When performing sad piano music, the key to producing tear-jerking performances is keeping dynamics and intensity low while adding stronger vibrato and emphasizing minor harmonies to enhance drama in your performance.
Switching from a major key to minor can dramatically change the feel of a song.
1. Axis of Awesome Progression
One of the most commonly heard chord progressions in pop music is Axis of Awesome Progression. It’s used by artists such as Journey and Missy Higgins; its use can also be heard across genres including pop, country and rock music. Though often associated with sadness this chord progression can serve multiple emotions.
The Axis of Awesome Progression is a cycle of four chords often featured in popular songs. This cycle includes I, V, vi and IV chords found within a major key; its song parodying Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin.” This song has been performed many times live and also seen on several television programs.
In its original rendition, Axis of Awesome uses E, B, C#m and A as its chord progression; however, they have also played it in different keys; in a live video of this song they even switch the key of E Major which changes slightly the harmony as its I, V and vi chords all differ.
When employing the Axis of Awesome progression, it is key to use chords which complement one another to ensure that it sounds harmonious with the melody and adds emotional impact to the music. Doing this will ensure the chord progression sounds pleasing as a whole.
As another means of improving Axis of Awesome progressions, chromaticism can add another element. Chromaticity involves adding sharp or flat notes to chords for added drama and tension in your music; or create urgency in songs by giving them more dramatic impact.
The Axis of Awesome song is both satirical and metaphoric of mainstream commercial music in general; indeed, studies of Axis progressions across genres show their widespread use.
2. Sentimental Progression
Chord progressions play a critical role in music’s emotional impact. They can excite, sadden or relax audiences alike depending on the key. Different chords elicit different feelings based on key – for instance E minor may evoke innocent and saddening sentiments while D major brings on strong passion and emotion. Chord progressions on their own don’t elicit emotions directly; their context determines this outcome.
Songwriters can use different sonic elements to elicit certain emotions within their songs, including chord choices, key and tempo changes and chord progressions that create sadness or longing – perfect for creating nostalgic or heartbreaking tracks.
Similar to its use by Keane and Charlie Puth artists, the I – VI – IV progression can evoke feelings of remorse and regret in listeners. This chord progression often creates songs with songs like this that sound as though calling out to former lovers for one last chance; such chord progression is often found in pop songs where slow pace with block chord voicing creates the feeling of deep regret.
There are various ways of expressing sadness through music, as there will be different reactions to each song from different people. Knowing a few common chord progressions will help your piano music take the right course.
At its core, creating sad music involves thinking carefully about its journey. Key, tempo, melody and lyrics all work together to tell your tale; to add depth and meaning to piano music add some sad embellishments into chord progressions – it will make an immediate difference!
3. Modal Mixture Progression
Modal mixture is a form of chromaticism used when chords from parallel minor are borrowed during progressions in major (or vice versa). These borrowed chords may contain lower chromaticisms – 6 being most common but 3 and 7 also occur – giving a chord progression a more dramatic and expressive quality; perhaps most famously seen when Richard Strauss switched from major II chord to minor ii chord in Also Sprach Zarathustra.
Chords derived from the parallel mode are sometimes referred to as “color chords,” since they add variety through contrasting scale degrees. Common color chords include minor IV and major VI chords derived from Aeolian. Minor V is another such borrowed chord; as are half-diminished II and fully-diminished VII chords.
This technique provides a good way to explore the basic duality of tonality: major/minor. Additionally, it can help facilitate modulations between distantly related keys; for example in Camille Saint-Sans’ Samson et Dalila using modal mixture pivot chords as smoothers – for instance using le from parallel minor scale for subdominant chord (F major in original key but ii in second key) uses le as subdominant chord.
When using modal mixture in a progression, it’s essential that all chords borrowed from the parallel minor scale are fully utilized and used entirely rather than only partially such as mi, o and si forms. Furthermore, any altered chords should be marked clearly with square brackets around their functional bass symbols so as not to confuse a modulation for what it actually is.
4. Loneliness Progression
Loneliness is something we all feel, and this chord progression quickly strikes the sorrowful note with its opening minor triad and subsequent addition of a descending bass line – the latter emphasizing feelings of isolation and sadness even further. This sad piano chord progression has become one of the most widely used sad piano progressions used today.
This progression is more emotionally stirring than our first example due to its use of the compositional technique known as modal mixture to mix chords from both major and minor scales simultaneously, creating a duality within its music that simultaneously conveys feelings of hopefulness and despair simultaneously. Such emotions are difficult to put into words; we simply feel them deep within us all.
Jonny meticulously composed this progression with stunning chord colorations to maximize its emotional impact and maximize its potency. This song serves as an excellent demonstration of how advanced piano players can use their knowledge of harmony to add new depth and emotion to their music. While its intended lesson sheet targets intermediate pianists, beginner can still enjoy learning this song by making some minor modifications such as eliminating right-hand harmony notes or switching out broken chord patterns with block chords on their left-hand.