The Stranger – Intro and Verse
The Stranger – Verse
The Stranger – Bridge
The Stranger – Instrumental
Related Music Concepts
Seventh Chords
Adding one more note to the basic chords
Borrowed Chords
Using chords from parallel modes for contrast and emotion
Inverted Chords
Using a different bass note to change a chord's sound
Augmented Chords
A chord with a raised fifth that creates a bright, unresolved tension
Altered Chords
Altered (raised or lowered) notes create tension and complexity in chords
Bassline Motion
How much the bass moves stepwise between chord roots
Extended Chords
Stacking thirds beyond the 7th to create more complex sounds
Half-Diminished Chords
A diminished triad with a minor seventh on top — softer than fully diminished
Secondary Chords
Chords that temporarily shift the harmonic center
Suspended Chords
A chord with built in tension and release
Song Stats
●
Key
E Minor
Tempo
186 BPM
Meter
4/4
Genre
Pop, Rock, Singer-Songwriter
Melody Range
D4 – A#4
Mood
Complex, Upbeat, Moody
Most Used Chord
VII
Chord Complexity
79
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
39
Chord-Melody Tension: Quantifies how often melody notes fall outside the current chord, producing dissonance that creates a sense of instability.
Chord Prog. Novelty
49
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
E Minor
Tempo
180 BPM
Meter
4/4
Genre
Pop, Rock, Singer-Songwriter
Melody Range
D4 – D5
Mood
Upbeat, Moody
Most Used Chord
i
Chord Complexity
46
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
36
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
37
Chord-Melody Tension: Quantifies how often melody notes fall outside the current chord, producing dissonance that creates a sense of instability.
Chord Prog. Novelty
35
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
E Minor
Tempo
184 BPM
Meter
4/4
Genre
Pop, Rock, Singer-Songwriter
Melody Range
E4 – A5
Mood
Complex, Unexpected, Upbeat, Moody
Most Used Chord
v
Chord Complexity
88
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
50
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
55
Chord-Melody Tension: Quantifies how often melody notes fall outside the current chord, producing dissonance that creates a sense of instability.
Chord Prog. Novelty
87
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
E Minor
Tempo
153 BPM
Meter
4/4
Genre
Pop, Rock, Singer-Songwriter
Melody Range
A3 – E6
Mood
Complex, Unexpected, Upbeat, Moody
Most Used Chord
i
Chord Complexity
77
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
48
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
59
Chord-Melody Tension: Quantifies how often melody notes fall outside the current chord, producing dissonance that creates a sense of instability.
Chord Prog. Novelty
71
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
E Minor
Tempo
186 BPM
Meter
4/4
Genre
Pop, Rock, Singer-Songwriter
Melody Range
A3 – E6
Mood
Complex, Unexpected, Upbeat, Moody
Most Used Chord
i
Chord Complexity
76
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
65
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
47
Chord-Melody Tension: Quantifies how often melody notes fall outside the current chord, producing dissonance that creates a sense of instability.
Chord Prog. Novelty
63
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 The Stranger
About the Key
E Minor
It is the 2nd most popular key among Minor keys and the 8th most popular among all keys. Minor keys, along with major keys, are a common choice for popular music.
i iv VI
Most Important Chords
The three most important chords, built off the 1st, 4th and 5th scale degrees are all minor chords (E minor, A minor, and B minor).
E Minor Cheat Sheet
Popular chords, progressions, downloadable MIDI files and more
About the Chord Progressions
| Section | Progression | Songs with this progression |
|---|---|---|
| Intro and Verse |
i
VII
VI7
VII
|
No other theorytabs with this progression |
| Verse |
i
iv
|
|
| Bridge |
v
V(#5)
v42
VII42
|
No other theorytabs with this progression |
| Instrumental |
i
VI7
V(maj)
VI
v/iv
II9sus4(lyd)
v65/iv
|
No other theorytabs with this progression |
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.
A3 – E6
Melody range across 31 semitones
1.27 beats/note
Across 224.0 beats of melody
Stepwise Motion
Jumpiness
Repeaty
97%
Diatonic
Percentage of notes within the song's key.
72%
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
76
Measures how diverse and sophisticated the chord vocabulary is in this song.
Percentile: 76/100 — above average
Melodic Complexity
65
Measures the range, intervallic variety, and rhythmic complexity of the melody.
Percentile: 65/100 — above average
Chord-Melody Tension
47
Measures how much the melody notes clash or harmonize with the underlying chords.
Percentile: 47/100 — below average
Chord Prog. Novelty
63
Measures how unusual or unexpected the chord progressions are compared to common patterns.
Percentile: 63/100 — above average
Chord-Bass Melody
96
Measures the melodic movement of the bass notes across chord changes.
Percentile: 96/100 — above average
Song Data
Metrics Radar Chart
The StrangerAverage 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.
