Sunny Afternoon Chords

Learn how to play Sunny Afternoon!

Notice how the chorus feels as if we change key, we don’t, it’s a VIx to IIx that makes us feel it.

Pair this with the descending bass line over the VI chord of the Intro and the roots of the blues are apparent.

As usual, when we do something extreme, like moving to VIx, the rest of the chords need to feel as natural and predictable as possible in order to not confuse the listener.

Sunny Afternoons classic descending bass line over the VI chord, paired with the VIx achieves this brilliantly.

Sunny Afternoon modes

As well as the not so common VIx and the descending Aeolian bass line, another very common change in the chord language has been implemented.

The IIIx is properly milked during the verse with another descending bass line.

IIIx heavily leans on moving to VI so this combination of VI, with descending bass and IIIx (pulls to VI), clearly accentuates the Aeolian feel of the intro and verse.

To then move to a VIx is just genius, the uplifting feel of the chorus is instant after such a focus on the normal VI chord.

Since the chord shapes tell us we’re in C major, you should think of the song as in C major.

Adjust capo to find the right key for the singer.