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Chord progressions of 25,000 songs

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Re: Chord progressions of 25,000 songs

#41

Post by protonfish »

jayrhynas wrote: post #15
protonfish wrote: post #3

I am confused. Is "Start" always a 1? Then how can the first chord change also be a 1?

The way I interpreted it, the first chord starts at the second column. The "start" state is necessary so you can see the distribution of songs among the first chords.

This would mean that less than 25% of songs start on the root chord. That can't be true. I would expect a distribution of about 90% 1 chord with a smattering of others taking up the rest.

Re: Chord progressions of 25,000 songs

#45

Post by aidenn0 »

ljk wrote: post #42
markbnj wrote: post #28

To see how popular the 1-5-6-4 progression is you need only watch Axis of Awesome ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pidokakU4I

and before them: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdxkVQy7QLM

Though Pachelbel's Canon is twice as long; it has a iii between the vi and the IV, and a I IV V tacked on the end.

Re: Chord progressions of 25,000 songs

#46

Post by drostie »

protonfish wrote: post #40
stephen_g wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nope. 1 is the root (or tonic) of the key, not necessarily the first chord.

Then what is the first chord? The beginning is labelled "Start" What does this mean? Either less than 25% of songs start on the 1 (no way this is possible) or the second chord is mislabeled as a chord change when it stays the same or those with a 1 in the second column started on a chord other than the root and instead of listing that chord, the data is thrown away. Something is messed up here.

Why is there "no way this is possible"?

The 1 is the key, which is to say, the lowest note played in the progression. If it's less than 25% then that means that 4-chord progressions frequently do not choose their minimum as the first note.

Re: Chord progressions of 25,000 songs

#47

Post by drostie »

aidenn0 wrote: post #45
ljk wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

and before them: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdxkVQy7QLM

Though Pachelbel's Canon is twice as long; it has a iii between the vi and the IV, and a I IV V tacked on the end.

Right. You'll notice this in the Pachelbel rant; he very specifically only sings "da, da-da-da, da-da da-da-da-da-da-da--" (the first half of the violin theme) before abruptly cutting off because with this progression you essentially only get the "first half" of the Canon.

Re: Chord progressions of 25,000 songs

#48

Post by em3rgent0rdr »

kowdermeister wrote: post #24

"So for example, the transition 4->1->5->6 is one of the most popular ones" The graph does not show this or I'm misunderstanding something. The most popular looks like 1,4,1,5 Also, what does the double, triple numbers mean? 664, 66 in the fist column. I know some music theory, but the article's explanation is rather confusing.

the first number is the chord number (which should have been notated as a roman numeral, and should have differentiated between major and minor with capital and lowercase). The rest of the arabic numberals indicate the inversion using figured bass http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Figured_bass

Re: Chord progressions of 25,000 songs

#49

Post by baddox »

pcsanwald wrote: post #8

If anyone has interest in harmonic theory and why I/IV/V progressions are so pervasive, I highly recommend "The Harmonic Experience" by W.A. Mathieu. He really gets into the harmonic series, and how intervals are really low prime ratios. I read this book after being a professional musician for 15 years and it was an ear opening experience. there are lots of great singing exercises for really hearing the overtone seri…

I'm reading that now! Sadly, after the first section where he derives the diatonic scale, I'm getting a bit lost. He stresses how important it is to play along with a musical instrument while reading, but I've been insistent on just reading in bed (which is how I do all my reading). But that first section is great.

Re: Chord progressions of 25,000 songs

#50

Post by markbnj »

ljk wrote: post #42
markbnj wrote: post #28

To see how popular the 1-5-6-4 progression is you need only watch Axis of Awesome ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pidokakU4I

and before them: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdxkVQy7QLM

Awesome! Hadn't seen that one before. I think Axis of Awesome almost ripped him off.
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