Angels We Have Heard on High – Intro
Angels We Have Heard on High – Verse and Pre-Chorus
Angels We Have Heard on High – Chorus
Angels We Have Heard on High – Solo 1
Angels We Have Heard on High – Solo 2
Angels We Have Heard on High – Outro
Related Music Concepts
Inverted Chords
Using a different bass note to change a chord's sound
Extended Chords
Stacking thirds beyond the 7th to create more complex sounds
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
Augmented Chords
A chord with a raised fifth that creates a bright, unresolved tension
Diminished Chords
A chord built from stacked minor thirds — dark and unstable
Bassline Motion
How much the bass moves stepwise between chord roots
Secondary Chords
Chords that temporarily shift the harmonic center
Chord Progression Novelty
How unusual the chord sequence is compared to other songs
Half-Diminished Chords
A diminished triad with a minor seventh on top — softer than fully diminished
Song Stats
●
Key
F Major
Tempo
58 BPM
Meter
4/4
Genre
Holiday, Vocal
Melody Range
F4 – D5
Mood
Complex, Unexpected, Mellow, Bright
Most Used Chord
I
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
15
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
48
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.
Song Stats
●
Key
F Major
Tempo
68 BPM
Meter
4/4
Genre
Holiday, Vocal
Melody Range
C4 – D5
Mood
Complex, Unexpected, Mellow, Bright
Most Used Chord
I
Chord Complexity
83
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
29
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
40
Chord-Melody Tension: Quantifies how often melody notes fall outside the current chord, producing dissonance that creates a sense of instability.
Chord Prog. Novelty
89
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
68 BPM
Meter
4/4
Genre
Holiday, Vocal
Melody Range
D#4 – D5
Mood
Tense, Complex, Unexpected, Mellow, Bright
Most Used Chord
i(add6)(no3)
Chord Complexity
100
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
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
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
E♭ Major
Tempo
68 BPM
Meter
4/4
Genre
Holiday, Vocal
Melody Range
D4 – C5
Mood
Unexpected, Mellow, Bright
Most Used Chord
V
Chord Complexity
69
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
30
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
26
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
67 BPM
Meter
4/4
Genre
Holiday, Vocal
Melody Range
C4 – A4
Mood
Smooth, Complex, Unexpected, Mellow, Bright
Most Used Chord
I
Chord Complexity
72
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
15
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
15
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
C Major
Tempo
67 BPM
Meter
4/4
Genre
Holiday, Vocal
Melody Range
E4 – E5
Mood
Smooth, Complex, Unexpected, Mellow, Bright
Most Used Chord
iio
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
75
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
14
Chord-Melody Tension: Quantifies how often melody notes fall outside the current chord, producing dissonance that creates a sense of instability.
Chord Prog. Novelty
83
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
58 BPM
Meter
4/4
Genre
Holiday, Vocal
Melody Range
C4 – E5
Mood
Complex, Unexpected, Mellow, Bright
Most Used Chord
I
Chord Complexity
94
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
55
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 Angels We Have Heard on High
About the Key
F Major
It is the 6th most popular key among Major keys and the 7th 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 (F Major, B♭ Major, and C Major).
F Major Cheat Sheet
Popular chords, progressions, downloadable MIDI files and more
About the Chord Progressions
| Section | Progression | Songs with this progression |
|---|---|---|
| Intro |
I
iii7
IV9
Vadd9
I65
vi9
v7(mix)
|
No other theorytabs with this progression |
| Verse and Pre-Chorus |
I
iii7
I6
IV
ii6
Vsus2
I
|
No other theorytabs with this progression |
| Chorus |
v9(mix)
vi6add9
♭IV9
♭I42add6
♭vii°add9
Iadd9
♭IVadd9
|
No other theorytabs with this progression |
| Solo 1 |
V7sus2sus4
I
vi6
I9
IV64
I7
vi6
|
|
| Solo 2 |
Iadd9
IV6add9
ii64add4
Iadd9
vi65
Iadd9
IV6
|
No other theorytabs with this progression |
| Outro |
I64
IV6
I64
♭ii43
I64
vi7
I64
|
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.
C4 – E5
Melody range across 16 semitones
0.59 beats/note
Across 190.8 beats of melody
Stepwise Motion
Jumpiness
Repeaty
98%
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
94
Measures how diverse and sophisticated the chord vocabulary is in this song.
Percentile: 94/100 — above average
Melodic Complexity
55
Measures the range, intervallic variety, and rhythmic complexity of the melody.
Percentile: 55/100 — 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
80
Measures the melodic movement of the bass notes across chord changes.
Percentile: 80/100 — above average
Song Data
Metrics Radar Chart
Angels We Have Heard on HighAverage 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.
