How Some Popular Songs Use Only a Single Chord

Musician David Bennett, who previously deconstructed several famous songs without a chorus, quite informatively explained how certain songs can sound good, even by only using a single chord throughout the whole song.

It is fair to assume that most songs you encounter will be making use of at least three chords, if not a lot more! But it is possible to write a song with only one chord, and, in fact, there are various styles of music that are actually quite prone to doing this.

Examples of this include “Running Through the Jungle” by Creedence Clearwater Revival, “Within You, Without You” and “Tomorrow Never Knows” by The Beatles, “Political World” by Bob Dylan, and “Who Do You Love” by Bo Diddley.

Lori Dorn
Lori Dorn

Lori is a Laughing Squid Contributing Editor based in New York City who has been writing blog posts for over a decade. She also enjoys making jewelry, playing guitar, taking photos and mixing craft cocktails.