Empire State Of Mind Chords

Learn to play Empire State Of Mind!

The chords for Empire State Of Mind are simple yet incredibly effective.

Starting out on the classic I to IV movement we spend most of our time here exploring how these two chords move as far away as possible from each other.

Other chords used in the song are V, which shouldn’t be played with a dom7 extension, try it to hear why.

The VI chord is also used with great success and so is the only variation in the song; the IIIx chord.

Empire State Of Phrygian Dominant

The IIIx tells us that the third chord has become major, the scale therefore changes from being Phrygian into Phrygian Dominant.

This type of change is very common and usually leads to chord VI, however, in the case of Empire State Of Mind we move to chord IV again.

Since the difference here is a semitone, and the IV chord is very close to the VI chord in sound we get the Lydian effect of feeling as if the Chorus takes off.

These type of chord progressions are very common.

When used well as in the case of Empire State Of Mind, they create a brilliant tool for hit melody writing.

Can you see all the chord numbers and melodic intervals on the fretboard?