This is what is claimed on this site, and for the majority of it, it does sound true. Maybe it's case of over simplifying their point, but do they have a point nonetheless?
Re: Only 4 chords needed for a hit song?
Posted: 2010-05-29 07:08pm
by Stark
Is this honestly news?
Re: Only 4 chords needed for a hit song?
Posted: 2010-05-29 07:35pm
by Havok
Uh... welcome to 1974.
Re: Only 4 chords needed for a hit song?
Posted: 2010-05-29 07:39pm
by Superman
Four? Hell, some of the greatest rock songs ever recorded consisted of three.
Re: Only 4 chords needed for a hit song?
Posted: 2010-05-29 07:40pm
by Superman
Study up on I-IV-V chord progressions if you want to know more about it.
Re: Only 4 chords needed for a hit song?
Posted: 2010-05-29 09:27pm
by Broomstick
Yeah, I was gong to bring up the "only three" needed meme myself.
Re: Only 4 chords needed for a hit song?
Posted: 2010-05-30 05:18am
by TithonusSyndrome
Superman wrote:Study up on I-IV-V chord progressions if you want to know more about it.
This is all that is required to lock the thread.
Re: Only 4 chords needed for a hit song?
Posted: 2010-05-30 07:28am
by Korgeta
Superman wrote:Study up on I-IV-V chord progressions if you want to know more about it.
Thanks, I know this isn't much news to those who know their music but I know next to nothing about music so I posted this link to confirm any claim in the apprent story and whaere i can learn more about this.
Re: Only 4 chords needed for a hit song?
Posted: 2010-05-30 05:35pm
by Marcus Aurelius
Superman wrote:Study up on I-IV-V chord progressions if you want to know more about it.
Yeah. This thread gives me the blues.
Re: Only 4 chords needed for a hit song?
Posted: 2010-05-30 05:39pm
by The Vortex Empire
There's only so many chord progressions that can be made, and I-IV-V or I-VI-IV-V are the most common just because they sound nice. It shouldn't surprise anyone that so many popular songs have the same progression.
It also makes me wonder why minor chords sound sadder, gloomier or more eerie than major chords? Is there a reason for this? My initial guess is that it's a neurological thing like rhythm is; when we listen to a rhythm, I was told that our brain maps the rhythm for pattern, and variation to what it doesn't expect (like in the famous Amen break) creates a pleasurable "learning" point where the unconscious pattern model is confounded. Obviously, this isn't infinitely true, as otherwise we'd all be listening to chaotic breakcore all the time, but at the same time, it perhaps hints at why we hear a minor chord differently. Is it that we're "expecting" a major chord as the minor sounds like it should be one, and then the difference puts our pattern-recognising brains on tenter-hooks with the dissonance/variation?
As for chord progressions being samey, yeah, it happens. The key to doing it right is getting a) rhythm and b) individual sound. Personally I love a) like the following (I don't want to be the guy that only posts this one song, but the rhythm playing is just sex, it really is):
and b) is done at every level from the instruments, method of recording, the vocals and post-production.
