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I just heard Lenka's "Everything at Once".
The Background chord progression is quite catchy. I tried to figure out its chords, but to no avail.
I tried singular notes: I found F A C A and also C E G. E (where G is down an octave).
How do I find Chords that match up with single notes?
And what are they called?
As I listen to the song, I don't really hear any tonality change. In such cases, the circle of Fifths is you forever ally.
Around a tonality, there are five chord positions that instinctively sound good. You guess them with that circle.
With the notes like c,g,e,a,f... you're probably in C Major or A minor(both are instrincally linked), so you can go easily to G major, E minor, F major, D minor.
Without actually listening to the song, there are a few facts you might not be aware of, misconceptions about which could easily lead to the qustion you ask.
The whole point of a chord is the several note blend together and become unified, united. The notes sound as one. On an equal-tempered instrument (piano, guitar, etc) most of the intervals are actually just a little bit out-of-tune with each other. This results in the individual notes becoming more distinct: it's easier to identify the separate notes that compose the chord.
With other tuning systems (Just tuning, Helmholtz tunings) the blending effect can be intensified so many notes unite into a sonic pattern from which the separate notes are very difficult to pick out. With the explosion of computers and digital synthesizers, this territory has been opened-up for colonization.
Often the strongest note you hear (the "melody" of the chords) will be a third or a fifth rather than the root due the effects of "voice leading" or counterpoint.
When you're trying to figure out the chords to a song, 99% of the time you should try to listen for the "bass-line" and ignore everything else. The bass may not play the roots of all the chords; but 99% of the time it will play the root every time the tonic (the Key chord) comes around.
