthow000 That is, if minor chords are always to be associated with "negative"…?
there are house tracks from the nineties using only minor chords. They usually feature very short progressions resulting in large parts of the song staying on (at?) one chord.
*David:* So, why is it difficult to write a song just using minor chords?
*Black metal guy:* Hold my goat...
As I recall, "Spoonful" by Howlin' Wolf can be interpreted completely in Em...
I was just writing a comment about "Ain't No Sunshine" when you mentioned it. It comes so close, so close but not quite.
My audio is off and yeah I thought of Bill withers...scrolled down the comments.......bingo ....lol....☺
I was just reading your comment about "Ain't No Sunsine" when he mentioned it haha
That’s exactly why I included it! I knew the comments would otherwise be full of “AINT NO SUNSHINE!!1!”
And i read this as he mentioned it:)
EpifanesEuergetes That sounded more like Stevie Wonder singing “Ain’t No Sunshine.” Granted, it’s Withers’ tune. Was there a copyright issue? Or are my ears deceiving me?
Being a fan of Synthpop and industrial certainly leads to primarily minor songs and I adore it.
Major chord songs can often feel... Uncomfortable (?)
"quero ser feliz também - natiruts" its an example. the song have only 3 chords, Ebm7//Dbm7//Abm7
I was really surprised to find out just how many songs there are out there that have only one chord
The feeling of "Damn even I could have written that" never goes away...
It just helps to show that while harmonic structure can be a rich part of music, it’s not always the most important part. Vast amounts of electronic music, from techno to ambient and drone, will stay on one chord, if it could even be said to have any chords at all. Rhythm, melody, timbre and dynamics are all just as important, and in many genres having complex functional harmony would actively detract from those elements.
@@SeanLaMontagne really the feeling you should be getting is that there is more to music than harmony :)
Ravel's Bolero only uses one chord - C maj until near the end when it modulates to E maj for several bars and the back to C maj until the end. But this is a genius composer who can bend the rules and do what he likes.
@Lopyt *Sir_Guy* Music they only do fiffths, not even major or minor! XD
Edwyn Collins had a sizable hit in the 90s with "A Girl Like You", which I believe is exclusively played with minor chords. Its also structured like a typical rock/pop song with frequent chord changes rather than a single chord being held for a long period of time, as in your funk/modal jazz examples.
Justin Eddy I had a few people suggest this one but, although the bass stays on C, you can hear the guitars playing Ab major and Bb major over the C. It’s close but it does use major chords.
Haven’t heard that song in ages.
The famous 4 Chords here is “Let It Be” in a nutshell.
It literally is the song
they’re called the famous 4 chords because of the amount of famous songs that use those chords
Yes. No woman no cry also. Hundreds of others.
The Beatles famously borrowed the 1-5-6-4 progression from Aha's 'Take on Me'. Paul McCartney was a big fan of synth pop in the 1980s. I think he was influenced by Taylor Swift and Rihanna too.
I love how you analyze the chord structures. It makes me think back about 45 years to when I studied music theory and harmony.
There is one piece I would love to see you analyze. Same Old Blues has some very interesting progressions if the performer follows the notes as written.
Analyse No. 1 party anthem by the Arctic Monkeys. It’s got a couple of cool things going on.
I think the bridge of four out of five is very interesting as well as some other songs from tranquility base
Thor Odinson +++++
No. 1 Party Anthem has a cool chord structure, similar to John Lennon's Isolation and Green Day's Last Night on Earth. Apart from these three, I don't think there are any other songs featuring that chord progression. It's a highly idiosyncratic, recognizable one.
@@IdiotAmigo I disagree, Alex Turner has written a couple of songs with the I - dominant III - IV progression, off the top of my head I can name this one, Mardy Bum, Piledriver Waltz and Sweet Dreams TN. The chord progressions on Tranqulity Base I find more interesting, like One Point Perspective, Golden Trunks or the title track. And as someone said above, the Four Out of Five bridge has some great chord changes.
@@patriciofernandez2711 Whoops, looks like I mixed things up. No. 1 Party Anthem indeed has the chord progression you mentioned, much like Creep, except for the iv at the end and the second chord being a dominant seventh chord here. I was thinking of the Isolation progression, also used in Last Night on Earth, which has a lingering chord with just the bass notes changing: D - D/A# - D/B - D7. Similar, since D/A# can be interpreted as an augmented F# chord with an added minor third, and D/B as Gmaj7add9 without the root, but not exactly the same.
There are plenty of Reggae songs that only use minor chords
Came to say this.
Bob Marley - Burning and Looting for example
This
I think it possibly comes from having limited knowledge of theory and using the 1, 4, 5 chords as if in a major key - but in the minor key that can sound overly melancholic. I noticed that in House of the Rising Sun for example, they just played major 4 and 5 chords!
@@gr328 Knowledge of theory has nothing to do with it, if you have ears you pick out chords that sound good to you with no idea whether they are major or minor.
The song “Nocturne” by Secret Garden has only minor chords.
That song won the Eurovision Song Contest in 1995, and I think it is extremely beautiful.
love to see a eurovision song here
Well done. Not only is this only minor chords, but actually has a sophisticated chord progression. Great suggestion, haven’t heard that song in around a decade
Thank you for explaining how music works, and why things that "don't work", sometimes do. I've come to creating music after retiring from thirty-two years working in a factory. Many of the songwriting workshops I've been to focus on creating marketable popular songs, which I have very little interest in.
Remain in Light is an album by Talking Heads compromised almost entirely of minor chords
“Touch Me I’m Going To Scream part 2” by My Morning Jacket.
a lot of oldskool rave songs from the late 80s to early 90s were minor chord only, because the main sound would be a sampled chord, meaning it'd play a minor chord by just pressing down one key, and it'd be minor no matter which one you pressed. Prime examples would probably be "Good Life" and "Big Fun" by Inner City
I literally just found your channel. I love how clearly you explain music theory. It’s amazing!
Ilomilo by billie Eilish only uses Cm, Gm and Fm as far as I'm aware
good find!
One of my favorite BE tunes!
for example bad guy is Gm Cm and Dm
@@FilipeVasconcellosAKAJeeForce I don't think so. There's a dominant 7 in there.
Ever since I got into ilomilo I noticed how it has such a completely different feeling from any other song I have heard. I think this comes from the fact that there are only minor chords in it, and that one of them is the minor dominant, which i really like
Thanks for yet another interesting topic!
orinje you’re welcome!
Who's the girl on your channel pic?
Only recently come across your videos and I must say that your breakdown and analysis is phenomenal. As a musician, theory and breaking the theory down had always bored me, I'm more of a practical musician, but listening to you explain things and the visuals audio excerpts you use are so pleasing to me. Keep up the good work, man
I am subscribing because your analyses of music are clear and fascinating. I had not considered that there would be so few pure minor key songs.
Love this. Would be interested in you doing a video about how (relatively) rare in popular music songs that are purely in minor key are, as compared to major. The Beatles for instance only stayed in the minor key in few songs like "Mr. Kite", I know other bands and styles do so more often but my understanding is that it's relatively rare compared to major and a discussion of that would be interesting.
thanks again for a great channel
HappyRon Music And Memes thanks again. And it’s a good point... pop and rock songs rarely stick to the pure harmonic minor key
Yes and another related subject is switching between major and minor which The Beatles did quite a bit
Dude you're amazing I'm so glad I found your channel great stuff
Mitchell35 I’m glad you found it too! Thanks 👍🏼👍🏻
Love your videos. As a pianist and physicist, I really appreciate your treatment of technical music - acoustic - theory. You have a lucid way of presenting material. Bravo!
I can't tell you how much I love your videos! Super easy to understand!
Loved it, I’ve never been interested in music on a technical level until I found your channel.
Thank you! That means a lot! 😊
i would love if u could look into "I Wanna Prove To You" by the lemon twigs. I would love to know why it feels so confusing yet alluring to listen to
Colby this song is brilliant
Best popular musicians of recent times, hands down! That song is a modern masterpiece in its use of changes of key and time signature. I’d also love him to look into some of Syd Barrett’s songs, like “Jugband Blues”, “Apples and Oranges” and “Feel”.
Colby such a good song
Tune!
@@Nerkin610 completely agree!
Kudos, you really do your homework! I can't read music myself (wish I could), but you def help me to understand the concepts composers use when writing...
"Dark Funeral - The Arrival of Satan's Empire" is a pretty clean example, but also many many other Black Metal songs! I'd even go as far as to say there is definitely harmonic movement, with emphasis on it. It's just a different musical language. Of course it can be hard for an unaccostumed ear to hear past the drumming and screaming!
You can similarly cheat with “Ain’t No Sunshine” by calling that G chord Em7/G no root 😂😂😂😂
I thought the same!
Sure would love the kind of in-depth analysis you do for the Beatles music applied to Electric Light Orchestra.
dude you rock, you must put so much work into these videos and they are excellent! thanks for your work! keep it up!
Amazing how non functional harmony can sound so acceptable to your ear. It'd be interesting to experiment with shifting between functional and non functional harmony in the same song. I'm sure it's been done (some songs come to mind) but cool to think about especially when there's so many other ways to "bend" your ear with chord substitutions, modal interchange, modulations, etc. My brain is going to explode!
Excuse me why are you so adorable. Watching your soothing videos late at night as I can’t sleep 😔
Emily Jay 👍🏼
Hi David, there's a chord progression that I'd like you look at: It's in the chorus of La Flaca by Jarabe de Palo and the chord progression is bVI - bVII - i - IV (in this case: F - G - Am - D) It works but I can't figure out why. I would appreciate if you helped me figure this one out
I believe that would be considered a VII/V (seven of five) which means if you’re in the key of Am the i chord is Am and the v chord is Em so D would be the Vll chord in Em (VII/V) I could be mistakes but I hope this makes sense.
The D chord feels like a Blues chord for me, coming from A dorian. It's also a bluesy song.
Substitution of Dm with a D from the opposite key of A
Dont ever stop making videos Mr Bennett!
I love music theory! 😍 love how much effort and research you make into giving these examples making understanding so clear!
Your videos actually make me interested in music composition and theory! Thank you!
Jim Hoadley great! 😊😊😊
Who dislikes these videos? Great stuff. Thanks.
Thank you for the information in this video! I love watching your videos! Very informative!
Thank you 🙏
I've watched about 10 minutes of your content and have already learned more than in hours of watching other creators. Thank you!
Saw the title and thought to myself 'bet I can think of loads'.. how wrong I was
This is what I was thinking before I sat down to write the script!
Love your work man! Its like I listen to music with new ears now
S Green thank you! That’s great! 😊😊
3:50: Hey, it’s Let it Be
6:23 had me hollering. Lovely video as always. Thanks for it, DB!
"You've changed" by Sia uses four minor chords all the way through the song!
No...
Shani Semah Able to elaborate, or nah
Yes! I - V - bVII - IV as minor chords: Ebm - Bbm - Dbm - Abm.
Yup, I just listened to it and it's true... I wasn't expecting to like it though... cool song.
Great video, David, thank you! It shows you can make colourful and interesting music with barely any changes at all. Top work as always, bruv!
Thank you! 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
Good video! "Oh, Caroline" by Cheap Trick immediately came to mind, three minor chords throught the song.
it is shockingly amazing, how he does these video tutorials. not just takes it his musical geniusness but particular in this video .... if i think of all searching and researching , digging for examples ... this is crazy ... and the result presented to us ... always awesome
House and Rave music often used alot of minor chords strung together (typically piano) in the songs main riffs, often chords out of the key. But I always found it interesting on the ear
Typical minor 7ths I wont say out of key they find to be in modes
I had "move on up" stuck in my head all day, so I got a chuckle from seeing it in this video. I'd love to see some videos looking at funk music from a music theory point of view.
“hey what’s that chord?”
“uhh.. Dm..?”
“ah yeah, cool. let’s only use that one. “
It's my favorite chord!
@@TuberOnTheLoose I prefer Bm. That chord is better 😌
@@LuisGonzalez0505 Hm is best though
@@LuisGonzalez0505 it's completely subjective. For example, I disagree with both of you, and prefer C#m.
Pretty sure that's what Tool said back then.
Brandy and Monica - The Boy is Mine (f# and c#)
Aaliyah - Try Again (am and e)
If you don't know these songs or artists, then you're missing out. Trust me!
Love your vids.
😁😁
Beautifully done, as usual.
Thank you! 🙏🙏🙏
Great job thank you for posting
I have only watched 2 or 3 videos about you and I already think you are one of my favorite musical youtube channels.
Run Through The Jungle isn't in a minor key - it has a dominant 7th chord throughout with some minor pentatonic riffs typical to the blues.
That's The Way I Like It by KC and the Sunshine Band uses two minor chords all the way through.
BTW, since you mentioned Bob Marley, I think "Sun is Shining" is only minor chords. "Forever Loving Jah" too. Reggae's a lot like funk in that harmonic motion is the least important thing.
Yeah, reggae seems to be a fan of just using a couple minor chords. Slave Driver by Bob Marley is all Bm7 to Am7
@@DavidBennettPiano It may just be the reason I got bored pretty quickly when I tried out a few of Bob Marley's albums. I decided to like his hits but leave the rest of his output for good.
Blackberry Way by the Move is a good example of a high percentage of minor chords - using Em, Em#5, Em6, Bm, Bbm, Am, Cm, Em7, Am7
i wish i had discovered your channel before i did music theory grades because it took me forever to learn cadences yet i understood them so easily here
Massive quality, you deserve more subs!!
David Chidichimo thank you ! People were saying that I “deserve more subs” when I had less than 10k... I’m glad people are still saying it! 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼
Showdown by ELO is all minor from what i can hear. And it’s not just one or two chords either.
Love your channel!! Very educational and interesting :)
Wow, this is really eye opening! TY as always.
I'm glad it was helpful. Thank you!
two Talking Heads songs from Remain in Light have one-chord grooves a la funk
The Great Curve - all on Fm
Crosseyed & Painless - all on Bm6
Houses in Motion - all Em
and a few others on Remain in Light and Speaking in Tongues are very close. However, I think "Pull up the Roots" wins with three chords: Bbm, Ebm (refrain) and Fm (bridge). They all sound minor to me.
Another amazing vid! Have you done a video on Earth Wind and Fire's sound before? I think it would make for a really interesting topic!
Do a segment on neo-soul. They skate around m9, m11 and m13 chords. They also play dirty (have several 1/2 and whole step intervals in the chord)
Thank you this was helpful for my module.
Darth Vader's Imperial March as last example successfully surprises me, this music is very infamous but I just discovered its unnoticed element through this vid.
Also, I already watched many of your video and those are always informative (never disappoint me), so I decide to sub.
"Nowhere To Hide" by Antiloop.
Chord progression : Gm - Dm - Fm - Cm
that Eb guess of the bit of Goodness in DV almost gets me in tears
Great video David.
The main portion of Santana’s “Black Magic Woman” is just Dm, Gm, and Am
You are correct. Similar to "So What" having a major chord in the intro, "Black Magic Woman" has it in the "Gypsy Queen" outro section, with a nearly double-time solo over a D Major vamp.
Joshua Marks that was an example I took a look at however it does feature an A7 at the end of each verse I’m afraid
David Bennett Piano
You might be correct, and that's precisely what I had imagined the harmony was for many years...
but if you listen closely, it's very hard to find a C# in the melody or bass, so that A7 chord might be heavily buried in the mix, but it's tough to identify.
Of course, I do not have any track isolation software...but my musical impression is that it feels like an A minor, despite my expectation that it could or should be an A7
presumably the same story for the Fleetwood mac original?
Awesome video!
Creatively eXplained 😊😊😊
Great stuff, as always
awesome video left me with alot to think about