Q: Hi! So I just started learning guitar a couple months ago, and I'm still very much a beginner. One thing I'm trying to do to get a better "ear" for music is to pick out little patterns and phrases and stuff that catches my attention. There's this one thing that I hear all the time... I heard that one Charlie Puth song, One Call Away, on the radio today. Towards the end of the song (starting at around 2:19 in the album version, not the music video) when he does like a stripped down, variation of the chorus he sings the line "nothing on me" and he adds this little twist that makes it sound different than the other choruses in the song. Like he adds some kind of extra chord or something. I'm drawing a blank on other specific songs I've heard something almost exactly like this, but I know it's something I hear very often in a lot of music, especially pop and R&B type stuff. I can't seem to figure out exactly what's going on though, or what the little cho
 rd varia
 tion thing is. Can you maybe help me out on this?
A: F7. song is in key of Db, so that means it's a 3 dominant7 (going to Bbmin, or 6min) you're right, very common, very standard. very simple useful tool, been used since just about the beginning of time. but not everyone always knows how to use it. that's great news for you, if you learn how to use it. this is off the subject but bruno mars loves this chord and uses it all the time. (i.e. bullet right "Through" my brain). very common chord, again, will always be useful no matter what year it is, even more useful during time periods where no one seems to be using it. because it always works. and knowing how to use it will be to your advantage because like i said not everyone always knows how to use it