Pop ballads from the 1970s to the 1990s

Key learning points

1. Pop ballads typically use a slow tempo, romantic lyrics, diatonic harmony, 4/4 metre and a verse-chorus structure.
2. A piano/keyboard is often prominent in pop ballads and strings or brass are commonly used to thicken the texture.
3. Typical artists include Whitney Houston and Elton John.
4. A mix of root position and chord inversions can be used when composing chord sequences to create interest.
5. Chord inversions affect the bass line as it has to play the lowest note of each chord.

Keywords

• Pop ballad - a pop ballad is an important genre of pop music - typically a slow song with romantic or sentimental lyrics

• Diatonic - diatonic harmony uses only notes from within the key (major or minor)

• Root position - a root position chord has the root note (the note in its name) at the bottom

• Chord inversion - a chord inversion is a chord with the notes repositioned so that the root note is not the lowest note in the chord

Common misconception