4 Chords | Music Videos | The Axis Of Awesome

[kevm14]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOlDewpCfZQ

Ever wonder why all those pop songs sound kinda the same? Well, it's pretty simple; They all use the same 4 Chords!

Well this explains a lot.

[kevm14]

Live.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pidokakU4I

[bill25]

It's not C G Am F; It's I V VI IV. So most of these songs were written in different keys with the same chord progression.

Saying they are all the same is a little of a stretch. They have 4 notes with the same relationship to each other. This is also well known. There are many "common" note progressions which is the concept of using notes in a scale with a common relationship. The notes are represented in Roman Numeral fashion, and represent the number placement of a note in a scale. Another really common one is I IV V or 1, 4, 5. That means the first, fourth, and fifth note in a scale. There are 7 notes (A-G), plus flat/sharp, major/minor. So yeah, I IV V includes different actual notes depending on which scale you are using, which is basically the starting note.

There are only so many notes, and musicians are trying to put notes together that sound "good". Obviously there are limited combinations.

[kevm14]

Yeah it occurred to me that they weren't saying these songs were all in the same key with the same chord progression. Just the same chord progression. Which I think is still interesting.

Clearly there is some recycling going on - and I don't mean some conspiracy theory where everyone ripped everyone else off. Certainly that does sometimes happen but this is far more consistent for that to be the explanation.

You say there are only so many combinations of things that sound good. Well, that is true, but I don't think you'll find any of these in classical music, for example.

[bill25]

Sure, but classical music is structured differently, and is more scale/lead/solo based than chord based I would guess. There are still probably chords going on in the background.

The normal radio song people are used to have:

Intro (optional) which usually uses the Chorus or Verse
verse
chorus
verse
chorus
breakdown or solo or bridge
chorus
Outro (optional)

Verses are usually similar, choruses are the same, biggest place to stand out or differentiate is the bridge because you have to sell your song with the intro or first verse.

This is all in less than 5 minutes. Classical concepts are allowed much more time to develop and build. I think most non-classical music is for a much more relaxed consumption. Metal was like classical in some respects, doing things more for musical difficulty and pushing common boundaries with longer songs and more diverse theory concepts including odd time signatures. This was not super popular for the most part as most people don't care about notes per second.

Metallica is actually one band to have great success from approaching songs from a classical standpoint.

...and Justice For All is one of their most progressive and complicated theory albums. It is one of my favorites, but definitely not their best selling.

[bill25]

They also have some epic instrumentals. Which gives them a classical feel.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1RTgznup5c

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8qrwON1-zE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WdYt9VkVek

[kevm14]

Maybe that's really the point. Popular music doesn't really support highly complex musical structures (or I'd argue it doesn't). There are always exceptions. Totally randomly, I remember back in the day with Dave Matthews Band, I began to appreciate what I call "jazz drums" which seemed very complex to me vs a regular pop song.

Again, I think the point is, for music that appeals to the widest range of listeners, you are just going to have a lot of repeating chord/note progressions. I think that is relevant because it isn't immediately obvious to most people that it is happening.

[bill25]

I didn't see any reviews of the instrumentals. I would say I like Orion the least of the 3, but it is highly regarded so I put it second. They all evolve so you kind of have to listen to the whole thing. They definitely each a have different "Acts" or sections like in classical music. Also, To Live is to Die has some spoken words, but it is still considered an instrumental. The words are from something the late bassist Cliff Burton wrote before he died in the unfortunate bus accident.

[bill25]

Still no reviews...

Here is a response from Avenged Sevenfold on Metallica and their arrangements:

On "Fade to Black":
"I don't even know how they came up with that. It's two different keys. It's got the greatest little run-up; like it feels dark, into light.
"When you can convey stuff like that it's almost like classical music, on the level of Mozart and the great compositions that can make you feel something with just a few notes.
"That's really hard to do. I have so much respect for it because it makes you feel something so deep. When they go clean, when they go melodic, it's brilliant.

For reference:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEQnzs8wl6E
-almost 51 million views...

[Adam]

Also, don't forget all pop songs are in 4/4 time.