https://www.songsterr.com/a/wsa/tokio-hotel-through-the-monsoon-chords-s56766

this song goes from E to C in the verse.....this confuses me as E major and C major are not part of a specific key?

then in the chorus Em is involved

can someone explain me what this means in terms of keys etc, cause it seems confusing the E is used in verses and Em in chorus

thanks

 

I think this music uses Chromatic Mediant relationship between C chord and E chord. Maybe not a good idea to analyze it with key terminology in the first part of song.
The next section suddenly switches to A chord and rests there for a short time. Another Chromatic Mediant relationship with C chord.
In the other part, the concept of the key is introduced and music enters the realm of "D Dominant and then Bm Mediant chords" of G key and a few moments later with the emphasis of Em chord (Submediant in G key), music settles down there.

 

Last edited by a moderator: Jul 5, 2024

What you said but flat, yeah, Eb and B in the verse and Ebm, etc in the chorus. Overall it gravitates towards Eb. This major/minor center key was a really common trend in the early 00s (LP, LB, Korn, Deftones, Evanescence, etc), it was also really common in the baroque era and it's typically known as 'Picardy third'.

 

on a quick glimpse that's phrygian dominant (or some other mode of harmonic minor) on the verses, which has one note raised compared to it's "regular" equivalent, that's why you get a major where there shouldn't be.

 

we working with notes here?

about time.

IMHO it's usually unuseful to classify modern pop music with rules from 1700 or 1800, but let's do it anyway

the progression is clearly an attempt to use a "vague key center" with 2 "far" major chords, but
we can consider the (hypnotic) progression
E - C as being the same as E - Am(7) (inversion on C bass)
so it's nothing else than a
I - IVminor
which is very common in western music since ages. If you really need to find a key center we can call it "E major key"

as a test, you could substitute the chords in the song with
E - Am7 on C bass, you may even add F# for some sixth-ish-miles flavour lol

I didnt try, but I think the melody will fit

 

I've been using this website a lot to read chord tabs:
https://www.hooktheory.com/theorytab/view/tokio-hotel/durch-den-monsun

 

The ear is more important than music theory, which if you follow to the letter will produce bland, boring music. People have heard the correct chords so much that when somebody uses something different it stands out and makes the music sound fresh and original (not necessarily good or bad). Then the music professors come along and shoe-horn what has happened into traditional theory when in fact the creator was probably just trying out different chords that fit the direction and feel of the song.

 

The song is Ebm key (6 flats in staff), with variations.
When I can I post its chords, so you can compare them playing along.

 

I revised my previous post.

 

on the verse are u sure its not Eb/B as Djord Emer/orbitbooster said

i tested it too and Eb sounded more correct

 

Last edited: Jul 5, 2024

Honestly, if you go through all of the most famous songs ever written in the last 200 years, many are diatonic and many are not. Why is this?
It is simpler than any analysis will provide.
- The composer wrote what they liked or heard at the time... Nirvana, Quincy Jones, Burt Bacharach, The Beatles and too many to list(z)... BACH changed key regularly and cleverly often unnoticeably to an untrained ear...

Some tunes completely shift key, or change key unexpectedly, or go from major to minor either during or in the bridge. Some composers wrote tunes where the first verse was in minor with the melody and next in major (e.g.."What are you doing for the rest of your life")...Nirvana followed zero diatonic consistency. Cobain wrote whatever he liked at the time. Quincy Jones mastered passing chords, substitutions and non-linear shifts with voice leading...Bacharach was great with maj7 chords shifting 4ths away and sometimes composers used bass notes that were not tonics. Beatles - Norwegian Wood verse major, bridge in minor....ALL in popular music... Witchita Lineman is another subtler key shifting tune.

No hard and fast rule. If it sounds good to the author, then that's the important part - any tune that is great is mostly not determined with the composer thinking they have to stay in the same key. When they wrote it, often the chords went where they heard them go with the melody.

 

Last edited by a moderator: Jul 5, 2024

Right at least to my ear it changes mode from Eb to Ebm, but I think @Djord Emer is right.

Now I just checked the first intro chords:
Eb/G, Ebsus4/Ab, Eb/G
B/Eb, Bsus4/E, B/Eb.

Sounds right even without inversions.

Continues...

 

I ignored less important notes and chords and wrote only what's happening inside the core of the song like a big picture. Also there's no Eb note in the whole song.

 

There was nothing new in that music. I set out what was used. This technique was used 100 years ago or more. The creator of this music probably had no inkling about how those chords were obtained. He used them in improvisatory manner and saw that he could make a song with it (which emphasizes the last point of your view.). Even if you pay attention to the music, it is full of many repetitions that probably the creator of that music have no clue how to develop them and was satisfied with one or two basic ideas.

 

all of this is true. my dad is a pianist over 50 years. hes told me countless times in my own production that you play what you feel and people go back and study it and try to define it after. play what you're feeling/hearing.

 

Your father is unerring, but most of the possibilities in music have already been tried and identified.
It may be possible to present a new idea to be studied, but like your father after spending years of playing and gaining experience and becoming a worldly-wise man. Currently, the possibility of such a thing with this colossal exhaustion of music resources is practically non-existent.

 

If a borrowed chord is throwing you, do NOT study jazz music, gospel, neo-soul etc.. You will have a giant headache

 

If you're still interested in it, I'll post a clip with all chords on a virtual keyboard, playing along the track.
If not, (maybe you found yourself) please tell me because it's time consuming and I don't want to waste time.

 

That "seventh" chord is actually a suspended fourth chord to my ears. Don't believe everything you read on the internet!

What connects the C and E major chords is that they share an E note. When going from one to the other, the C note drops by a semitone to a B and the G note rises by a semitone to a G#, while the E note stays the same. Two small changes, but they make a dramatic shift harmonically.

Something very similar features in "It's my party (and I'll cry if I want to)" from the 1960s.