Using the Circle of Fifths to understand popular songs

[jaimeiniesta]

I found lesson EP408 fascinating and now I want to use the Circle of Fifths everywhere! 🙂

For example, I was applying it to Pink Floyd’s In The Flesh chords, and it all fits!

Then I went to REM’s Everybody Hurts, which shares a similar chord progression, and it also fits the Circle of Fifths, except the bridge.

The main part in Everybody Hurts uses these chords: D G Em A – all go well in A tonality.

But then in the bridge it changes to F# (major!) Bm C G which doesn’t fit in the A chord family…

What’s happening there? Are they “borrowed chords”? A change of key? Which one? It sounds good but how do you justify it using the Circle of Fifths?

[charjo]

Hi Jaime,
The D G Em and A chords are all from the key of D, I think that’s probably what you meant. The Bm in the bridge is the minor vi and the F#major (or I’ve seen it played F#7) is the V/vi or a secondary dominant, which creates a lot of tension. I think they do a key modulation to the key of C afterward with a C, G, C and walkdown to Am and then back to the verse.
John

[jaimeiniesta]

Thanks, Charjo, yes that’s what I meant, the main part is in the key of D, not A.

So, F# is the secondary dominant of Bm – Bm is still on the key of D, and that secondary dominant creates more tension.

And then C G C Am are out of the tonality of D because it’s a modulation to the key of C, right?

[charjo]

I’m pretty sure that’s what’s going on. The F# or F#7 is the dominant chord to the Bm (secondary dominants can be related to a major or minor chord) and it’s the greatest tension in music giving a strong resolution back to it’s tonic. I think you could consider them one of the most common borrowed chords.
John

[heyjax]

Hi Jaime, I’m only a few days new on this site and that Circle of Fifths lesson was the first one I watched through to the end. It’s gold and tonight I finally took screenshots to print. They’re below for anyone who’s interested. Before this I had a boring table that was not so quick to refer to.

[heyjax]

One last one….

[Gordon T]

I found a link on youtube that shows a simple pattern that tells you every key chord in any key. My apologies to Brian but it is not on active melody, you find information where you can. If you like the circle of fifths this compliments it in my opinion. Helps to put the chord shapes to the circle of fifths. here is the link

[heyjax]

Great find Gordon! Love it.

[Gordon T]

Glad you liked it Jacqui. I found that having a picture of the circle of fifths in front of me while trying out the shapes helped to cement the concept in. I like a picture with the diminished chords in the circle of fifths even if I never use them.

[heyjax]

You may end up using that diminished chord one day. I see that AM has some lessons on how to use it but I haven’t had time to watch those yet. I do already know that the diminished chord has cadence (a tension that resolves to the first chord). It’s not as strong as the 5th chord but could still be useful (outside of the 12-bar standard). Also, the dim chord is unique in that it is diatonic to 8 keys at the same time because all notes are inversions of various chords! (4 Major and 4 Minor). Make that 12 keys if you count 4 Harmonic Minor keys. Not that it’s particularly useful to the blues or most people’s playing but it’s interesting to know as a chord to pivot on if you’re writing songs that change key.

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