Chords for Way Back Into Love

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Heya..

By my reckoning it's:

Verse:

Bb Gm Bb Gm

Eb F Eb F

Chorus: Bb Gm Eb F Bb x 2

Bridge:

Bb F F7 Eb Bb

Pretty basic cause I still don't really have a good grasp of the different types of chords, but I guess it'll get you started.

have fun!
 
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Almost dere oredi.. Some minor tings I heard differently tho..

Verse:

Bb Gm Bb Gm
Eb Cm Eb Cm (I tink its actually Cm played on Eb)

Chorus: Bb Gm Eb Bb Bb x 2

Bridge: (is it de and if i open my heart to you at 3:25)
F Gm Cm F

after tt de chord progression goes back to de first 2 lines.
 
Sorry, can't help! Not in Singapore, and the internet isn't exactly fast here. Youtube not working well here...
 
OK. Finally able to access youtube!

Key Bb.

Let's take this as a lesson on finding chords. The key is secondary. Use relative chords to try to determine the chords. If you remember theory (chord progressions), certain chords progress to certain chords. Also remember your cadences. Certain chords like ii or IV usually progress to a V. V usually go to a I or vi. VI can also go to a I (plagal cadence). I can also go to a vi, and vi is usually followed by ii or IV. Remember capital Roman numerals means major chords and small Roman numerals means minor.

OK. That's almost the entire song! First, figure out the simple base chords. It goes like this:

(I vi) (I vi)
(ii V) (ii V)
(repeat)

Chorus
(I vi IV I)
(I vi IV I)
V - - - I

Once you get this, you're almost there and you can play in any key. Notice the chord progression patterns. There are nothing new basically almost "expected". That means when you hear a ii chord, expect and (and anticipate) the next chord is likely to be a V (for example). When you hear a V chord, 90% of the time the next chord is a I or vi (for example), so anticipate that. That will make figuring chords faster. I've put in brackets to show that it's basically a repetition of chord progressions.

Next, after you get the basic chords, you can figure out the slightly more complex ones.

If you listen carefully, the second chord doesn't sound like a straight-forward vi chord (or Gm if you deal with the actual key). It sounds "richer". When you hear something like this, it means that it's usually a 7th, 9th, 13th, a sus etc or something that's added in. You just have go figure out which one. You can either go by: 1. trial; and error (play 7th, 9th and 13th etc and see which fits), or you can use your ear to try to figure out, listening to clues. In this case, you'll hear that the highest note played by the piano in the first chord is the 5th note of chord I (ie F). If you listen to the second chord progression, the highest note did not change - it's the exact same note. That's your clue. 5th note of chord I is naturally the 7th note of chord vi (ie the first chord is Bb, highest note F; second chord Gm + highest note F, or Gm7).

OK. Use this and try to figure out the rest of the song and post it. I'll not give any more clues. For the experts and perfect pitchers, lets not give the game away and let the others try first.

There's also a bridge, which is easy to figure out.
 
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I already gave the basic chords to the song (above). That was the easy part. The next is the detailed chords which, for those who are not used to it, will take slightly more effort. For this song, most chords are simple chords (not many 7th and 9ths etc). So it's a good piece to learn figuring out chords.
 
Lemme try....

The verse goes...

Bb-------------------Gm7
I've been living with a shadow overhead
Bb-------------------Gm9 (with "a" being the top note?)
I've been living with a cloud above my bed
Cm-------------------F
I've been lonely for so long
Cm-----------------------F something (with f+a+c+d as "d" is top note)
Trapped in the past, I just can't seem to move on

(repeat)

Bb---------Gm9-------Ebmaj7-------Bb
All I wanna do is find a way back into love
Bb------------Gm9--------------Ebmaj7-------Bb
I can't make it through without a way back into love
F------Bb
Oh Oh Oh...

Did I get the idea right?

or you can use your ear to try to figure out, listening to clues. In this case, you'll hear that the highest note played by the piano in the first chord is the 5th note of chord I (ie F). If you listen to the second chord progression, the highest note did not change - it's the exact same note. That's your clue. 5th note of chord I is naturally the 7th note of chord vi (ie the first chord is Bb, highest note F; second chord Gm + highest note F, or Gm7).
 
Well done. Very close. If you play this and sing it, it will be close to the actual chords and the slight differences wouldn't matter much.

A few things:

You wrote down Gm9 and said that the highest note is an A. Actually, don't worry about the highest note in this case. I think you mean the highest note sang, not played. Technically you are correct. But they didn't actually play it. But no one will fault you on that.

Other small things - check the Cm and F following that on the 3rd line. They are the correct basic chords, but more than that.

Try not to focus on the melody. There are too many passing notes etc. Just focus on the chords. Don't try to use the melody to figure out the chords as it will take a long time. When finding chords, you want to do it fast. That's because most of the time, we don't play the melody line. We accompany the singer.

However, if you want to play the melody line on your piano/keybooard, then you can trascribe note by note. Helps to train your ear. I use to learn by transcribing entire scores with at least 20 instruments. Took me weeks to get one song done. Lots of fun. One of the earlier ones I did was the 1988 Seoul Olympics orchestra piece. That was really fun.

That brings us to the next step in ear training.

First, train your ear to be able to pick up chords (which you did). Train by recognising how a chord sounds like, not note by note and then build a chord from the notes you figured out. That means: when you hear a chord, you should be able to tell that it's a G (for example, after given a cue from the root chord), instead of figuring out the notes G, B, D, then realise it is a G chord.

Next step is to train getting notes. This will mean transcribing. And the best way to do it is to sequence the song. Take this song for example that you posted. Figure out the bass line, the piano line, the guitar, the strings, and finally the drums with the tamborines. You'll find, for example, that the strings part is really soft and difficult to figure out. This will train your ear to focus on a particular part of music no matter how hidden it is. I used to do that with a tape player (Walkman) - play, stop, rewind, stop, play, stop, rewind, stop, play etc. After you figured out, sequence the piece. And see how close you are when compared to the actual song.

That's how I did my own ear training in my younger days...did songs from TV, worship songs for church, movies, jazz etc, whatever I can get hold of. Then sequenced them and record them to tape. I think I still have that tape somewhere collecting dust. Fun to listen to AxelF, St Elmo's Fire, Night Birds from Shakatak etc again. After listening to them so many years later, I realised I could have done it differently for some of them. But it's all part of the learning experience. The journey is more important than the destination.
 
Oh, one more thing. When figuring the chords, you should be writing Roman numerals instead of the actual chords. You actually learn different things. If you figure the actual chords straight away, you are training your ear to figure out chords. If you figure out the Roman numerals, you are training both your ear to pick up chords and also learn how people write songs and how chords progress.
 
wooohoooo.....that's great! Thanks for the lesson!~

I didn't really catch what you mean when you were describing how to figure out the chords. I thought it was catching the melody on the starting of the chords. That's why I did it that way.

And yes I listened to the notes sang instead of the notes played. Now I realised that you meant listen to the notes played. I think I have never tried to figure out chords with the music and singing. I always do it by remembering songs and figure it out while singing as I play the chords. So, when I want to figure out the chords of a song, I should listen to what was played rather than what was sang?

Figuring out the chords with the electric guitar is also tricky. I find it distracting....perhaps I am not used to the sound....

Its a good idea to try to listen to the different instruments! I think it might be fun for me!! What is involve in sequencing?
 
Sequencing is basically programming the music with your sequencer (in the form of software or built-in with your keyboard). You set up the tracks according to the number of instruments you want - one track for one instrument. Then you "record" each instrument track by track. Playback everything and you get a song.
 
Sounds cool....

But I think it'll kill me. lol....probably take the next 2 years for that song.
 
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