Saturday, September 1, 2018

An amazing example of 3 chord song


I have a Dream - ABBA


The key is B flat major. So all B, E are flat, the black key just to the left of the B, E notes.


The chords notated as figured bass are just B, F, E.


So using the 1 3 5 harmonic triad rule they are:


B bass and B D F
F bass and F A C
E bass and E G B
(Remember all B, E are flat)


A nice exercise is trying playing at a keyboard together with ABBA while the song is being reproduced.


The song begins of course with bass B. But the first note of the riff melody is E ie an interval of 4th.


The song is by no means trivial. On the contrary. For example the melody is doing mich of the miracle. Best by playing on a keyboard listen to how the melody passes from, or becomes A when the bass is B. It hence creates the sense of the B flat major seventh chord, (Bflat bass and D F A), one of the most beautiful chords on our planet. Bflat together with A, what a sound. It is when they sing "I believe.....(B bass with A melody), in Angels".


See next post for elements on how to possibly harmonize the intro so that it sounds corect as ABBA played it.


See also:


Bach Bass Rules to his music students - Bach, Niedt:
https://normanschmidt.net/scores/bachjs-general_bass_rules.pdf









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