Why is 1,4, 5 so popular when 1,3,5 is a simple chord?

[studio]

maybe I had a bit too much coffee at IHOP this morning,
but I asked myself, why is it we play 1, 4, 5 and yet
by playing it we acknowledge it's strong presence but yet
we play it with chords that incorporate the 1,3,5 building block?

image removed
(don't freak out about the chord, I just like the picture.)

 

[Old Tele man]

Quartal harmony...neither a distinct MAJOR-ness nor MINOR-ness tone. Great for jazz & blues.

 

[DougM]

I guess I don't understand what you're saying. !,3,5 are the scale notes that build simple triads, which are the most common chord types. But, 1,4, and 5 are the most common chords used in any song in any key.

 

[bottlenecker]

maybe I had a bit too much coffee at IHOP this morning,
but I asked myself, why is it we play 1, 4, 5 and yet
by playing it we acknowledge it's strong presence but yet
we play it with chords that incorporate the 1,3,5 building block?

image removed
(don't freak out about the chord, I just like the picture.)

Major/minor ambiguity. The 3 gives it all away. The 4 leaves it open.

 

[Old Tele man]

1,3,5 = chords comprised of stacked 3rds...Major chord tonality.

1,4,M7 = chords comprised of stacked 4ths...neither Major nor Minor tonality.

1,4,5 = combination, used by pentatonic blues players.

 

[skantzos]

In jazz 1 2 5 is more frequent.
The tritone is very important in diatonic harmony so in C major the notes B and F establish the key. So with I V7 I you get that. I to IV is also very strong because I is the V of IV. Furthermore, with I IV V you have played all seven notes of the key. I 'll quiet myself now and let someone else with proper theory education explain it better

 

[Finck]

Isn't a 1,4,5 called "suspended" chord? Sincere question, I know very little about music theory.

 

[ndcaster]

maybe I had a bit too much coffee at IHOP this morning,
but I asked myself, why is it we play 1, 4, 5 and yet
by playing it we acknowledge it's strong presence but yet
we play it with chords that incorporate the 1,3,5 building block?

image removed
(don't freak out about the chord, I just like the picture.)

because 135 chords produce music that makes 145 chord progressions sound good

 

[stringslinger]

Why do we park in a driveway and drive on a parkway? hehe

Simply, 1, 4, and 5 chords are the three majors chords in any key. They are the pillars of western harmony.

 

[kafka]

maybe I had a bit too much coffee at IHOP this morning,
but I asked myself, why is it we play 1, 4, 5 and yet
by playing it we acknowledge it's strong presence but yet
we play it with chords that incorporate the 1,3,5 building block?
(don't freak out about the chord, I just like the picture.)

Just a question here, but is there any chance that caffeine isn't the only chemical compound at work here? Cuz, uh, you know ...

 

[brbadg]

Yea I don't understand the question.Next.

 

[studio]

Just a question here, but is there any chance that caffeine isn't the only chemical compound at work here? Cuz, uh, you know ...

Yea I don't understand the question.Next.

Wow. Two guys from Maryland that don't understand the question.......

Is it the water, or the school system?

 

[studio]

because 135 chords produce music that makes 145 chord progressions sound good

Yes, I get that simplicity.

But if I IV V is strong enough for popular chord progressions,
then why isn't it also a staple in chord structure?

Also, you can ask the question in reciprocate, if 1,3,5 is
strong enough to build chords, why isn't I III V the
chord progression of choice?

 

[chris m.]

1 3 5, notes in a scale, is totally different from I iii V chords.

 

[tfarny]

1,3,5 are notes in a single chord - every chord contains a 1,3rd (major or minor), and a 5th, and many chords contain an additional note such as b7, 2, etc. But 1,3,5 is the definition of a "chord".
That has nothing to do with progression (movement) within music from one chord to another. A song does not have to contain any particular chords, and many great tunes are made up of just one or two chords. I was just playing "Unknown Legend" by Neil Young last night because I felt like singing it, it's got C and G and it's not quite clear - to me, and I haven't really worried about it either - which key it's "really" in. The scales only differ by one note anyhow. It could be in G and employ the 1 and 4, or it could be in C and employ the 1 and 5.
That said, the vast majority of popular music uses the 1,4, and 5 chords to create a natural tension and release within music. It's NOT because they sound good together, like the notes in a chord, but because they set up a natural feeling of movement that makes songs enjoyable.
That's my back of the napkin explanation. Somebody who has gone to school for this, let me know if I've got it wrong, I'd love to know.

 

[Larry F]

Sounds like a job for music and mathematics: http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?stow=editorialBoard&journalCode=tmam20

I'm pleased to have been a founding editorial board member of this journal. My illness has prevented me from taking on any big research projects, so my main duty is to read submitted papers.

The question posed by the OP is kind of screwy, since 1, 4, 5 represents chord functions, while 1, 3, 5 denotes notes of a triad. So, it's kind of an apples and oranges thing, unless you want to compare the two domains and see how they intersect. Which they do, but it would take a little while to lay out.

 

[chris m.]

Larry F said what I was trying to say. In key of C, 1 3 5 is CEG or CMajor. iii is Em or E G B. V is G B D. Notice Em is pretty much a CMaj7 missing the root so there isn't as much harmonic movement as going to the IV, or F A C. If you go to IV dom 7 you add Eb which gives even more interesting harmonic movement. By contrast the iii sounds more like a different voicing of the I, harmonically speaking.

 

[Zepfan]

Forget all that and just play 1, 5, 1.

 

[mowgli5555]

Chord structure vs chord relationship/tension within a scale.

 

[GuitOp81]

A little analogy to check if I understood the question: is it something like "if we source most of our stuff from China why isn't that simply the best place for us to live?"

Full disclosure: I do have family in Maryland