Do all songs have chord proggressions?
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Phrasemaker
New member
Depends on how exactly you define chord progression. I've done tracks using only two chords and I anticipate a likely-hood of me doing a track with one chord. Inverting chords and adding interest by way of an additional interval tucked in somewhere, the possibilities are many. It depends on where you want to take the melody, unless one is happy to have dissonant sounding note combinations or have it sound totally out of key. Horses for courses, I guess, but a vocal or lead instrument does sound pants, if you hit the wrong note in many cases. There are a lot of songs where the vocal melody occupies the intervals of one chord across lengthy passages of the song, and not to forget that adding an additional note to a chord could well mean that the chord becomes an inversion of another chord, even though its sound is not drastically altered aside from it having a new root note to work off of. Imagining that something has no progression is no substitute for listening to hear if wanders around a key or changes key. Give a track in question a spin and try sliding around a guitar neck to follow the root note and see where it goes, note the intervals and there you have it. Chord structure conveys movement and mood depending upon what's used to underpin a melody, depending on whether the egg or chicken comes first will often dictate the progression or otherwise.
Regards
Tim
Regards
Tim
grimtraveller
If only for a moment.....
No. Some songs for example only have one chord. Some classical pieces never return to the theme though I suppose you could argue that each move away from the chord it's currently at represents a progression of sorts.
grimtraveller
If only for a moment.....
Chord progressions are usually repeated during a song......though they may not be.
R
RAMI
Guest
'Tomorrow never knows.
R
RAMI
Guest
True. By definition, I guess it's a progression, it does prgress somehow.
The funny thing is, even though I used that song as an example because it supposedly only has one chord, I've always thought there were 2 chords in that song. It goes down a tone on "... this is BELIEVING". Even if only one of the instruments goes down those 2 semi-tones, it still changes the chord, whether it becomes a 7th or whatever. I never understood why they always said that was a one chord song.
fat_fleet
Swollen Member
Yeah, I would definitely call it 2 chords.
grimtraveller
If only for a moment.....
I agree with you, it has 2 chords. I think though, initially when John played it for the rest of the band, it only had one chord, I think it was just C. At that point in '66, George was listening to Indian music and John, ever one to absorb whatever was going on around him, picked up on the one chord drone effect. Though the melody danced around more than one note, the music didn't. But when they recorded the first take, it was pretty boring and lethargic even though Mark Lewisohn described it as a "sensational, apocalyptic version". The second take was a breakdown and the final take was the one we know and love. The bass stays the same throughout, giving the appearance of a steady backing and the sound effects and tamboura drone do likewise but the music certainly seems to shift chord at some points. It was very much a band arrangement in the end and I think a few changes came after that first take because it wasn't working the way it was. In the anthology series, Paul states that when John first played it, it had only one chord and George Martin raised his eyebrows, somewhat.
grimtraveller
If only for a moment.....
You know, that song still sounds utterly timeless to me.
I remember when I was 13, I had this poster that gave a kind of Beatle timeline and in one of the 1966 segments, it said "First hint of drug influences in 'Tomorrow never knows'". That was where I first heard of the song. When I eventually heard it a couple of months later, I listened out for the hints of drug influences but I couldn't find any because I had no idea what 'hints of drug influences' actually meant with regards to songs !
VomitHatSteve
Hat STYLE. Not contents.
I feel like no matter what a song is, unless it consists of a single note, you can assign a chord progression to it.
Asking if every song has a chord progression is like asking if every song has sheet music. There may not be extant written progressions or sheet music, and those components may not have been considered important while writing the song. However, the song can still accurately be described that way. As long as you have multiple notes forming chords in a song (even if those chords are obscure and esoteric), and as long as those chords follow some kind of progression (even if it never repeats), it has a chord progression.
Of course, IamNa music theorist. I'm just hypothesizing based on what the words generally mean.
Asking if every song has a chord progression is like asking if every song has sheet music. There may not be extant written progressions or sheet music, and those components may not have been considered important while writing the song. However, the song can still accurately be described that way. As long as you have multiple notes forming chords in a song (even if those chords are obscure and esoteric), and as long as those chords follow some kind of progression (even if it never repeats), it has a chord progression.
Of course, IamNa music theorist. I'm just hypothesizing based on what the words generally mean.
gecko zzed
Grumpy Mod
John Cage's 4'33"" doesn't have any chords
Most songs have a chord progression, true.
Some heavy metal (and other genres) is known to kinda "sit in key".
being a 3-chord song... or even a 2-chord song, is not NECESSARILY a sign that its not complex, though... much classical work has been done on the basic I---V "2 chord" progression. As well as I---V---I (which i still think of as a 2-chord tune)
while naturallly there are numerous examples of classical (and all other genres too) that have more complex setups, done skillfully a classical (or other genre...) "2 chord song" based in the "simple" I---V---I setup can still sound "very complex" as all get out.
it is interesting to note that... you could write a tune in "C major", that goes thru...
I---IV---vii0---iii---vi---ii---V---I and you havent left Cmajor (though you would think of it as a 7-chord song at that point)
exhausting that, if you were to go to Gmajor (which is I---V) you could cycle thru it again. Its technically a "2-chord-song", even though you have gone thru something like 14 different chords, because each of the 7 has a distinct relationship to the tonic
throw in some inversions (slash chords) to keep it spiced up, and, you'd run out of a 3 minute song, and sound like you were changing "chords" faster than a chain smoker goes thru a pack of marlboros...
Some heavy metal (and other genres) is known to kinda "sit in key".
being a 3-chord song... or even a 2-chord song, is not NECESSARILY a sign that its not complex, though... much classical work has been done on the basic I---V "2 chord" progression. As well as I---V---I (which i still think of as a 2-chord tune)
while naturallly there are numerous examples of classical (and all other genres too) that have more complex setups, done skillfully a classical (or other genre...) "2 chord song" based in the "simple" I---V---I setup can still sound "very complex" as all get out.
it is interesting to note that... you could write a tune in "C major", that goes thru...
I---IV---vii0---iii---vi---ii---V---I and you havent left Cmajor (though you would think of it as a 7-chord song at that point)
exhausting that, if you were to go to Gmajor (which is I---V) you could cycle thru it again. Its technically a "2-chord-song", even though you have gone thru something like 14 different chords, because each of the 7 has a distinct relationship to the tonic
throw in some inversions (slash chords) to keep it spiced up, and, you'd run out of a 3 minute song, and sound like you were changing "chords" faster than a chain smoker goes thru a pack of marlboros...
Chili
Site Moderator
Yes, it does.... that continual ringing in my ears.
on topic (kind of), the Grateful Dead has a song called Space which is basically a drum solo, so no chords are harmed in the playing of that song.
gecko zzed
Grumpy Mod
Yes, it does.... that continual ringing in my ears.
I'm not sure that Cage had tinnitus in mind when he wanted the audience to hear and appreciate the ambient noises. In any case, tinnitus is a part of the listener, and not a part of the composition.
Chili
Site Moderator
Well, we can disect semantics here and I can say all art is a part of the beholder; the listener, the viewer, etc; because art has to be interpretated by the beholder. But I agree, John Cage was probably not thinking of tinnitus, nor was he thinking of the air conditioning system that most people must hear when they experience 4'33" in an auditorium. None the less, it's there and it might have some chordal structure to it.
(Sorry, GZ, I'm a little bored and really stretching this one!!
)