Undertow – Intro
Undertow – Pre-Chorus
Undertow – Chorus
Related Music Concepts
Inverted Chords
Using a different bass note to change a chord's sound
Seventh Chords
Adding one more note to the basic chords
Suspended Chords
A chord with built in tension and release
Add Chords
A chord with an added tone that enriches its sound
Borrowed Chords
Using chords from parallel modes for contrast and emotion
Chord Progression Novelty
How unusual the chord sequence is compared to other songs
Secondary Chords
Chords that temporarily shift the harmonic center
Half-Diminished Chords
A diminished triad with a minor seventh on top — softer than fully diminished
Song Stats
●
Key
E Major
Tempo
67 BPM
Meter
4/4
Genre
Pop, Rock
Mood
Smooth, Complex, Unexpected, Mellow, Bright
Most Used Chord
IV
Chord Complexity
84
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
94
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
D Major
Tempo
67 BPM
Meter
4/4
Genre
Pop, Rock
Mood
Smooth, Complex, Unexpected, Mellow, Bright
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
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
75
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 Major
Tempo
67 BPM
Meter
4/4
Genre
Pop, Rock
Mood
Smooth, Complex, Unexpected, Mellow, Bright
Most Used Chord
IV
Chord Complexity
75
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
93
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
67 BPM
Meter
4/4
Genre
Pop, Rock
Mood
Smooth, Complex, Unexpected, Mellow, Bright
Most Used Chord
IV
Chord Complexity
80
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
91
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 Undertow
About the Key
E Major
It is the 5th most popular key among Major keys and the 5th most popular among all keys. 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 (E Major, A Major, and B Major).
E Major Cheat Sheet
Popular chords, progressions, downloadable MIDI files and more
About the Chord Progressions
| Section | Progression | Songs with this progression |
|---|---|---|
| Intro |
I
IV6
♭vi7add6
V7sus4
♭V
vi
ii7
|
No other theorytabs with this progression |
| Pre-Chorus |
I
V7add4/V
ii
I64
V7
I7
IV7
|
|
| Chorus |
Iadd4
IV65
|
|
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
80
Measures how diverse and sophisticated the chord vocabulary is in this song.
Percentile: 80/100 — above average
Melodic Complexity
0
Measures the range, intervallic variety, and rhythmic complexity of the melody.
Percentile: 0/100 — below average
Chord-Melody Tension
0
Measures how much the melody notes clash or harmonize with the underlying chords.
Percentile: 0/100 — below average
Chord Prog. Novelty
91
Measures how unusual or unexpected the chord progressions are compared to common patterns.
Percentile: 91/100 — above average
Chord-Bass Melody
72
Measures the melodic movement of the bass notes across chord changes.
Percentile: 72/100 — above average
Song Data
Metrics Radar Chart
UndertowAverage Song
BPM Comparison
Melody Distribution
Melody distribution data is not available for this song.
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.
