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ANALYZING TUNES - PART 1A lesson by Andreas Öberg

(transcription by João Paz)

This series of lessons will be a great tool helping you analyzing songs, finding the proper chordfunctions and seeing the “big picture”. The Step Theory, as taught at the Berklee College of Musicin Boston, is like a universal language spoken by musicians all over the world, who know thistheory and can analyze songs this way. Musicians can then communicate with each other usingthis common language.

Let’s start in the key of C (C D E F G A B C)

In the key of C we have the following functions:

I (one) - This is the first step of the ionian scale, the root of the key we're playing in: I maj7 (one-major-seven). With the step theory it doesn’t matter what key you’re at, you can analyze all keyswith the steps. So, for instance:In the F major key, the F chord will be Imaj7In the Eb major key, the Eb chord will also be Imaj7.So, with this method it is really easy to transpose songs once you know the chord functions.

The Steps - In the key of C we have:

Step Root Chord-tones Chord-function Mode I C C E G B Imaj7 C ionianII D D F A C IImin7 D dorianIII E E G B D IIImin7 E phrygianIV F F A C E IVmaj7 F lydianV G G B D F V7 G mixolydianVI A A C E G VImin7 A aeolianVII B B D F A VIImin7b5 B locrian

The Dominants - a) The Dominant

The fifth step in C is G7. G7 is the dominant or V7/I (five-seven-to-one) as the root (G, the five)resolves up a fourth or down a fifth ( to C, the one).

The Dominants - b) The Secondary Dominants: Sub-Dominants, or Bi-Dominants

If we see A7 within a song (if we have for instance Cmaj7 A7 Dmin7 G7) this A7 chord we call itV7/II (five-seven-to-two) because it's not within the key; you have an A chord in the C major scalebut that's A minor, and now we're talking A7. So if this chord is going to Dmin we call it V7/II as theroot A resolves up a fourth or down a fifth to D.

 © Andreas Öberg, 2010 – Analyzing Tunes part I, p.1/2

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The Sub-Dominants - In the key of C we have:

A7 V7/II resolves to Dmin7B7 V7/III resolves to Emin7C7 V7/IV resolves to Fmaj7D7 V7/V resolves to G7E7 V7/VI resolves to Amin7Then we have the Bmin7b5 but no dominant can resolve into that chord because it has a flat fiveand will not sound like a target chord.

What to play over the Dominants

For dominants there are many scale choices: altered (superlocrian), half-whole-diminished, lydianb7, etc. But to find the most inside ones we will find the chord tones of the dominant and fill out theremaining, surrounding notes with the notes from the key.

V7/II - Mixolydian b6

So in the V7/II example (A7 to Dmin7) it would be like:A7 Chord Tones : A C# E GC Key : C D E F G A B C

The resulting scale is A B C# D E F G A. That's Mixolydian flat 6 and it sounds very much withinthe key of C; and this is the scale that over A7 has the most notes in common with C major, withthe surrounding key.Then, of course, if you don’t like that sound, if you if think it’s not that interesting, you can alwaysuse other choices, like the altered scale - but it’s good to know the basic ones to get started andget the feeling of the key.The whole point with the step theory is to, as much as possible, try to analyze a song within onekey - not just look separately at each chord, but try to see the big picture instead, and try to relatethat song to the surrounding key as much as possible.

V7/III - Mixolydian b2 b6

B7 Chord Tones : B D# F# AThe resulting scale is B C D# E F# G A BV7/IV - MixolydianC7 Chord Tones : C E G BbThe resulting scale is C D E F G A Bb CV7/V - MixolydianD7 Chord Tones : D F# A CThe resulting scale is D E F# G A B C DV7/VI - Mixolydian b2 b6E7 Chord Tones : E G# B DThe resulting scale is E F G# A B C D E

So remember you have these choices, but you also have other choices that are more outside andmore hip, that you may like better!

 © Andreas Öberg, 2010 – Analyzing Tunes part I, p.2/2