Love Song by Sara Bareilles
May 30th, 2008 by admin
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! 
greatings…
exellent…
[...] am going to illustrate the above using “Love Song” by Sara Bareilles. Watch out for my next post. Possibly related posts: (automatically [...]
I really don’y get how you play songs from this info!!!! Someone PLEASE tell me!
if only you make music sheets
:))
i actually agree with Frances
i dont understand MOST of the things that’s written on the info … 
yeah. but i attempted playing this song and can only play it through illustrations. 
(took me about 45 mins)
they look like guitar cords its real gay coz i dont get it either.
I geuss its confusing gor me cause i am a biginner …
Its a bit too fast for me
Hi ALcea, you can try download the YouTube video and play it on your computer. That way you can adjust the playback speed, e.g., on Windows Media Player.
okay i totally agree. you definitly should post the sheet music to your songs so that your veiwers can print them and practice along with your video. i have looked everywhere for printable sheet music to sara bareilles love song so i can play it. still havent found it.
I agree that sheet music would be helpful! I’m a fairly fast learner and I’ve never took a piano lesson in my life, but a these thing you have written just aren’t clicking and the video is helpful but still not what I need. Nothing helps more than reading some sheet music+a video (: Please consider this and post on your page if you can. But still, thanks for all the hard work you’ve done! I know making a site like this isn’t easy!
Thanks, Grace, for your feedback. My aim is to cater to those who can’t read sheet music.