Lecture 8. Bass Patterns: Blues and Rock

Listening to Music (MUSI 112)

In this lecture, Professor Wright teaches students how to listen for bass patterns in order to understand harmonic progressions. He talks through numerous musical examples from both popular music and classical music, showing the way that composers from both realms draw on the same chord progressions. The musical examples are taken from Mozart, Beethoven, Rossini, Wagner, Gene Chandler, the Beach Boys, Badly Drawn Boy, the Dave Matthews Band, and Justin Timberlake.

00:00 – Chapter 1. Review of Chord Formation
06:44 – Chapter 2. Chord Progressions and Harmonic Change
18:21 – Chapter 3. Popular and Classical Music Chord Progressions
31:12 – Chapter 4. Three-Chord Progressions
37:46 – Chapter 5. Four-Chord Progressions

This course was recorded in Fall 2008.