Howdy and welcome to another installment of our guitar column. Today we are going to talk about some chord progressions every guitar player should be familiar with. Non simply are these cracking for your songwriting chops, knowing about these will as well help you develop an ear for chords in general. Being familiar with these progressions volition help you learn songs on guitar more speedily. And what would be more motivating than existence able to play your own favorite songs?

If this is your commencement time learning about chord progressions, you're likely to be surprised by the number of songs and familiar tunes that have the exact aforementioned chord progression in a different key. We seem to never grow tired of listening to and using these like patterns and common chord progressions. Just start, we need to cover a way to recognize these patterns that work in all keys. So let'due south dive into some important music theory behind chords and chord progressions.

Roman numeral system and chord progressions

The Roman Numeral System is the way to describe the "pattern" of a chord progression, regardless of which musical central it's in. The most of import thing to call up is that this organization analyzes the "distance" betwixt chords, rather than the chords themselves because that is what we are really hearing when we mind to music.

Don't worry if this sounds complex or intimidating. We'll take a look together at how it works with our first chord progression example.

The I – Iv chord progression

This is past far the most common chord progression out there. It'south the basis for well-nigh of the music nosotros hear today, from rock to jazz. But what practise "I" and "Iv" mean?

Let'southward say we are in C. The Roman "I" will always stand for the root of the fundamental. And so, if we are in C, then "I" is equal to a C major chord. Only like with regular chord notation, unless stated otherwise, Roman numerals stand for a major chord. If we wanted to have Cm instead of the C major chord, we would need to include an "m" correct after the Roman numeral (i.eastward. "Im").

Now we know what "I" is. Only what does "IV" stand for? It stands for the 4th notation up from the "I". And so, in this case, we demand to count with the musical alphabet starting on C (and including information technology), four notes up. This would be C, D, E, and F. The fourth chord is F, and this means that Iv equals F for this case. Allow'due south expect at the following chord progression chart:

Chord Progression I - VII

Information technology's important to note that, depending on the key you're playing in, this method tin vary. This is just a crude approximation for figuring out the Roman numerals. There are instances, depending on the note y'all kickoff with and the chord you are looking for, where this might not work. For this commodity, we'll stay in C, which works every time.

Our I-4 progression would await like this:

Chord Progression I - IV

You might try playing four strums on C, then 4 strums on F, and repeating. Sounds great, doesn't it? It's an I IV progression.

A couple of songs that use this progression are "Similar A Rolling Stone" by Bob Dylan, during the intro, and "Imagine" by John Lennon during the verses. Keep in heed that songs tend to use more one chord progression, so that's why we described the section besides as the song.

An instance of this progression in the fundamental of G would exist G – C, with G being the I and C beingness the IV.

This particular I-IV chord progression is sometimes used in a more than big-movie concept, too. Yous'll observe a lot of songs, particularly in rock music, in which the verse and the chorus are separated by a I-IV. As an example, if the melody starts in "I", very often the chorus will beginning on the "4". Go alee and requite information technology a try.

Let's movement on to a chord progression that's a flake more complex.

The I – IV – V chord progression

This common progression builds upon what we just covered, and it'due south a fantastic style to institute a cardinal. The I-Iv-5 chord progression is much more widely used than the I-Four progression, because it introduces the V. The 5 is an important chord because it really wants to return to the I chord, so it adds a strong sense of motility. For some ear training, try listening carefully equally y'all play the chords. Using our musical alphabet one time over again in the fundamental of C, we would introduce the M major chord.

Our I-IV-V progression would wait like this:

Chord Progression I - IV - V

Every bit you can tell from this chord progression nautical chart, in this case, nosotros chose to repeat the V for an extra bar. The reason for this is that virtually chord progressions follow a pattern that fits 2, four or 8 bars, or another even number. Since nosotros accept three chords, 1 of them is bound to exist repeated if we want it to brand sense for the listener. Even if they're non familiar with the music theory backside a song, the listener will discover things similar this.

Over again, in One thousand this would look like: Thousand – C – D – D, where G is the I, C is the Four (but similar before) and we're adding D as the V chord.

Remember that you don't have to use this progression in the exact same order as this, though. In fact, at that place are a lot of notable examples of songs that switch this around and choose to repeat a different chord instead. Here are a few familiar examples of songs that use this progression:

  • "La Bamba" uses this progression during the entire song.
  • "Blitzkrieg Bop" past the Ramones besides uses this progression for about of the vocal.
  • "Like a Rolling Rock" past Bob Dylan (again, but this time for the chorus).
  • "Under Pressure" by Queen (not in the same gild, merely instead uses a common variation I-V-Four-V)
  • "Yellow Submarine" past The Beatles (again, different order, I-Five-IV-V during the verses)
  • "Buddy Holly" by Wheezer (during the first half of the chorus)

Allow's move on to some more than common chord progressions.

The I – V – VIM – IV chord progression

This is probably the most successful chord progression in the history of music. What we mean by that is that there are literally hundreds of hit songs that use this one. Once you hear how many songs use information technology, your jaw volition hit the flooring.

In C, and doing our math equally earlier, we end upwards with this chord progression chart:

Chord Progression I V VIm IV

Notice that we added a lowercase "m" to the VIm to show how the chord is minor instead of major. Like with the I-Iv-V, it is very common to mix up the society a fleck. Once more, as an instance, in the key of One thousand this would look like: G – D – Em – C, with G existence the I, D the Five, C the IV (just like earlier) and calculation the Em as the VIm.

Some songs that utilize this progression:

  • "California King Bed" by Rihanna
  • "Clean" by Taylor Swift
  • "Time to Say Goodbye" by Andrea Bocelli
  • "Cryin'" by Aerosmith
  • "Feeling This" by Blink 182
  • "I'1000 Yours" by Jason Mraz
  • "No Woman, No Cry" by Bob Marley

And literally hundreds more. There's even a Wikipedia article dedicated to list these songs. And it's incredibly flexible likewise. Notice the genres of these tunes, from R&B to popular to rock to reggae.

Finally, let's look at a minor chord progression.

The IM – BVII – BVI chord progression

As you lot may take been instructed, you can tell major and modest chords and scales autonomously by listening to whether they audio happy or sad. It probably doesn't come up as a surprise that modest chord progressions, just like minor chords, also tend to sound sad. This one is the most common of them all. With our analysis, and in this example in Am, it looks similar this chord progression chart:

Chord Progression Im bVII bVI

In the key of Grand, this would look like Gm – F – Eb – Eb. Notice how the G is now minor (considering nosotros are in a minor key), making it Im. Just similar with the previous chord progressions, information technology's not unusual to mix upwards the lodge of these chords or cull to repeat a unlike one. Here's some notable examples you've probably heard before:

  • "Stairway to Heaven" during the final section (in this verbal fundamental!)
  • "All Forth the Watchtower" past Bob Dylan (made popular by Jimi Hendrix)
  • "Dream On" by Aerosmith

Chord progressions in conclusion

These iv chord progressions nosotros've covered here today are the building blocks of a good chord progression vocabulary. These mutual chord progressions are essential to learn if yous plan on  exploring music theory. They represent a constantly growing itemize of songs and music, for a good reason. They piece of work!

Larn these popular chord progressions and know them by heart. Shortly you'll notice they start to pop up everywhere. So listen closely to every slice of music you lot come by and start exploring the ability and beauty of chord progressions.

Once yous're skilled enough and know how to work with the most essential chord progressions, similar the ones we discussed here, beginning experimenting. After all, many exciting and surprising things in music come from breaking the rules and trying out new things.