Mixolydian Vamp I-bVII-IV-I
Piano sound loads on first tap. Resolved in the key of C — every chord links to its full analysis.
The real Mixolydian sound: the flat seventh (bVII) — borrowed from the mode, not the key — steps down to the subdominant (IV) and back to the tonic (I), with no leading tone anywhere in the loop. This is the exact vamp behind the coda of the Beatles' 'Hey Jude' and the verse of Lynyrd Skynyrd's 'Sweet Home Alabama'.
What each degree does
Feels like home — complete rest, where the piece departs from and returns to. The major tonic, where everything settles.
The flat subtonic — a major chord borrowed from the minor/Mixolydian mode, a whole step below the tonic. It gives the classic rock turn and the 'backdoor' approach to I.
A step out from home into the light — the subdominant. It sets up the dominant or resolves with a plagal ('amen') colour, opening space without sharp tension.
Feels like home — complete rest, where the piece departs from and returns to. The major tonic, where everything settles.