We investigate the association between musical chords and lyrics by analyzing
a large dataset of user-contributed guitar tablatures. Motivated by the idea
that the emotional content of chords is reflected in the words used in
corresponding lyrics, we analyze associations between lyrics and chord
categories. We also examine the usage patterns of chords and lyrics in
different musical genres, historical eras, and geographical regions. Our
overall results confirms a previously known association between Major chords
and positive valence. We also report a wide variation in this association
across regions, genres, and eras. Our results suggest possible existence of
different emotional associations for other types of chords.Comment: Royal Society Open Science, 201
