Why does the chord progression Gmaj - F#maj - Amaj sound the way it does?

Question

I really like the chord progression Gmaj - F#maj - Amaj ... (I think it can be written I, VII, II)?

While all the chords are major, there is some sadness about it.

What is the story behind this progression, is it in another mode other than the standard major or minor?

Answer 1

It's actually can be looked at modally as a chords from the Phrygian/Phrygian Dominant scales. The Phrygian scale due to its lowered third is viewed as a minor scale and thus contributes to the "sadness" you hear especially since the A would be the 3rd of the Phygian scale giving the progression a slightly more minor sound even using just major chords.

With the root of F♯, you have the following notes of the Phrygian scale:

F# G A B C# D E F#

and from the Phrygian Dominant scale you have the following notes:

F# G A# B C# D E F#

The notes in each of the chords above are:

• G major - G, B, D
• F♯ major - F♯, A♯, C♯
• A major - A, C♯, E

From the two of these scale, you have all the notes of the chords in the progressions. The progression is simply a II I III in F♯ Phrygian with the I chord coming from Phrygian Dominant, or bII I bIII if you prefer to look at analysis from the perspective of the major scale.

Answer 2

I believe the sad impression is most of all due to the chromatic descent B - A♯ - A embedded in these chords. It has a kind of disillusioning effect: you start out on a nice major third of the G chord. But then you drop down to F♯, whose A♯ third is enharmonic equivalent to the G chord's minor third. Normally this wouldn't be perceived as bluesy, because the F♯ would then be clearly a dominant to b minor. In your case, this resolution does not happen though, instead the supposed leading voice goes yet another semitone down, to the fundamental of A.

That in turn could be heard as a dominant to D. Or, alternatively, the chromatic descent could go on in the familiar way à la Hotel California.

Neither expectation is fulfilled, instead we go back to G which has now a sort of anticlimactic subdominant character to it.

Answer 3

All three chords are major, consonant chords. But, there is no strong resolution that identifies a tonic chord. If in the key of G Major, it could be written I - VII - II. But the VII and II are non-diatonic to the G Major key and so do not set up a strong tonality with G Major chord as Imaj. (In contrast, the diatonic versions of these chords, VIIdim and IImin, would be dissonant and could be resolved to Gmaj functioning as the tonic (I) chord.)

So - to my ears the sound is “unresolved consonance,” a progression of major chords troubled by the uncertainty of “where is home?”.