September 21, 2025 • 28 mins
Episode 23 of Season 2 of THE HARMONIOUS BLACKSMITH
In this episode, we are exploring CHROMATICISM, the CHROMATIC SCALE, MAJOR and MINOR TONALITY, BASS LINES, TRIADS, CHORDS, CHORD PROGRESSIONS, CHORD INVERSIONS, and CHROMATIC MELODIES. The Blacksmith goes into 2 epic songs for analysis :
‘Hey Joe’ by Jimi Hendrix and
’Stairway to Heaven’ by Led Zeppelin
The Blacksmith reviews concepts like KEYS, SCALES, INTERVALS, HALF-STEPS and WHOLE-STEPS, CHORD INVERSIONS, and more!
HB explains how one of these songs has an obvious Chromatic Melody and the other one has a hidden one. Special NEW character makes Cameo in this episode! Don’t Miss it!
#podcast #musictheory #musichistory #musiccommentary
Linear Music Theory Learning For Everyone!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
UNKNOWN (00:00):
Music Playing
SPEAKER_01 (00:44):
Welcome to The Harmonious Blacksmith, a music
theory exploration.
This is a podcast all about thebeginnings, middles, and endings
of music theory from A to Z.
We start from scratch, we buildfrom scratch until we have some
kind of structure, and then welearn how to organize, analyze,
(01:06):
and interpret what we hear inmusic.
Thanks for joining in,everybody.
Today's episode is...
Episode number 23 of season 2.
And today's episode will be allabout Chromaticism.
Thank you, robot clone of me.
That's right.
Today's episode is all aboutChromaticism.
(01:29):
Chromatics.
We're going to talk about whatchromatics are.
We're going to define it fromthe start, of course.
We're going to talk about how itgets inserted into music we know
and love.
We're also going to talk abouthow you might be able to use it
in improvisation which may turninto a two-part series again.
And I would like to thankeveryone who tuned in for my
(01:51):
very first interview in myinterview series on episode 22,
which was called Meet theBlacksmith.
I am super excited about puttingtogether those interviews for
your enjoyment.
But before I do, we are going totalk about chromatics and
chromaticism.
And by the way, if you're new tomy program, first of all,
(02:12):
welcome.
So how are you?
happy that you're here and justso you know it is a cumulative
and linear podcast I startedfrom a single sound we learned
what pitch and notes were thenwe learned what scales and
melody and harmony and chordsand triads and chord
progressions on and on and on itgoes all the way back to the
(02:32):
beginning so if this is yourfirst time hearing my podcast
welcome but feel free to go backto the beginning and you can
catch up back to where we areand finally for all of y'all out
there thank you so much for thesupport take a look in the
description of this episodewhere it says support the show
give that a click and just takea look at your options there for
(02:54):
a very forgettable dirt cheapprice you can really help my
show and really keep thiscontent rolling thank you so
much for checking that out andas always i am your passionate
music theory host and my name iskevin Patrick Fleming.
(03:14):
Oh, thank you so much.
Thank you to all my peoples outthere.
What up?
What up?
Thank you.
Oh, that's so nice to hear.
I really, really appreciate it.
Thank you.
So without further ado, weplunge into episode 23 about
(03:38):
chromaticism.
SPEAKER_03 (03:40):
Kevin, did you say chromaticism?
SPEAKER_01 (03:43):
Yes, I did.
You know what?
Take it easy over there, robot.
I didn't know you were going tobe a part of this episode.
You need to just kind of chimedown over there.
Okay?
SPEAKER_03 (03:55):
Okay.
But I want to have fun withmusic theory,
SPEAKER_01 (04:01):
too.
Okay, yeah, we all...
We all want to have fun withmusic theory.
I'm just not sure we need yourrobot voice chiming in the whole
episode.
You know what?
I'm a pretty open-minded,benevolent guy.
I'll let you stick
SPEAKER_00 (04:13):
with
SPEAKER_01 (04:13):
me.
But you gotta promise me you'regonna stay out of the way and
let me talk to the good folksout there listening to my humble
programs.
SPEAKER_03 (04:22):
Okay, let's start the show, Kevin.
SPEAKER_01 (04:26):
Okay, and today's program starts with the
question, what is...
chromaticism chromaticism refersto the use of notes that are
outside the realm of a diatonicscale or key within a piece of
music does not compute okay youdon't understand that robot okay
(04:51):
well basically what chromaticismis it's the use of extra colors
outside of a scale or key inmusic we use it in ways to spice
up what is normal sounding orwhat we're used to hearing.
It adds tension.
It adds more interesting sounds.
It just adds for unexpectedcolors and passages of all
(05:15):
kinds.
It's really just a way ofexpanding our musical canvas, so
to speak, when it comes towriting or playing music.
SPEAKER_02 (05:24):
Expanding the musical canvas.
Let me go get my paintbrush.
SPEAKER_01 (05:30):
No, paintbrush.
What?
No.
Oh, you heard the word canvas.
I don't think our robot friendknows quite what a metaphor is.
And before I launch into audioexamples of chromaticism, I
think it's important to kind ofunderstand where it comes from.
So you might say, okay, we havethese extra colors, these extra
(05:51):
notes outside of a diatonic keyor scale.
Well, where do they come from?
Well, everybody that listens tomy program should know that
everything comes from scales andthis is no different.
It's just not a diatonic scale.
It is a different kind of scalethat these notes are pulled
(06:13):
from.
And with that information, wecan now ask the important
question, what is the chromaticscale?
The chromatic scale is simplyall 12 pitches in our system in
order like any other scale.
But this particular scale isspecial because the formula is
(06:36):
that every single note is a halfstep away from every other note.
So just think about all thenatural notes and all the sharps
and flats that are all includedin our musical alphabet, and
it's just all of them in a row.
So you could even start on A andsay it's A, A sharp, B, C, C
sharp, D, D sharp, E, F, Fsharp, G, G sharp, and then
(06:58):
eventually we're back to A.
The chromatic scale from From Ato A would sound like this.
So you can tell it has this kindof forever rising tension that
feels like it's never going toget back to the octave or the
(07:21):
root note.
To sum up, generally in theWestern system, in tonal
harmony, we write music indiatonic major or minor key.
But now what we're doing iswe're just saying that all the
pitches in the entire system arenow available for use.
So think about it like this.
A piece of music mightpredominantly be a 1 4 5 and
(07:50):
therefore use a diatonic scalethat's a G major scale I'm in
the key of G and that was a 1 45 G C and D Pretty basic, pretty
simple.
But what we're saying is insteadof just being able to harmonize
and use the notes in thediatonic scale, we are now going
(08:16):
to be able to use the tweenernotes or the in-between notes
that are in between those notes.
Which makes for an interestingpalette of colors.
(08:37):
And there are more examples tocome.
SPEAKER_03 (08:39):
Now I understand, Kevin.
You do?
I will put the paintbrush offand pull out my bit tar and play
a chromatic scale.
SPEAKER_01 (08:50):
So I'm guessing that a bit tar is like a guitar for
robots?
Is that correct?
SPEAKER_03 (08:57):
That is precisely correct,
SPEAKER_01 (09:00):
Kevin.
All right.
Well, we're just glad you'reparticipating and following
along now, Robot.
Good to have you on board.
SPEAKER_03 (09:07):
This is so much fun, Kevin.
What is
SPEAKER_01 (09:11):
next?
Well, it's time for some audioexamples.
So I'm going to start with oneof the cooler ones.
This is an example from a songcalled Hey Joe by Jimi Hendrix.
To be clear, Jimi Hendrix didn'twrite Hey Joe.
This is his version of it.
He covered it.
But this is the version thateverybody in the world knows
(09:33):
because because it's JimiHendrix and he was an incredible
guitar player.
The chromatic melodies that I'mreferring to in Hey Joe, the
Jimi Hendrix version, come in atthe end of the song and they're
used kind of like a walking bassline to connect the chords.
So the part that we're studyingsounds like this.
(10:04):
And that by itself is prettydarn cool.
If you haven't heard thatbefore, do go put that in your
track list to listen to the JimiHendrix version of Hey Joe.
It's old school, but it's supercool, man.
Check it out.
So I'm going to just start withthe chords that you happen to
hear in this song, and thenwe'll talk about the chromatic
(10:26):
lick that I just played and howit's put together.
The first chord is a C.
Then there's a G.
then D, then A, then E.
And these are all major chords,by the way, which makes this
progression kind of strange.
(10:47):
It's actually what we call acircle progression.
A circle progression is a chordprogression that is based on an
interval rather than a key.
For example, the interval of aperfect fifth or a perfect
fourth are the most common forcircle progressions.
(11:09):
So this particular circleprogression in this cover of Hey
Joe by Jimi Hendrix starts on aC chord, and then it goes a
fifth up to G, and then anotherfifth up to D, another fifth up
to A, and then finally anotherfifth up to E.
(11:33):
And that's where it stops forthe moment.
And then it just repeats.
So now that you know what acircle progression is, here's
what it sounds like in a sort ofjangly acoustic version of Hey
Joe, the Jimi Hendrix version.
UNKNOWN (00:00):
...
SPEAKER_01 (12:19):
Ah, that's a really fun one to play.
I had to just do that.
So you may or may not recognizethat, but that's basically what
the song sounds like in acousticform.
Now that you've heard that andyou heard me play the chromatic
line, let me bring the chromaticline back in and show you how
cool it is.
(12:40):
So what the chromatic line isdoing is that it's connecting
the chords kind of like awalking bass line, if you
understand what that is and i dohave previous episodes on that
by the way so our circleprogression starts on a c and
therefore our chromatic lickstarts on a c and the chromatic
(13:03):
lick serves the purpose ofconnecting the c chord to our
next chord which is a g so we'regoing from a c to a g But what
Mr.
Hendrix does is he plays thisline.
(13:24):
So what that is, is the firstnote harmonizes with the C.
The second note harmonizes withthe C.
It's a low E, and that low E isthe third of the C major chord,
because remember a C major triadis C, E, and G.
(13:44):
So the first two notes of thatchromatic riff are C and E.
They harmonize perfectly withthe chord.
But then he gets chromatic.
And what he does is he goes C,E, up a half step to F, up
another half step to F sharp,and then up another half step to
(14:07):
G.
that is a chromatic lick at itsfinest ladies and gentlemen so
again a c note with a c chordthen he starts walking to the e
f f sharp and then we arrive ona g for the g chord Now he keeps
(14:34):
this kind of chromatic motifgoing.
So after the G chord, we arrivedon the G note.
Now we're gonna have a chromaticriff that's gonna connect us to
our next chord, which is goingto be D.
So now we're starting on G, andhe does a chromatic walk-up
(14:59):
again to D.
So this note is B, which is alsoin a G chord.
So again, the first two notes ofthis riff are in the G chord.
Harmonized perfectly, beautiful.
We love that, we know that.
(15:20):
Then there is a rising chromaticriff again that goes like this.
Same exact way the last one did.
So now we have the first lickgoing.
And then the second lick goes.
(15:42):
So look, you can tell the order,the ascending and descending is
a little different, but the ideais the same.
So now we just arrived on the Dchord.
So that entire walk up theretook you from a G to a D.
And the chromatic motifcontinues of course.
(16:05):
So now that we're on a D chord.
It goes like this.
It walks from a D to an A.
So now we're going from a D toan A.
And it's gonna sound like this.
(16:25):
And now we've arrived on an A.
So D.
and then walk to A.
Is the chromatic rift startingto sound repetitive or familiar?
That's because it's basicallythe same thing over and over
again.
So now that we've arrived on A,we're gonna go from A to E to
(16:48):
finish the chord progression.
And that's gonna go like thisfrom A to E.
And we made it to the end wherewe then get a blues riff after
that.
That's just a pentatonic riff.
(17:09):
It has nothing to do withchromatic.
It's just cool sounding.
SPEAKER_03 (17:11):
That was cool, Kevin.
SPEAKER_01 (17:14):
Thank you.
What is next?
What is next is an analysis ofone of the most epic folk rock
and roll tunes of all time,Stairway to Heaven by Led
Zeppelin.
Now this is a perfect example ofchromaticism, but maybe not
exactly how you think.
(17:36):
It's a little hidden in thisone.
Compared to the last example, itwas very, very obvious.
Well, actually, that's a prettygood way to describe it.
I mean, let's go ahead and getinto it.
At the beginning of Stairway toHeaven, you have the epic,
(17:57):
recognizable part that soundslike this.
So now that you have the basicidea of what chromaticism is,
(18:18):
were you able to hear achromatic line in that?
Listen to it one more time andsee if you hear chromaticism
anywhere.
Okay.
(18:40):
Did you hear it in the bassline?
Remember, the bass line givesyou so many answers, as we've
learned in previous episodesabout chord progressions and
keys and what scale we are andthings like that.
But in the case of the intro toStairway to Heaven, it really is
the fact that the bass line justdescends in a chromatic way.
(19:03):
So the bass line at thebeginning sounds like this.
UNKNOWN (00:00):
.
(00:00):
.
(00:00):
.
SPEAKER_01 (19:18):
Ah, could you hear it now?
That slinky line that slinksdown.
So let's get into the analysisof it.
First of all, the overwhelmingmajority of Stairway to Heaven
is in the key of A minor.
And so we start on the tonicchord and it sounds like this.
(19:42):
So most of you can probablyguess by now that that is an
arpeggio on an A minor triad orA minor chord.
So the chord would sound likethis.
And the arpeggio sounds likethis.
(20:02):
And if you listen to the veryfirst note, which is the bass
note of the chord.
Remember, there's a differencebetween a bass range and bass
function.
And in this case, even thoughthe note is kind of high
sounding, it has a bass functionbecause it's the lowest note of
the chord.
And that's where the walk downstarts.
So we have a root A on our tonicchord.
(20:24):
And then we get this veryinteresting chord.
Listen to this and see if youcan tell what kind of triad this
is.
Your hint is this is like thechord that sends you off in the
intro of every Star Wars movieto send you off into the main
(20:45):
story or whatever after we watchthe cool beginning with the big
ships and everything.
It is an augmented triad, whichis really interesting.
It ends up just being achromatic chord.
Now, I know I'm throwing a lotat you in this episode.
Concern yourself less with thechord analysis and key analysis,
and remember that the focus ischromaticism.
So coming off of this A minortriad...
(21:07):
He goes to an augmented triad.
And then we get a major triad.
And that is in fact a C majorchord.
And if you follow the analysisso far, that's going to be a
major three chord in the key ofA minor.
Remember?
(21:28):
Recall that in a minor key, one,four, and five are minor.
Three, six, and seven are major.
And the two chord is diminished.
SPEAKER_03 (21:37):
Slow down a little bit, Kevin.
Sorry.
Even my computer speeds can't
SPEAKER_01 (21:42):
keep up.
Oh, okay.
Well, I'm sorry.
Let me bring it back together alittle bit.
So let's go ahead and back andrecall how a minor key works,
and specifically the key thatStairway to Heaven's in, which
is A minor.
I will
SPEAKER_03 (21:58):
play along
SPEAKER_01 (21:59):
on my guitar.
Oh, okay, sweet.
You play along with that guitar.
So let's break down the key of Aminor.
Remember that 1, 4, and 5 areminor, so 1 is A minor.
4 is D minor.
5 is E minor.
And those are your three mainminor chords.
(22:22):
Now recall that the major chordsare three, six, and seven.
We've already heard that we havea C major in Stairway to Heaven.
And we're eventually gonna see asix chord, which is F.
And our seven chord is alsomajor, which would be a G.
(22:44):
So now that you've got all thosechords set up for the key of A
minor in Stairway to Heaven, youdo get the I chord.
You also get the III chord.
You also get the major VI chord.
You get the major VII chord.
And then you go back to I, whichis A minor.
(23:05):
But in between, we do have thisaugmented chord.
And we also have a D majorchord.
instead of a D minor chord,which is what is expected.
This is a little bit more of acomplex chromatic chord
progression.
It is basically centered aroundA minor, but it yields this cool
bass line.
So now, to add the bass line tothe chords, you start with that
(23:29):
A minor one, with the bass notethat is an A.
Then we get the A flataugmented.
So, so far we went from theminor one to an A flat augmented
triad.
(23:49):
And so our baseline is goingfrom A to A flat.
So that's the descendingchromatic lick we're talking
about, A to A flat.
Guess what comes next?
Yep, it's G, but it's in thecontext of an inverted major
three chord, which sounds likethis.
(24:15):
And again, the bass note is a G.
So now we've gone A, A flat, G.
What do you think is next?
G flat?
In this case, it actually actsas an F sharp instead of a G
flat.
It's one of those inharmonicthings because it's the third of
a D major chord.
(24:35):
And this is an inverted chord.
It is a first inversion.
But now your bass note is an Fsharp.
So now we've gone from A...
to A flat, to G, to F sharp.
And now where do you think we'regoing?
We're going to F.
And that F is a root positionsix chord in A minor, which is F
(24:58):
major.
And then they finish the chordprogression with a seven chord
back to a one chord.
And that is the entire thing.
So again, we start on an A onthe root chord.
then an A flat on the augmentedchord.
Then we go down a half step to Gon the second inversion C major
(25:22):
chord, which is a three chord inA minor.
Then that G goes down to an Fsharp, which is the third of a
first inversion D major chord.
And then that F sharp goes downto an F natural, which is in the
root position for an F majorseven chord, a six chord in the
(25:45):
key of A minor, and then thechord progression finishes with
a seven chord, which is major G,and then back to one.
SPEAKER_03 (25:57):
I did not know that chromaticism could be so much
fun.
SPEAKER_01 (26:02):
Yeah, it's really fun.
Way to stick in there, robot.
You know, you turned out to notbe so annoying after all.
Thanks, Kevin.
SPEAKER_03 (26:13):
Maybe I can do the next show too.
SPEAKER_01 (26:16):
Wait, well, wait, we'll see about that.
We'll talk about it a little bitafter the show.
Okay, buddy.
But now it's time for break.
Today's episode was all aboutchromaticism.
(26:40):
We defined what chromaticism isand also what the chromatic
scale is in our Western system.
We learned what a circleprogression is based on our Hey
Joe example that we wanted toanalyze for chromaticism.
We analyzed both Hey Joe andStairway to Heaven, The Great
(27:04):
Stairway by Led Zeppelin todayand found out that both of them
had very interesting chromaticbaselines for us to enjoy.
Thanks again for tuning in toepisode 23 of season two,
everybody.
I appreciate you chiming in.
(27:25):
And until the next episode, Iwill look forward to continuing
this music theory explorationwith all of you.
Have a beautiful music-filledweek, everybody.
Music Playing
SPEAKER_01 (00:44):
Welcome to The Harmonious Blacksmith, a music
theory exploration.
This is a podcast all about thebeginnings, middles, and endings
of music theory from A to Z.
We start from scratch, we buildfrom scratch until we have some
kind of structure, and then welearn how to organize, analyze,
(01:06):
and interpret what we hear inmusic.
Thanks for joining in,everybody.
Today's episode is...
Episode number 23 of season 2.
And today's episode will be allabout Chromaticism.
Thank you, robot clone of me.
That's right.
Today's episode is all aboutChromaticism.
(01:29):
Chromatics.
We're going to talk about whatchromatics are.
We're going to define it fromthe start, of course.
We're going to talk about how itgets inserted into music we know
and love.
We're also going to talk abouthow you might be able to use it
in improvisation which may turninto a two-part series again.
And I would like to thankeveryone who tuned in for my
(01:51):
very first interview in myinterview series on episode 22,
which was called Meet theBlacksmith.
I am super excited about puttingtogether those interviews for
your enjoyment.
But before I do, we are going totalk about chromatics and
chromaticism.
And by the way, if you're new tomy program, first of all,
(02:12):
welcome.
So how are you?
happy that you're here and justso you know it is a cumulative
and linear podcast I startedfrom a single sound we learned
what pitch and notes were thenwe learned what scales and
melody and harmony and chordsand triads and chord
progressions on and on and on itgoes all the way back to the
(02:32):
beginning so if this is yourfirst time hearing my podcast
welcome but feel free to go backto the beginning and you can
catch up back to where we areand finally for all of y'all out
there thank you so much for thesupport take a look in the
description of this episodewhere it says support the show
give that a click and just takea look at your options there for
(02:54):
a very forgettable dirt cheapprice you can really help my
show and really keep thiscontent rolling thank you so
much for checking that out andas always i am your passionate
music theory host and my name iskevin Patrick Fleming.
(03:14):
Oh, thank you so much.
Thank you to all my peoples outthere.
What up?
What up?
Thank you.
Oh, that's so nice to hear.
I really, really appreciate it.
Thank you.
So without further ado, weplunge into episode 23 about
(03:38):
chromaticism.
SPEAKER_03 (03:40):
Kevin, did you say chromaticism?
SPEAKER_01 (03:43):
Yes, I did.
You know what?
Take it easy over there, robot.
I didn't know you were going tobe a part of this episode.
You need to just kind of chimedown over there.
Okay?
SPEAKER_03 (03:55):
Okay.
But I want to have fun withmusic theory,
SPEAKER_01 (04:01):
too.
Okay, yeah, we all...
We all want to have fun withmusic theory.
I'm just not sure we need yourrobot voice chiming in the whole
episode.
You know what?
I'm a pretty open-minded,benevolent guy.
I'll let you stick
SPEAKER_00 (04:13):
with
SPEAKER_01 (04:13):
me.
But you gotta promise me you'regonna stay out of the way and
let me talk to the good folksout there listening to my humble
programs.
SPEAKER_03 (04:22):
Okay, let's start the show, Kevin.
SPEAKER_01 (04:26):
Okay, and today's program starts with the
question, what is...
chromaticism chromaticism refersto the use of notes that are
outside the realm of a diatonicscale or key within a piece of
music does not compute okay youdon't understand that robot okay
(04:51):
well basically what chromaticismis it's the use of extra colors
outside of a scale or key inmusic we use it in ways to spice
up what is normal sounding orwhat we're used to hearing.
It adds tension.
It adds more interesting sounds.
It just adds for unexpectedcolors and passages of all
(05:15):
kinds.
It's really just a way ofexpanding our musical canvas, so
to speak, when it comes towriting or playing music.
SPEAKER_02 (05:24):
Expanding the musical canvas.
Let me go get my paintbrush.
SPEAKER_01 (05:30):
No, paintbrush.
What?
No.
Oh, you heard the word canvas.
I don't think our robot friendknows quite what a metaphor is.
And before I launch into audioexamples of chromaticism, I
think it's important to kind ofunderstand where it comes from.
So you might say, okay, we havethese extra colors, these extra
(05:51):
notes outside of a diatonic keyor scale.
Well, where do they come from?
Well, everybody that listens tomy program should know that
everything comes from scales andthis is no different.
It's just not a diatonic scale.
It is a different kind of scalethat these notes are pulled
(06:13):
from.
And with that information, wecan now ask the important
question, what is the chromaticscale?
The chromatic scale is simplyall 12 pitches in our system in
order like any other scale.
But this particular scale isspecial because the formula is
(06:36):
that every single note is a halfstep away from every other note.
So just think about all thenatural notes and all the sharps
and flats that are all includedin our musical alphabet, and
it's just all of them in a row.
So you could even start on A andsay it's A, A sharp, B, C, C
sharp, D, D sharp, E, F, Fsharp, G, G sharp, and then
(06:58):
eventually we're back to A.
The chromatic scale from From Ato A would sound like this.
So you can tell it has this kindof forever rising tension that
feels like it's never going toget back to the octave or the
(07:21):
root note.
To sum up, generally in theWestern system, in tonal
harmony, we write music indiatonic major or minor key.
But now what we're doing iswe're just saying that all the
pitches in the entire system arenow available for use.
So think about it like this.
A piece of music mightpredominantly be a 1 4 5 and
(07:50):
therefore use a diatonic scalethat's a G major scale I'm in
the key of G and that was a 1 45 G C and D Pretty basic, pretty
simple.
But what we're saying is insteadof just being able to harmonize
and use the notes in thediatonic scale, we are now going
(08:16):
to be able to use the tweenernotes or the in-between notes
that are in between those notes.
Which makes for an interestingpalette of colors.
(08:37):
And there are more examples tocome.
SPEAKER_03 (08:39):
Now I understand, Kevin.
You do?
I will put the paintbrush offand pull out my bit tar and play
a chromatic scale.
SPEAKER_01 (08:50):
So I'm guessing that a bit tar is like a guitar for
robots?
Is that correct?
SPEAKER_03 (08:57):
That is precisely correct,
SPEAKER_01 (09:00):
Kevin.
All right.
Well, we're just glad you'reparticipating and following
along now, Robot.
Good to have you on board.
SPEAKER_03 (09:07):
This is so much fun, Kevin.
What is
SPEAKER_01 (09:11):
next?
Well, it's time for some audioexamples.
So I'm going to start with oneof the cooler ones.
This is an example from a songcalled Hey Joe by Jimi Hendrix.
To be clear, Jimi Hendrix didn'twrite Hey Joe.
This is his version of it.
He covered it.
But this is the version thateverybody in the world knows
(09:33):
because because it's JimiHendrix and he was an incredible
guitar player.
The chromatic melodies that I'mreferring to in Hey Joe, the
Jimi Hendrix version, come in atthe end of the song and they're
used kind of like a walking bassline to connect the chords.
So the part that we're studyingsounds like this.
(10:04):
And that by itself is prettydarn cool.
If you haven't heard thatbefore, do go put that in your
track list to listen to the JimiHendrix version of Hey Joe.
It's old school, but it's supercool, man.
Check it out.
So I'm going to just start withthe chords that you happen to
hear in this song, and thenwe'll talk about the chromatic
(10:26):
lick that I just played and howit's put together.
The first chord is a C.
Then there's a G.
then D, then A, then E.
And these are all major chords,by the way, which makes this
progression kind of strange.
(10:47):
It's actually what we call acircle progression.
A circle progression is a chordprogression that is based on an
interval rather than a key.
For example, the interval of aperfect fifth or a perfect
fourth are the most common forcircle progressions.
(11:09):
So this particular circleprogression in this cover of Hey
Joe by Jimi Hendrix starts on aC chord, and then it goes a
fifth up to G, and then anotherfifth up to D, another fifth up
to A, and then finally anotherfifth up to E.
(11:33):
And that's where it stops forthe moment.
And then it just repeats.
So now that you know what acircle progression is, here's
what it sounds like in a sort ofjangly acoustic version of Hey
Joe, the Jimi Hendrix version.
UNKNOWN (00:00):
...
SPEAKER_01 (12:19):
Ah, that's a really fun one to play.
I had to just do that.
So you may or may not recognizethat, but that's basically what
the song sounds like in acousticform.
Now that you've heard that andyou heard me play the chromatic
line, let me bring the chromaticline back in and show you how
cool it is.
(12:40):
So what the chromatic line isdoing is that it's connecting
the chords kind of like awalking bass line, if you
understand what that is and i dohave previous episodes on that
by the way so our circleprogression starts on a c and
therefore our chromatic lickstarts on a c and the chromatic
(13:03):
lick serves the purpose ofconnecting the c chord to our
next chord which is a g so we'regoing from a c to a g But what
Mr.
Hendrix does is he plays thisline.
(13:24):
So what that is, is the firstnote harmonizes with the C.
The second note harmonizes withthe C.
It's a low E, and that low E isthe third of the C major chord,
because remember a C major triadis C, E, and G.
(13:44):
So the first two notes of thatchromatic riff are C and E.
They harmonize perfectly withthe chord.
But then he gets chromatic.
And what he does is he goes C,E, up a half step to F, up
another half step to F sharp,and then up another half step to
(14:07):
G.
that is a chromatic lick at itsfinest ladies and gentlemen so
again a c note with a c chordthen he starts walking to the e
f f sharp and then we arrive ona g for the g chord Now he keeps
(14:34):
this kind of chromatic motifgoing.
So after the G chord, we arrivedon the G note.
Now we're gonna have a chromaticriff that's gonna connect us to
our next chord, which is goingto be D.
So now we're starting on G, andhe does a chromatic walk-up
(14:59):
again to D.
So this note is B, which is alsoin a G chord.
So again, the first two notes ofthis riff are in the G chord.
Harmonized perfectly, beautiful.
We love that, we know that.
(15:20):
Then there is a rising chromaticriff again that goes like this.
Same exact way the last one did.
So now we have the first lickgoing.
And then the second lick goes.
(15:42):
So look, you can tell the order,the ascending and descending is
a little different, but the ideais the same.
So now we just arrived on the Dchord.
So that entire walk up theretook you from a G to a D.
And the chromatic motifcontinues of course.
(16:05):
So now that we're on a D chord.
It goes like this.
It walks from a D to an A.
So now we're going from a D toan A.
And it's gonna sound like this.
(16:25):
And now we've arrived on an A.
So D.
and then walk to A.
Is the chromatic rift startingto sound repetitive or familiar?
That's because it's basicallythe same thing over and over
again.
So now that we've arrived on A,we're gonna go from A to E to
(16:48):
finish the chord progression.
And that's gonna go like thisfrom A to E.
And we made it to the end wherewe then get a blues riff after
that.
That's just a pentatonic riff.
(17:09):
It has nothing to do withchromatic.
It's just cool sounding.
SPEAKER_03 (17:11):
That was cool, Kevin.
SPEAKER_01 (17:14):
Thank you.
What is next?
What is next is an analysis ofone of the most epic folk rock
and roll tunes of all time,Stairway to Heaven by Led
Zeppelin.
Now this is a perfect example ofchromaticism, but maybe not
exactly how you think.
(17:36):
It's a little hidden in thisone.
Compared to the last example, itwas very, very obvious.
Well, actually, that's a prettygood way to describe it.
I mean, let's go ahead and getinto it.
At the beginning of Stairway toHeaven, you have the epic,
(17:57):
recognizable part that soundslike this.
So now that you have the basicidea of what chromaticism is,
(18:18):
were you able to hear achromatic line in that?
Listen to it one more time andsee if you hear chromaticism
anywhere.
Okay.
(18:40):
Did you hear it in the bassline?
Remember, the bass line givesyou so many answers, as we've
learned in previous episodesabout chord progressions and
keys and what scale we are andthings like that.
But in the case of the intro toStairway to Heaven, it really is
the fact that the bass line justdescends in a chromatic way.
(19:03):
So the bass line at thebeginning sounds like this.
UNKNOWN (00:00):
.
(00:00):
.
(00:00):
.
SPEAKER_01 (19:18):
Ah, could you hear it now?
That slinky line that slinksdown.
So let's get into the analysisof it.
First of all, the overwhelmingmajority of Stairway to Heaven
is in the key of A minor.
And so we start on the tonicchord and it sounds like this.
(19:42):
So most of you can probablyguess by now that that is an
arpeggio on an A minor triad orA minor chord.
So the chord would sound likethis.
And the arpeggio sounds likethis.
(20:02):
And if you listen to the veryfirst note, which is the bass
note of the chord.
Remember, there's a differencebetween a bass range and bass
function.
And in this case, even thoughthe note is kind of high
sounding, it has a bass functionbecause it's the lowest note of
the chord.
And that's where the walk downstarts.
So we have a root A on our tonicchord.
(20:24):
And then we get this veryinteresting chord.
Listen to this and see if youcan tell what kind of triad this
is.
Your hint is this is like thechord that sends you off in the
intro of every Star Wars movieto send you off into the main
(20:45):
story or whatever after we watchthe cool beginning with the big
ships and everything.
It is an augmented triad, whichis really interesting.
It ends up just being achromatic chord.
Now, I know I'm throwing a lotat you in this episode.
Concern yourself less with thechord analysis and key analysis,
and remember that the focus ischromaticism.
So coming off of this A minortriad...
(21:07):
He goes to an augmented triad.
And then we get a major triad.
And that is in fact a C majorchord.
And if you follow the analysisso far, that's going to be a
major three chord in the key ofA minor.
Remember?
(21:28):
Recall that in a minor key, one,four, and five are minor.
Three, six, and seven are major.
And the two chord is diminished.
SPEAKER_03 (21:37):
Slow down a little bit, Kevin.
Sorry.
Even my computer speeds can't
SPEAKER_01 (21:42):
keep up.
Oh, okay.
Well, I'm sorry.
Let me bring it back together alittle bit.
So let's go ahead and back andrecall how a minor key works,
and specifically the key thatStairway to Heaven's in, which
is A minor.
I will
SPEAKER_03 (21:58):
play along
SPEAKER_01 (21:59):
on my guitar.
Oh, okay, sweet.
You play along with that guitar.
So let's break down the key of Aminor.
Remember that 1, 4, and 5 areminor, so 1 is A minor.
4 is D minor.
5 is E minor.
And those are your three mainminor chords.
(22:22):
Now recall that the major chordsare three, six, and seven.
We've already heard that we havea C major in Stairway to Heaven.
And we're eventually gonna see asix chord, which is F.
And our seven chord is alsomajor, which would be a G.
(22:44):
So now that you've got all thosechords set up for the key of A
minor in Stairway to Heaven, youdo get the I chord.
You also get the III chord.
You also get the major VI chord.
You get the major VII chord.
And then you go back to I, whichis A minor.
(23:05):
But in between, we do have thisaugmented chord.
And we also have a D majorchord.
instead of a D minor chord,which is what is expected.
This is a little bit more of acomplex chromatic chord
progression.
It is basically centered aroundA minor, but it yields this cool
bass line.
So now, to add the bass line tothe chords, you start with that
(23:29):
A minor one, with the bass notethat is an A.
Then we get the A flataugmented.
So, so far we went from theminor one to an A flat augmented
triad.
(23:49):
And so our baseline is goingfrom A to A flat.
So that's the descendingchromatic lick we're talking
about, A to A flat.
Guess what comes next?
Yep, it's G, but it's in thecontext of an inverted major
three chord, which sounds likethis.
(24:15):
And again, the bass note is a G.
So now we've gone A, A flat, G.
What do you think is next?
G flat?
In this case, it actually actsas an F sharp instead of a G
flat.
It's one of those inharmonicthings because it's the third of
a D major chord.
(24:35):
And this is an inverted chord.
It is a first inversion.
But now your bass note is an Fsharp.
So now we've gone from A...
to A flat, to G, to F sharp.
And now where do you think we'regoing?
We're going to F.
And that F is a root positionsix chord in A minor, which is F
(24:58):
major.
And then they finish the chordprogression with a seven chord
back to a one chord.
And that is the entire thing.
So again, we start on an A onthe root chord.
then an A flat on the augmentedchord.
Then we go down a half step to Gon the second inversion C major
(25:22):
chord, which is a three chord inA minor.
Then that G goes down to an Fsharp, which is the third of a
first inversion D major chord.
And then that F sharp goes downto an F natural, which is in the
root position for an F majorseven chord, a six chord in the
(25:45):
key of A minor, and then thechord progression finishes with
a seven chord, which is major G,and then back to one.
SPEAKER_03 (25:57):
I did not know that chromaticism could be so much
fun.
SPEAKER_01 (26:02):
Yeah, it's really fun.
Way to stick in there, robot.
You know, you turned out to notbe so annoying after all.
Thanks, Kevin.
SPEAKER_03 (26:13):
Maybe I can do the next show too.
SPEAKER_01 (26:16):
Wait, well, wait, we'll see about that.
We'll talk about it a little bitafter the show.
Okay, buddy.
But now it's time for break.
Today's episode was all aboutchromaticism.
(26:40):
We defined what chromaticism isand also what the chromatic
scale is in our Western system.
We learned what a circleprogression is based on our Hey
Joe example that we wanted toanalyze for chromaticism.
We analyzed both Hey Joe andStairway to Heaven, The Great
(27:04):
Stairway by Led Zeppelin todayand found out that both of them
had very interesting chromaticbaselines for us to enjoy.
Thanks again for tuning in toepisode 23 of season two,
everybody.
I appreciate you chiming in.
(27:25):
And until the next episode, Iwill look forward to continuing
this music theory explorationwith all of you.
Have a beautiful music-filledweek, everybody.
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