My friend Joe told me that country music is just “three chords and the truth”. He’s absolutely right, but the real truth is, there are only three chords. I will repeat that, because it is important to internalize, there are only three chords. You can play pretty much every song in pop music using all three, and some only need two! We call these chords the “two”, the “five” and the “one” (which we’ve already talked about in a previous post).
Importantly, the “two”, “five” and “one” are actually not chords at all. Two, five and one refer to a group of chords. You can play any chord in that group, but you can’t really swap chords between the groups. That is, if you’re supposed to play a “two”, you can’t play a “one” or a “five”, or it’ll sound wrong.
Saying that there are only three chords does not mean that they have to be played in a certain order however. It is true that the two usually goes to the five, and the five usually goes to the one, but it doesn’t have to be. So I’m not saying that every song is a two-five-one chord progression, as that would imply that it has to go: two-five-one, two-five-one etc. Some songs will go: one-five-two-five, two-five-one, one-one-one and so on. There isn’t any rule to say how they have to work.
Making the case that complicated songs are actually just dressed up twos, fives and ones
So, there are only three chords, which I’d like to prove to you now. Below, I play a song with a fairly complicated set of chords, then I play the fundamental twos, fives and ones. This makes the songs pretty dry and stilted, but there’s nothing incorrect about it, it allows the melody to work correctly.
Here is Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen
Here is Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters by Elton John
Here is Sway by Bic Runga
The ii-V-I chord progression
So now that we know there are only three chords, let’s hammer it home with lots of examples. The easiest examples are when they move from one, to the next, and the ii-V-I is the easiest example of that. Remember, the ii = minor two, V = major five, I = major one. You don’t need to know this particularly, but i’m making note of it here, because at some point we’ll use the Major two instead (II, rather than ii), which will have a different feel.
Rory playing the ii-V-I with examples
Keren Ann - Ailleurs
Let’s start with this song, Ailleurs (Elsewhere) by Keren Ann. This is a very simple example of a ii-V-I. It starts on the ii, goes to the V, and resolves to the I.
Nick Cave - Into My Arms
The chorus of Nick Cave - Into My Arms is a ii-V-I chord progression too
Ariana Grande - 33 + 34
A good example of a ii-V-I in a pop song.
Jeremih - Oui
Another very simple example. The chord progression is (probably) ii-V-I-vi
Jenevieve - Baby Powder
This song is great. Another ii-V-I-vi. You should be getting the feeling of how these chord progresions feel.
Interlude: ii-V-I-vi
I’ve been talking about the ii-V-I chord progression, but then I’ve been describing a lot of these songs’ progressions as ii-V-I-vi. So why aren’t these two distinct things? Well I suppose that’s a matter of disagreement, but I think it’s being overly pedantic. That final chord, the vi, or minor six, is really a `one` chord. It’s doing the same thing, it’s just a nice, slightly less boring way, of hanging around the same feeling.
Justin Bieber - Available
My favourite song of this album of his, and a good example of a slightly more nuanced (only slightly) ii-V-I. It’s most clear at the start, before his voice and drums come in.
Alfred Schnittke - Collected Songs Where Every Verse Is Filled With Grief
This is a pretty absurd example, I admit, but a pretty clear ii-V-I at the end. I would also highly recommend this song, it’s beautiful, but it’s long. Listen from 5:08, which is when the second part of the song comes in. Lots of weird things happen here, but at 6.07 you can here this big swelling ii-V-I, which then chills out at 6.17 This one may be harder to hear, so don’t stress.