The Sad Four
Take the brightest step away from home, the IV, and make it minor. Nothing else changes and the song suddenly has a lump in its throat. It is the single most effective borrowed chord in pop, and it costs you one note.
- 1 borrowed chord
- major key
- instant melancholy
same family
The progression
I - IV - iv - I
Why it works
The minor iv comes from the parallel minor key, so it belongs to a world your song is not in. The note that makes it minor is a half step below the fifth of the key, and it leans down onto home with a soft pull that the major IV does not have. Your ear reads the chord as familiar and the colour as wrong, and that mismatch is what registers as sadness.
Hear it in context
Three of our own examples: the plain major cadence, the same cadence with the minor iv, and a verse that uses it on the last line only.
Make it yours
- Use it once per section
The effect depends on the major IV being the norm.
- Put it before the final I
That is where the lean downward is strongest.
- Add the sixth
A iv6 softens it further and sounds like a film score.
When to reach for it
For the last line of a chorus. For a bridge that needs to change colour without changing key. For any song that is too cheerful for its lyric.
When to leave it alone
When the song is already minor. The trick works because the key is major; in minor the iv is just the normal chord.