Let’s Play Music #6
Analyzing Your Favorite Songs
In this lesson we’ll learn about Roman Numeral Analysis. This is a great way to help describe and understand musical progressions. We will use this style of analysis on some of my favorite songs and songs that use specific modes. This will allow us to have real world examples to reference. Then you can take this and go back to the songs you’ve learned, or want to learn, and better understand the structure of that piece.
Learning the Syntax
In Roman Numeral Analysis we describe chords based on the degree of the scale they are built from. In the Ionian mode we have the chord order of major, minor, minor, major, major, minor, and diminished, which are built from degrees 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7. When we notate these chords with roman numerals, we use upper-case letters for major chords and lower-case letter for minor chords. The diminished chords contain a minor third, so lower-case numerals are used. To help differentiate the diminished chord (m b5) from minor chords we simply write a ° next to the roman numeral. A ø is used for a half-diminished chord (m7b5). If we had an augmented chord, then we would use upper-case numerals due to the major third interval and a plus symbol as in a bVI+.
Any chords from Ionian can be describe as I, ii, iii, IV, V, vi, and vii°. If we wanted to express these roman numerals as seventh chords, then we would use IMaj7, ii7, iii7, IVMaj7, V7, vi7, and viiø. You may see a chord on the internet or in a book written with a Δ symbol. This means the same thing as Maj7. I like to use CMaj7 instead of CΔ because the triangle is a small symbol and tends to get lost with writing by hand. I want to make sure that I am notating the correct chord, so I’ll take the time to write out Maj7. Do what works best for you as long as you know that both versions of notation are valid. Now let’s review this.
· Major and augmented chords get upper-case numbers.
· Minor and diminished chords get lower-case numbers.
· A + is added for augmented chords.
· A ° is added for a diminished triad and a ø is added for a half-diminished chord.
There’s just one more rule, which is a simple one. The number used matches the degree that the root is built from. Below is a list of all chords in the modes of the Major Scale. Look at the #ivø in Lydian and the bVMaj7 in Locrian. These chords start on the same enharmonic degree, but Lydian has a #4 and Locrian has a b5, so the roman numerals match the degrees used in each mode.
Finding Your Place Within the Modes
All these numbers and letters are great, but how do we use them? A great place to start is by looking at the pattern of chords in Ionian.
Above we have the order of the modes in fifths because it helps to keep them grouped as major modes, minor modes, or our diminished mode. When we play our chords of the Major Scale, we typically play them as IMaj7, ii7, iii7, IVMaj7, V7, vi7, and viiø. This organizes the modes in the order Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian, and Locrian. In the chart above we follow that pattern for any mode. The mode Dorian just starts on Dorian and goes through this order to create Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian, Locrian, and Ionian. They are still in the same “order”. We just start on a different mode and go through the same pattern.
We can use this pattern to find which mode we are actually in. The second part of the above chart shows that in Ionian, the third chord iii7 is our Phrygian chord and IVMaj7 is our Lydian chord. These two chords are a half step apart. Now look at the other modes and find a minor chord with a major chord a half-step above it. These two chords are from Phrygian and Lydian no matter what mode you are in. For example, Aeolian has a v7 and bVIMaj7. These two chords line up with the Phrygian and Lydian modes because you have a minor chord with a major chord a half-step above it.
Also notice how the dominant 7 chords only appear once in each mode. This chord will always represent Mixolydian, so if you have a dominant 7 chord you can easily figure out what your other chords will be because of the order of the modes. Of course, your Mixolydian chord doesn’t have to use the minor seventh note, so it could just be a major triad. This is still helpful because Lydian and Mixolydian are create two major chords that are a whole step apart. Your only other major chord comes from Ionian, which has a diminished chord a half-step below it and a minor chord a whole step above it.
This is how the pros figure out songs so quickly. They hear one chord like Dm and then another chord like Em and immediately know that Dm is from Dorian and Em is from Phrygian because they are two minors a whole step apart. A pro could them heard two more chords like G major resolving to an F major and know that we are resolving to F Lydian because of the two major chords a whole step apart and the fact that we are moving to F as our tonic note. Now that we have Dm, Em, G, and F in F Lydian, we can use our roman numerals and describe these four chords as vi, vii, II, I.
Now let’s analyze this a bit. The vi chord and vii chord are moving up towards our tonic chord. Before arriving at tonic, we stop by at the II chord, which pulls back down to our I chord. This short progression works great in Lydian because it is constantly moving toward the tonic chord.
Analyzing Modal Songs
Lydian: 1 2 3 # 5 6 7
“Weird Fishes” by Radio Head is in the key of D and uses the notes D, E, F#, G, A, B, and C#, but is in G Lydian. The song starts off with the same progression we just talked about in the form vi7, vii7, II, IMaj7 and give us Em7, F#m7, A, and GMaj7. The II chord uses the notes F#, G, and A, which are degrees 6, b7, and 1 relative to A. This lets the II chord gain the voicing of A6, A7, and an A major triad. Take a listen and when you get to the back half of the song, you’ll hear a tense C b5 chord. This chord belongs to Lydian in the key of G, so there is a modulation from one key to a neighboring key. We’ll talk more about modulations in due time.
Ionian: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
“Let it Be” by the Beatles uses the Ionian mode with two simple, yet highly effective, progressions. The song uses the Key of C and the chords used are C, F, G, and Am.
The verse starts with four measures of C, G, Am, and F followed by four measures of C, G, F, C. We can think of these two phrases as I, V, vi, IV and I, V, IV, I. We know that this is in Ionian due to a few specifics from the chords that we have. We resolve to C in the verse & chorus making C the definitive I chord. Since the I chord is major, the mode must also be major. Then we have a IV and a V chord. Since Lydian has a #IV chord and Mixolydian has a v chord we can eliminate both of those modes and are left with Ionian.
The chorus then uses four measures of Am, G, F, C followed by the same ending as the verse: C, G, F, C. The roman numeral for the chorus are vi, V, IV, I and I, V, IV, I.
What the song does is it uses the I and vi chords as tonic functioning chords that are at rest, but give a bold major sound or a laid back minor sound. The V chord is the dominant chord of both C in C Ionian and Am in A Aeolian, so it fits perfectly with the I and vi chords.
The IV chord is a pre-dominant chord which gives this song its emotion. A IV to I movement at the end of a phrase, like F major to C major, is a plagal cadence. A cadence how a phrase ends, but a plagal cadence is specifically IV to I. The is used a lot in church hymns at the end of a song when people sing “ah-” with the IV chord and “men” with the I chord. With lyrics like, “Mother Mary comforts me…”, it’s easy to hear how the tension moves and is relaxed with a plagal cadence using Functional Harmony.
Mixolydian: 1 2 3 4 5 6 b7
“Back in Black” by AC/DC uses Mixolydian in two neighboring keys for their iconic opening riff. The song stars with E5, D, and A, followed by a melody that uses the notes G, E, D, B, A, and G descending. The E5 chord just uses the root note and the chord’s fifth degree note of B. Using the notes from these chords and melody we have the notes D, E, F#, G, A, B, and C#. These are the notes found in the key of D and since we are heading towards that A major chord, we know that we are going to the key’s fifth degree which is our Mixolydian chord. So, we can think of this first part as an A Mixolydian phrase.
The second part of the riff uses the same three chord as before: E5, D, and A. This time the there is an ascending melody of B, G#, B, A, B, A#, B, B. Using the G# turns this into the key of A, which uses the notes A, B, C#, D, E, F#, and G#. This one note change helps to move to a neighboring key that can also use the chords A, D, and E5.
The last note, which has also been predominant through this melody, is the most important because it is the fifth of E. This B note slides down to E5 as the riff starts over giving it a sense of being where we were heading the whole time. In this way, E feels like tonic. By using E as the tonic note in the key of A we are once again heading to the fifth degree mode, but this time it is E Mixolydian. The only other note that stands out is the A#, but this can be viewed as a “blue note”. Blue notes are notes that do not belong to a scale or mode, but are used for color in the Blues, and Mixolydian is the mode most associated with the Blues.
Overall, the progression is in A Mixolydian with V5, IV, I and a melody over I7 (E5, D, A, and a melody over A7) followed by an E Mixolydian progression of I5, bVII, IV, and a melody over I7 (E5, D, A, and a melody over E7 with) that then slides down from a B note to and E5 to reset the tonic. This riff also cycles back into itself because E7 is a fifth above A, which makes the first half feel like A should be the tonic once again.
Dorian: 1 2 b3 4 5 6 b7
“Oye Como Va” by Carlos Santa is a classic Dorian song. In fact much of Santa’s style can be attributed to the Dorian mode. The song itself is fairly simple to play as far as chords go. All we use is an Am7 and D7 back and forth. The Am7 is our ii7 chord and the D7 is our V7 chord in the key of G. We know this is a Dorian song because D7 sets the position of Mixolydian by itself. That makes Am7 our Dorian chord and tonic because everything moves towards that chord.
The other part of this song that make it Dorian is the use of the note F#. This is A’s major sixth degree and Dorian is the only minor mode with a major sixth. Play an Am7 chord with an F# above it. Now listen to the song for just that F# note. That note is what gives this two chord song its point of interest.
Aeolian: 1 2 b3 4 5 b6 b7
“Losing My Religion” by R.E.M. is a fantastic example of the Aeolian mode. The entirety of the verse uses the chords Am, Em, Am, Em, Am, Em, Dm, and G. Right away the spacing of the three minor chords and the G major chord leading back to Am sets us up with A Aeolian in the key of C. The same progression can be written as i, v, i, v, i, v, iv, bVII.
The magic of this progression comes from the last two chords. D is a fifth above G and G is a fifth above C. Now you might be wondering where C suddenly came from. Well, A Aeolian’s relative major is C Ionian and in that mode Dm, G, C can be thought of as ii, V, I. A “two-five-one” progression is used heavily in jazz, but is used in many styles of music because it works. The way it works is that it is the fifth of a fifth of a target chord.
When we use a minor chord a fifth above a major chord to resolve down a fifth to a target chord it is called “twoing the five” because we are playing the “two” chord “before the “five” chord. Normally twoing the five results in using a major chord as the target chord. This song uses twoing the five to go to a minor chord, but not just any minor chord. Since Dm7, G, C would make an Ionian progression, R.E.M. uses Dm7, G, Am to target Ionian’s relative minor: A Aeolian.
That makes the verse of this song function as i, v, i, v, i, v, ii/V, V/i. The last two roman numerals here mean “ii of V” and “V of i”. This way chords can belong to the next chord and thus give additional functions to chords. Try playing this yourself as i, v, i, v, i, v, ii/V7, V7/I (or Am, Em, Am, Em, Am, Em, Dm, and G7) and listen for that V7 (G7) to drive back to the tonic of A.
Phrygian: 1 b2 b3 4 5 b6 b7
“Wherever I May Roam” by Metallica starts right off with an E Phrygian melody. The melody is over a low E5 chord and uses the following notes in three sets: E E F E, G G A F E, and E E F E. E is our tonic note and by having F we know that we have a minor second degree or b2.
The verse then uses the chords E5, F5, Bb5, and A5. The Bb5 chord does not belong to E Phrygian, but is borrowed from E Locrian and gives added tension. When the verse goes into the pre-chorus, we have a build-up with the chords A5, Bb5, B5, and C5. Now we are using the note B to help ground us in Phrygian before moving on to the rest of the song.
You may be tempted to say that this is really an E Locrian song with a borrowed B5 chord, but if that was true then the note Bb would be used more frequently in other parts of the song like the lyrics. Another thing that keeps this song from sounding Locrian is that the E5 chord, which everything moves towards or is played over, uses the notes E and B. In the end this is a great example of borrowing a chord like Bb5 for the use of tension.
Locrian: 1 b2 b3 4 b5 b6 b7
“Army of Me” by Björk is the song that everyone goes to when describing Locrian. The problem is that it is not entirely in Locrian and for good reason. The bass line uses the diminished fifth (b5) briefly in each iteration and gives that Locrian feeling, but the tonic chord is not a diminished chord.
Diminished chords lead us to either major or minor chords. By ending a phrase on a diminished chord or melody we end up causing a lot of tension that goes unresolved. Our ears want to hear what comes next, so using the b5 or a m7b5 is a great way to add tension. We just need to lead that tension somewhere.
The chord progression of the chorus leads to Ab Lydian by using the four chord phrase of Eb, Bb, Fm, and Ab twice. The roman numerals for this are V, II, vi, I. This is a smart way to create a Locrian feeling without any of the unmelodic drawbacks of Locrian because of Lydian’s augmented fourth (#4). Since the #4 and b5 are enharmonically equivalent, we can have the tension of a b5 hidden inside of Lydian as the #4.
The trick is that the tension note of Ab Lydian is D, which produces a Dm7b5 chord. Instead of playing Dm7b5, an Eb major is used. Because we are in Ab Lydian, we know that Eb is our Ionian chord which uses the note D if played as an EbMaj7. What this means is that D is implied to belong to the Eb major chord because of the way the four chords move. The note D is used in another instrument during counts 1 and 2 of the each 4 count beat. Droning D as the b5 of Ab makes it stand out against the Ab tonic note to draw out that Locrian tension.
Another interesting thing about this is the way Lydian and Locrian are related. This is a bit of a side note that is worth mentioning. If we take the degrees of Lydian and sharpen the first degree we get #1, 2, 3, #4, 5, 6, and 7. Well, the first degree can only be 1. It cannot be a b1 or #1, so we simply account for that and change #1, 2, 3, #4, 5, 6, 7 into 1, b2, b3, 4, b5, b6, b7. We can do the same thing in reverse and flatten Locrian’s first degree to get b1, b2, b3, 4, b5, b6, b7 which is then all sharpened to get 1, 2, 3, #4, 5, 6, 7.
What to Practice
Look at the songs you’ve been learning and figure out what mode you are in using the chart at the top of this article. Keep in mind that some chords might be borrowed, which will likely be dominant 7 chords. Write out what these chords are with roman numeral analysis and look at how they move towards the tonic. If you’re having a hard time, then remember these five rules and be sure to enjoy the learning process.
· Chords will fit into the repeating pattern of Maj7, m7, m7, Maj7, Dom7, m7, m7b5 and will be separated by two whole steps, one half-step, three whole steps, and one half-step to start the pattern over.
· The Maj7 chords are always Lydian or Ionian.
· The dominant 7 chord is always Mixolydian.
· The m7 chords are Dorian, Aeolian, or Phrygian, but only Dorian and Phrygian are a whole step apart. Aeolian is encompassed by a major and half-diminished chord.
· Any diminished chord will be Locrian.
Now go analyze some songs and I’ll see you next time!