Blue Skies Chord Progression & Harmonic Analysis

Chord progression

Analyzed excerpt

Section: A1 · Bars 1–8

Am | Am | Am | Am | E7 | E7 | Am | A7

This is a short excerpt, not the full chart. The composition dates from 1926 and is old enough that it is very likely in the public domain in the United States, which is why the excerpt runs longer here — but copyright status varies by territory and by edition, so treat that as context, not as legal advice.

The books behind this page

Every one of these tunes is assembled out of the same handful of harmonic resources. Jazz Harmony is those resources, explained in the order in which they build on each other.

Start here Project 03 · Harmony

Harmonic analysis

Key

A minor

Tonal center

A

Confidence

High

Chords analysed

8

Chord	Roman numeral	Function	What it is doing	Confidence
Am	i	Tonic	Am is the tonic of Am. It is where the progression is at rest.	High
Am	i	Tonic	Am is the tonic of Am. It is where the progression is at rest.	High
Am	i	Tonic	Am is the tonic of Am. It is where the progression is at rest.	High
Am	i	Tonic	Am is the tonic of Am. It is where the progression is at rest.	High
E7	V7	Dominant	E7 is the dominant of Am. In a minor key it borrows its major third from harmonic minor — that raised note is the leading tone.	High
E7	V7	Dominant	E7 is the dominant of Am. In a minor key it borrows its major third from harmonic minor — that raised note is the leading tone.	High
Am	i	Tonic	Am is the tonic of Am. It is where the progression is at rest.	High
A7	I7	Tonic	A7 is the tonic, but built as a dominant seventh — the sound that defines the blues. The tonic keeps a b7 and stays at home anyway.	High

High, medium and low next to each numeral are judgements about musical context, not probabilities. A low rating marks a bar that can honestly be read more than one way. How the ratings are decided →

Why this example matters

Numbered against A minor, the excerpt is i – V7 – I7. Inside those 8 chords there is a chord borrowed from the parallel mode. Take the roots away and keep the third and seventh. In E7 that is Ab and D. Those two notes decide where the progression is going, and hearing them move is worth more than naming the chords. Blues for Alice, All Blues and So What use the same device, which is the argument for learning it once properly rather than three times by accident.

How the rest of Blue Skies goes

The tune starts in minor and moves to the parallel major for its second phrase, then back — the same tonic, changed in quality, with no modulation involved. That is unusual as a structural device rather than as a passing colour, and it is the reason a lyric about good weather is set to a minor tune. The bridge stays in major. Because the switch is between two forms of the same key, a soloist has to change one note to follow it, which makes the tune an efficient exercise in hearing modal quality rather than key.

Blue Skies on record

Irving Berlin wrote it in 1926, inserted late into the musical Betsy, where it reportedly stopped the show. It was also one of the songs heard in The Jazz Singer the following year, which put it in front of an audience no stage show could reach. Count Basie’s later arrangements are the ones that established its jazz tempo, and Ella Fitzgerald’s scat version is the reference for the vocal repertoire.

Analyze this progression

Open these chords in the analyzer and change them. Move one chord, substitute a dominant, take the ii away — the reading updates and tells you what you just did.

Open in Jazz Harmony Analyzer →

Blue Skies — Chord Progression & Harmonic Analysis

Chord progression

The books behind this page

Jazz Harmony

Harmonic Narrative

Jazz Guitar Comping

Harmonic analysis

Why this example matters

How the rest of Blue Skies goes

Blue Skies on record

Analyze this progression

Related

Modal interchange

Blues for Alice

All Blues

So What

Jazz chord progressions