In the previous two lessons (February 2018 and March 2018), I covered the standard “minor-drop” progression, which for decades has been famously used and...
In the previous two lessons (February 2018 and March 2018), I covered the standard “minor-drop” progression, which for decades has been famously used and abused by songwriters in a variety of styles, great examples being Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven,” “Shine on You Crazy Diamond” by Pink Floyd, the Beatles’ “Something” and “Michelle,” Jim Croce’s “Time in a Bottle,” “Into the Great Wide Open” by Tom Petty and the jazz standard “My Funny Valentine.”
As you recall, the progression begins on a minor chord, the root note of which then proceeds to descend, or “drop,” chromatically (one fret at a time), either within the chord, or in the bass line, while the other notes—the minor third and the fifth—remain stationary, which creates a poignantly dramatic and bittersweet sound, especially during the signature second chord, which is either a minor major-seven or an augmented triad rooted a half step below the initial minor chord.
I’d now like to present another popular “drop” progression, which also begins on a minor chord and features a descending bass line but does not include that ultra-dramatic minor major-seven or augmented chord, resulting in a subtler and less brazenly cliché harmonic backdrop.
Led Zeppelin’s “Babe I’m Gonna Leave You” (performed above by Robert Plant), the Beatles’ “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” and “25 or 6 to 4” by Chicago are three classic rock songs built around a progression that starts on an Am chord (either played or implied) and then has the bass line dropping a whole step (the equivalent of two frets) to G, which is the minor, or “flatted,” seventh (b7), then continuing chromatically, to the major sixth, F#, then the minor sixth, F, before beginning again on Am or briefly moving to the “five” chord, E, then looping