Just changing key from G too F # does not make the song unique if it still follows the same chord schema. It'd be better to identify chords relatively, i.e. IV->I->V->vi
I analyzed chord progressions in 680k songs
61–70 of 160 posts
Re: I analyzed chord progressions in 680k songs
#62[deleted]
Re: I analyzed chord progressions in 680k songs
#63If you're interested in more relative chord progression analysis, check out Hooktheory (I'm not affiliated but I think love their two books / apps): https://www.hooktheory.com/theorytab/index It's "just" 32K songs, but you can see the top chord progressions: https://www.hooktheory.com/theorytab/common-chord-progressio... And see which songs follow any chord progression you choose (either absolute or relative chords):…
I’m a huge fan of Hooktheory, and have bought all their books and products. Thumbs up!
Re: I analyzed chord progressions in 680k songs
#64Using absolute chord analysis instead of relative chords (i.e. roman numeral analysis) doesn't make sense. As others have noted, the original dataset is flawed because the structure of a song is critical, you cannot omit repeating chords. Programmers/analysts should take more care to understand music theory or the underlying field at hand, before compiling datasets or doing analysis.
"Most common chord" is mildly interesting, but not really that useful. The most common key, and the most commonly used chords relative to that key (i.e. with roman numeral analysis) would be much more useful and interesting. This would help paint a clearer distinction between e.g. country and jazz, not that "jazz uses Bb major more". Also, anyone with general instrument knowledge would surmise that since Bb and Eb instruments are much more prevalent.
"If you’re sitting down to write a song, throw a 7th chord in. The ghost of a jazz great will smile on you."
7ths don't belong to jazz only, and the average songwriter isn't making data-driven decisions on how to settle on the chord structure for their song.
Re: I analyzed chord progressions in 680k songs
#65The way this analysis, and the original dataset were created, makes no sense. This is, in part, not the author's fault, since the original data [1, 2] is flawed. First, the original data was constructed like this: "...The next step was to format the raw HTML files into the full chord progression of each song, collapsing repeating identical chords into a single chord (’A G G A’ became ’A G A’)..." Already this makes n…
I agree with you to some extent, but I'm also alive to the problem of how you achieve what you're talking about when chords can change at any point in a bar.
Re: I analyzed chord progressions in 680k songs
#66Using absolute chord analysis instead of relative chords (i.e. roman numeral analysis) doesn't make sense. As others have noted, the original dataset is flawed because the structure of a song is critical, you cannot omit repeating chords. Programmers/analysts should take more care to understand music theory or the underlying field at hand, before compiling datasets or doing analysis. "Most common chord" is mildly int…
[deleted]
Re: I analyzed chord progressions in 680k songs
#67I find the analysis interesting in terms of a hobby project, but I'd be careful extrapolating too much out of this. 680k is quite the sample size, but my issue lies within the myopic selection of one instrument and the issues that arise from the platform of Ultimate Guitar. 1. I am curious, how many of the 680k songs are unique? It is rather uncommon for massively successful songs to only have one version of tabs out…
> Music has also become more accessible as time progressed. Hell no. Before recorded music literally everyone was a musician in one way or another. Music was an activity you did while bored. (Today music is not an activity, it's a product to consume.) They had simple woodwinds and percussive instruments. People weren't playing the church organ while waiting for the cows to come home.
Literally everyone? Have you got a source for that claim?
I don’t disagree that music performance was a pastime for many people before recorded music, but let’s be real here.
Re: I analyzed chord progressions in 680k songs
#68Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Music has also become more accessible as time progressed. Hell no. Before recorded music literally everyone was a musician in one way or another. Music was an activity you did while bored. (Today music is not an activity, it's a product to consume.) They had simple woodwinds and percussive instruments. People weren't playing the church organ while waiting for the cows to come home.
Literally everyone? Have you got a source for that claim? I don’t disagree that music performance was a pastime for many people before recorded music, but let’s be real here.
There was no recorded or productionized music back then. And yet people liked music as much as we do now. So the only way to enjoy music was to do it yourself.
Singing and playing an instrument was just a basic life skill that everyone had back then. (Say, like driving a car or using a computer is today. Not everyone is a professional driver or computer programmer, but not being able to use a computer at all today would mean you failed at life.)
Re: I analyzed chord progressions in 680k songs
#69Aren't Ultimate Guitar chord progressions user contributed?
They often simplify the actual chords in their tabs.
Re: I analyzed chord progressions in 680k songs
#70Using absolute chord analysis instead of relative chords (i.e. roman numeral analysis) doesn't make sense. As others have noted, the original dataset is flawed because the structure of a song is critical, you cannot omit repeating chords. Programmers/analysts should take more care to understand music theory or the underlying field at hand, before compiling datasets or doing analysis. "Most common chord" is mildly int…
I think most musicians know that I-IV-V-I is the zero thought default for in key chord progression, it's so overused you don't need fancy analysis to figure it out.
For me, I'm more interested in the intervals and voicing pairs, because those tell you something deeper about the music that you don't get from the chord progression.