Songs that use Secondary Dominants
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- Опубліковано 5 чер 2024
- Secondary dominant chords are used in almost all styles of music and are a very useful concept to get your head around. Whether it's Billie Eilish or The Beatles, Bob Dylan or Bohemian Rhapsody, we can find secondary dominant chords at work.
The outro song is my song "Mothers Day" and is available on Spotify: open.spotify.com/artist/0wKKJ... 🎶
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0:00 Introduction
0:48 III7
2:34 II7
4:23 I7
7:18 VI7
8:32 VII7
10:07 Chaining secondary dominants together
10:56 Secondary dominants don’t have to have to be dominant 7th chords
12:34 Secondary dominants don’t have to resolve by a fifth
![Secondary Dominants- Write Better Chord Progressions! [MUSIC THEORY / SONGWRITING]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/py4HaueW50Q/mqdefault.jpg)
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What if I don't want to?
i am an israeli bassist and you are a great teacher really i adore you at your age - thank you David you have a name of a king :) from my folk :)
I’ve got both Hook Theory books. They’re super awesome. I’ve got the Hook Pad but I haven’t used it much-but I still plan to. They’re written (vs video) but the examples are similar to here. The books start out extremely simple but by the end of the first book, it’s become somewhat challenging. About midway into the second it gets very deep. So from very simple to extremely challenging. With great examples and little quizzes to test your knowledge. Super awesome.
I don't know if you'd be interested in this for like a video idea, cause it's not very music theory-ish, but I noticed this weird trend in alot of pop songs where the lead into the chorus starts with "and she/he said" or "and I said". Blinding Lights by the wknd, love story by Taylor swift, cool kids by echo Smith, semi charmed kind of life, shut up and dance, don't look back in anger kind of. It's like a lesser version of that thing where alot of songs use the word tonight at the end of their chorus.
@@jkyles1000 Thanks for this review, brother
I think the tension really built through this video over the lack of Radiohead references and then resolved at the very end.
This has got to be the best radiohead related comment on any of Davids videos hahahahahaha
Going for Comment of the Year, are we now?
In other words... bloody brilliant.
Damn, this comment is the top one and thus shows in the comment section preview on mobile. Had the tension spoiled 😂
@@ericforsyth Oh, dang sorry.
Imagine the suspense if the Beatles didn't crop up right at the start
David teaching kindergarten maths:
"So, as you can see, one and one and one is three - for example, in this song by The Beatles..."
Got to be good-looking, 'cause he's so hard to see...
I read that in a perfect David voice
Are you saying the numbers Come Together to form new sums?
They couldn't count the days in a week
@@Greg-fb6jh i think there's 8? not sure
Never really thought about why Mr. Sandman is SOOO satisfying, but it totally makes when you think about it. Yo dawg, I hear you like perfect cadences.
Not just that, but a chain of them, coming from the distant-most note of the scale back to the tonic
I heard you like cadences so I put some cadences in your cadences
That’s known as “Barbershop Harmony.” Barbershop Quartets typically sang consecutive and unresolved dominant seventh chords which conveniently have four pitches in them. Usually these chords followed the Circle of Fourths to the tonic, but sometimes they went almost Wagnerian.
Ragtime also used consecutive and unresolved dominant sevenths.
If you like Mr. Sandman, here’s a version with some even more adventurous chord excursions, with genius lyrics as well.
m.ua-cam.com/video/k99bMtg4zRk/v-deo.html
David is elite but never elitist. Name another music theory teacher who will throw both Radiohead and Dolly Parton at you as examples. Thanks for being normal about it. So much music appreciation or education is buiilt on elitism or "high art". The secondary message of this video is "music is music," regardless of popularity or cultural context. That's a great message.
Thank you!
Oh how fun; I did this in one of my songs without realizing what it was or what it was called😂 I did learn music theory as a young kid but forgot so much of it over the years and just started writing by ear. Trying to relearn and learn to write more interesting songs. Your vids are super helpful! Thanks ✌️
V/ii. That’s it. That’s the “old-fashioned” sound I hear. That’s what it is. Amazing.
you mean VI
@@calicosky9863 He really means the five of two, which is the 6.
you mean V/V/V/I?
@@kjl3080 Way to meta the Roman numerals.
"I wrote it as a V/V/V/V/V/V."
'... Isn't that just a I chord?'
"STFU YUO DO'NT UNDERSTADN MY JENIS"
Right!? i always heard that progression in those 60s songs and knew they had something going on
I first saw "Mr. Sandman" at the bottom of the screen and my brain said "Oh, Metallica." Then after two seconds my brain over-corrected course and made me think "Mr. Sandman, man me a sand."
Car door hook hand
hahaha I’m glad we share the same set of references - I could totally see myself doing the same.
Enter Mr Sandman
I don’t know anyone else on UA-cam who does the “here’s what it would have sounded like if . . .” method. A great teaching tool.
It's absurd how boomers like me passed 40 years trying to understand things that David explains in 15 minutes. That's outrageous!!! Thanks so much, Dave, anyways. That is mastering in teaching, not even mantioning the overwelming acumulus of knowledge.
Precisely
Ridiculously good teaching....I want to dominate these dominants muhaha
😁😁😁
The Shredmaster never sleeps on music theory muhahahaha
Dave’s the man
Years of tension trying to resolve my understanding of secondary dominants resolved in 15 minutes. This clarity of teaching used to only be available to middle class people who could afford private lessons.
"Life On Mars?" by David Bowie has lots of secondary dominants.
I think of them (having not known they had a name until now) as a very Bowie thing. Drive In Saturday and All The Young Dudes immediately spring to mind.
@@charliejoseph6465 LOVE Bowie
Why’d I think this was a gay joke at first lmao
Yes it uses the Major version of the VI chord on ‘To the girl with the mousey hair’, ‘as she walks through her sunken dream’, ‘and Mickey Mouse has grown up a cow’, and ‘From Ibiza to the Norfolk Broads’. Also it uses the secondary dominant built on the tonic in the pre-chorus, which is in Db Major on the ‘As they ask her to focus on’ and ‘As I ask you to focus on’.
It's no secret that Muse are big fans of the secondary dominant, but I think one of my favourite uses of it by them is "Survival". It's one of those songs where the key centre itself is fairly ambiguous, but it really feels like they try to bring out that unresolved feeling that comes with a secondary dominant. The main chord progression goes Bb -> Bb+ -> Ebm -> Ebm/F# -> B -> F# and then repeats.
The beautiful melody and chord progression of MGMT’s Loss Of Life is another example of the use of a secondary dominant chord progression when moving from E to Am (ii chord in the key of G major). Incredible explanation - thank you for the video!
I can’t believe this even has a name. I’ve always been drawn to songs that use this, especially the first kind, but I never knew how to describe it. When I taught myself piano I just used to hear it as a logical, emotive jump between chords, and I noticed it in so many muse tracks growing up.
Also, Creep by Radiohead would sound great with G, B, Em, C albeit a much more common chord progression.
Same, almost all of my favorite songs use secondary dominants in them
Never underestimate the power of the leading tone
@@peterphann i kinda had the opposite experience, i was just learning about second dominant in music theory and i had no idea that they are this common, like i hadn't even ever noticed it. i guess i should start paying nore attention to what i hear in music
Saw Matt Bellamy and John Lennon and clicked so fast
Muses music is absolutely littered with them
@@blueboy3492 facts
Lennon = Click.
@@blueboy3492 any examples? I’m a huge muse fan
I'm huge Muse fan too
Queen also uses the V/iii chord in The March Of The Black Queen, one of their earlier songs (and my personal favourite!), which is similar to Bohemian Rhapsody in many ways, sometimes being called Bohemian Rhapsody's older sibling. During the guitar solo in C major after the first chorus, a B major chord is used as a secondary dominant to lead to an E major chord, which sets up a return to the next section in the relative key of A minor. After the second chorus, the B chord is used almost the same way, except that it leads to an E minor chord instead of a major chord, as the song goes into its next section. During the instrumental break near the end (also in C major), the B chord is used as a dominant chord (not a secondary dominant) for a sudden modulation into E major for the coda. Very cool stuff, the V/iii is definitely my favourite secondary dominant.
Also the chorus of New born by muse use vii°/iii
The verses of somebody to love uses the II7 chord a lot:
I V vi
I II7 V
I V vi
II7 V
I II7 V
II7 V IV
…I’ve always been internally struggling as to whether Back Queen or White Queen was Queens best song… aaah the struggle between Freddie and Brian. In your face creativity explosion or haunting subtlety building into a dramatic crescendo of harmonies. So hard to choose.
Yeah, I'm a big fun of this really underrated song! It's sounds and feel purely awesome!
The last part of "15 minutes" by the strokes is just chaining secondary dominants together and therefore using all 12 major chords in the process, its cool
YES !!! I listen to that song all the time, because that part just feels too epic. I couldn't really describe what i was hearing, because i don't have perfect pitch, but i knew something interesting was happening. So cool too know!
I love the I-II7-V chord progression. It sounds great in Lydian and it’s also a perfect way to transition from Lydian to major👍
This video is filled with Beatles examples and I’m *not* complaining!
That’s the way I like it!
The intro to Creep by Stone Temple Pilots is a great example. Starts in C then goes to B7 then resolves to Em then Em7. Great intro.
Third chord “resolving” to the 2 minor chord is a lovely sound.
New light by John Mayer has a B7 that resolves to an Am, for example.
When playing a 2/5/1, it’s always nice to add the major third chord before returning to the progression.
So in C it could be something like: Dmin9-G7-Cmaj7-E7
Great comment!! I love this specific progression so much
I believe another great example of use of a secondary dominate is in the chords progression of “She’s Electric” by Oasis. E major, G sharp dominant 7, C sharp minor, followed by A major makes a truly beautiful progression.
Awesome vid!
Great example 😃
Best explanation of 2ndary Dominants around!
Thank you!
In the popular music and jazz of the 1920s, most song progressions consisted largely of secondary dominants - perpetual secondary dominants, that is, as songs like Five Foot Two, Sweet Georgia Brown, etc. progressed through the cycle of fifths - or at least segments of the cycle.
Steve Goodman uses a secondary dominant in 'City of New Orleans': the verse section ends on the I chord, but the chorus begins on the IV. To smoothen this transition, the I briefly turns into a I7, which resolves to the IV and serves to "kick-start" the next progression.
Songs that modulate to the IV in the B section are ubiquitous in jazz. How many can we name?
I really needed this video right now in my life. got In sort of a rut in a few songs with transitioning between parts. your videos are always so easy to understand and the examples help a lot. love what you do mate, thanks for everything.
Mr. Blue Sky - Jeff Lynn / ELO love that song and if I heard it right. It uses a couple of secondary dominants.
Nobody Knows You (When You're Down & Out) uses several secondary dominant movements. Thanks for explaining why this is such a totally satisfying progression.
So I have a saxophone student who asks really interesting theory questions. This week he asked me why he had an accidental in his music, and I could tell that he could tell something was happening there. It was obvious to me that it was a secondary dominant progression just from the melody. So I explained the concept to him. What a coincidence that you did this video on the same day!! I'm definitely going to recommend your channel to him because I think he'll get a lot out of it!
I really appreciate all of the work that goes into your videos David. Not only the knowledge that you have, but your ability to explain complex concepts simply and provide so many example. I'm sure it takes a lot of effort to put it all together. Thanks for helping me get more out of my love of music!
Fun lesson, David. Secondary dominants sure play a big role in popular music. I like to think of them as stepping stones!😊
I’ve read the phrase “secondary dominant” so many times and glazed over. Thanks to your video, I now know that I’ve heard (and used!) this technique many times over. Cheers!
Another excellent video. You are a brilliant teacher,David, thank you.
Thanks Peter!
Matt bellamy videos is the key to my heart bro
I’ll bear that in mind 😃😃
@@DavidBennettPiano i'd love a video on take a bow tbh if it's not too much to ask
@@haavard9227 I’ll have a look and see what I can do 🙂
@@DavidBennettPiano that’s awesome, love your videos ❤️
Congratulations on 500k subscribers!!
Love the video’s ; thanks David , please keep them coming 👍
Hooktheory is the perfect sponsor for this video! (They're my go-to choice for finding out what songs have similar chords if it's a progression I'm not as familiar with - including most of the ones with secondary dominants.)
Great 😃😃😃
In fact, I use the HookPad, but there is a lot of free analysis of progressions
in popular songs. The founders are from Berkley.
It will take lots of time for some of these historic secondary dominants to sink in. Just thinking I’ve heard them for years but never had a word for them
I was brought to this video today from your other Secondary Dominant video, and once again, you've explained things so well - before now, I thought the SD was the III7 chord - now I know there are loads of SDs, and all easily identifiable in popular music! It's particularly interesting how different SDs have fallen into and out of favour (e.g. you mention the SD VI7 resolving to the II found more in pre-1990's music). Lastly, your example of Creep threw me, as I thought I HAD to resolve to the perfect fifth root. Food for thought and experimentation, thank you!
Another two great examples of a chain of secondary dominants are “Killing Me Softly” and “I Will Survive”.
Beautiful songs.
Although "I Will Survive" has a chord progression that goes down in fifths, the chords are not dominant chords, and are all diatonic - they belong to the key of the song.
"killing me softly" is quite similiar. It's true that it has a chain of major chords a fifth down from each other, and I agree they have a dominant chain flavor to them, but if you check it you see none of them has a seventh, and they all naturally belong to the key of the song.
I have to thank you for this wonderful explanation of secondary dominants. It is one of those concepts I never quite grasped when I was younger and would use it in a composition but not realise what it was or the options available. It's so helpful to have musical examples as well. Brilliant!
David, your channel is literally the one music-related thing I have been waiting to find for about 10 years! Not joking! Awesome content. Keep up the great work!
That's why I always loved that part of bohemian rhapsody
Great video, David. Do you know "Choro", an instrumental brazilian music genre? I think you could like it. It's like our version of Jazz, and it have a lot of exemples of secondary dominants. Also you can find a a lot of Neapolitan chords too. If you don't know this music, give it a chance. I suggest, for start, Doce de côco (coconut candy), de Jacob do Bandolim. Abraços!
Never heard of it, I’ll check it out now!
Check out Baden Powell's Live at the Rio Jazz Club. There's a track on the back half that I think may've influenced Radiohead. You'll know it when you hear it.
@@DavidBennettPiano tico tico no fubá and brasileirinho are another examples…I think you might know them
Your videos are fantastic!! Love the music theory concepts and info. in these videos!! It is also very in-depth which I think is hard to find! I also like how song examples are provided for understanding things.. Very cool stuff!
Great content man, seriously. I've been playing guitar and writing songs for over 40 years, and as you note towards the end of the video, like many less formally trained musicians I've known and used this kind of chord progression many times without knowing the theory behind it. As the Bob Dylan song illustrates, it's very common in country/delta blues songs, with which I'm quite familiar. But now, knowing and understanding more about the actual "mechanics" of the theory, I can see how it might be applied in totally different contexts, in totally different kinds of progressions. I immediately recognized the sound of the VII7 to the the iii chord. I thought instantly of Bill Withers' "Just The Two of Us" so I looked up the chords and yep, Cmaj7 -B7-Em7. But I would have never understood how to apply that to my own compositions before, so this video is INCREDIBLY useful. This isn't the first really great video of yours I've seen, but I really had to comment on this one, thanks so much for helping with my lifelong musical education.
Awesome YT channel! The music theory is so well explained and I like the popsong examples.
It helps me to understand a way more.
This is by far the most useful video on Secondary Dominants I've seen. Thanks so much David, this was an eye-opener for me! Very good explanation and also an entertaining video!
Really like the way that you show the difference between the altered and unaltered versions of the chord progressions
Cheers!
I have watched so many videos trying to understand secondary dominants and for some reason it just evaded my understanding but this video made it just click so easily for me. Nice job man!
Thanks!
Three great secondary dominants are in the verses of What A Wonderful World by Louis Armstrong, the verse of Only You by The Platters, and in the bridge of Can't Help Falling In Love by Elvis Presley.
Chaining dominants using the circle of fifths is also part of the ragtime turnaround, and one of the best parts of chaining dominants is that you get chromatic voice leading of the 3rd and 7ths (and their inversions) making it very easy to imply a chain of dominants with a chromatic walk down.
Your channel is gold. Thank you for your work.
Understanding where to look for that 'perfect' chord will be a great help now. It will make it a lot easier than the trial and error method that I've been using. : ) Thank you!
Wow, I always thought that secondary dominants resolved by a 5th. I'm off to start working on some 'new' chord progressions.
I had to rewatch that section because it blew my mind.
The chord progression to creep is my absolute favorite, that minor plagal cadence just works for me and the deceptive B major is so good.
Love these videos explaining interesting music theory concept in an accessible way, can't wait to try this one when I'm songwriting next!
Brilliant. thank you. You have presented this in a way I can finally understand. (and retain!)
Secondary dominants are a really clever trick. There is a tutorial on yt on how to write jazzy progressions and all he does is put a secondary dominant between chords. One of my favs Mac Ayres uses them a lot.
This video helped a lot, and I'm glad you included a 'chain of secondary dominants song' so I could really get a feel for it.
Such a great teacher. Well done.
I am a musician/teacher as well- really good job with your explanations! I talk about secondary dominants in one of my Billy Joel Videos. Great job!
"Apology Song" by The Decemberists is my favorite example of this - it has lots of (as far as I can tell) major 3 chords leading to a minor 6. And now I know it's called a secondary dominant!
Decemberists have never gotten the credit I wish they got. Their albums are a major stamp on my life
Pumped for this one! Hoping it'll do for secondary dominants what David Bennett's other vid did for diminished chords: show me why I practice them (on guitar) and what good they can do when I write songs.
Your videos have inspired me to learn music theory again. Thank you and keep up the good work!
Thank you!
David, this by far the best explanation of secondary dominants I have seen. Clear, organized, well-paced with excellent graphics and examples. As I beginning composer, I needed this. Thanks very much.
Thanks Mike!
I've been absent-mindedly doing this in little compositions, especially the I to I⁷ to IV progression. Awesome to know the technicalities behind it
This is one of those things that I could identify upon hearing it in a song as “a cool and interesting chord change I’ve heard before,” but I don’t think I’d be able to connect it to the other songs I’ve heard it in. This has been really cool to watch! Cheers :)
Wonderful video that clears up so much. Thanks for this.
I love your videos David!! I learn a lot from you. Thanks 🙌🏽
@@madisntit6547 thanks for the correction 😅
This was so helpful and so well done. Bravo.
Not long ago I discovered Beatles and this video introduced "All you need is love" to me, that is playing on repeat in my headphones. Thanks :). Also would be awesome if you'll use more Queen songs, and not just bohemian rhapsody. Almost in every video where you tell about certain moves in music I have 2 or 3 Queen songs that have these moves. Thanks for your videos, I like your approach to explaining and showing graphics on screen
so helpful! thanks David!
Very cool and instructive video again!
Would love to see one about knowing what note to put after another, like how do you apply this knowledge to actually create a song
Thank you very much for this video. I'm a little on the older side and I really depend on music to keep me going. An excellent lesson!
I see Matt Bellamy, I watch.
Me too)))))
Not sure if that a good or a bad thing but the "Big Girls Don't Cry" almost didn't sound like a cover for Demonization
“Demonization” probably isn’t the word you meant but it somehow perfectly describes what UA-cam does to these creators, haha good job
secondary dominants were my gateway drug to music theory. it's so easy to go from them, to thinking "what if there were a secondary subdominant? a whole secondary chord progression?" and before you know it, you're a full on music nerd.
How could you not use 'Your mother should know' by the beatles, has so many including a chain of them! 😁
I've been getting into Japanese pop songs, and I've learnt all you've discussed in this video there. I'm so amazed by their music because even though you say the 7th secondary dominant is rare, its in so many Japanese songs and now I use it very often. Japanese songs are fire, the chords are so awesome
Gorgeous outro music at the end! I appreciated how it wasn’t drowned out by the patrons’ list. ;)
It was interesting to see a couple fellow classmates hella struggle to listen to secondary dominants on an aural skills exam. It was easier to just show them what songs they know have them and it automatically links in their ears now
Such a great explanation of secondary dominants! I knew what they were but not how they have such a wide range of potential uses! It's got me realising that you can construct so many chord progressions by using this technique along with say substituting a M for a m chord, or vice versa. It's almost as if it's possible to come up with any chord progression because there is always a way to get there, by inserting 1 or 2 chords as a 'stepping-stone.' This has unlocked a ton of possibilities in my own song writing, which I'm new to. Thanks David! :)
I’m really glad that you found it useful! Thanks!
Cheers, David. Enjoyed the video. Keep it up.
For the VII7, another example might be "Sexy Sadie" by The Beatles. Only thing I'm not sure about is whether it's a 7th chord or just a straight major chord. Either way, I feel it fills the same function -- especially since John Lennon sings the 7th in his melody.
I love secondary dominants. My favorite is probably the VI7. A good example you didn't mention is "Daydream" by The Loving Spoonful. For modern examples, I believe NOFX does it here and there.
Perfect!
Brilliant lesson! Thanks David!
Thanks for the great video! There were lots of great examples that I never would have thought of! A composer who also used secondary dominants extensively was Scott Joplin. One example of many is mm. 11-12 of "Easy Winners" (V7/V).
Well done for bringing the examples!
Dave, cheers for your great work and your educational videos
Thank you for the great explanation!
I've learned more USEFUL music 🎶 theory from these videos than I ever did doing my A level academic course. These are clear concise fun lessons which have an immediate practical use ...thank you !!
Really good and thank you for using such a broad range of music to illustrate!
The III7 a is my favorite chord. More 11 songs with its:
That's Life, Gita, Gimme Chocolate, Cassino night zone (Sonic), Yesterday, Mr. Blue Sky, Você (Tim Maia), Space Oddity, Maluco Beleza, Dragon Ball Super Opening 1, We are Crystal Gems (Steven Universe)
Such an inspiring resource for songwriters! Thanks so much :)
I immediately thought of "I Get Around" by the Beach Boys. That song starts with the progression G, E, (secondary dominant), Am, F, D.
Another is "Good Lovin'" when it comes to that little pre-chorus. I think it is a II7 V7 I progression.
Thank you so much David. It explains why the early 60's girl group songs are so catchy. In addition to what you've said, it also explains what makes a "pop" tune actually POP !! (been playing bass for 15 years)
Absolutely fantastic 👏 I've wanted to understand this my whole life! Thank you immensely
You really just used a simple way to explain how certain songs sound so good due to Secondary Dominants. CHEERS DAVID!! 👌
Wonderful eye (and ear) opener! I got so much about chords and song structure out of this. :-)
Great content as always
So glad to hear a mention of Radiohead - Creep. There is a song that has very similar chords (Born Without Bones - Stone) but follows the standard major scale of I-iii. It contains the interrupted cadence, and I was looking for the name of that technique.