Interesting chords/key/musical ideas in maiden songs

[naranja]

This might not be of interest to people who don't know anything about music theory but I suspect even those people know Maiden have a very specific sound of 3 chords

E C D

Or it can be the same chord sequence played in another Key like A F G.

And of course their other favourite nowadays is E C G D.

Anyway, what are some some different or interesting chord sequences, key changes or general music ideas in their catalogue?

My thoughts-

Deja Vu being mostly in F (minor I think) is very different for them, even if it's familiar chord sequences just in a different place.

Don't Look to the eyes of a stranger being in G#. I suspect Steve deliberately tried to write in a different key to accommodate Blaze with this one.

Three songs on AMOLAD using what seemed to be the "in" new chord sequence for the boys at the time. E C A F. I don't recall them using that a lot before this album, but parts of Brighter than a thousand suns and Breeg use it. The third song I can't recall, it may be the Legacy or Lord of Light.

Lord of the flies jumping up from E to F# from the intro to the verse is very cool and gives it energy.

Paschendale cycling through different chord changes during the solos, I think it cycles though C#, G# and into D at one point.

 

[Ledges Bitten In Dust]

I don't know if somebody mentioned this before, but I always thought it's cool and progy thing they did on Senjutsu/Stratego: the way the songs compliment eachother gotta be intentional:
1) name itself is tactics and strategy/strategist
2) they really feel like 1 song listening to them one after another
3) "bridge" riff before Adrian's outro solo in Senjutsu and "breakdown" riff after Janick's solo in Stratego are almost the same melodies, with slight variations - Senjutsu one is fast in a more slow song and Stratego one is slow in a more fast song.

 

[stallan]

Great idea for a thread! The first one that comes to my mind is the solo section of El Dorado.

 

[Edington]

A couple of cool moments in a mostly pretty forgettable song: Dave using the Devil's Interval in The Man of Sorrows, going from C down to F# in the verses. Then the mellow outro, though I don't know what key it's in or if it uses any interesting chords.

I also really like the "ascending" riff in Empire of the Clouds that starts at around 7:18. It begins in G major, then the melody and chords start climbing up to and end in E minor. I'm not sure if it'd count as a quick set of key changes or some kind of chromaticism, though it moves up in whole tones rather than semi-tones.

 

[Spaldy]

One of the most unique song in terms of chord structure/key is The Prophecy. It changes up constantly with the chorus being in something like Eb.

 

[BloodOnTheBassistsHands]

Deja Vu being mostly in F (minor I think) is very different for them, even if it's familiar chord sequences just in a different place.

Don't Look to the eyes of a stranger being in G#. I suspect Steve deliberately tried to write in a different key to accommodate Blaze with this one.

These are the two that jump out to me. As far as I'm aware, these are the only Maiden songs written in F minor and G# minor.

I always found the F power chord towards the end of the instrumental section in "To Tame A Land" quite jarring.

 

[naranja]

These are the two that jump out to me. As far as I'm aware, these are the only Maiden songs written in F minor and G# minor.

I always found the F power chord towards the end of the instrumental section in "To Tame A Land" quite jarring.

I'll have to relisten..a long time since I've heard that last song you mentioned.

 

[Edington]

Powerslave is a bit of an odd one. The main riff mostly fits A Phrygian using A, C and Bb power chords for the galloping part but the last phrase uses a C# instead of C.

 

[Mosh]

I like to think of that section as being in A Phrygian dominant based on the vocal melody and riff at the end with the C being a borrowed chord.

 

[onurb]

Intro and middle parts of isle of avalon.

 

[Mosh]

Adrian does a lot of modal stuff on The Final Frontier. He's always dabbled with modes (and so have the other guitarists to a lesser degree) but the amount of modal stuff on this album makes me wonder if he was studying modal stuff at the time. There's some dorian on both Isle of Avalon and Starblind, he uses phrygian dominant for his solo on El Dorado (same scale that is all over Powerslave). The verse to Isle of Avalon is kinda interesting too going between an E major and C major sound, with C being a borrowed chord and an example of modal mixture.

 

[naranja]

The main riff to the parchment is pretty un steve like

 

[Edington]

The Parchment's another odd one that borrows notes from the Phrygian and Phrygian Major scales, using the G and G# respectively.

 

[Vaenyr]

I'm actually going through their discography at the moment and writing down all the keys and modes used in every song. Most are rather straight-forward but there are some where you can argue either way.

 

[Black Bart]

Not a remark on chords, but in "Mother of Mercy", I remember thinking "Wow, that's new!" when I heard the guitar fill just after the intro ("I'm a soldier of war...").

Overall, I think the most surprising elements can be found in the No Prayer For The Dying/ Fear of the Dark sequence.

 

[naranja]

The Parchment's another odd one that borrows notes from the Phrygian and Phrygian Major scales, using the G and G# respectively.

Exactly

 

[naranja]

I'm not certain if the main part is E minor or major but El Dorado's bridge being in C# is fairly interesting. Plus then it's chorus jumping to G with some A# and Fs in there