Song Analysis - Chords, Part 1
Lesson 26 from: Music Theory for Electronic ProducersTomas George
Song Analysis - Chords, Part 1
Lesson 26 from: Music Theory for Electronic ProducersTomas George
Lesson Info
26. Song Analysis - Chords, Part 1
Lessons
Introduction
00:58 2Basic Music Theory Terms
08:07 3Keyboard Layout and Octaves
06:19 4Working out Major Scales
08:58 5Perfect 5ths
06:42 63rds - Part 1
08:05 73rds - Part 2
07:39 8Perfect 4ths
04:36Chords and Inversions - Part 1
10:05 10Chords and Inversions - Part 2
09:13 11Chord Progressions - Part 1
10:22 12Chord Progressions - Part 2
08:26 13Inversions
08:53 147th Chords
09:48 15Chord Extensions
08:09 16Suspended Chords
02:40 17The Circle of 5ths
04:30 18Minor Scales
08:09 19Chords in the Natural Minor scale
09:56 20Harmonic and Melodic Minor
09:30 21Write the Chords, then the Melody
09:03 22Write the Melody, then the Chords
18:01 23Arpeggios
08:00 24Writing Bass Parts
11:35 25Writing Bass Riffs and Adapting Melodies
14:10 26Song Analysis - Chords, Part 1
10:17 27Song Analysis - Chords, Part 2
05:58 28Song Analysis - Melody
08:55 29Song Analysis - Arrangement
07:30 30Song 2 Analysis - Arrangement
05:04 31Song 2 Analysis - Chords
08:55 32Song 2 Analysis - Melodies
06:34 33Song 3 Analysis - Chords
11:41 34Song 3 Analysis - Melodies and Arrangement
06:55 35Create a Song from a Drum Beat - Part 1
10:22 36Create a Song from a Drum Beat - Part 2
18:47 37Create a Song from a Drum Beat - Part 3
18:49 38Create a Song from a Drum Beat - Part 4
08:21 39Create a Song from a Chord Progression - Part 1
08:16 40Create a Song from a Chord Progression - Part 2
08:07 41Create a Song from a Melody - Part 1
07:27 42Create a Song from a Melody - Part 2
09:05 43Modes Intro
04:10 44Ionian
00:43 45Dorian
04:31 46Phrygian
02:09 47Lydian
01:35 48Mixolydian
02:13 49Aeolian
00:39 50Locrian
01:50 51Dorian Mode Example
09:12 52Pentatonic Scales
12:27Lesson Info
Song Analysis - Chords, Part 1
Hello. In this next section, we're going to actually deconstruct a song and analyze a song work out how this was created harmonically, the chords that were used and the melodies. So the track I'm going to actually deconstruct or analyze is one of my own tracks called Space Radar. There's basically two main sections in this song, kind of a, a section and a, a one section. So basically the main chord sequence with a melody and then another chord sequence that's slightly different and the melody adapts to this. So we're going to split these lessons up. So first of all, I'm going to go over the chords and then I'm going to go over the melody and then I'm going to go over the arrangement. So in this first lesson here, we're going to have a look at the chords. So I'm just going to play the song now and then we're going to have a look at the chords and I'm going to deconstruct and analyze how I actually created these chords. These were created by a combination of just playing what I heard in ...
my head and also working out certain things by using music theory. So it is a combination of using your ear and using music theory to kind of write your own songs and melodies from my experience. Anyway, so let's have a listen to this song and then the song kind of repeats. But this is basically the song, it's from these two sections. This green one here, which is a section and this purple one here, which is the a one section. So the melodies, we're going to have a look at the next lecture. But for now, let's just have a look at the chords and the baseline. The easiest way in my experience to work out cords is by looking at the baseline and then you can look at the chord patterns on top of that and you can basically work out what's going on here. So I'm just going to solo these cord patterns and let's solo the baseline. So the screen section here is the A section. So let's just loop this. If you're not using Ableton Live, don't worry, the other digital audio workstations will have an arrangement view. So a view like this where it's quite similar. So let's just look at this a section and try and work out what the chords are. OK. So let's start with the baseline. And here we can see we've got a A G F and A G. So let's just write this down. The A, then the second one was G, then we had an F and then a G. So this first chord, this first baseline goes from bar one to bar three. So this is a, a, so let's have a look at the pattern above. So really, we've got two chords here, both very similar as we can see. There's one note difference here and this note here, which I class really as a leading note, not as a separate chord. So here we have the notes E A and B. So let's write this E A and B the first one. So we had a at the bottom and above we have eab A A and B. This is how I like to write chords out just by working them out like this. So we need to think the A is at the bottom. So generally, it's going to be an A chord. It could be a slash chord, but I reckon it's just going to be an accord. So now we need to think what order this could be in. So this is probably an inversion we can tell here by the gaps that it's bigger than five or four semitones. It's 123456. So it's probably some kind of inversion. I did write this song, but I wrote it a while ago and I can't completely remem remember how I wrote it. So it's a good idea to go through and actually analyze your own songs because it's a lot easier when you have the arrangement like this. So you can see the certain notes but you can of course download midi tracks or midi files of other people's tracks and go in and analyze these. So we have a B and A E I would say. So A B and E. So if we had the A B and E, I'm just gonna write this in A B and an E. So this is kind of a suss too. So if this was a, a minor, it'd be a, then 1234 to ac, 12345 to an E as we've got a B is to have ac, this is actually a sos too. So we're playing the second chord instead of the third chord. This gives a different kind of sound. So the first one I would say is a S two, OK? I think these quad are in two parts as well. So the second part, let's put this to divide. Yeah, the second one, we have an A, then we have an E so the A on the base, we have a, a, on the chord anyway, but let's just leave the A, on the base. So we know it's kind of a chord. OK? And then we have an A as well. So let's put the E on top, then we have a day. So I have a day and a day. So this is kind of a bit different really instead of being a bit closer with the CO2, we have the fourth, which is, we draw in here one, 234. So we have a, a Sus fourth. So we have the A, we have the A and we have a day. So Suss fourth means we play the fourth instead of the third. So this is a Sus fourth. So the first chord or the first pattern is Asos two Asos four. Then it kind of has a leading note here back to the, the SS two. So we've got the first two chords now and let's see if we can work out the other two, we know the base note for the other two is a G. And so we have these notes here which is D G and BDG and B, you should know this already. So the second one, we have a G, we have D J D GB, you should know this really easy one. So it's D Jay, they, so this is actually an inversion as well. So if we start with the G and the base, we will have a day G being ad. So if you count up 123451234 means it's a major chord and it said G major really simple. So after this, the next code is G, put this here just so we know there's a divide and the cord after, as we drop the B to an A. So there's no B, there's an a instead. So it's a G D and a GD and a. So GD and a, so this one you need to think G DNA. So it's a G chord but instead of playing a B, it's an A, so it's one lower, so one lower than the third is a second. So this means the GS two not playing the third playing the second instead. So basically just means you play that instead of the third. So we've got our first four chords. Now halfway there of working out the first sequence, the next one have a look at the base note, always refer to the base, not base note, makes it a lot easier. So we have an F. So next chord starts with a F down here, then we have AC and the a really easy one. So C and A, a, this is another inversion. So if we just put it around, sometimes you just have to, you just have to look to see if it's some kind of inversion. You can tell by the gaps, the gaps are too big or they're not quite right. You can tell there's some kind of inversion. So Fa and C, so let's write in FA NC. So we have fa see. So the gaps 123451234. So five and four is a major chord. So this is a F major. So we've got a nice simple cord there, which is good add this in here. OK? And the next one will be F as well. Then this time we've got the, the F cord and we've added something. So this isn't a suss, it's not swapping a third, we're actually adding a day. So if we carry an F 12345, the D is the six. So this is the F add the D. So this will be a F add six. When we use the words, add, it literally just means we add a note on. We use the words a lot of time. It just means we swap it or suspended. So we swap it for another chord normally replacing the third. So we've got a 02 AO four GG plus two F fa six. OK? And the last one we have the root note of A G. We've got a big inversion here as you can tell cos it's swapped around. We've got the notes D G and E so day G and E so D and E, we got added to the G. So we've got GD and E see if we can work this out. D so GGD and E, the base note, let's check on the bass net again. The last one is A J. So it's really a G code and that's c we can work out which code it is. This one is a little bit more unusual than the rest. So we haven't actually got a third where's the B, the third of the G is A B. So we haven't really got one of them if you look along here actually goes to ad so this cord's quite bare. Really? There's no third. So it was kind of a, I would say Je Sus six doesn't really exist a Sus six. But from my point of view, the Sus means you're swapping for the third. So suss six means you're getting rid of the third, you're adding in a six. That's one way of writing it. Another way could be a slash cord. So you can have a G in the base and another chord on top. But for me, if I see G so six, it means I'm swapping the third for a six because there's no actual third in this chord. When we look at the melodies, we might change the chord a bit because the melodies will add in a harmony if it was played at a certain time of the chord. But for now, I would say this is a G sussex, a bit of an unusual chord, but I quite like unusual chords. It adds a bit more flavor to the music. And this one, it's basically just a G but without the third, then we add the third in there. So I might just call this one A G cos we do have the 3rd 2nd and halfway through, it doesn't have to be 100% accurate. But I can kind of tell what's going on here. So I would say this, so I'd say this is the court sequence for this A section. So it's AUS two aus four GG plus two F fa six G six and G.
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