How to analyse this chord progression?

bingefeller

I found an interesting chord progression, although I'm sure it's more the melody that makes it sound interesting, and I am not sure what is going on in it.  I'm thinking it's cycling through different keys, but I really don't know.

The song is called Propose and it's by Sunwoo JungA.   

I have written out the chords, well I copied them from Sonic Visualiser, and I think they sound pretty much OK.  

There are quite a lot of dom 7th chords, so I'm not sure if they are substitutions or if the progression is cycling through keys.

Any help is appreciated!




https://chordify.net/chords/sunwoo-junga-seon-ujeong-a-01-guae-qiu-ai-official-music-magic-strawberry-sound

viz

It’s bloody lovely!

bingefeller

viz said:

It’s bloody lovely!

i know mate, the minute I heard it I just had to figure out what was happening.  the melody is beautiful.

Brad

@bingefeller - broadly speaking the chords are mostly correct, apart from a few places here and there. Without going into too much depth:

Bar 16 - Gb/Ab - Ab/Bb - Dº
Bar 17 - Ebm9 - Ab13
Bar 19 - as 17
Bar 22 - Db/F - E6

So what exactly is giving you grief? Just the dominant chords or everything? When we're faced with a lot of chords like this, it's good to find what we are familiar with first and gradually fill in the blanks. Defining the key is the first step...

bingefeller

Brad said:

@bingefeller - broadly speaking the chords are mostly correct, apart from a few places here and there. Without going into too much depth:

Bar 16 - Gb/Ab - Ab/Bb - Dº
Bar 17 - Ebm9 - Ab13
Bar 19 - as 17
Bar 22 - Db/F - E6

So what exactly is giving you grief? Just the dominant chords or everything? When we're faced with a lot of chords like this, it's good to find what we are familiar with first and gradually fill in the blanks. Defining the key is the first step...

Thanks @Brad ;

I would just like to know if the song is cycling through different keys, what is the thought process behind the substitutions are.  I'm not even sure of the key, I thought Dbmaj7, but then the C7 throws me off - I would have guessed that was being used as the 5th of F, but that doesn't seem quite right.

What I'm trying to say is, I'm interested to know (briefly) what the theory behind the progression is.

Brad

No probs. 

I’m afraid I’m reluctant to spoon feed you the answers you’re after (others are welcome to of course )… sorry! Because I believe it’s important (where possible) to get the answers ourselves in the long run. That being said…

Leaving the C7 or any other funny things for a moment, you are correct about it being in Db. What lead you to that initial conclusion? Because once you’re confident with that information, things like that C7/secondary dominants or key changes will be much easier to spot and analyse. 

Danny1969

It's nice 
The chord sequence is actually old school really ... very seventies .. it's just the choice of keys and the way it's sung puts a whole different spin on it sonic wise. 

I miss songs like this which had a lot of changes and modulations with borrowed chords. Now it's just a relentless barrage of 4 chord loops over and over again. 

bingefeller

Brad said:

No probs. 

I’m afraid I’m reluctant to spoon feed you the answers you’re after (others are welcome to of course )… sorry! Because I believe it’s important (where possible) to get the answers ourselves in the long run. That being said…

Leaving the C7 or any other funny things for a moment, you are correct about it being in Db. What lead you to that initial conclusion? Because once you’re confident with that information, things like that C7/secondary dominants or key changes will be much easier to spot and analyse. 

I guess the use of Ebm7 - Ab7 would be a ii-V-I in Dbmaj7, and the first chord is Dbmaj7 so that ties in.

I'm just assuming that dom7 chords are the fifth of whatever key they are the fifth of, but when they don't resolve then I don't know what's happening.

Danny1969 said:

It's nice 
The chord sequence is actually old school really ... very seventies .. it's just the choice of keys and the way it's sung puts a whole different spin on it sonic wise. 

I miss songs like this which had a lot of changes and modulations with borrowed chords. Now it's just a relentless barrage of 4 chord loops over and over again. 

K-pop is full of key changes, complete change of genre mid song, tempo shifts, chord subs.  It's a really interesting genre to listen to, completely unlike western pop.  The chord progressions are heavily jazz influence, but completely spun in a modern way.  

Brad

bingefeller said:

Brad said:

No probs. 

I’m afraid I’m reluctant to spoon feed you the answers you’re after (others are welcome to of course )… sorry! Because I believe it’s important (where possible) to get the answers ourselves in the long run. That being said…

Leaving the C7 or any other funny things for a moment, you are correct about it being in Db. What lead you to that initial conclusion? Because once you’re confident with that information, things like that C7/secondary dominants or key changes will be much easier to spot and analyse. 

I guess the use of Ebm7 - Ab7 would be a ii-V-I in Dbmaj7, and the first chord is Dbmaj7 so that ties in.

I'm just assuming that dom7 chords are the fifth of whatever key they are the fifth of, but when they don't resolve then I don't know what's happening.

Bang on. Yeah, the first chord is often (but not always) a give away, but the last chord is generally what tells us. In this case it’s Ab7 so it’s V7 returning to I . 

So are there any other chords that come from Db to further support this?  Being able to get as much of the “big picture” allows us to tackle the details. 

bingefeller

OK well, the chords in Db major are:

I = Db Major

ii = Eb minor

iii = F minor

IV = Gb Major

V = Ab Major

VI = Bb Minor

vii° = C diminished

So the first 8 bars are pretty much in Db major, apart from the A7 and I guess the Bb7 is a sub for Bb minor?  

I don't know where the F#maj7 in bar 9 comes from.

I am guessing that any 7th chord with a root note in Db major scale, is a sub?  eg Eb7 for Eb minor, F7 for F minor?

Brad

bingefeller said:

OK well, the chords in Db major are:

I = Db Major

ii = Eb minor

iii = F minor

IV = Gb Major

V = Ab Major

VI = Bb Minor

vii° = C diminished

So the first 8 bars are pretty much in Db major, apart from the A7 and I guess the Bb7 is a sub for Bb minor?  

I don't know where the F#maj7 in bar 9 comes from.

I am guessing that any 7th chord with a root note in Db major scale, is a sub?  eg Eb7 for Eb minor, F7 for F minor?

What can F#maj7 also be called and can it be found in Db Major?

Unfortunately it's a bit more involved than that, but you're on the right track with your thinking. Any Dom7 other than Ab7 in this case is called a Secondary Dominant and these are Dominant chords found outside the key centre. What you now need to determine, is where do these Dominants come from and to make sense of them, do they go where you would expect them? E.g look at the chord after each Dominant.