Zanzibar – Verse
Zanzibar – Chorus
Zanzibar – Chorus Lead-Out
Zanzibar – Instrumental
Related Music Concepts
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
Seventh Chords
Adding one more note to the basic chords
Borrowed Chords
Using chords from parallel modes for contrast and emotion
Augmented Chords
A chord with a raised fifth that creates a bright, unresolved tension
Secondary Chords
Chords that temporarily shift the harmonic center
Altered Chords
Altered (raised or lowered) notes create tension and complexity in chords
Inverted Chords
Using a different bass note to change a chord's sound
Add Chords
A chord with an added tone that enriches its sound
Chord Progression Novelty
How unusual the chord sequence is compared to other songs
Song Stats
●
Key
A Minor
Tempo
74 BPM
Meter
4/4
Genre
Jazz, Rock
Melody Range
E4 – A5
Mood
Smooth, Complex, Unexpected, Mellow, Moody
Most Used Chord
i
Chord Complexity
95
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
17
Chord-Melody Tension: Quantifies how often melody notes fall outside the current chord, producing dissonance that creates a sense of instability.
Chord Prog. Novelty
82
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 Minor
Tempo
74 BPM
Meter
4/4
Genre
Jazz, Rock
Melody Range
F4 – G5
Mood
Complex, Unexpected, Mellow, Moody
Most Used Chord
VI
Chord Complexity
97
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
95
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
52
Chord-Melody Tension: Quantifies how often melody notes fall outside the current chord, producing dissonance that creates a sense of instability.
Chord Prog. Novelty
85
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
A Minor
Tempo
151 BPM
Meter
4/4
Genre
Jazz, Rock
Melody Range
A3 – G5
Mood
Smooth, Complex, Unexpected, Upbeat, Moody
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
7
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
13
Chord-Melody Tension: Quantifies how often melody notes fall outside the current chord, producing dissonance that creates a sense of instability.
Chord Prog. Novelty
73
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
152 BPM
Meter
4/4
Genre
Jazz, Rock
Melody Range
G#3 – G5
Mood
Tense, Complex, Unexpected, Upbeat, Bright
Most Used Chord
bII(add9)
Chord Complexity
92
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
64
Chord-Melody Tension: Quantifies how often melody notes fall outside the current chord, producing dissonance that creates a sense of instability.
Chord Prog. Novelty
96
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
●
Tempo
74 BPM
Meter
4/4
Genre
Jazz, Rock
Melody Range
G#3 – A5
Mood
Complex, Unexpected, Mellow, Moody
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
31
Chord-Melody Tension: Quantifies how often melody notes fall outside the current chord, producing dissonance that creates a sense of instability.
Chord Prog. Novelty
88
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 Zanzibar
About the Key
A Minor
It is the most popular key among Minor keys and the 6th 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 (A minor, D minor, and E minor).
A Minor Cheat Sheet
Popular chords, progressions, downloadable MIDI files and more
About the Chord Progressions
| Section | Progression | Songs with this progression |
|---|---|---|
| Verse |
i9
VI9
i9
II7
III
VI
III
|
No other theorytabs with this progression |
| Chorus |
I(maj)
V(#5)(maj)
i7
iv9
VII
III7
VI7
|
No other theorytabs with this progression |
| Chorus Lead-Out |
i9
V7(#9)(maj)
|
|
| Instrumental |
Iadd6add9
Vadd6add9/ii
II6add9
VII6(mix)
V6add9
II6add9
iii6
|
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.
G#3 – A5
Melody range across 25 semitones
0.77 beats/note
Across 152.0 beats of melody
Stepwise Motion
Jumpiness
Repeaty
87%
Diatonic
Percentage of notes within the song's key.
60%
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
96
Measures how diverse and sophisticated the chord vocabulary is in this song.
Percentile: 96/100 — above average
Melodic Complexity
90
Measures the range, intervallic variety, and rhythmic complexity of the melody.
Percentile: 90/100 — above average
Chord-Melody Tension
31
Measures how much the melody notes clash or harmonize with the underlying chords.
Percentile: 31/100 — below average
Chord Prog. Novelty
88
Measures how unusual or unexpected the chord progressions are compared to common patterns.
Percentile: 88/100 — above average
Chord-Bass Melody
76
Measures the melodic movement of the bass notes across chord changes.
Percentile: 76/100 — above average
Song Data
Metrics Radar Chart
ZanzibarAverage 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.
