Scales, Chords, Keys and Harmony

March 16, 2022

What’s a scale?

We can define a scale as a progression of notes in an ascending or descending order. If you play the note C on a keyboard, and ascend through the next seven white notes to the right of it you have just played the scale of C Major.

If you played the note A and then the next seven white notes higher than it then you will have played a version of the scale of A Minor. This is a minor scale because the third note is three semitones higher than A, the note we started on.

Notice that the minor scale sounds different to the major scale. It’s quite sad, melancholy and detached.

In theory, a scale can start from any note and include any other notes. However, for our purposes we will stick to the basic Major and Minor scales. Don’t worry if all of this is beginning to sound like musical theory, that’s because it is! You don’t need to know too much about this stuff for hitwriting, because once you’ve grasped the idea of a scale, you can move onto something far more interesting:

What’s a chord?

When we speak of a chord, we mean three or more notes sounded simultaneously. Sometimes only two different notes can represent a chord, but in that case a third note is implied by the other two. The classification of chords and their relation to each other forms part of the study of harmony.

A chord of three notes in which the lowest note is accompanied by the third and fifth note above it is known as a triad.

Major Chord

Here, if you play the keys represented by the dots you’ll hear the chord of C Major. The first note ‘C’ is known as the fundamental, the middle note “E” is known the third as it is the third note in the scale, and the last note “G” is known as the fifth because it is the fifth note in the scale.

Again, when you play these notes together, you’ll hear that they sound harmonious together, happy and complete. Every Major chord has this sound. The Chord below is G Major; try playing C Major followed by G Major to compare how they sound.

Minor Chords

So far so good, but you can go out of your mind if you only play major chords! Minor chords are very similar, but sound more sad, reflective or dramatic. Below is the chord A Minor. Try playing it.

As you can hear, it has an instant sense of power and purpose, almost classical sounding and certainly not jolly at all.

We can define a minor chord in much the same way as a major chord, in that the middle note of the chord is the third note of the scale. But the difference between the two is that there are three semitones between the fundamental and the third in a minor chord, just like in a minor scale. Easy really.

Try playing the four chords that you know in this order: C Major/ A Minor/ F Major/ G Major. You have just played the most common chord sequence of all, which underpins songs such as ‘Blue Moon’ and many others from the 1950s and is still in use today (see Pink ‘Just Like a Pill’ later in this handout).

What’s a key?

Here’s a definition I found out on the Internet:

A term used to indicate the precise tonality of music that uses as its basic material one of the Major or Minor scales and accepts certain relationships between the notes of the scale and the chords built on them.

Ok, not very enlightening. Here’s my attempt: Every song has a key, and that key is defined by the notes and the chords used in the song. If we take the chords that we used in the previous section, you will notice that all the notes that are used in all of the chords can be found in the scale of C Major. In that case, we can say with some confidence that we are playing chords that belong in the key of C Major. If we then hum a tune over the top of these chords, say ‘Blue Moon’, we can say once and for all that we are in the key of C Major. No argument.

Why does any of this matter?

It’s very handy to know which key you’re in when writing a song. For example, you’ll notice when you play the ‘Blue Moon’ chord sequence (as above) that when you play the C Major chord again as you go round the sequence there is a nice feeling of resolution, a certain rightness to it. The main reason for this is that we are in the key of C Major, and C Major is the fundamental chord of the key.

Also, there certain chords that ‘fit’ within a key, giving you a simple harmonic flow when you use them in a chord sequence. For example, in a major key there are six main chords you can use. If we stay with C Major as our key for the moment, they are:

Notice that in all the chords, you only need to play white notes. As the key of C Major includes every white note and none of the black notes, we can say that all of these chords are available to us in the key of C Major.

Similarly, these same six chords are available to us in the key of A minor as the key of A minor includes every white note and none of the black ones.

As you may have imagined, seeing as they use exactly the same notes, the keys of C Major and A Minor have a relationship with each other: A Minor is the Relative Minor key of C Major.

Similarly, C Major is the Relative Major key of A Minor.

And this is significant because…?

Sometimes when you’re writing a song you may feel like you need to change the mood at certain points as you move through the song. Maybe you’re finding the song is a little too happy, or perhaps you need to lighten things up a little. One way to achieve this is to change key.

Try playing this chord sequence: C Major/ G Major/ C Major/ F Major

It sounds quite positive, certainly lively. You could repeat this sequence for the entire length of your song, but after a couple of repetitions you may be feeling like you need a change. Ok, then play this:

C Major/ G Major/ C Major/ F Major

A Minor/ E Minor/ F Minor/ G Major

C Major/ G Major/ C Major/ F Major

Whilst you’re playing the highlighted chords, your song feels like you’ve changed moods slightly. This is because for those four bars you have moved from the key of C Major to the Key of A Minor, you have changed key. In this example, everything feels quite complete, musical and natural. This is because you have changed key to the relative minor key. Because both keys use exactly the same notes, the change is quite subtle but effective and does not shout out ‘you’ve changed everything’!

Try this chord sequence:

A Minor/ G Major/ F Major/ E Minor

C Major/ G Major/ F Major/ G Major

A Minor/ G Major/ F Major/ A Minor

Once again, you’ve changed key when you play the highlighted chords, this time from A Minor to C Major, the Relative Major key. Notice how the song seems to become more positive when in the major key.

Changing Keys Again.

So what happens if you don’t just play white notes? Surely there’s more to chord sequences than just playing white notes? There certainly is, lets introduce just one extra note to our palette and see what happens:

D Major

Now try this chord sequence:

C Major/ G Major/ C Major/ F Major

C Major/ G Major/ C Major/ D Major

G Major/ C Major/ G Major/ D Major

As you play the first two lines, every time you return to C Major the sequence feels like it has resolved, a comfortable feeling of completeness. But as you play through the second line and get to D Major, there feels like something has changed. You have just changed key, you are now playing in the key of G Major. Notice that from here on in the chord sequence, every time you play G Major you have the same feeling of resolution and completeness that you had in the first two lines from C Major.

Technically speaking, you have modulated to the dominant key. What this means for you in practical terms is that you’ve changed your key to the (musically) nearest major key. It’s not a big leap for you or the listener, but it can help to keep the interest in your song going when you feel your song may need a lift.

In getting from the key of C Major to G major we used the chord D Major which is not in the key of C Major (it includes the note F sharp, a black key on the keyboard). This chord helped us get to the new key without sounding like we’d made a sudden jump. These chords are often called pivot chords.

From here…

We have only scratched the surface of these topics here, covering just some basic musical theory. Some people have dedicated their whole lives to studying these subjects, so don’t be too concerned if you have to reread this handout several times to grasp the concepts. And once you have grasped them you can relax as we don’t need to dwell here much longer. There’s just one more thing we have to cover….

Chord Notation

You might have noticed that it’s quite clumsy to right out chord sequences like this:

C Major/D minor/ E minor/ F Major etc…

So, for the rest of this course we are going to use this more usual way of writing chord names:

C/ Dm/ Em/ F

Notice that we’re not using the words ‘major’ or ‘minor’ now. When you see a chord written as just ‘C’ or ‘G’, we mean ‘C Major’ or ‘G Major’, the basic three-note triad. When you see ‘Dm’ or ‘Am’, we mean ‘D minor’ and ‘A minor’, again the basic three-note triad.

So far so good, but this can still be a little long winded. There is another way to write out a chord sequence that is more general. You’ve probably seen something like this before:

I/II/III/IV

In the sequence above, a roman numeral now represents each chord. Because we are playing in the key of C Major, the chord ‘C’ is thought of as the first chord in the key and so denoted as “I”. If we count up from C on our keyboard using only white notes, we find that the note E is the third note, and so it follows that the chord ‘Em’, when playing in C Major, is represented with the Roman numeral ‘III’. Couldn’t be simpler!

We’re using Roman Numerals??? You’re losing me…

Come back! There’s a good reason why we do this sometimes. It enables us to talk about things that happen in chord sequences without us having to know the actual specific chords or key of the song.

Most people in the world do not have perfect pitch but almost everyone in the world is able to hear relationships between two or more notes. So if we play the note ‘C’ on a keyboard followed by ‘D’ to a large audience, 99% will recognize that ‘D’ is higher than ‘C’, and somewhere around 5% will know that the notes are separated by one tone.

But far less than 1% of the people in the world will know instantly that you have played the actual note ‘C’ followed by the actual note ‘D’. Everybody else hears the first note as their starting point and works out the next note’s relationship to the first based on that starting point.

The same applies to chord sequences. Try playing these chords:

C/G

F/C

G/D

With a little practice, you’ll start to notice that each pair of chords has the same relationship with each other. This is because in the key of C Major, the chord ‘G’ is the fifth chord. In the key of F Major, the chord of ‘C’ is the fifth chord, and in the key of G Major, the chord of ‘D’ is the fifth chord.

Take a five minute break and try this again, but this time get someone else to play just one of these chords pairs while you turn your back or close your eyes. Chances are that you won’t be able to say exactly what chords are being played but you will recognize the sound of the first chord in a key being played followed by the fifth chord being played. In fact, you could write it down like this:

I/V

You have accurately written down the chord sequence without knowing the key. Congratulations.

And now the significance of all this:

This enables us to talk about the relationships between chords in a song or part of a song without needing to know the key of the song. Lets take an example:

Pink ‘Just Like a Pill’

Verse:

I/ VI/ IV/V

Bridge:

IV/ V/ IV/ V

Chorus:

I/ VI/ IV/V

We now know that both the verse and chorus start on the first chord of the key, they use the same chord sequence and that the bridge is significantly different in various ways.

The actual chords used in the song are these:

Verse:

A/F#m/D/E

Bridge:

D/E/D/E

Chorus:

A/F#m/D/E

Let’s say that we want to record this song but the key is too high for our singer. Rather than having to write out all the new chords for our guitarist, bassist and keyboard player we could just say “let’s change the key from A Major to G Major”. All the players would instantly know what you mean and could read exactly the same chord sequence sheet using the Roman Numerals convention. They would know that they would now play this chord sequence:

Verse:

G/Em/C/D

Bridge:

C/D/C/D

Chorus:

G/Em/C/D

So, the Roman numeral way of writing out a chord sequence has lots of uses and some significant advantages over writing out the actual names of the chords. Here’s one more example:

Imagine that you’re in a rehearsal room with your band, jamming together. You suddenly have a flash of inspiration and you want to change the chord sequence without the band stopping. You could either shout out the names of the new chords, straining to be heard over the noise of the drummer, or you could hold up your hand with your fingers indicating the next chord to be played using the numbering system described earlier. Everyone can see what you’re communicating instantly.

This might seem slightly ridiculous, but it is a technique used by country bands all over the world, often when playing live! What tends to happens is that the band may be joined by a new member mid way through a medley, lets say a singer who quickly needs to teach the band a new song. He holds his hand up to indicate the chord, the band can play along without stopping and the audience is none the wiser. Watch out for this next time you’re in Tennessee…

Some Modern Chord Sequences

Coolio ‘Gangsta’s Paradise’

Chord Sequence:

Ab/ Fm/ G/ Cm

As I walk through the valley of the shadow of death

I take a look at my life and realize there’s nothing left

‘Cause I’ve been blasting and laughing so long

That even my momma thinks that my mind has gone

But I ain’t never crossed a man that didn’t deserve it

Me be treated like a punk, you know that’s unheard of

You betta watch how ya talking And where ya walking

Or you and your homies might be lined in chalk

I really hate to trip but I gotta loc

As they croak, I see myself in the pistol smoke

Fool, I’m the kinda g that little homie’s wanna be like

On my knees in the night saying prayers in the street light

Chorus

Been spending most our lives living in a gangsta’s paradise (2)

Look at the situation, they got me facing

I can’t live a normal life; I was raised by the state

So I gotta be down with the ‘hood team

Too much television watching, got me chasing dreams

I’m an educated fool with money on my mind

Got my ten in my hand and a gleam in my eye

I’m a loc’d out gangsta, set tripping banger

And my homies is down so don’t arouse my anger

Fool, death ain’t nothing but a heart beat away

I’m living life do or die, what can I say?

I’m twenty-three now, will I live to see twenty-four

The way things is going I don’t know.

2-Tell me why are we so blind to see that the ones we hurt are you and me?

Chorus

Etc.

Notable Points:

Same Chord sequence throughout the song
Bass line sometimes deviates from the root note of the chord creating harmonic interest
First chord in the sequence is not the fundamental chord of the key (i.e. Cm)
How many other songs can we name that has used this chord sequence?

Eamon ‘I Don’t Want You Back’

Chord Sequence:

Eb/ Bb/ Cm/ Ab9

See I don’t, know why, I liked you so much

I gave you all, of my trust

I told you, I loved you, now that’s all down the drain

Ya put me through pain; I wanna let u know that I feel

chorus

Fuck what I said it don’t mean shit now

Fuck the presents might as well throw em out

Fuck all those kisses, it didn’t mean jack

Fuck you, you ho, I don’t want you back

Fuck what I said it dont mean shit now

Fuck the presents might as well throw em out

Fuck all those kisses it didnt mean jack

Fuck you, you ho, I dont want you back

You thought, you could

Keep this shit from me, yeah

Ya burnt bitch, I heard the storys

Ya played me, ya even gave him head

Now ya askin for me back

Ya just another act, look elsewhere

Cuz ya done with me

Notable Points:

Same chord sequence throughout song
Extended chord (Ab9) at the end of the sequence creating a sense of suspense
Lots of black notes used in these chords, typical of RnB and many other jazz influenced styles.

Goldfrapp ‘Utopia’

Chord Sequence:

Verse

A/A/C/C/E/E/Gm/Gm/Dsus4/D/Fmaj7/F

Chorus

A/A/C7/C7/D9/D9/Fmaj7/F

It’s a strange day

No colours or shapes

No sound in my head

I forget who I am

When I’m with you

There’s no reason

There’s no sense

I’m not supposed to feel

I forget who I am

I forget

Fascist baby

Utopia, utopia

My dog needs new ears

Make his eyes see forever

Make him live like me

Again and again

Fascist baby

Utopia, utopia

My dog needs new ears

I’m wired to the world

That’s how I know everything

I’m super brain

That’s how they made me

Fascist baby

Utopia, utopia

Notable Points:

Simple structure disguising complex chord sequence
No easily defined key (modulates throughout song)
Extensive use of ‘extended’ chords e.g. D9
Complex chord structure contributes to the songs ‘filmic’ qualities, creating an almost ‘floating’ musical effect that compliments the surreal lyric.

Maroon 5 ‘This Love’

Chord Sequence:

Verse

G7/ Cm/ Fm/ G7

Chorus

Cm.Fm/ Bb.Eb/ Cm.Fm/ Bb.Eb/ Cm.Fm/ Bb.Eb/ Cm.Fm/ Bb.G7

Middle 8

Fm/ Eb/ G7/ Cm/ Fm/ Eb/ G7/ G7

I was so high I did not recognize

The fire burning in her eyes

The chaos that controlled my mind

Whispered goodbye and she got on a plane

Never to return again

But always in my heart

Chorus

This love has taken its toll on me

She said Goodbye too many times before

And her heart is breaking in front of me

I have no choice cause I won’t say goodbye anymore

I tried my best to feed her appetite

Keep her coming every night

So hard to keep her satisfied

Kept playing love like it was just a game

Pretending to feel the same

Then turn around and leave again

Chorus

I’ll fix these broken things

Repair your broken wings

And make sure everything’s alright

My pressure on your hips

Sinking my fingertips

Into every inch of you

Cause I know that’s what you want me to do

Notable Points:

Sequence starts on G7, the dominant chord in the key of C minor
Key change to Eb Major in chorus creates a happy, up-tempo feel
Extensive use of G7 chord creates tension (suspension) that always resolves to the fundamental chord of the key.
The pace of the chord changes increases in the chorus from one chord per bar in the verse to two chords per bar.

Elvis Presley ‘Jailhouse Rock’

Chord Sequence:

D/ D/ D/ D/ D/ D/D/ D/ G7/ G7/ D/ D/ A7/ A7/ D7/ D7

The warden threw a party in the county jail.

The prison band was there and they began to wail.

The band was jumpin’ and the joint began to swing.

You should’ve heard those knocked out jailbirds sing.

Let’s rock, everybody, let’s rock.

Everybody in the whole cell block

was dancin’ to the Jailhouse Rock.

Spider Murphy played the tenor saxophone,

Little Joe was blowin’ on the slide trombone.

The drummer boy from Illinois went crash, boom, bang,

the whole rhythm section was the Purple Gang.

Let’s rock, everybody, let’s rock.

Everybody in the whole cell block

was dancin’ to the Jailhouse Rock.

Number forty-seven said to number three:

“You’re the cutest jailbird I ever did see.

I sure would be delighted with your company,

come on and do the Jailhouse Rock with me.”

Let’s rock, everybody, let’s rock.

Everybody in the whole cell block

was dancin’ to the Jailhouse Rock.

The sad sack was a sittin’ on a block of stone

way over in the corner weepin’ all alone.

The warden said, “Hey, buddy, don’t you be no square.

If you can’t find a partner use a wooden chair.”

Let’s rock, everybody, let’s rock.

Everybody in the whole cell block

was dancin’ to the Jailhouse Rock.

Shifty Henry said to Bugs, “For Heaven’s sake,

no one’s lookin’, now’s our chance to make a break.”

Bugsy turned to Shifty and he said, “Nix nix,

I wanna stick around a while and get my kicks.”

Let’s rock, everybody, let’s rock.

Everybody in the whole cell block

was dancin’ to the Jailhouse Rock.Notable Points:

• A variation on the classic 12 bar blues chord sequence, where the fundamental chord (D) is played over 8 bars rather than the usual 4.

Sliding ‘chromatic’ chord at the start of every sequence creates an ‘edgy’ feel.
Extensive use of ‘seventh’ chords, typical in blues.
Same chord sequence throughout.
Why does most blues follow the same chord sequence?

Chicago ‘Hard Habit to Break’

Chord sequence

Verse

F#/ F#/ D#min / D#min/ B/ A#min.F#/ G#m7/ E

A/ A/ F#min/ F#min/ D/ C#min.A/ Bmin7/ G

Chorus

C/ G/ F9.F/ G#/ C/ G/ F9.F/ G#/ G/ G#.A#/ C

I guess I thought you’d be here forever

Another illusion I chose to create

You don’t know what ya got until it’s gone

And I found out just a little too late

I was acting as if you were lucky to have me

Doin’ you a favor I hardly knew you were there

But then you were gone and it was all wrong

Had no idea how much I cared

Chorus:

Now being without you

Takes a lot of getting used to

Should learn to live with it

But I don’t want to

Living without you

Is all a big mistake

Instead of getting easier

It’s the hardest thing to take

I’m addicted to ya babe

You’re a hard habit to break

Notable Points

Three key changes from verse to chorus. Song starts in F#, modulates to A , chorus in C.
These three keys are almost entirely unrelated, for example F# and C could not be more unrelated (only two notes in common, ‘B’ and ‘F’)

• Despite the key change after the second line in the verse, the chord sequence is the same i.e I/I/VI/VI/IV/III.I etc.

Nirvana ‘Lithium’

Chord Sequence

D.F#/ Bm.G/ A#.C/ A.C

‘I Like It ‘ section

G.A#/ G.A#/ G.A#/ G.A#/

I’m so happy ’cause today I found my friends

They’re in my head

I’m so ugly, but that’s okay, ’cause so are you

We broke our mirrors

Sunday morning is everyday for all I care

And I’m not scared

Light my candles, in a daze

‘Cause I’ve found god

Yeah, yeah

I’m so lonely, that’s ok I shaved my head

And I’m not sad

And just maybe I’m to blame for all I’ve heard

And I’m not sure

I’m so excited, I can’t wait to meet you there

But I don’t care

I’m so horny, but that’s okay

My will is good

Yeah, yeah (x6)

I like it – I’m not gonna crack

I miss you – I’m not gonna crack

I love you – I’m not gonna crack

I kill you – I’m not gonna crack

I’m so happy ’cause today

I found my friends

They’re in my head

I’m so ugly, but that’s okay, ’cause so are you

We broke our mirrors

Sunday morning is everyday for all I care

And I’m not scared

Light my candles in a daze

‘Cause I’ve found god

Notable Points

Same chord sequence throughout except at “I like it” section
Almost exclusive use of major chords creates an unusual ‘tense’ musical atmosphere typical of many rock bands of this era (Pixies being the most obvious example).
Extensive use of major chords not in the key of D, technically changing key with almost every chord. Why is it that we don’t particularly notice this?

Kylie Minogue ‘Can’t Get You Out of My Head’

Chord Sequence

A section

Dm7/ Dm7/ Am7-9/ Am7-9

B section

A#/ A/ E/ A/ Gm7/ Gm7/ Asus4/ Asus4

Note: This song also occasionally holds on A# at the end of the A section

La,la,la la,la,la,la,la (x4)

I just can’t get you out of my head

Boy, your lovin’ is all I think about

I just can’t get you out of my head

Boy, its more than I dare to think about

I just can’t get you out of my head

Boy, your lovin’ is all I think about

I just can’t get you out of my head

Boy, its more than I dare to think about

Every night

Every day

Just to be there in your arms

Won’t you stay

Stay forever and ever and ever ah ah

I just can’t get you out of my head

Boy, your lovin’ is all I think about

I just can’t get you out of my head

Boy, its more than I dare to think about

There’s a dark secret in me

Don’t leave me lost in your arms

Set me free

Feel the need in me

Set me free

Stay forever and ever and ever ah ah

Notable Points:

Simple repetitive sequence for the most part
Use of extended chords typical in this style
Use of suspended chords in the B section creates a tension that’s nicely resolved when we return to the A section
Short key change from D minor to the dominant key (A) using E major as the pivot chord in the b section
This song has no chorus!

Definitions

Dominant

The fifth note of a major or minor scale thus ‘G’ is the dominant note in the key of C, ‘A’ is the dominant note in the key of D etc.

Modulation

In music theory, a change of key.

Perfect Pitch

The ability to distinguish and identify any given note without any musical or tonal support.

Roman Numerals

Numerals made up by letter combinations, such as iv for the Arabic number 4.

The style of numerals used by the Romans, utilising the letters I, V, X, L, C, D and M.

Semitone:

Half a tone – the smallest interval in regular use in western music, such as between the notes ‘E’ and ‘F’. There are twelve equal semitones in an octave.

Tone

The musical interval between the notes ‘C’ and ‘D’, or ‘G and ‘A’. There are six tones in an octave.

Triad

A chord of three notes, the highest being five notes above the lowest, the middle note being three notes above the lowest.

Relative Major/Minor

Term describing the relationship between two keys, one major and the other minor which use the same notes e.g. E minor is the relative minor of G Major.

Garnish Music Production School