Songs that use Pedal Chords

Added: 2026-05-04

[00:00:00]This video is sponsored by Spitfire Audio.

[00:00:03]This is the intro [music] of Can't Stop the Feeling by Justin Timberlake.

[00:00:08]As you may notice, [music] although the left hand is moving around playing different bass notes, [music] the right hand is just playing the same chord. It's just going >> [music] >> like that.

[00:00:21]Just playing the same version of a C major chord. That's just a C major triad, second inversion, but then underneath the bass is moving and that's effectively giving [music] us three different chords.

[00:00:32]>> [singing] >> This is an example of what I would call a pedal [music] chord. We're pedaling this chord. It's the opposite of what's called pedal point or a pedal tone, something I've talked about in a previous video. A pedal point or pedal tone is when the left hand stays still and the right hand changes around [music] different chords.

[00:00:57]>> [music] >> That's pedal point. That's a far more common technique where the left hand is just >> [music] >> continuously playing the same note.

[00:01:06]Well, what I'm talking about today is effectively the opposite of that. It's [music] where the chord is staying the same, but the left hand, the bass, is changing.

[00:01:15]>> [music] >> And of course this applies to more than just piano left hand, right hand. It applies to guitar. It applies to wider sort of orchestral [music] arrangements and we'll talk about all of that today.

[00:01:26]But let's look at some more examples [music] of this happening on the piano.

[00:01:30]For example, if I take an A minor chord and just keep playing it in the right hand and then descend [music] like this in the left hand, that is the piano part that Paul McCartney plays [music] on While My Guitar Gently Weeps by The Beatles.

[00:01:50]>> [music] [singing] [music] >> The chords of this section, A minor, A minor 7 [music] over G, F sharp minor 7 flat 5, F major 7, are all effectively just an A minor triad with a descending bassline.

[00:02:11]>> [music] >> So, as I mentioned before, this concept of having a pedal chord, a chord that stays consistent up above while something changes [music] below is not exclusive [music] to the piano.

[00:02:28]In the chorus of Eleanor Rigby, the violins are playing this E minor triad, E, G, and B, >> [music] >> playing in this staccato fashion. And below this static chord, the cellos are moving down >> [music] >> these notes here, starting on D and going down to C sharp, [music] C, and B.

[00:02:56]>> [music] [singing] [music] >> So, that's adding not only a kind of glue, but a tension as well, right? That it's almost becoming a bit, you know, a bit over the top, a bit much that this keeps [music] happening. This chord keeps happening. It's sort of sort of building pressure. But the left hand keeps [music] recontextualizing that chord, giving us a different angle on it and effectively changing [music] what the overall harmony is. Here we have E minor 7 over D. Here we have C sharp minor 7 flat 5.

[00:03:37]Then we have a C major 7 effectively, cuz if that C was up here, it's a C major 7 chord, [music] right?

[00:03:43]It's just split across the octave. And then down to the B, which creates a second inversion E minor chord. [music] But that's kind of over analyzing in a way, right? Cuz it is just E minor with D, E minor with C sharp, E minor with C, E minor with B. And you could write it that way. You could do E minor {slash} D, E minor {slash} C sharp, E minor {slash} C, [music] E minor {slash} B.

[00:04:09]That could be described as an example of a line cliché. It's not the strictest example of a line cliché, but it technically falls within within the definition, which is a static chord [music] with a bassline below that moves by semitone. [music] So, it moves literally to the nearest note we have.

[00:04:31]But a more typical line cliché would have the bassline start on the tonic chord like this.

[00:04:37]>> [music] >> The classic descending line cliché [music] is a perfect example of this pedal chord idea where you have a consistent chord in the right hand or upper registers of the music and then a descending bassline down below.

[00:04:58]>> [music] >> My Funny Valentine is a classic example of a line cliché. Another line cliché we can see that is actually the exact same chord progression that was used in Eleanor Rigby, just in the key of G minor rather than E minor, is in the intro of Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word by Elton John. Once again, we have that static minor triad, a G minor chord here with a moving bassline down below.

[00:05:27]>> [music] >> Now, I've already got a whole video on line clichés, so do check that out for more examples. I've linked it down below in the description. Now, although on piano it's easier to visualize the pedal chord because you have the pedal chord in your right hand and the changing bass in your left hand, this is still applicable to the guitar. For example, >> [music] >> with the chords from Wonderwall, above all of these chords, [music] we have the same two notes pedaling across. Now, that's technically just two notes, so I guess not a chord. But there is actually another Oasis song that does make use of a full chord where the chord is sustained while the bassline changes below and it's this song.

[00:06:12]>> [music] [music] [music] [music] >> The Masterplan by Oasis is using this A minor >> [music] >> add 9 shape where we've got an A minor chord and then with the open B string that gives us the ninth.

[00:06:52]And then this string here, the D string, is just going down >> [music] >> semitones.

[00:07:01]>> [music] >> And eventually we get a leap down to the open D string, >> [music] >> but still with that open shape above and eventually resolves to a regular A [music] minor. So, what we've got here is basically this as our pedal chord, the combination of the notes C, B, and E, which is quite a clustery [music] sound, right? The C and the B are only semitone apart, so that's quite a tense sound.

[00:07:27]>> [music] >> And once again, this is not only an example of what I would call a pedal chord, but it's also a line cliché, right? Cuz we have our pedal chord up above, this clustery thing, >> [music] >> and then below we have this bassline moving [music] by semitone, which is the definition of a line cliché, right?

[00:07:48]And then the line cliché technically breaks when we go to the open D. [music] We still have that same pedal chord up above.

[00:07:56]I've done a similar thing actually in one of my songs, Full Moon, where I start with this D shape >> [music] >> and the two highest notes of the D shape are going to stay completely consistent across the entire song. We're going to have D, then A, [music] B, F sharp, E, [clears throat] >> [music] >> and G. Those are our bass notes below, but above all of that, we've always had those two notes from the D [music] triad shape.

[00:08:30]>> [singing] [music] [singing] [music] [singing] >> Now, pedal chord is a term I've basically come up with. The more technical name for what we're talking about today is inverted pedal tones or actually double or triple inverted pedal tones. A pedal tone, as I mentioned at the beginning, is when we have a sustained note in the lower registers, in the bass registers, while things move above. An inverted pedal point or pedal tone is when that instead happens in the higher registers instead of the lower registers. And if we wanted it to be two notes, it's double. If you wanted it to be three notes, it's triple. So, the technical term for a chord up here while its notes move down below is a triple inverted pedal point. Now, if you want to find out more about usual pedal points, about pedal tones, where they're used, and why they're called that, then check out my previous video all about that. It's linked down below.

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[00:11:11]Are you going to pull it apart?

[00:11:15]Find what you will.

[00:11:18]>> [music] >> Nobody knows. [singing] Give it just a moment, all accountability goes. [singing and music]