Sad Sounding Piano Chords

[dough_mouse]

What are some really sad-sounding chords/chord progressions in your opinion?

[ted]

Successive minor harmony in the keys whose roots form an augmented triad, e.g.
Bm - Ebm - Gm.

I have always thought this cycle particularly haunting but I suppose anything loses its charm if it is overdone.

[Bob]

mM7 chords.  That's a minor triad with a M7 -- C, Eb, G, B.  I think it has some kind of sad quality possibly.  It can sound kind of nauseous or like it's crying if you play that around the circle of fifths -- CmM7, FmM7, BbmM7, etc.  Have some fun and warmup in front of a group with that.

C, F, B  resolving to C, F, A   Just a major triad with a appog on a #4 resolving down to the third.  That pattern can keep going down by whole tones, the chords moving down by whole tones.  Sounds like a sigh.

[phil13]

I don't believe there is such a thing as a sad-sounding chord or chord progression. The quality of the chords is determined by its timbre and voice-leading from one chord to another.

For example, Brahms's 4th Symphony opens with a beautiful, melancolic E-minor chord progression, but it would not have the expressive quality it has without the haunting voice-leading of the melody.

Phil

[mcgillcomposer]

I don't believe there is such a thing as a sad-sounding chord or chord progression. The quality of the chords is determined by its timbre and voice-leading from one chord to another.

For example, Brahms's 4th Symphony opens with a beautiful, melancolic E-minor chord progression, but it would not have the expressive quality it has without the haunting voice-leading of the melody.

Phil

Ya, Brahms 4 is great for "sad" sounding progressions. Check out the opening of the final movement...now THAT is harmony! It is a passacaglia (harmonic progression that repeats over and over...although brahms being Brahms modifies this as the piece progresses).

It is in e minor and opens with a iv6 chord

iv6 - iio6 - i - iv6 - V/V - i6 - [Fr 43 - V] of iv ---> and back to the beginning

[counterpoint]

I don't believe there is such a thing as a sad-sounding chord or chord progression.

I don't either!

The character of a musical piece is not defined by the used chords - but by the rhythm, the tempo and the articulation. There are some C major pieces, that sound really sad and depressed (for example the beginning of Schumann's 2nd Symphony), and there are some C minor pieces, that sound exceptionally funny and sparkling (Rondeau and Capriccio from Bach's Partita 2).

[mcgillcomposer]

I don't either!

The character of a musical piece is not defined by the used chords - but by the rhythm, the tempo and the articulation. There are some C major pieces, that sound really sad and depressed (for example the beginning of Schumann's 2nd Symphony), and there are some C minor pieces, that sound exceptionally funny and sparkling (Rondeau and Capriccio from Bach's Partita 2).

You have a great point here...but the chords should factor into the other elements you mentioned. I think what  you mean is that the entire ensemble of these various parameters is what creates a particular effect.

- D.

[Barbosa-piano]

       There is a song by twentysevenfold (spelling?) (Yes, a rock band...) that has an awesome choral part in its middle - The Wicked End. The chord progression is hauntingly beautiful and sad. I stick to classical music to the end, but this song just broke through me. I suspect the progression has been inspired a classical piece...
      I'm yet to decipher those.

       Rachmaninoff and Brahms wrote miraculous sad chord progressions, but Rachmaninoff goes beyond sad sometimes- His "far away" chords can take you places.