[Fmpro] Chords to Avoid

[Fernando Rivas]

Basically the circle of 5ths including neighboring or passing chords, or
I-IV-V, major or minor or modal, or VII(flat)-I major, minor or modal,
sometimes V(minor)-I major, minor, or modal will cover 99% of pop music.
However, it is very important to remember that harmony is just ONE element.
What should probably be avoided are repetitive formats with these chords but
it is interesting to analyze pop tunes that are successful in the way they
use these progressions in unexpected ways and how and when in the tune the
composers break them up - no better example than the Beatles, primarily, or
any of the big successful hits of the last forty years.  Off the top of my
head check out the hammered out usage of the I-IV-V blues (including the
arpeggiation of the I dominant 7-9) format in James Brown¹s I Feel Good or
the vaudevillian V7 interruption in Lennon-McCartney¹s When I¹m Sixty Four ­
both predictable and yet exceedingly original and Œcatchy¹.
Then there¹s Louie Louie ­ harmonically ridiculous but there¹s something
about that bluesy melody, that weird-ass, screwed-up vocal and those lyrics.


On 3/27/08 12:39 AM, "Jim Chase" <jchase at billyhalemusic.com> wrote:

>      Dolly made 6 mil off that ' I vi IV V'  chord progression.  Not
> bad, and a fat Guinness World Record for her "Heart and Soul"
> progression.  There are three other chord progressions along with
> "Heart and Soul" that make up 90% of popular music.
> 
> Q: Have you found them yet?  DING DING DING Thank you for playing.
> 
> A:  2) I IV V and any Blues variation. 3) The "Hit the Road Jack"
> progression.  4) The "Mystery Progression", that sounds like
> Pachelbel's "Canon in Dm" played forward, or in reverse, or sideways.
> 
> Jim Chase
> 
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