Economy Of Notes And The Tones Of Pop

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One that we might see recurring in modern popular music today is that much of it is composed mainly of melodies derived from the same progression of four notes. Called the pop-progression, these same four notes really do sound rather versatile (scientifically proven, too), and works across such disparate genres from punk rock to blues. This is ironic in that many pop genres originated from jazz, which has seven chords and can be incredibly complex.

A mostly countercultural version, which appears cyclical with its four-note counterpart, is the three-chord progression, usually seen among alternative rock circles, often with the moniker “three chords and the truth,” eschewing any additional complexity.

These chords are subject of major criticism (and a lot of jokes) from music circles. Pop-punk progression is dismissed as trite and soulless, whereas the less polished three chord progression is derided as unsophisticated and pretentious. Both are subject to a common criticism: after a while, they all sound pretty much the same.

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Let’s get one thing out of the way, first, shall we. Despite what you might read here, there is no one “golden mean” of chords that guarantee that a song would be good. A good composition can have as many or as little notes as it needs to have. But complexity (or the lack thereof) itself is not a benchmark for quality.

In much the same way that an artist can create a masterpiece using just a small but complementary palette of color, so can a musician make a great song from just a few notes. There are many reasons why a song is good (or abysmal), and it is rarely because it sounds vaguely like another song.

The name’s Bradley J. Sterling, music fan and UCLA theater major. For more on my thoughts about music theory and musical theater, follow me on Twitter.