TIMEOUT: Four Chord Songs Galore

today's celebration of saint ignatius day (which we fondly call "iggy day") here in san jose seminary features three activities: a visit to the elderly jesuits in j.m. lucas infirmary and jesuit residence inside the ateneo in the morning, a visit to the sacred heart novitiate (the formation house of the society of jesus) in novaliches until a little past noon time featuring a remembrance of deceased jesuits who were part of san jose in the shn cemetery, and the saint ignatius mass and mini-alumni homecoming of josefinos and jesuits who once walked the famed portals of san jose seminary in the evening. for tonight's program, the community decided to have an acoustic night, featuring presentations from the various bec pairs. (that was a rather long and wordy introductory sentence, but anyway...)

our bec pair has decided to play something usually heard from the jologs radio stations in the metro. but, if i'll be given a chance to play something, i would like to strum to the tune of a four chord song.

well, what is a four chord song?

for those who are not very observant with music, there's a common pattern to most pop songs belted from live concerts to five-peso videoke machines. using the words of a music-comedy group axis of awesome, "the greatest hits for the past forty years just used four chords." watching these videos and paying attention to the songs would surely shed light to this already-known phenomenon:



listening to the song closely, the mash-up uses the chord pattern E-B-C#m-A. i'm trying to recall what i learned from my music class way back in the minor seminary on what such chord pattern or progression is called. well, here's another one from one of my favorite mash-up artists, norwegian recycling, entitled "when six songs collide":



using the same B-F#-G#m-E pattern, our faculty batch in xavier school covered this mash-up, adding one more song, thus the title "when seven songs collide."



i tried other mash-ups using four chords, like "crazy for my birdie again" (A-E-F#m-D) and "wherever superman is loved" (D-A-B#m-G), and for sure there's a gazillion of songs written and yet to be written using just for chords.

and i guess that's where the beauty of music lies - in its ability to communicate a message, even in just using four chords.