Prelude – Intro
Prelude – Verse
Prelude – Pre-Chorus
Prelude – Chorus Lead-Out
Prelude – Bridge
Related Music Concepts
Seventh Chords
Adding one more note to the basic chords
Extended Chords
Stacking thirds beyond the 7th to create more complex sounds
Secondary Chords
Chords that temporarily shift the harmonic center
Borrowed Chords
Using chords from parallel modes for contrast and emotion
Chord Progression Novelty
How unusual the chord sequence is compared to other songs
Add Chords
A chord with an added tone that enriches its sound
Inverted Chords
Using a different bass note to change a chord's sound
Basic Chords
Chords naturally found in the key
Song Stats
●
Key
C Major
Tempo
191 BPM
Meter
4/4
Genre
Pop, Rock, Singer-Songwriter
Melody Range
B3 – E5
Mood
Smooth, Upbeat, Bright
Most Used Chord
I
Chord Complexity
28
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
56
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
8
Chord-Melody Tension: Quantifies how often melody notes fall outside the current chord, producing dissonance that creates a sense of instability.
Chord Prog. Novelty
34
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.
Concepts
Song Stats
●
Key
C Major
Tempo
193 BPM
Meter
4/4
Genre
Pop, Rock, Singer-Songwriter
Melody Range
C4 – F5
Mood
Tense, Complex, Unexpected, Upbeat, Bright
Most Used Chord
I
Chord Complexity
96
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
90
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
69
Chord-Melody Tension: Quantifies how often melody notes fall outside the current chord, producing dissonance that creates a sense of instability.
Chord Prog. Novelty
97
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
193 BPM
Meter
4/4
Genre
Pop, Rock, Singer-Songwriter
Melody Range
C4 – E6
Mood
Upbeat, Bright
Most Used Chord
V(add9)
Chord Complexity
61
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
82
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
30
Chord-Melody Tension: Quantifies how often melody notes fall outside the current chord, producing dissonance that creates a sense of instability.
Chord Prog. Novelty
56
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.
Concepts
Song Stats
●
Key
G Major
Tempo
191 BPM
Meter
4/4
Genre
Pop, Rock, Singer-Songwriter
Melody Range
D4 – G5
Mood
Upbeat, Bright
Most Used Chord
I
Chord Complexity
29
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
76
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
45
Chord-Melody Tension: Quantifies how often melody notes fall outside the current chord, producing dissonance that creates a sense of instability.
Chord Prog. Novelty
30
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.
Concepts
Song Stats
●
Key
C Major
Tempo
191 BPM
Meter
4/4
Genre
Pop, Rock, Singer-Songwriter
Melody Range
C3 – G5
Mood
Smooth, Simple, Classic, Upbeat, Bright
Most Used Chord
I
Chord Complexity
1
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
49
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
19
Chord-Melody Tension: Quantifies how often melody notes fall outside the current chord, producing dissonance that creates a sense of instability.
Chord Prog. Novelty
2
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.
Concepts
Song Stats
●
Tempo
191 BPM
Meter
4/4
Genre
Pop, Rock, Singer-Songwriter
Melody Range
C3 – E6
Mood
Upbeat, Bright
Most Used Chord
I
Chord Complexity
57
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
77
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
27
Chord-Melody Tension: Quantifies how often melody notes fall outside the current chord, producing dissonance that creates a sense of instability.
Chord Prog. Novelty
46
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 Prelude
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
| Section | Progression | Songs with this progression |
|---|---|---|
| Intro |
I
IV
|
|
| Verse |
I
♭I7
III7(dor)
IV
v9/iii(dor)
III(dor)
v(dor)
|
No other theorytabs with this progression |
| Pre-Chorus |
Vadd9
IVadd9
Vadd9
I
IV7
iii7
|
|
| Chorus Lead-Out |
I
IV
I6
V
I
IV
I
|
|
| Bridge |
I
V
|
|
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.
C3 – E6
Melody range across 40 semitones
0.67 beats/note
Across 192.0 beats of melody
Stepwise Motion
Jumpiness
Repeaty
97%
Diatonic
Percentage of notes within the song's key.
84%
Chord Tones
Percentage of notes that fall on a chord tone of the underlying harmony.
Edgy
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
57
Measures how diverse and sophisticated the chord vocabulary is in this song.
Percentile: 57/100 — above average
Melodic Complexity
77
Measures the range, intervallic variety, and rhythmic complexity of the melody.
Percentile: 77/100 — above average
Chord-Melody Tension
27
Measures how much the melody notes clash or harmonize with the underlying chords.
Percentile: 27/100 — below average
Chord Prog. Novelty
46
Measures how unusual or unexpected the chord progressions are compared to common patterns.
Percentile: 46/100 — below average
Chord-Bass Melody
15
Measures the melodic movement of the bass notes across chord changes.
Percentile: 15/100 — below average
Song Data
Metrics Radar Chart
PreludeAverage 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.
