6 ELTON JOHN Chord Moves Every Songwriter Should Know!

[Dinosaur David B]

All from the song Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.

I write pretty simple, meat and potatoes rock songs using pop formats, but I still geek out over this stuff (and try to learn).

Amy can do sophisticated stuff like this, but this video is a great breakdown for us mere mortals. And more insight into Elton's genius. 
 


 
 
 

[Dr Nick]

It's not just Elton, but I know what you mean: chord structures are a key (!) component in what makes a song interesting. And the "Don't Stop Believing" sequence is EVERYWHERE. 

Things like the shift from Major to Minor and back in Hungry For Heaven make me smile. 

Or the key change in the first verse of Eyes of a Stranger. 

Just wonderful stuff. 

[merlo_zeppelin]

That YouTube channel is cool.
The thing about this more advanced chord progressions is that they are not so easy to fit into the hard rock genre, especially with distorted guitars. So that's something I try to attempt (with different levels of success) when I write songs, I try to make it interesting without sounding weird.

[Dinosaur David B]

The thing about this more advanced chord progressions is that they are not so easy to fit into the hard rock genre, especially with distorted guitars. So that's something I try to attempt (with different levels of success) when I write songs, I try to make it interesting without sounding weird.

 

That's certainly true.  Elton obviously played these chords on the piano, but as a writing example, it still shows some interesting progression ideas, even if you played them, say, on electric bass where all you're hearing is the root note without all the chordal complexity.

As you say, it's probably too much for distorted guitar rock. Though, Elton's band did rock, I know Davy Johnstone wasn't playing that full progression. I think the guitars only enter on the chorus, and he was probably comping something simple so as to not step on the piano.

It's hard to blend piano and crunchy guitars so they're both prominent in the same moment. It's a constant passing of the baton back and forth between piano moments and guitar moments. Think Queen.

 

[Bent out of shape]

This looks very interesting,  will watch the rest later. Just thinking though that this first progression,  descending in F, is it not practically the same as the common rock progression,  G, D/F#, Em, D, C, G/B in bass etc.as found in eg In the light,  Since you've been gone.

[Joebuddha]

I love this video and this channel a lot.. 
One of the best things you can do if you want to write cool chord progressions is to learn Motown especially Stevie Wonder, Beatles, Billy Joel and Elton John and Steely Dan songs.  
David Bowie is a master of this kind of stuff as well. 
Even if you don't memorize them, pick a song, loop the chords and play the melody over it. 
Lately I have been talking to my students a lot about the 4 aspects of music that Aaron Copland writes about in his book "What to listen for in music".
He breaks it down to Melody, Harmony, Rhythm and Tonal Color. 
If you learn the melody to most pop songs the it is a lot of times really simple, Isn't she lovely and nowhere man are both just up and down the same scale E Major but what makes those songs are the harmony, and the rhythm. 
 
 
 

[Haffner]

All from the song Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.

I write pretty simple, meat and potatoes rock songs using pop formats, but I still geek out over this stuff (and try to learn).

Amy can do sophisticated stuff like this, but this video is a great breakdown for us mere mortals. And more insight into Elton's genius. 
 


 
 
 

 

Super cool. Adore the 70s Elton!