Three Chords and the Truth

Click here for a free piano chord chart of the I-V-I progression in all major scales.

However usually some chord might uppear in between to create more interest between these two chords.

The Subdominant Chord

The subdominant is the last chord in the serie of three chords and the truth.

Alright, so until now we've learned about the starting point, the climax and the ending point. But what happens between the starting point and the climax?

Well, that is also pretty simple. All we do is try to suspense the tension until it is unavoidable to ignore the necessity to play a dominant chord (fifth degree remember?). So, in other words we find substitutes for the dominant. The fourth chord is the strongest example for such a substitute. That's why it's called the subdominant.

Here is how this chord progression could be played on the piano in C major scale.

Maybe the most common example to show this is the ending the prayer we all know...
We start with a subdominant that is holding the tension before it's unavoidable to play the fifth degree toward the tonic.

By the way, it is also possible to play such a chord progression: I-IV-I or in C major for example C-F-C. In this chord progression the tonic is moving to the subdominant and then moving back to the tonic with creating a climax. The only impact which is created is the sustain of the tonic.

Click here for a free piano chord chart of the I-IV-I progression in all major scales.

The song Imagine by John Lennon starts with this chord progression. Click here for the piano tutorial of the song Imagine.

An other option whithin these chord option is to play this chord progression. I-V-IV-V-I.

In this chord progression we move from the tonic to the fifth degree. Now as we've learned we must come back to the tonic again. However it's possible to postpone this verdict by moving the Sustain chord and then going again to the dominant which now increases the tension to the tonic.

Now let's see how the different chord progressions occur in some other music we're familiar with.

Happy Birthday

This is a classic example. The song starts with the tonic, C major; then is progressing to the dominant, the fifth degree of C major scale, G major and after eight counts going back to the tonic.

Then another line starts from the tonic. Then next chord is the subdominant, the fourth degree, F major which suspense the tension before the dominant appears again and demands us to move back to the dominant. There you have it; three chords and the truth.

Jingle Bells

Jingle bells starts with four chords of the tonic. Harmonically speaking not much is happening. It starts to get more interesting when we're moving from the tonic to the subdominant in the fifth bar and then go back to the tonic.

Until now the tonic was being played and the subdominant created a suspension that didn't reach a climax. In the last to bars of the line the subdominant is being played again aiming toward the dominant this time.

The dominant wants to go back to the tonic. Since the dominant is located at the end of the second line it gives a feeling that the song is not over yet. There is a lot of tension waiting to be solved.

For that reason we go back to the tonic, starting from the beginning all over again and at the last line we will play the dominant in the third bar and that will demand us to go back to the tonic at the last bar which will relief tension to and close end. There you have it again… three chords and the truth.

One Love / Bob Marley

Let's check the song One Love by Bob Marley. Bob was terrific at making amazing songs with three chords and the truth which gets here a double meaning. Not only he made music with the concept we've learned during this lesson, he also combined his spiritual vision through his words and soul and made this song a piece of art.

This song starts with a tonic and going directly to the dominant.
Remember what we said about the dominant? Now we know that the chord progression will be pointing toward the tonic again.
What Bob does is play the subdominant after the dominant.
He inserts a substitute to suspense the tension but then he has no choice but going home back to the tonic.

Now you may ask; once we've reached the tonic we should be at home. How come there are more chords afterwards?
Well that has to do with the fact that music is symmetric.
A musical line is often built out of four bars of four counts.

Bob has reached the Tonic in the third bar but he still had two more bars to go.
That's why he has added the subdominant for two counts, then the dominant for another two counts and then the unavoidable tonic which now at the end of the line sounds like a real resting point.

Click here for the full piano tutorial of One Love by Bob Marley demonstrating the three chords and the truth.

Exercise

Now that you know all about the three chords and truth behind chord theory you can easily play by ear many songs that have only three chords. All you have to do is trust your ear and relate to the logic of what I've been teaching you.

Click here to check out a list of three chord songs.