Piano Man – Instrumental Intro
Piano Man – Intro
Piano Man – Verse
Piano Man – Pre-Chorus
Piano Man – Chorus
Piano Man – Instrumental
Related Music Concepts
Inverted Chords
Using a different bass note to change a chord's sound
Diminished Chords
A chord built from stacked minor thirds — dark and unstable
Fully Diminished 7ths
A four-note diminished chord that strongly pulls toward resolution
Seventh Chords
Adding one more note to the basic chords
Borrowed Chords
Using chords from parallel modes for contrast and emotion
Chord-Melody Tension
How much the melody clashes with the underlying chords
Chord Progression Novelty
How unusual the chord sequence is compared to other songs
Extended Chords
Stacking thirds beyond the 7th to create more complex sounds
Secondary Chords
Chords that temporarily shift the harmonic center
Suspended Chords
A chord with built in tension and release
Bassline Motion
How much the bass moves stepwise between chord roots
Add Chords
A chord with an added tone that enriches its sound
Song Stats
●
Key
C Major
Tempo
178 BPM
Meter
4/4
Genre
Blues, Rock, Soul
Melody Range
D#4 – G5
Mood
Tense, Complex, Unexpected, Upbeat, Bright
Most Used Chord
ii
Chord Complexity
93
Chord Complexity: Tracks when a song goes beyond simple three-note chords—either by adding extra tones (like 7ths or add9s) or by borrowing notes from outside the key—creating richer, more sophisticated harmonies.
Melodic Complexity
99
Melodic Complexity: Reflects two factors: the use of notes outside the key and rhythmic syncopation, together capturing how intricate or surprising a melody feels.
Chord-Melody Tension
99
Chord-Melody Tension: Quantifies how often melody notes fall outside the current chord, producing dissonance that creates a sense of instability.
Chord Prog. Novelty
95
Chord Prog. Novelty: Measures how uncommon a song's chord changes are compared to others in the Hooktheory database, highlighting progressions that deviate from typical patterns.
Song Stats
●
Key
C Major
Tempo
178 BPM
Meter
3/4
Genre
Blues, Rock, Soul
Melody Range
C4 – A5
Mood
Upbeat, Bright
Most Used Chord
I
Chord Complexity
55
Chord Complexity: Tracks when a song goes beyond simple three-note chords—either by adding extra tones (like 7ths or add9s) or by borrowing notes from outside the key—creating richer, more sophisticated harmonies.
Melodic Complexity
23
Melodic Complexity: Reflects two factors: the use of notes outside the key and rhythmic syncopation, together capturing how intricate or surprising a melody feels.
Chord-Melody Tension
29
Chord-Melody Tension: Quantifies how often melody notes fall outside the current chord, producing dissonance that creates a sense of instability.
Chord Prog. Novelty
48
Chord Prog. Novelty: Measures how uncommon a song's chord changes are compared to others in the Hooktheory database, highlighting progressions that deviate from typical patterns.
Song Stats
●
Key
C Major
Tempo
178 BPM
Meter
3/4
Genre
Blues, Rock, Soul
Melody Range
A2 – G3
Mood
Upbeat, Bright
Most Used Chord
I
Chord Complexity
49
Chord Complexity: Tracks when a song goes beyond simple three-note chords—either by adding extra tones (like 7ths or add9s) or by borrowing notes from outside the key—creating richer, more sophisticated harmonies.
Melodic Complexity
17
Melodic Complexity: Reflects two factors: the use of notes outside the key and rhythmic syncopation, together capturing how intricate or surprising a melody feels.
Chord-Melody Tension
34
Chord-Melody Tension: Quantifies how often melody notes fall outside the current chord, producing dissonance that creates a sense of instability.
Chord Prog. Novelty
55
Chord Prog. Novelty: Measures how uncommon a song's chord changes are compared to others in the Hooktheory database, highlighting progressions that deviate from typical patterns.
Song Stats
●
Key
C Major
Tempo
178 BPM
Meter
3/4
Genre
Blues, Rock, Soul
Melody Range
C4 – G4
Mood
Smooth, Simple, Classic, Upbeat, Bright
Most Used Chord
I
Chord Complexity
0
Chord Complexity: Tracks when a song goes beyond simple three-note chords—either by adding extra tones (like 7ths or add9s) or by borrowing notes from outside the key—creating richer, more sophisticated harmonies.
Melodic Complexity
0
Melodic Complexity: Reflects two factors: the use of notes outside the key and rhythmic syncopation, together capturing how intricate or surprising a melody feels.
Chord-Melody Tension
0
Chord-Melody Tension: Quantifies how often melody notes fall outside the current chord, producing dissonance that creates a sense of instability.
Chord Prog. Novelty
0
Chord Prog. Novelty: Measures how uncommon a song's chord changes are compared to others in the Hooktheory database, highlighting progressions that deviate from typical patterns.
Song Stats
●
Key
C Major
Tempo
178 BPM
Meter
3/4
Genre
Blues, Rock, Soul
Melody Range
C4 – G4
Mood
Upbeat, Bright
Most Used Chord
I
Chord Complexity
49
Chord Complexity: Tracks when a song goes beyond simple three-note chords—either by adding extra tones (like 7ths or add9s) or by borrowing notes from outside the key—creating richer, more sophisticated harmonies.
Melodic Complexity
9
Melodic Complexity: Reflects two factors: the use of notes outside the key and rhythmic syncopation, together capturing how intricate or surprising a melody feels.
Chord-Melody Tension
36
Chord-Melody Tension: Quantifies how often melody notes fall outside the current chord, producing dissonance that creates a sense of instability.
Chord Prog. Novelty
50
Chord Prog. Novelty: Measures how uncommon a song's chord changes are compared to others in the Hooktheory database, highlighting progressions that deviate from typical patterns.
Song Stats
●
Key
C Major
Tempo
178 BPM
Meter
3/4
Genre
Blues, Rock, Soul
Melody Range
A4 – D6
Mood
Complex, Unexpected, Upbeat, Bright
Most Used Chord
vi
Chord Complexity
73
Chord Complexity: Tracks when a song goes beyond simple three-note chords—either by adding extra tones (like 7ths or add9s) or by borrowing notes from outside the key—creating richer, more sophisticated harmonies.
Melodic Complexity
84
Melodic Complexity: Reflects two factors: the use of notes outside the key and rhythmic syncopation, together capturing how intricate or surprising a melody feels.
Chord-Melody Tension
38
Chord-Melody Tension: Quantifies how often melody notes fall outside the current chord, producing dissonance that creates a sense of instability.
Chord Prog. Novelty
76
Chord Prog. Novelty: Measures how uncommon a song's chord changes are compared to others in the Hooktheory database, highlighting progressions that deviate from typical patterns.
Song Stats
●
Key
C Major
Tempo
178 BPM
Meter
4/4
Genre
Blues, Rock, Soul
Melody Range
A2 – D6
Mood
Complex, Unexpected, Upbeat, Bright
Most Used Chord
I
Chord Complexity
74
Chord Complexity: Tracks when a song goes beyond simple three-note chords—either by adding extra tones (like 7ths or add9s) or by borrowing notes from outside the key—creating richer, more sophisticated harmonies.
Melodic Complexity
86
Melodic Complexity: Reflects two factors: the use of notes outside the key and rhythmic syncopation, together capturing how intricate or surprising a melody feels.
Chord-Melody Tension
36
Chord-Melody Tension: Quantifies how often melody notes fall outside the current chord, producing dissonance that creates a sense of instability.
Chord Prog. Novelty
79
Chord Prog. Novelty: Measures how uncommon a song's chord changes are compared to others in the Hooktheory database, highlighting progressions that deviate from typical patterns.
About Piano Man
About the Key
C Major
It is the most common key in all of popular music. Major keys, along with minor keys, are a common choice for popular songs.
I IV V
Most Important Chords
The three most important chords, built off the 1st, 4th and 5th scale degrees are all major chords (C Major, F Major, and G Major).
C Major Cheat Sheet
Popular chords, progressions, downloadable MIDI files and more
About the Chord Progressions
About the Melody
Melody data is compiled from all analyzed melody sections, so depending on how a user analyzed a song, "melody" might include instrumental notes.
A2 – D6
Melody range across 41 semitones
1.14 beats/note
Across 282.0 beats of melody
Stepwise Motion
Jumpiness
Repeaty
96%
Diatonic
Percentage of notes within the song's key.
70%
Chord Tones
Percentage of notes that fall on a chord tone of the underlying harmony.
Mixed
Consonance
How smoothly the melody blends with the harmony (0 = dissonant, 1 = consonant).
Loose
Syncopation
How often the melody emphasizes off-beats. Higher = more syncopated.
About the Metrics
Chord Complexity
Chord Complexity tracks when a song goes beyond simple three-note chords—either by adding extra tones (like 7ths or add9s) or by borrowing notes from outside the key—creating richer, more sophisticated harmonies.
Melodic Complexity
Melodic Complexity reflects two factors: the use of notes outside the key and rhythmic syncopation, together capturing how intricate or surprising a melody feels.
Chord-Melody Tension
Chord-Melody Tension quantifies how often melody notes fall outside the current chord, producing dissonance that creates a sense of instability.
Chord Progression Novelty
Chord Progression Novelty measures how uncommon a song's chord changes are compared to others in the Hooktheory database, highlighting progressions that deviate from typical patterns.
Chord-Bass Melody
Chord–Bass Melody evaluates how smoothly the bass moves between chords, scoring higher when it travels step-wise, ascending or descending, instead of jumping directly between root position chords.
Hooktheory's metrics are calculated against the entire database of analyzed songs, where 50 is the "average song." Learn more about each of these metrics here.
Chord Complexity
74
Measures how diverse and sophisticated the chord vocabulary is in this song.
Percentile: 74/100 — above average
Melodic Complexity
86
Measures the range, intervallic variety, and rhythmic complexity of the melody.
Percentile: 86/100 — above average
Chord-Melody Tension
36
Measures how much the melody notes clash or harmonize with the underlying chords.
Percentile: 36/100 — below average
Chord Prog. Novelty
79
Measures how unusual or unexpected the chord progressions are compared to common patterns.
Percentile: 79/100 — above average
Chord-Bass Melody
86
Measures the melodic movement of the bass notes across chord changes.
Percentile: 86/100 — above average
Song Data
Metrics Radar Chart
Piano ManAverage Song
BPM Comparison
Melody Distribution
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Melodic Intervals
Distribution of note-to-note jumps in semitones (negative = downward, positive = upward)
Note Durations
How long each note is held (in beats)
Syncopation
How many notes fall on each level of metric strength (0 = on-beat, higher = increasingly off-beat)
Level 0
Notes that fall on the downbeat — the strongest metric position in the measure.
Level 1
Notes on a secondary strong beat (e.g. beat 3 in 4/4) — still firmly on the grid.
Level 2
Notes on the remaining primary beats (2 and 4 in 4/4) — moderate metric weight.
Level 3
Notes on eighth-note offbeats — between the primary beats. Audibly syncopated.
