Buddy Holly ... was opening up new worlds there ... I no longer had the fear of changing from A to F.
George Harrison[1]
Use the flat six chord in a major key song. This works particularly well at the end of a sequence where you can delay (or completely derail) the expected resolution of landing on the I (tonic) by substituting the bVI instead. For example in the key of A major replace the final A major chord with an F major. As heard in:
I Saw Her Standing There, With a Little Help From My Friends and Suffragette City (David Bowie).
One Minute Theory Lesson
Here are some of the most common chords in the key of A major:
A Bm C#m D E F#m
I ii iii IV V vi
Here are some of the most common chords in the key of A minor:
Am C Dm Em F G
i bIII iv v bVI bVII i
A major and A minor are parallel keys. If you are in the key of A major, ‘borrowing’ a chord from the parallel minor key creates a refreshing twist. Substituting the sixth chord from the minor scale (actually called a “bVI”) works because both chords contain the root note of the scale - A.
F#m (vi) - contains - F# - A - C#
F major (bVI) - contains - F - A - C
This common note makes the bVI ideal for replacing the root chord (I) at the end of a chord progression because melodies often resolve back to a tonic note over the final tonic chord.
A melody note over A major chord (A - C# - E)
A melody note over F major chord (F - A - C)
You can find the bVI chord by moving the sixth note of the major scale down one fret and changing the chord from minor to major.
E.g. F#m (vi) becomes F major (bVI).
Bm (vi) becomes Bb major (bVI).
Em (vi) becomes Eb major (bVI).
Am (vi) becomes Ab major (bVI).
Cm (vi) becomes B major (bVI).
The bVI as a substitute chord is often paired with bVII, another chord borrowed from the parallel minor key. A typical chord progression in the key of A might look like this (borrowed chords in bold):
A D E F G A
I IV V bVI bVII I
In progressions like these the bVII substitution functions as a ‘passing chord’ leading you smoothly back to the root chord.
Beatles Application
Though borrowing a bVI chord is a sophisticated move, it was used by some of the Beatles early rock ‘n’ roll influences.[2] Buddy Holly displayed it prominently it in the bridge of his 1957 hit Peggy Sue [0:49]. Two years later he used the same trick, same key, same section, in Peggy Sue Got Married [0:33, 0:40]. These records had a formative effect on George Harrison. But Carl Perkins also used the same substitution, a year before Holly, in the verse of Honey Don't [0:10, 0:15] which the Beatles covered in 1964[3] and, more importantly; appropriated lock, stock and barrel in the verse of their 1963 track It Won't Be Long [0:16, 0:22], copying both the key (E) and setting (a verse that rocks between the I and bVI). They gave the chord pride of place in I Saw Her Standing There - underneath the explosive “wooo!” part of the refrain [0:24] - and used it again and again; in Hello Goodbye [0:27], I Will [1:24], Honey Pie [0:42, 0:51] and Oh Darling [1:12, 1:35].
The fanfare like passage that opens and closes With a Little Help From My Friends [0:00, 2:34] combines the bVI with the bVII.[4] This signature move, the epitome of ‘Beatlesque’, was pioneered on their first single P.S. I Love You[5] [0:25] but this moment is so iconic that it indelibly linked the name ‘Bill-lee Shears!’ with the bVI - bVII - I change. Lennon and McCartney employed it, at the end of verses, in songs like Lady Madonna [0:06] and Polythene Pam [0:14, 0:17][6] and continued to use it after the split: John on 1970’s Instant Karma [0:18] and Paul a year later on Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey [2:42].
Featured Artists: Bowie, Boo and the Long and Winding Rhoads
You can hear the bVI employed in two classic songs that revisit, or reimagine, the roots of rock ‘n’ roll. Queen’s 1979 hit Crazy Little Thing Called Love was an unashamed retro throwback to rock and roll from its walking bassline to its slapback echo - but it’s use of out of key chords like the bVI [0:49, 1:20] and Billy Shears progression [0:19] went beyond Buddy’s experiments. David Bowie’s Suffragette City channels the swagger of Gene Vincent or Eddie Cochran but with more distortion and chords; using both the bVI [0:12, 0:41] and bVI bVII combo [0:16, 0:23] as does Star [1:11], another track on the Ziggy Stardust LP.
Numerous musicians have used the Billy Shears progression to end a song (or section) from Yorkshire chanson Jake Thackray on Sister Josephine [3:11] to Seattle’s funny grungesters the Presidents of the United States of America on Dune Buggy [2:14, 2:35]. Many reveal their Beatles debt by stacking backing vocals on the final chords in a way they haven’t really employed in the rest of the song, David Bazan’s Selling Advertising [2:48][7] and They Might Be Giants’ self-titled 1990 song [1:05] being prime examples. On the other hand Merseyside band The Boo Radleys crown the coda of Wake Up Boo with a bass arpeggio lifted straight from I Saw Her Standing There [3:31] whilst Tears For Fears combine Everybody Loves A Happy Ending’s ending [4:07] with a Beatles’ approved head-shaking “woo!”
Once an idea becomes part of the shared vocabulary artists will try to extend or create variations on it. Tears For Fears took Billy even further on Who Killed Tangerine, extending bVI - bVII - I to bVI - bVII - bVI - bVII - I [4:12]. Electric Light Orchestra’s transcendent Mr Blue Sky appears to be finishing prematurely half way through the song’s run time [2:50] but instead of using the bVI bVII to lead us home to the I chord Jeff Lynne surprises us by cycling back to the chorus’ vi chord (IV, V, bVI bVII vi). But Nashville songwriter k.s. Rhoads stretched Billy almost to breaking point in the final chorus of If You Want Love [4:14]. He uses Gb and Ab to lead back (we think) to Bb major. But at the last moment he changes key, replacing the expected Bb with a completely unexpected A major chord. But this is not the root chord of a new key. It’s the bVI of another Billy sequence leading to C# major. But we don’t arrive at that destination either. He pulls the same trick four times taking us through the keys of Bb, C# and E before finally, finally arriving at our new home - G major. What a trip.
Reader Application
The simplest way to add in the bVI is to use it as a straight substitute for the root chord because the most common final melody note (the tonic) is in the I chord and the bVI. Substituting the bVI for the IV chord also works for similar reasons. So write a normal chord progression then try swapping out either the tonic or the IV chord for the bVI. And if the next chord is the tonic you can insert a bVI - bVII - I.
Extended Playlist: Flat Six Only
1923 Way Down Yonder In New Orleans - Blossom Seeley [004, 1:08]
1956 Honey Don't - Carl Perkins [0:10, 0:15]
1957 Peggy Sue - Buddy Holly [0:49]
1959 Peggy Sue Got Married - Buddy Holly [0:33, 0:40]
1963 I Saw Her Standing There - The Beatles [0:24]
1963 It Won't Be Long - The Beatles [0:16, 0:22]
1963 Till There Was You - The Beatles [2:03]
1963 It's My Party - Lesley Gore [0:23]
1963 Glad All Over - The Dave Clark Five [1:02, 1:55]
1964 Honey Don't – The Beatles [0:10, 0:15]
1966 Some Other Drum – The Music Machine [0:16]
1967 Hello Goodbye – The Beatles [0:27]
1967 What a Wonderful World – Louis Armstrong [0:21]
1967 Itchycoo Park – Small Faces [0:11, 0:24]
1968 I Will - The Beatles [1:24]
1968 Honey Pie – The Beatles [0:42, 0:51]
1969 Oh Darling - The Beatles [1:12, 1:35]
1972 Suffragette City - David Bowie [0:12, 0:41]
1973 Sail On Sailor – Beach Boys [0:20]
1977 Lovely Day – Bill Withers [0:28, 0:37, 1:06, 1:16]
1978 Across the Border - Electric Light Orchestra [1:12]
1978 Birmingham Blues - Electric Light Orchestra [1:00]
1979 Crazy Little Thing Called Love - Queen [0:49, 1:20]
1982 Shipbuilding - Robert Wyatt [0:24, 1:36]
1983 The Sun and the Rain – Madness [0:18, 3:20]
1984 Wings of a Dove – Madness [0:58]
1984 Michael Caine – Madness [0:04]
1989 Sowing the Seeds of Love - Tears For Fears [0:43]
1999 Just Looking - Stereophonics [0:46, 1:16]
1996 Clowntime is Over - Elvis Costello and the Attractions [0:13, 0:34, 1:03]
2001 Carrying Cathy – Ben Folds [0:15, 0:29, 0:42]
2006 Selling Advertising – David Bazan [1:58]
2009 Talkin' Like You (Two Tall Trees) - Connie Converse [0:07]
2014 Miracle – Kimbra [0:16, 0:44]
2017 Remember Me (Reunion) (from Coco)- Anthony Gonzalez & Ana Ofelia Murguía [0:53]
Extended Playlist: The Billy Shears Progression
1963 P.S. I Love You - The Beatles [0:25]
1967 With A Little Help from My Friends - The Beatles [0:00, 2:34]
1968 Lady Madonna – The Beatles [0:06]
1969 Polythene Pam - The Beatles [0:14, 0:17]
1970 Instant Karma – Lennon/Ono with the Plastic Ono Band [0:18]
1971 Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey – Paul and Linda McCartney [2:42]
1972 Suffragette City - David Bowie [0:16, 0:23]
1972 Star – David Bowie [1:11]
1972 Sister Josephine – Jake Thackray [3:11]
1973 Sail On, Sailor – Beach Boys [0:27]
1978 Mr Blue Sky - Electric Light Orchestra (Out of the Blue version) [2:50]
1978 Steppin' Out - Electric Light Orchestra [1:34]
1978 Sweet is the Night - Electric Light Orchestra [3:05, 3:18]
1979 Crazy Little Thing Called Love - Queen [0:19]
1990 They Might Be Giants - They Might Be Giants [1:05]
1995 Wake Up Boo – The Boo Radleys [0:44, 1:12, 3:31]
1995 She's Electric – Oasis [0:19, 0:35]
1995 Dune Buggy - Presidents of the United States of America [2:14, 2:35]
1998 Prisoner Of Society – The Living End [0:58]
2003 Tending the Wrong Grave for 23 Years – Half Man Half Biscuit [0:51] 2004 Everybody Loves A Happy Ending – Tears For Fears [4:07]
2004 Who Killed Tangerine – Tears For Fears [4:12]
2006 Selling Advertising – David Bazan [2:48][8]
2006 Curl - Jonathan Coulton [0:37]
2013 Travelling Alone – Jason Isbell [2:55]
2013 If You Want Love - k.s. Rhoads coda [4:14]
Further Study
Ticket 6: Stay off the Root Chord
Ticket 7: Avoid Using All Three Major Chords Early in the Song
Ticket 8: The Minor Four Chord
Ticket 14: Write an In-Key Melody Over Out-of-Key Chords
Ticket 16: The Picardy Third
Ticket 28: Use at Least One out of Key Chord
Ticket 44: The Minor Five Chord
See also:
Discmakers: Add Drama With a Flat Six Chord
Game Music Theory: The Mario Cadence
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End Credits
Thanks to Dominic Pedler.
[1] “I no longer had the fear of changing from A to F.” George Harrison in Mark Lewisohn: The Beatles - All These Years: Volume One: Tune In (p.150).
[2] The bVI also makes a fleeting appearance in the coda of Till There Was You [2:03] another early Beatles cover.
[3] The timing is exactly the same in the Beatles version [0:10, 0:15].
[4] Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band segues into With a Little Help From My Friends, forming one seamless track. Though conceptually it makes more sense that the Sgt’s band would give Billy his fanfare and then start his song the fanfare was recorded as part of With a Little Help and the track starts with the fanfare though arguably the song really starts at [TIMING].
[5] P.S. I Love You was the b-side of Love Me Do.
[6] Interestingly the original progression (as heard on Anthology 3) was not C D E (bVI, bVII, I) but C B E (bVI, V, I).
[7] This progression in Selling Advertising appears in the opening track on Fewer Moving Parts not the Acoustic Version (track 6).
[8] This progression in Selling Advertising appears in the opening track on Fewer Moving Parts not the Acoustic Version (track 6).
