Have you ever heard your grandparents tell you that “All new music just sounds the same?” Well, in part they are correct, but this trend is nothing new. Ever since the sixties, much of the music of the time has chosen to use the same chord progression. From the Beatles to Jason Derulo, the combination of chords that make up these songs has been dubbed “The Four Chords”. This set of chords is the reason that you can sing Journey’s Don’t Stop Believing while listening to Bob Marley’s No Woman No Cry.
First popularized by the Australian comedy group The Axis of Awesome, the four chords are a trend in countless songs that just seems to work. All though the order of the chords varies, the songs all use some variation of the following chords in a major key: major one, major fifth, minor sixth, and a major four.
Source: Axis of Awesome comedian Jordan Raskopoulos on Being Transgender – The Guardian
Though many offer different explanations for why the minor sixth chord has a place in this sequence of chords has, it’s quite easy to see why the other three chords appear so often. Not only do most of these chords appeal to the ear due to their major tonality, but the sequence of one, five, and four contains every note in the scale. This means that by using these four chords in a song, singers can employ a wide range of notes that will sound proper to the ear, rather than having to stay centered on only a few notes of the scale. Additionally, the inclusion of a major one chord offers resolution to the listeners, so repeating a pattern with a major one chord in a sequence appeals to the ear in this manner as well.
As for the minor six chord in the sequence, my rationale behind the inclusion in this sequence is that the one minor chord in the sequence appeals to the ear by easing tension, as well as being like a major one chord. Although I will not go into an in-depth explanation on the makeup of a minor sixth chord, the chord shared two of its three notes with a major one chord. Incorporating a minor chord in this sequence not only emulates some of the other chords which appeals to the ear by keeping a common tone between note changes but going from a more uncomfortable sounding minor chord to a pleasant major chord.
So next time you listen to a song on the radio that sounds oddly familiar to another song you know, try looking up the chord progression of the song. It’s possible that you’re onto something and may have just discovered another one of the songs built upon these four chords.