What makes Don’t Look Back In Anger by Oases a Classical Harmony Songwriting Masterclass? Let’s dive into this great song and let’s get creative!
Video Tutorial Song Analysis: Don’t Look Back In Anger by Oasis
If you don’t feel like reading you can check out the video below.
A Harmony Masterclass: Oasis’ “Don’t Look Back In Anger”
Oasis’s catalogue is full of classics, but one song, in particular, stands out as a true classical harmony songwriting masterclass—Don’t Look Back in Anger.
As musicians, songwriters, and composers, there are several harmony and chord progression techniques in this song that we can learn from. I will talk about three key elements of its harmony that you can incorporate into your own writing:
- The major-minor chord trick
- Tension chords
- The harmonic build-up of the song
But before we dive in, I noticed something interesting. When playing along with the recording: I had to tune my guitar slightly up. It clashes like crazy if kept in regular tuning! I believe this could be because the original recording was sped up afterwards. If you know more about the real reason feel free to share it in the video’s comments or write me personally!
1. The Major-Minor Chord Trick
Right from the start, you can hear obvious John Lennon and Beatles influences, especially in the intro piano. But the magic really begins during the pre-chorus.
Here, Noel Gallagher uses a brilliant yet simple chord progression: F major to F minor, resolving to C major. This technique, used by many great songwriters, creates an emotional pull within the song. If you’re familiar with Elliott Smith’s Between the Bars, he uses a similar progression, which you can check out in my video on that song.
How Does This Work?
In music, when tones are a semitone (or half-step) apart, they often create tension and need resolution. In this F major to F minor to C major chord progression you can hear a strong inner melody within the chords:
- From A (in F major) to Aâ™ (in F minor) to G (in C major).
This pullback from F major to F minor to C creates a beautiful, goal-oriented tension. It’s simple, effective, and powerful—exactly why this song resonates so strongly with audiences.
2. The Mystery Chord
Now, let’s talk about the mystery chord that caused a lot of speculation among musicians and fans. What is this subtle chord, and why does it sound so good?
The answer is the E7 chord in the first inversion—meaning the G# is the lowest note instead of the root E. This chord creates a tension that resolves beautifully into the A minor chord.
This E7/G# is functioning as a secondary dominant, a wonderfully rich chord type that adds extra “juice” to any progression. These types of chords are all about adding colour and tension before resolving. They are perfect for adding depth to your songwriting. You can learn more about secondary dominants in the first inversion here.
3. Harmonic Build-Up: Creating an epic singalong
The final reason Don’t Look Back in Anger is such a masterclass in harmony is the way the song structure and chords work together. Everything in the song is designed to serve one goal: to make you want to throw your hands up and sing along!
Without diving too deep into music history, this technique goes all the way back to classical composition. In tonal music, a song in a certain key (in this case, C major) generally sticks to the notes and chords of that key. The chords in Don’t Look Back in Anger do just that, except for the E major and E7 chords.
1-4-5 Chord Progression: Tension and Release
The C major chord is our tonic, the “home base” in this song. Throughout the progression, other chords lead us away from this home base, creating tension that eventually resolves back to it.
In Don’t Look Back in Anger, we see the classic 1-4-5 progression:
- C major (I)
- F major (IV)
- G major (V)
This progression is central to the song’s structure. The verse is steadily anchors us on the C major chord which is the tonic.
Then the first part of the pre-chorus moves from F major to F minor, subtly shifting the harmonic balance to the F chord. This is the chord on the 4th scale degree. The second part of the pre-chorus introduces the mystery chord (E7/G#), shifting the balance towards the G major chord, the dominant (fifth scale degree).
The overall effect is a 1-4-5-1 progression, where the verse, pre-chorus, and chorus are designed to lead you through cycles of tension and release—ultimately bringing you back home to that satisfying C major chord.
Conclusion: Apply These Techniques to Your Own Music!
Now that you know the harmonic techniques that make Don’t Look Back in Anger such a powerful song, try incorporating them into your own compositions. Start experimenting with:
- Major to minor progressions like F to F minor
- Tension-building chords like the E7/G#
- The satisfying 1-4-5 progression to create tension and release in your song form
If you want to dive deeper into these concepts, join my music livestreams, Today, Tomorrow, Everyday Creative, where we explore songwriting and creativity!