A Doo-Wop chord progression, or the 50’s progression, follow the I-vi-IV-V pattern. If you were looking at it in the key of F major, the chords would be as follows: FM-dm-BbM-C. This chord progression was popular throughout the 1950’s and early 1960’s. It was commonly used in rock ballads from that time. 1
To familiarize yourself with how this progression sounds, take a listen to the four chords being played in succession.
Octopus’s Garden by The Beatles is an example of how the Doo-Wop progression is used. You can hear it in the guitar and bass guitar as soon as the singing starts and it continues throughout the majority of the song.
If you listen to Baby by Justin Bieber, you can also hear this progression at the very beginning of the song. It moves from the I-vi-IV-V.
This video shows how many different songs use the same chord progression. I’d like to note how many songs can sound different, however, the majority of them can follow the same chord progressions ( take a look at the 4 Chord Song by the Axis of Awesome for another example of the repetition of chords by a variety of musicians.)
Since this progression is normally done in cycles, Viva La Vida by Coldplay is a great example. This progression starts on the IV chord as opposed to the I. 1
On June 26th, I attended Bonobo’s show on the main stage at the Sasktel Saskatchewan Jazz Festival. Bonobo , also known as Simon Green, was born on March 30th, 1974 in Brighton, England. He is currently based in Los Angeles. His music debuted with a trip- hop ( a fusion of hip hop and electronica) aesthetic, but he has also explored different genres to experiment with including world music and Jazz. During his live performances, he travels with a band to create organic sounds. He also uses different layers in his music to build on top of currrent sounds.
Ticket stub from the show.
This show was quite different compared to other concerts that I have attended. I had gotten. The ticket for free through work, and I didn’t familiarize myself with the music before attending. When I got there I initially surprised by how loud it was for the amount of people there. Unlike other shows at the jazz festival, this one was not sold out, or even close to selling out. One thing I did find interesting though, was that the bass vibrations were so loud, that it set off a car alarm for the entire duration of his performance. The general age range of the audience was from late teens to early 30’s. It definitely attracted a younger audience as opposed to other shows at the jazz festival.
The song Cirrus, sounds like it starts off with a mbira or a kalimba, which are African idiophones that have metal tines attached to a wood board which you strike in order to make a sound. This is a characteristic of the world music that Bonobo incorporates into his music. Then, there is the addition of what sounds like finger cymbals which can be a characteristic of Moroccan music. Gradually as the song builds, the listener can hear the different layers of sound. It starts off relatively thin, then as the different rhythms repeat, more and more layers are added to the song. This was especially neat to see done live because of the use of different electronics to help make the sounds. The band only had 3 members so it was neat to see how they were able to put together all the layers seamlessly without any issue.
Break Apart, was a lot different from most of the music that they performed. This song included a singer and lyrics. It starts off with what sounds like a harp. Again, with this song, all of the sounds are gradually layered to create depth and dimension. The lyrics in this song show how someone might think what other people may think of them:
“It’s hard to take all of this hate
It’s hard to take all of this hate
This hate”
Throughout the song, the lyrics get a little bit more pleasant. By repeating “ You’re my favourite, you’re my favourite, But we’re phasing, but we’re phasing.”
Overall, I enjoyed the concert. It wasn’t at all what I was expecting. I was expecting some very loud electronic, dance type music, but, it was all very calming and “chill”. Even though it was a very loud show, it wasn’t obnoxious. If anything, I think i found a new artist to add to my study music playlist as each song doesn’t have a distinct melody and it isn’t like some other music where I will want to sing along with it. I’m definitely happy that I was able to go to the show and was given the opportunity to embrace a genre of music that I’m not as familiar with.
