
Sometimes all you need is a IVmaj7 chord to make everything feel more melancholic. The IV chord is already fairly dark sounding, but when the maj7 is added to it, it makes the chord feel even sadder and more despondent. The IVmaj7 is one of the most sad chords in music. This progression makes use of that tension very well, and compounds it with the instability of the V chord to make something that’s incredibly useful for sad songs. It is very close to the major I chord, but the slight distance away makes it sound very dark and tense. The ii chord is one of the most sad and despondent chords in music, when used in a specific way. The Maj7 chord in the IV also adds a lot of melancholic emotion to the songs. This chord progression is technically all major chords, but moving the second I chord into the first inversion over the iii in the bass gives it a very dark and sad feeling. All of these chords sound fairly unstable, and when resting on the V chord, there can be a lot of tension and unresolved emotion buildup. This is a very common chord progression that carries a lot of darkness with it. While there are countless ways to make a chord progression sad, here are a few progressions that have been proven to be successful. Experiment with seventh chords as much as you can, and you’ll likely find some beautiful new ways to express preexisting chord progressions you already know very well. These are also very “jazzy” sounding chords, and can bring a lot of color to the table when creating new songs. These add another note to the chord that will generally make it much more sad sounding, and gives the chord a much more wistful and “sighing” feeling. Of course, not every chord in a song has to be minor, but it’s generally best to make sure the minor parts of a song are the most emphasized.Īnother way to make a chord progression sad is to make use of seventh chords. These chords often can heavily contribute to the overall feeling that you are trying to relay to the listener. Minor chords in general are also incredibly useful when trying to make songs that sound and feel darker and more sad. These chord progressions are often intent on creating that sort of “twinge” in your chest when experiencing sadness, and chords with a lot of tension in them help to do that.

One of the most important things to focus on when composing a sad song is how you use chords that are minor and/or have a lot of tension in them. For the sake of clarity, many composers just refer to chords as their major names, since these names are generally interchangeable in most cases. If the root chord of the key is the submediant chord, then the song will subjectively be minor. The only difference depends on where the songwriter wants the root of the key to be. Technically speaking, major and minor keys are fundamentally the same thing, with all of the chords technically being the same. This isn’t always the case, but when a song is based on chords that are darker, it can make everything around it feel a lot darker. Generally speaking, major keys feel a lot brighter and happier, while minor keys feel darker, sadder, and more pessimistic.

#MAROON 5 SAD PIANO CHORDS HOW TO#
To understand how to make chord progressions sad, it’s first important to understand the concept of major and minor keys. Here are some ways to truly make the songs that you want to make, and fully express yourself in the way that you want to. If you can get the chord progression just right, almost everything else will likely be able to fall into place pretty easily.


These chords are what make up the bed for every other aspect of the song, including the melody, lyrics, rhythm, and countless other elements. One of the best ways to create a song that is truly sad is to focus on the chord progression. But a sad song that can truly capture the sadness that someone feels is something to behold and look up to. It can take a lot of work to do, and be incredibly mentally and emotionally exhausting. While this might initially seem like a pretty dramatic and lofty goal, creating songs that truly express the emotions and feelings behind the original intent of the song is something that is genuinely beautiful. Music helps people to identify with their emotions, and truly feel them to their fullest potential, whether they’re happy, sad, or somewhere in between.ĭue to this, there are countless songwriters who put as much effort into making their songs sound as sad as possible. It constantly finds ways to work into the listener’s heart, and pull out feelings that they are feeling, but don’t really understand. Music is one of the most emotional and relatable art forms.
