Love Song by Sara Bareilles

There are 5 parts in this song.

First, the intro, which is the same as the verse, is made up of the following progression:

IIm –> (I/3) –> (V) –> VIm –> (V/7) –> I –> (VI/M)

The chords in brackets ( ) are transition chords, i.e., they are very short. In this case, they appear on the 4th beat of a bar. For example, Chord IIm is played 3 times, then Chord I/3 is played once (together they make up 4 counts of a bar), before move on to Chord IV (the next bar).

An important thing you should take note of in the above progression is the way that the bass notes progress, i.e., they go like this…

2 –> (3) –> 4 –> (5) –> 6 –> (7) –> 1 –> (1#)

The above chord progression repeats itself until the song reaches the pre-chorus which goes like this:

IIm –> I/3 –> IV –> V

Then the chorus goes like this:

IIm –> V –> IIIm –> IV

The pattern repeats itself throughout the chorus until the last line. The ending goes like this…

IIm –> I/3 –> VIm –> II/M –> IV –> V

There is also a bridge that goes like this…

VIm –> IIIm –> IV –> V

Th progression for the bridge repeats until the song returns to the chorus.

This song is in the key of F. So, the 5 different types of chord progressions above are translated as the following:

Intro/Verse: Gm –> (F/A) –> Bb –> (C) –> Dm –> (C/E) –> F –> (D/F#)

Pre-chorus: Gm –> F/A –> Bb –> C

Chorus: Gm –> C –> Am –> Bb

Ending: Gm –> F/A –> Dm –> G/B –> Bb –> C

Bridge: Dm –> Am –> Bb –> C

Take note of the way the bass notes move, especially in the intro/verse and pre-chorus. Can you see a clear pattern there?

I have said earlier that when II, III and V major chords appear in a song, they often do so with their ‘M basses’. For this song, D/F# is the VI major chord with its M bass (F# being the middle note of the D major triad), and G/B is the II major chord with its M bass (B being the middle note of the G major triad).

Here is the illustration on video…

Notice that my right hand doesn’t need to move much. That’s the beauty of improvising the 3 minor chords using the 3 basic chords!

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