The progression wouldn’t sound the same without the first slash chord. The E bass note is basically anticipating the ascending line that goes E, F, G, A, which packs an emotional punch. It tends to sound plain without them, and it doesn’t evoke the same level of emotion. This is a magical little chord progression that wouldn’t quite work without the C/E slash chord and the Fsus2 suspended chord. Like I said, it’s a chord progression with a lot of potential, and it sounds suspenseful in all the right ways. You can also keep the chords, and layer a constant harmony over top (like a repeating riff), and that can produce an emotional effect too. You can leave the first two strings open the whole time, so if you’re playing fifth string roots, it makes the IV chord a sus2, followed by a sus4, m7, and finally a big 5 (power chord). But it becomes suspenseful once more as you change to the vi, and the I followed by the vi, instead of sounding like a major chord, just sounds like an inversion of the vi (and it sort of is).įor guitarists, there’s something quite magical you can do with this chord progression in the key of E. The suspense comes from the first chord in the progression being the IV rather than the I, and it naturally wants to resolve to the V. And in some ways, it takes after the chorus in Mr. This is a dramatic sounding chord progression with plenty of potential.
Think about how the progression fits in with the rest of the song before employing it. If you want this chord progression to come across as sad, then be sure to pick your moments and play it slowly.
So, beware of playing this progression fast! It’ll just sound like a punk song, which all tend to sound kind of happy. You might recall this specific progression from the chorus of The Penguins’ “Earth Angel.” And, upon first listen, it does have a pinch of sentimentality to it.īut there is a difference between “sad” and “slow,” and ballads like “Earth Angel” are often just slow with a happy chord progression (same thing could apply to The Pussycat Dolls’ “Stickwitu” – not sad, just slow). Try mixing up the order of these four chords yourself and you’ll see exactly what I mean. And in some ways, it is!īut that is the magic of music, that you can cover a lot(and I do mean a lot) of ground with just four chords. Now, in a way, this is just going to seem like a reordering of the same chord progression you’ve already seen.