The Axis of Awesome 4 Chords

[Ro3b]

I found something saying the structure that is common to all these songs is the I, V, vi, IV chord structure.

So you can take "With or Without You" by U2 in G, and match it up with "Self Esteem" by the Offspring in A, but put them in the same key, follow the same structure, and you are there.

But did you notice? Starting with "Save Tonight" through "Canvas Bags," the video picks on songs that go vi, IV, I, V (or i, VI, III, VII, depending). Self Esteem is in that second category. It's the same four chords, but starting in the middle of the sequence. Pretty slick!

This video illustrates why it's more important to know the function of the chords in a song than the letter names. A, E, F#m, D doesn't tell you much, but if you know that those chords are I, V, vi, IV, everything becomes much more clear. I think I'll be showing this to my students, actually.

[marnold***]

This video illustrates why it's more important to know the function of the chords in a song than the letter names. A, E, F#m, D doesn't tell you much, but if you know that those chords are I, V, vi, IV, everything becomes much more clear. I think I'll be showing this to my students, actually.

Always wondered, never asked: is the vi in lower case to indicate that it's minor? If so, what do you do with the VII since it's actually diminished? You could "wing it" a bit with a minor, though, I suppose.

I'm so used to blues that is I-IV-V, and metal which is basically power chords played in the minor scale of your choice that the extra Roman numeral confuse me a bit.

[Spudman***]

This is so cool. I've just written 12 timeless hits using this formula. Watch out world.

[Ro3b]

Always wondered, never asked: is the vi in lower case to indicate that it's minor? If so, what do you do with the VII since it's actually diminished? You could "wing it" a bit with a minor, though, I suppose.

Right, the lower case is minor. For the dim seventh, you'd write viiº. In many contexts if you want the seventh in the bass it's more common to use a V chord in first inversion instead (e.g. A/C# in the key of D), depending on how you want to resolve it.