Comments on: Perspectives on “Livin’ on a Prayer,” Music Theory Edition [Think Tank]

By: four-thirty-three » Blog Archive » new fave blogs

four-thirty-three » Blog Archive » new fave blogs — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 22:57:39 +0000

[...] Imaginary) Ghostbusters (which analyzes the film in terms of Lacan’s notions of the Real), Bon Jovi: Livin’ on a Prayer and Music Theory, and I Will Always Have Been Back: Toward a Grand Unified Theory of [...]

By: russruss

russruss — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 07:29:13 +0000

To my ears, there is absolutely no question that the verse is in e minor. The VI-VII-i is *such* a common motif in 80′s era rock that it’s hard to really make a case that any other key is the tonal center, especially when you consider that the bass plays a pedal on e even during the other chords.

The pre-chorus has the same progression as the verse, although to my ears it kind of already hints at a Gmaj tonality – especially the little bass flourish at the end of it (C-G-A-C) followed by the D chord, which by that point sounds very dominant to me.

Chorus seems pretty typical for G major.

As for the modulation, I’m going to actually make the case for the tritone modulation. In the second pre-chorus we’re coming from a Gmaj solo, but I think e tonality is quickly established by good ol’ VI-VII-i. Then the bass skips the G-affirming flourish I mentioned (perhaps to intentionally remain in e), instead jamming on C, then D, then, surprise! First, g, sort of a pivot chord with a mode change, then before we know what’s what we’ve gone all vi-IV-V-doo-woppy-wop in the tritone. I disagree with piano dan about the lack of a g minor chord – it’s definitely there in the guitar.

This sort of super-brash tritone modulation isn’t without precedent in 80′s rawk – check out the top gun anthem for a much more bold example.

By: Pianodan

Pianodan — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 05:02:55 +0000

Oops. In my previous comment, I of course meant to say the song isn’t playing a gm chord followed by an EbM chord.

By: Pianodan

Pianodan — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 04:58:28 +0000

Further nerdery; on the first measure of the key change, the song isn’t really playing a G chord followed by an Eb chord. If you listen to the original, the bass is just arpeggiating an Eb major chord, which is just plain old IV.

By: Pianodan

Pianodan — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 04:51:01 +0000

Honestly, I’ve never heard that as anything but an abrupt modulation. I don’t know that there’s really a lot of preparation implied by that D major chord, and I certainly don’t hear the new key as g minor.

By: Marc Desbiens

Marc Desbiens — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 23:27:14 +0000

Definitely over-thinking it.

Jon: “Hey guys, you know how lots of great songs repeat the chorus at the end of the song an extra time, but a bit higher than before? We should totally do that with this song!!!”

Richie: “Sure, we could do that. We just have to figure out a way to make it sound like it fits nicely. We’ll definitely need a way to transition to the higher chorus that isn’t jarring to the listener.”

Jon: “Get to it, old bean! Remember, a chorus repeated just a little bit higher equals MORE FEELING!!!”