Music theory question. Twos, fours, fifths?

Question

I just watched a documentary with Aerosmith and Steven Tyler was talking about their rock songs and he said "Those twos and fours...it's really powerful".
Later, I was reading an article about that 50's song "Please Mr.Sandman", and it said that song's "chord progression follows the circle of fifths for 6 chords in a row in the chorus".
I've always been interested in music theory so, can anyone explain this stuff to me in a way that I can understand? (I do know some basic stuff about chords and scales).

Answer 1

I would say that "two and fours" and "fifths" are two separate things. Usually when we talk about "twos and fours," we are talking about the second and the fourth beat in 4/4 time. This would make sense since it's common to have a strong second and fourth beat in rock music.

As for "fifths" we are talking about intervals, so the circle of fifths would be relevant here. Just in case you are not familiar with the circle of fifths here it is:

C-G-D-A-E-B-F# (or Gb)-C# (or Db)-Ab-Eb-Bb-F-C

Everything ascends the interval of a perfect fifth, and in relevance to the key, ascending by one perfect fifth will add one sharp or subtract one flat from the key signature.

Therefore, in "Please Mr. Sandman" the chord progression would ascend or descend for 6 chords following strictly the circle of fifths (i.e. C-F-Bb-Eb-Ab-Db). The pattern is common in jazz.

I hope this sheds some light on the subject.

Answer 2

Theres a chance Aerosmith meant major second and perfect fourth.
It's just the distance between notes, if you know your way around a guitar then a fourth can be found up a string on the same fret
for e.g. on your A string 3rd fret, its fourth is on the D string on the 3rd fret.
I cant explain it much better than that.

Answer 3

i am a bass player in the band and a two or a four is how many strings you are holding down when you play

Answer 4

a second is 2 notes rite next 2 eachother. like ab. 3rd is like 2notes apart. like ac and so on when it gets up 2 8 its an octave.... hope that helps