Famous Chords, And Why You Know Them

Some chords are so distinct - either in their timbre, instrumentation, or originality - that they are immediately evocative of a song, movie, or TV show. Here are some of my favorites, many of which I believe you will find familiar:

1. Minor Major 9 - This is a minor chord with a Major 7 and a Major 9, seen here:

Why You Know It - I call this the "James Bond" chord as it has a distinct ominous spy movie quality to it. You can hear it at the very end of this clip from Dr. No (1:39):

Since the first Bond movie, lazy composers have used this single chord for an easy scene transition.

2. D9 Chord - this is a dominant 7 chord with a natural 9 on top. I call it the "I Feel Good Chord" because my first guitar teacher taught me to play the James Brown song with this exact voicing:

How You Know It - 90s kids can relate; this is the chord played on guitar, combined with a whammy-bar bend, when Clarissa's friend Sam puts his stepladder up to the window in the Nickelodeon show Clarissa Explains It All (it's in the first 10 seconds):

3. The Augurs of Spring Chord - From Stravinsky's Rite of Spring, it's one of those "how the heck did he ever dream up that combination of notes?" chords:

This is a famous chord, well known to music students. It is a classic polychord, with E (or F-flat) on bottom and Eb7 on top.

Why You Know It - I'd like to think that people know The Rite of Spring from itself, but failing that the next-best thing is from Disney's Fantasia! Check out the chord at 3:54:

4. E7(#9) - Sharp 9 chords are unique in that they are not really major or minor, they are kind of both, having both a natural and a flatted third. This one has both G and G# (or F## if you want to be nitpicky):

Why You Know It - Most young guitarists learn this chord from Jimi Hendrix's Purple Haze, which uses this as its primary tonic chord. Hear it start around 00:23:

5. Dm7(add4)/G Chord - There are a lot of different names you could call this chord, but that would be missing the point. This is one of those chords where it is not the notes, but the exact instrumentation and arrangement of those notes that makes it so distinct:

It is the unique tuning and slight out-of-tunedness of the 12 string that makes this chord so memorable.

How You Know It - This is the opening chord to Hard Day's Night.

Besides being cleverly arranged, it is also a bit unusual to open a major key pop song with a minor v7 chord. Now it is impossible to think of it any other way. Can you imagine Hard Day's Night starting with a regular dominant 7 chord? Quelle horreur!

6. C Phrygian Chord - Now we finish with my favorite. This chord is the final crunchy climax of "Mars" from Gustav Holst's The Planets. Skip to 6:55 to bask in its glory:

Why You Know It - John Williams almost exactly borrowed this chord in Star Wars. It is no secret that Williams' score is heavily inspired by The Planets. In this case he uses almost exactly the same notes and rhythms. Check it out at 1:41:

 I looked at the original scores to both and condensed the notes of every instrument to the grand staff for easy comparison:

At a glance they don't look too similar, but in practice they sound nearly identical. The first has the notes C, G, Ab, Db, and the second has the same plus an F. I suppose you could call it a Db(#4)/C, but I don't think that label really shows its purpose. In this case I prefer to describe how the chord sounds and feels. It is like a modified Neapolitan chord over the pedal tonic, crunchingly begging to resolve to a clean I chord. That phrygian sound is key, and sometimes the mode is the best way to describe a chord; if someone gave me a lead sheet with a "C Phrygian" chord on it, I would probably voice it similarly.

There are some differences; Holst's chord does not include any woodwinds, so it is lower and brassier. Williams opens it up and adds the F. In practice, however - because most of what you hear is the brass, tympani, rough strings, and the mix of straight punchy rhythms and triplets - both sound nearly identical.

I'm sure its been mimicked repeatedly since. Check out 1:44 in this clip from Rocky III as Rocky is getting pounded by Clubber Lang:

Variations on the chord can be heard throughout the fight. I can't blame Bill Conti or John Williams for wanting to use it. Sometimes a particular voicing or instrumentation just has a magic to it. Something about that orchestral chord just says "WAR!" It really speaks to the art of music that you can't just have a formula to use a particular collection of notes to evoke a certain emotional response. The context, instrumentation, voicing are all part of the puzzle. In practice the art of the chord is much more abstract, interesting and beautiful than a dry theory book might lead you to believe.