This short bass part (which in this instance you may recognize as the basis of Boogie Woogie) lasts only 24 seconds but is immediately recognizable to all of us. It contains the five main chord relationships upon which very much of all music in western civilization is based upon, from Gregorian chants to Rap.
Chordal relationships (based on notes of the scale) are notated with Roman numerals I to VII. A song with one chordal relationship pattern sounds the same in any key (e.g., A or C.) in which it is played. The chordal relationship pattern for this ‘Boogie Woogie’ pattern is I-IV-V. There is a turnaround at the end introducing VI and II. This is basically a combination of the two most common contemporary patterns: I-IV-V (Twist and Shout and Amazing Grace) and I-VI-II-V-I (Blue Moon and Heart and Soul.) Here are some other songs almost completely based on only these five chords and their relationships:
Just about all Blues and New Orleans Jazz
Ebony and Ivory
Homeward Bound
Home on the Range
Don’t Fence Me In
Thunder Road
All That Heaven Will Allow – Springsteen
Have I Told You Lately That I Love You?
Bésame Mucho
Down By The River
Beethoven’s ‘Adieu to the Piano’
Beethoven’s ‘Rage Over A Lot Penny’
Under the Boardwalk
Amazing Grace
Blueberry Hill
Black Muddy River – Garcia
Bridge Over Troubled Waters
Candle in the Wind
Blowin in the Wind
Forever Young – Dylan
Every Breath You Take
God Bless America
Battle Hymn of the Republic
Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer
Jingle Bells
Santa Claus is Coming to Town
Frosty the Snowman
Silent Night
Rock Around the Clock
Mozart Sonata in C major
Strauss waltzes
I Can’t Stop Loving You
I Got Rhythm
I’m Happy Just to Dance With You
Iko, Iko
The Women Are Smarter
My Old Kentucky Home
If Not For You
It Must Have Been The Roses
It’s Now or Never
Let It Be
My Old Kentucky Home
Only Love Can Break Your Heart
Pennies From Heaven
St. James Infirmary
Take Me Out to the Ballgame
That’s Life
The Red River Valley
The Yellow Rose of Texas
What A Wonderful World
When I’m 64
Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?
Wouldn’t it Be Loverly?
You Are the Sunshine of My Life
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