What is the Neapolitan Chord? | Music Theory Q+A

Answering your music theory questions!

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[AdamNeely]

Hey! I screwed up a bit by not mentioning the West-African as well as Middle Eastern origin of the Dembow rhythm here in this video, so I apologize! The answer I game was more my thoughts on why Spanish was suited for it, as opposed to other colonizing languages, and why it's so popular in Spanish specifically!

[twentylush]

4-5-1 Cadence: *Evil*

Neopolitan 4-5-1: *Evil but Italian*

[mcswordfish]

Surely the Neopolitan Chord is made of Strawberry, Vanilla, and Chocolate

[treyxaviermusic]

I used a half-assed Neapolitan bit in the In Virtue song "Purgatory" at the end of the chorus

[TheBeardedTrombonist]

"It's been unused for 100's of years."

Danny Elfman would like a word.

[suawdthedude]

I tried using the "Napolean Chord" and I ended up destroying half of Europe, Thanks Adam!

[PFDarkside]

*10 years from now*

“Why does every neoclassical pop dance song use the Neapolitan Chord progression?”

[AmyGordonMusic]

A few modern examples that use the Neapolitan chord:

“Do You Want to Know a Secret” by the Beatles (in the intro)

“Overprotected” by Britney Spears (Db chord in C minor in the 2nd Chorus)

“Small Bill$” by Regina Spektor (whole song is i and bII)

“Sally’s Song” (from Nightmare Before Christmas) by Danny Elfman (F->B7->Em in E minor)

“Hello” by Lionel Richie (in the Chorus)
Quite a few more too. Really cool sound!

[daniel.marshall]

The 'octave' term makes a lot of sense because it refers to an interval, it is just another way of saying an '8th' (think 5th, 6th, 7th, etc.). It's seemingly off by one because we always count the bottom note as 1 when measuring intervals, which is actually useful because it gives us the language to express what a unison is.

[peterpike]

"Definitely don't quote me on that." -- Adam Neely.

[insaneintherainmusic]

It’s so fascinating that the Neapolitan sixth doesn’t really have an equivalent in jazz harmony / contemporary harmony. Augmented sixth chords are essentially just another way of looking at subV/V’s, but there’s not really an equivalent for a major bII chord used as a predominant. Definitely a very strong sound. It kinda makes sense why it’s not used much in pop music (since the leading tone isn’t used that much, and that b2 scale degree has a similar function in this situation), but I am surprised it’s not used in more jazz tunes... cool stuff, thanks for mentioning it! :D

[youtubechannelyo]

Octave as 8 makes perfect sense, when you hit the 8th note after going through the 7 major tones, you land on the 8th, which is the OCTAve.

[eddierayvanlynch]

14:19
Hearing that Mozart used a power chord made my whole weekend!
Subscribed.
🤘😎

[orfeasliossatos]

When I had dance class as a child in a small Greek village, we would learn the moves to odd-metered local songs without counting the beat. The rhythm came naturally as a result of the routine!

[ArnovanZelst]

Sounds like we need a 5 Composers video with the Neopolitan chord!!

[peterschaffter]

The Neapolitan sixth, as we classical guys call it, is not restricted to the minor mode. The effect is even more magical in the major mode. There are tons of examples to be found in Mozart and Beethoven.

[luchadorito]

That B6 with the open string down low sounds like brutalist architecture.
I will not ellaborate, it just does.

[antoniodovalborthagaray]

Hey Adam, the "dembow" rythym you mention actually comes from the african roots of many forms of south/latin american music. You can see the same pattern in the first part of the cuban son clave (3/2), which is also used in the Río de la Plata region in candombe, murga, tango and milonga. I think it's also seen in afro-peruvian rythyms. The influence of this in the Rio de la Plata area probably comes from the cuban "habanera", which was very popular in the early 20th century. The best part of all this is that it's a proof of the deep connection between the different communities of african people and african descendants through the continent, in the most important ports (Habana, Buenos Aires, Lima, etc.) were enslaved africans were brought. Of course, you can even trace this to native african music but here the thread is a bit lost at least for me. It would be very cool if you did a video on this! Love you stuff, greetings from La Boca, Buenos Aires.

[Pouncer]

We were taught the most useful thing about the Neapolitan chord, besides its beautiful colouring was how it allowed you to instantly modulate out of any situation, like instead of Db/F - G7 - Cm you could use Db/F - Eb7 and suddenly you're in Abm. Or directly from Db/F to Gbm. Do this early in a fugue and then leisurely find your way back to c minor, pro tip.

[apanapandottir]

"Picardy thirds are the Disney surprise villains of music." - Adam Neely