In minor, you can continue to use many (but not all) of the functional relationships you’ve learned that govern how chords are used in major. For example, the most important rules of chord function that we learned about in Hooktheory I involve the concept of a “one” chord acting as the tonal center. It probably won’t surprise you that this same structure applies in minor songs as well. In Hooktheory I, we learned that after leaving home base, the way chord progressions get back home is through a cadence (and sometimes, in addition to this, a pre-cadence) chord. This general structure is shown below:
In major, the V chord was the strongest cadence chord with IV often serving as a pre-cadence to set it up. For example, “Here Comes the Sun” by The Beatles follows this structure exactly:
In minor, this same basic structure is also followed, but the story is a little more complex. Just as in major, you can also use the v chord to end your progressions. "Mr. Saxobeat" by Alexandra Stan is one example of a minor song that does this:
Another is the hit song “Smooth Operator” by Sade:
However, while v is an option for ending progressions in minor, there are a few other chords that show up more frequently in this situation. We’ll discuss two of them now and postpone the discussion of a third (very important) option until the next chapter.
One of the more common chords used to end a minor progression in popular music is VII. “Same Old Love” by Selena Gomez is an example of a song that does this:
“Burn” by Ellie Goulding is another song that ends its progression with VII:
Less common than VII but still widely used is VI. “Hello” by Adele is an example of a song that ends its progression on VI:
Beyoncé’s “Sweet Dreams” also does this:
While songs in minor have more flexibility in the chord they can use to end a progression, the point is that minor songs follow the same fundamental structures from major that underlie almost all of the music we listen to. In this case, we see that regardless of whether a song is written in a minor or major key, there are specific chords that are often used to end chord progressions (cadence) and have a special relationship with a “one” chord that acts as the home base of the song.
At the same time, minor progressions are often very different from major progressions. The minor version of “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” from the previous section sounded quite good, but you can’t always just take a major progression, convert it to minor and expect that it to sound good. Conversely, there are many great-sounding progressions in minor that don’t sound good when converted to major. One easy way to understand why is to look at the differences in chord qualities present in each scale. For example, in major songs we learned that the vii˚ is not very common because of its diminished sound. On the other hand, in minor, the VII is a major chord, and it is, in fact, one of the more common chords in minor harmony. “Somebody That I Used To Know” by Gotye is another example of a minor song that uses a VII chord:
While this progression is common in minor songs, if we were to convert it to major in the same way we did with “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” in the previous section, the result would not be a “happier” major version. Instead the diminished vii˚ chord creates a much less pleasant sounding combination:
This means that while the basic structure of a chord progression is maintained in minor, you can’t just blindly use all relationships that we learned in major. In the next section, we will discuss how the major and minor scales are related in order to shed some light on why this is the case. We’ll also gain some insight as to why VII and VI are such popular chords in minor songs.
Check for Understanding
Identify whether the following chords are better cadence chords in major or minor:
“Seven”
“Six”
“Four”