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Harmony in pop/rock music |
Harmony in pop/rock music does not always follow the same norms and patterns of classical-era music. Thus, functional-bass notation does not work for all situations. Instead, we will primarily use Roman numerals for our analysis of harmony in pop/rock music, occasionally using functional bass as a supplement to help us make sense of a particular harmonic pattern or relate it to what we’ve studied in classical harmony.
One key difference between rock and classical harmony is that chords in pop/rock music are almost always root-position triads or seventh chords. This affects the “rules” of harmonic syntax, as 6/3 chords in classical progressions are replaced by 5/3 chords in pop/rock progressions. (For instance, the classical progression IV–IV6, or S(4 6) in functional bass, becomes IV–VI, or S4 Tx6 in functional bass. The same bass line does the same work, but by using a 5/3 chord instead of a 6/3 chord, the functional progression changes to something that would break the rules of classical syntax.) This can make harmonic analysis a little tricky in pop/rock music, especially since there is no published theory of rock harmony that is equal to Quinn’s functional theory of classical harmony. However, it makes chord labeling and harmonic dictation simpler. Most of the time, all you need is the scale degree of the bass.
Following is a chart of bass scale degrees and the roots/Roman numerals most typically associated with them. Keep this chart handy when transcribing and dictating rock harmonic progressions. As you can see, most bass notes typically go with a single chord.
| bass | 5/3 or 7 | 6/3 or 5 |
|---|---|---|
| do | I | |
| re | II | |
| mi/me | [III] | I |
| fa | IV | |
| sol | V | |
| la/le | VI | [IV] |
| te | VII | |
| ti | V |
Bass scale degrees and commonly associated harmonies in pop/rock music. Less common chords are enclosed in square brackets.
In classical harmony, usually the same chords are used in major and in minor with the same functions. For example, T1 S4 D5 T1 (I IV-or-II V I) is common in both modes, though the quality of chords will change. In rock/pop music, especially that of the last 20 years or so, there are some common differences in the normative harmonic patterns of major and minor modes.
For instance, the most common S–D progression in major is IV–V. While this is also common in minor, there is another common S–D progression that is far more common in minor than major: VI–VII. Thus the typical cadential bass line of fa–sol–do is replaced by le–te–do. In other words, Dm–E(m)–Am is replaced by F–G–Am.
Where minor-key songs with IV–V–I bear a stronger resemblance to their parallel major (sharing the same bass syllables and Roman numerals), songs that employ this VI–VII–I progression bear a stronger resemblance to the relative major (sharing the same bass notes and actual chords).
For example, the common S–D–T progression in C major is F–G–C. In A minor, the same functional progression could be F–G–Am.
Songwriters like U2 (“One”) take advantage of this relationship in songs where the verse and chorus modules are in different keys. In both cases, the verse is in minor and is based on a chord progression that ends VI–VII, followed by a return to I at the beginning of the next phrase. In both cases, the chorus begins on I in the relative major, turning the VI–VII in the minor key into IV–V in the major key. This two-key approach with VI–VII / IV–V as “pivot” point has become increasingly common in recent years.
<iframe width="480" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/xh-ACkYmdc4?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>There are a number of common stock chord progressions that recur in many pop/rock songs. Typically, these stock progressions, or schemata, will occur in cyclical patterns; that is, the same progression will repeat multiple times in a row. This is particularly common in choruses of verse-chorus songs, but also happens in verses, strophes, and bridges. This is helpful for identifying harmonies by ear, since in addition to listening for bass scale degrees and considering whether the harmonies are chords of the fifth (5/3 or 7) or chords of the sixth (typically 6/3 or 6/5), we can listen for common patterns that we’ve heard in other songs. Following are a number of common schemata for pop/rock harmonic progressions.
The “50s doo-wop” progression (a.k.a., “Friday” progression, after Rebecca Black)
||: I – VI – IV – V :||
or
||: I – VI – II – V :||
The "Sensitive female" progression
||: VI – IV – I – V :|| (in major)
||: I – VI – III – VII :|| (in minor)
||: I – V – VI – IV :|| ("sensitive male" variant)
||: IV – I – V – VI :|| ("deceptive" variant)
I – III – IV . . . (to begin a phrase)
I / / / | IV / I / | V IV I / (12-bar blues)
I / / / | I / / / | IV / I / | V IV I / (16-bar blues)
||: I – V – VI – III – IV – I – IV – V :||
||: I – V6 – VI – III6 – IV – I6 – IV – V :|| (stepwise bass version)
I – V – VI – III . . . (to begin a phrase; "truncated" version)
||: I – VII – VI – V :||
The circle-of-fifths progression (in minor)
||: I – IV – VII – III :||