How to recognise Minor key chord progressions by ear

Learn piano or guitar for FREE with Timbro: timbroguitar.com/davidbennett 🎹🎸
Check out my previous ear training video on Major key chord progressions: • How to recognise chord...
Relative pitch is a skill that any musician can learn and it allows you to identify the chord progression of a song just by ear! Today we'll look at some of the most likely chords you'll encounter in minor key songs and how to recognise them just by ear!
The outro music to this video is my track "Mothers Day" which you can hear in full on Spotify: open.spotify.com/artist/0wKKJ... 🎶
And, an extra special thanks goes to Douglas Lind, Vidad Flowers, Ivan Pang, Waylon Fairbanks, Jon Dye, Austin Russell, Christopher Ryan, Toot & Paul Peijzel, the channel’s Patreon saints! 😇
0:00 Introduction
0:38 i
1:53 v
3:08 V
4:19 iv
5:32 IV
6:28 bVI
7:17 Roman numerals in Minor key
8:19 bvi
9:31 Timbro
10:21 ii(dim)
12:30 ii
13:13 II
14:21 bVII
15:28 bIII
17:00 bII
18:18 bV
19:17 biii
20:21 I
22:00 QUIZ TIME
27:00 Patreon
SUPPORT ME ON PATREON: / davidbennettpiano 🎹

[@cerealdude890]

Ill need to rewatch these videos a few times, but they’re exactly what I need right now to play at the next level. You’re helping make higher level music accessible for the masses and I commend you for it.

[@Wakeofchaos25]

I completely agree

[@lov3alongmusic]

Your videos being music education to so many people who wouldn't have it otherwise

[@DavidBennettPiano]

Thank you! 😁

[@R.Akerman-oz1tf]

...can barely keep up. Coming back 2 it. Thanx so much.@@DavidBennettPiano

[@odarting]

This might be my favorite video of yours yet. And it just reinforces what a treasure you are for the world’s understanding of music moving forward. No snobbiness, no prizing of lofty concepts over crowd-pleasing pop devices. You just break everything down into such relatable pieces that it makes me enjoy thinking about music theory. Now I’ll finally be able to hear a piece of music in a film and go - that sounds spooky, they’re [maybe] going from the minor tonic to the minor six chord! Thank you 🙏 EDIT after being humbled by the quiz at the end: I still have a lot of work to do but am grateful for the examples to study 😅

[@jesusalejandrogutierrezsul9625]

Sir, that quiz at the end is a big PLUS to your already fantastic videos. Thanks for making my ear more professional from video to video!

[@SongSecretsMomNeverTaughtYou]

Rare intervals I'd love to see in a future sequel to this video is the bVIIm, especially found in Glass Onion by The Beatles and Love Street by The Doors! Another one is the VIm found in I Heard It Through The Grapevine and Come Together

[@DavidBennettPiano]

Good idea! Another good example is “Hey You” by Pink Floyd 😊

[@flwhorence]

@@DavidBennettPianoplease talk about pink floyd more!! 🥹 you are such a valuable resource. thank you for aiding me in my journey through music and life. this video and it’s’ major counterpart are genuinely two of my f a v o r i t e videos you’ve ever made

[@KeejMEdia]

David, I truly appreciate your videos, both educational and entertaining. Keep it up.

[@datooch]

Much respect to you. I enjoy your teachings. Thank you for the sharing of your knowledge.

[@anime5h_m1shr4]

This was incredibly helpful. Heartfelt thank you!! 🙌🏼

[@gnoelalexmay]

That was a REALLY good one! I always enjoy your videos, but that was excellent and useful. Thanks David 🙏

[@Stephen_Lafferty]

Your set of videos on chords, scales, keys, inversions, slash chords and examples of how each is used is a tremendously informative and accessible information resource! I find them both entertaining and informative, and always point my students towards them when they ask questions on these topics! Thank you for your hard work, David!

[@fredhystair5789]

Yours videos are gems, always !

[@OtisNotibrus]

That Gorillaz art in the thumbnail is fanart by Glowrillaz btw. Just felt it was important to give credit.

[@gamestopholdmusic]

whos that

[@SaluteToTheLost]

rather opinionated gorillaz fanartist

[@OtisNotibrus]

@@SaluteToTheLost Not that that's a bad thing.

[@BasedMando]

This information does nothing to improve on my musical knowledge.

[@gamestopholdmusic]

@@BasedMando who said it was supposed to

[@user-tw3re9hg3j]

Im loving the Mario mushroom sound to power up the minor 5 to a major 5 😂

[@Paulnap]

Wich I think is a really fast arpeggio of bVI -> bVII -> I

[@tobyalan8874]

You are one of the best teachers. So glad I found you.

[@DavidBennettPiano]

Thank you!

[@JoshPaterson]

Extremely useful information. Thank you!

[@TigerRogers0660]

Excellent informative video David!! Enjoyed!!

[@christopherfryda]

Solid video, I love this channel, thank you!!!

[@panosmosproductions3230]

In the Latin jazz classic Trofeo de Bolos, literally the second chord you hear is a diminished chord. The song switches back and forth between C minor and C major, and starts in C minor. The first 2 chords in this song are C minor, and D diminished.

[@althealligator1467]

Trying to guess which song you're going to use as an example is a hell of a lot of fun, and I'm... scarily good at it.

[@jakejaffe9706]

This was was tricky! Will need to rewatch.

[@weepingscorpion8739]

While IV may not be as common as V, it is common in Doric contexts. I mention this because you brought up Dorian in another context. bII may be borrowed just do avoid a diminished chord, so in Hocus Pocus by Focus when Thijs goes up the scale towards the end of each "verse", he always does bII. In terms of functional harmonics, I remember that we used to use the term "parallel tonic", in major it'd be vi and in minor bIII, which is why bIII feels like home in a minor setting, it's the parallel tonic. (it's in the "same but opposite" position in the circle of fifths). Lastly, Picardy third, in my ears, a recent use of the Picardy third (and the IV chord as the song seems to flirt with Dorian a lot), is Australia's 2023 Eurovision entry "Promise" by Voyager. The last 3 chords are bVI - bVII - I, so an æolian cadence ending on a Picardy third.

[@kippsguitar6539]

There's always one

[@ToddSmith2]

Congratulations on the 1 mil subscribers!

[@DavidBennettPiano]

Thanks 😊

[@ZackMester]

Got all of them except the last one but I was close. I'm surprised I did better on the minor chord quiz than the major chord quiz but I think my ear has just sharpened from your major chord video! Also, I love the popular examples you use to help internalize these chord progressions 😄

[@aptudo]

It's funny how familiarity can make a rare chord progression feel normal. Today, "Enjoy the Silence" just sounds to me like a super catchy pop song. It did stand out to me when it first came out though.

[@wellurban]

I think Martin Gore has a bit of a knack for that: chord changes that can feel quite striking on first listen, but that quickly come to sound “natural”.

[@gabrielevolgarino9138]

I'm a simple person: I see Muse in the thumbnail and I click. Nice video David!

[@DavidBennettPiano]

Thanks!

[@powertools.studio]

THANKS DB

[@TigerRogers0660]

David, i was confused with your chord progression quiz - as you used some inversions!!

[@PFDarkside]

Absolutely love this series David! I hope it continues with identifying extensions and identifying inversions. The major one was a piece of cake, the minor one, well I need more practice outside of i bIII, bVI and bVII!

[@pfdavidz]

Great video.

[@mine2012abl]

Don't speak was the song that came to mind, paused to check before you mentioned I

[@radiozelaza]

the Muse example of a major II after a bVI is also an example of a secondary dominant use of major II, because the major II leads immediately to a major V (which is the primary dominant of the minor i chord in this song). I would rather see an example where there is a vamp of i-II , but can't think of any pop song using that right now. It just begs the i-II-V resolution ;)

[@johnjohannes5954]

Good job man! Just to point out that you are referring to the "natural" minor scale. If it was the ditonical : the 2nd and 7th are diminished and the 3rd is a augmented cord . For instance on A minor the III is an augmented C - E - G# (used in Mozart Requiem intro) which is actually rare in classical music

[@william2496]

Brilliant video! as usual, well done and thankyou! Some common themes amongst the chord progression and even your scale videos have been contrasting darkness and brightness, and functional harmony. Is it possible if you could do a video or two on Axis Theory and Negative Harmony?

[@btkenobi2]

David this is the musical brain food we all love and need in our lives! 🎵 🧠 There's a sense of peace and joy in every session and it's so refreshing to gain knowledge in such a fun and inspiring way Thanks ever so much for the experience 😊

[@DavidBennettPiano]

😊😊😊😊

[@R0guemetal]

I’ve loved your videos for years. Thank you for the content and the effort involved in making them

[@royalex21]

The last got me. I think I’ll give myself 3/5

[@thegothaunt]

Fantastic video. I'd forgotten so much of this with the written notation. It still confused me sometimes, I definitely need to keep brushing up. 💜 (Timbro, your logo damn near gave me a headache 😂 oof)

[@althealligator1467]

My favourite example of the ii chord in minor (which I'll maintain is the same thing as vii in major) is from a French song called Du côté de chez Swann, which is based on Marcel Proust's novel of the same name (Swann's Way in English). It happens several times in the chorus, and you really feel its sort of dreamy whimsical edge. As a side note, the chorus also uses the James Bond progression. Edit: and for the II chord in minor, my favourite example is from Those Were the Days. Or maybe Arabian Nights, I'm not sure, both are super cool.

[@panosmosproductions3230]

The chord progression heard early on in the Yoshi’s Island Castle theme (which uses the double harmonic scale with the occasional flat 7 here and there) has a major 2 chord in it.

[@predatorx8081]

My mind: This video is sponsored by hook theory 😂 These videos are amazing man... You literally taught me music theory in the most simple way - all these years 👍🏿💙

[@annelouisemaclellan485]

The verses in Nirvana’s Pennyroyal Tea have that i-bVII movement going on. About a Girl’s verses are I-bIII back and forth. It’s interesting but in the chorus both songs seem to go somewhere else and outside of that. And I’m pretty sure I’ve also heard Silverchair used that bV. A song like Black Tangled Heart possibly? Their albums Diorama and Young Modern became more harmonically sophisticated and melodic than their earlier heavy riff based sound. The ending of And I Love Her is another good example of ending a minor song on a major tonic.

[@vincentl9877]

Great video as always! As a beginner, I was wondering if you know by heart all the (minor) keys, or if you use the relative major. For example, when you play D minor, do you go through the relative major (F) in order to know there is a B flat ? Or do you « instinctively » know there is a B flat ? I find it easier to learn the sharps and flats for the major keys, and then make a connection with the relative minor, but do you manage to know all the keys without thinking too much about it when you’re experienced ?

[@JasonKing1970]

Holy moly I got the first exercise progression correct - that's amazing, thanks David Bennett!

[@13thdukeofwybourne]

Superb video again David. Thanks very much. The best music theory anywhere. If only I’d had these 35 years ago. Still, I’m enjoying catching up now. 👍

[@leonardocefalo2931]

Another case of major II is in Exit Music by Radiohead, the verse "You can laugh, a spiness laugh" etc Edit: it's still mentioned at the end, but for another reason :)

[@jacoposcalzi1929]

Very interesting video

[@ric8248]

A nice chord is the Neapolitan chord, which is the bII in 1st inversion. That is, in the key of Am it would be Bb/D. This chord appears a lot in the Moonlight Sonata, and has a very sweet sound.

[@LUCKYDUCKIES]

Habemus mgnum magistrum musicae et suarum progressionum accordorum musicalium. Congratulationes!

[@hello_kitty_is_my_religion]

i got all the progessions right omg! i didnt think i could do it. thanks for making these kinds videos, it really motivates me to learn more:)

[@kippsguitar6539]

I screwed up at the end( mostly) and supposed to be a songwriter haha, great stuff and rude awakening how lazy ive been, brilliant thought provoking stuff

[@Bearbytez]

7:37 to around 9:40 (whenever the ad starts) encompasses all of my professional work from The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford to modern Disney Star Wars...

[@zzzaphod8507]

The fact that the major version of the V chord appears in both major and minor keys makes it a good pivot chord for people writing music--if you're in a minor key and you want to modulate to the major key, you can end up on the major V chord and then go the major I chord and continue in the major key, or similarly in the other direction.

[@tobiasschmuecking4958]

Thank you, David!

[@ljdobles8104]

Buenísimo

[@DavidBennettPiano]

Learn piano or guitar for FREE with Timbro: timbroguitar.com/davidbennett 🎹🎸

[@AlobytesOgniddove]

Wonderful videos ❤ (Is difficult for me read THIS mode of transcription chords)

[@teacherofteachers1239]

I get a lot out of these free lessons especially as they push me. I'm not young, been getting back to music, and definitely I've needed to work on this basic skill. One thing I made myself do to learn chord progressions by ear better is to learn them at the piano from listening to simple songs, without sheet music. I'll put a song on repeat and make myself find how it goes in terms of chords just by trial and error. It can take a while. So far I can only do this with really simple stuff (guitar-based popular music is helpful because it tends to narrow down the keys used). These lessons here make me learn the sound of less common music, and that also expands my own creativity. Very nice.

[@NomeDeArte]

Totally get Amy's

[@niratomata]

can you cover more nuanced modes like Dorian and Lydian?

[@justindensonvibes]

Thanks for making me think of Mario throughout the video.

[@amrajdhami9293]

I absolutely love these videos. Does anybody know if there is a similar style of material for guitar?

[@nomnom112]

These are music theory concepts so there's no reason it would be different for guitar

[@lawrencetaylor4101]

I was expecting an explanation of Harmonic and Melodic Minor chords. I know David has done this before, but it is a way to educate people to the roots of todays' music. I enjoyed this, and realize that I need to devote the time to ear training.

[@tobfos]

I only got the one stepping up the diatonic scale 😅😅

[@AlobytesOgniddove]

The end pf Astronomy domine of Pink floyd is D minor and D major....

[@5pp000]

I found these much harder than the major ones. I wish you had played them all twice or even three times before revealing them.

[@user-gn4lo8vg9m]

I’m surprised you don’t mention that the bvi in the minor key is a chromatic mediant, and quite distant from the minor key. The Imperial march is a great example. But it also occurs in the refrain of Bowie’s “The man who sold the world”, which seems to be in D minor, and e.g. at the words “the man who sold the…” Bb minor occurs--the bvi!

[@robertdavis100]

clint eastwood was taken from a preset on a synth

[@opietaylorpiano]

Thx for breaking down the two different naming systems. Thought for a moment there was an editing mistake and was scratching my head in much confusion.

[@havenprice]

When you tell us to guess at the end, i assure you i am purely guessing 😂 but still a very useful video that i revisit as i improve

[@Jgreen2794]

Having a genetic condition which renders me incapable of hearing intervals, I never get these right. I do enjoy watching these videos, and find them very educational. Thanks!

[@whycantiremainanonymous8091]

ii Pink Floyd's Cymbaline is a great example.

[@johnmac8084]

I found this much harder than the major one, I'm going to have to work some more on this one

[@kippsguitar6539]

Of course it is and less familiar

[@arijitnandi3688]

LinkinvPark's Final Masquerade uses the repeated loop: i -> bIII

[@chillipepperoni]

Just what I need rn perfect

[@myuzu_]

is there a better glyph to differentiate V and v?

[@tzoreehandler9163]

Another chord is the minor chord built on the sharp 6th degree of the scale, so if we're in A minor, that chord would be F#m. A famous example of it is the verse of Light My Fire, which vamps on Am-F#m.

[@SongSecretsMomNeverTaughtYou]

Weird youtube glitch, this reply is appearing as a response to two different comments from two different people haha: "The verse of Light My Fire is actually vamping between the minor Vm7 chord and minor IIIm7 of it's major key until the chorus where it finally resolves with a IV - V - I ("come on Baby light my fire"), Am7 - F#m7 - ... - G - A - D (home key of D, ignoring the song being tuned a half step lower). Though it does use a borrowed E chord to get back to the verse which could be considered a type of modulation between D and A minor"

[@SorooshMhs]

Gotta love chromatic mediants

[@bodanerius]

Great video. Theres also the i minor going to an I major in order to resolve to a iv minor. Can be heard in folk songs from the Balkans, some Fado songs etc

[@jesush.tap-dancingchrist7328]

I do the fretboard equivalent of button bashing but still come out with some decent riffs. Love these videos all the same

[@theopinson3851]

I’ve always found minor keys more inspiring to write in. That switch to a major V creates such a satisfying resolution…and if you pair it with a secondary dominant II it’s even better. Major keys just feel…dull most of the time.

[@Gwens42]

What exercise do you recommend doing everyday to get better at reckognising chords ?

[@DavidBennettPiano]

Pick a song you know and love, attempt to work out the chords by ear, experiment at your instrument to see if you’ve got them right, trial and error. Then look up the chords online to see how close you were 😃

[@Gwens42]

@@DavidBennettPiano Ok !! 👌 I wasn't sure something that straightforward would bring results, but if you say so, I need to try to make it a routine and finally get better , Thanks David 😀

[@stereo123]

what if i really sucked at the exercise? how to improve?

[@whycantiremainanonymous8091]

bVII Deep Purple's Child in Time

The classic "i v i v" for me is the intro of Hmm hmm by The Crash Test Dummies.

[@B0K1T0]

4:53 don't do that too fast though, or you might get demonetized by Dr Dre ;)

[@esmenard]

A very similar feeling to the flat 5 is the minor flat 5 in major key at the beginning of New World Symphony (and given the name of the symphony i see why the other-worldly sound)

[@feldsparsongs2331]

I hope you’ll make a book or pdf with progressions and example links- I’ll def buy it!!

[@gianniskytinos2941]

17:40 napolitan cord?

[@OssianEMills]

Don’t know how you managed to not play V7’s in those last examples. It’s hard in a minor key to not throw that dominant 7 in on the V.

[@eklavyaverma]

minor i and major IV are also the chord progression for Earth song by MJ

[@MannnisEi]

I got 2 right

[@carbonmonoxide5052]

Another example of major I in minor is in the first movement of Shostakovich’s String Quartet No. 8. It’s in C minor but we occasionally get C major chords (spelled with Fb instead of E). They do not sound resolved at all, and the best way I could describe them is Csus b4 since they resolve down to Eb.

[@matsetizar65]

There are many metal and rock songs in minor keys that blow the roof off and don’t sound sombre at all.

[@althealligator1467]

18:35 going from i to bV (or vi to bIII) is really a use of the locrian mode. If you're in E minor/G major, you'd really use the R locrian mode over the Bb major chord, which is Bb lydian, which effectively puts you in the key of F major/D minor. Because think about it, Bb is B-D-F, and in Em you've got a B and an F#, so you have to flatten those, so instead of the E minor scale E-F#-G-A-B-C-D, you get E-F-G-A-Bb-C-D which is E locrian (so F major)

[@daandanx]

The progression at 1:16, from minor to major like that, reminds me of the intro from 'I Feel Love' by Donna Summer. Also, one example i know of the biii chord you mention at 19:28 is in Dancing Drums by Ananda Shankar.

[@panosmosproductions3230]

Another example of the minor 2 chord in use is Windmill Hut “song of storms” from the legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time. It goes, D minor E minor F major E minor and then returns home (D minor).

[@thefoss5387]

David, how would you describe the Beatles I'll Be Back? The song drifts with the move from i to I (Am to A) in both the intro and the coda, as well as starting each verse as minor with a picardy third ending. I hear it as a minor key tune, overall, mainly, from the context of the lyrics, a meditation on parting, but, it does seem to drift between modes. Lennon was quite cavalier about measure lengths, time signatures, and chord qualities, so he does leave a lot of room for interpretation. I appreciate your work, and thanks.

[@AIDLEN-Artist_in_Development]

Really great and informative video, buuuuuuut: The Title is not accurate at all. I mean you just went through the possible chords and gave examples but you didn't show me how to recognise these chords by ear. I also got 0 of the chord progressions at the end right so I guess that underlines my point? But anyways still a very helpful video!

[@DiegoRamirez-sv4pb]

Who else immediately thought of the Imperial March during the minor sixth progression

[@AaronLS.]

These are amazing. How about one on intervals too?

[@stoatystoat174]

He has done a couple - "Songs that will help you identify ascending intervals" and " Songs that will help you identify decending intervals"

[@meherbaba-re5xp]

😍😍❤❤🥰🥰