Chord Progression Lesson
A chord progression is a series of chords. Usually the progression
consists of two, three, or four chords. In this in-depth chord
progression lesson, many common progressions will be covered.
You will also learn how to create a chord progression in different
keys by learning chord theory.
The Chord Scale - The Father of the chord
progression.
In our basic
chord theory lesson, we covered chord building and chord-scale
building. Once you understand how chords and chord-scales are built,
you will be able to understand the chord progression better. Below
is a C Major Chord Scale.
This chord scale is built from the C Major Scale. The seven different
chords make up every chord in the key of C Major. (Upper Case Roman
is Major, Lower Case Roman is minor)
C is the one chord- I Major
Dm is the two - ii minor
Em is the three - iii minor
F is the four - IV Major
G is the five - V Major
Am is the six - vi minor
B diminished is the seven - vii diminished
Now that you know every chord in the key of C, we can create a
chord progression. Here are ten common progressions in the key of
C:
|
I - V
C - G
|
I - vi - ii - V
C - Am - Dm - G |
I - IV
C - F
|
I - vi - IV - V
C - Am - F - G |
I - vi
C - Am
|
I - vi - ii - vii
C - Am - Dm - Bdim |
I - IV - V
C - F - G
|
I - vi - IV - vii
C - Am - F - B dim |
I - ii - V
C - Dm - G
|
I - vi - V
C - Am - G |
Songs which use a simple chord progression (some are above):
- (I - IV - V) 'La Bamba' - Richie Valens
- (I - IV) 'You Can't Always Get' - Rolling Stones
- (IV - V - I) 'Mr. Tambourine Man' - Bob Dylan
- (I - V - vi - IV) 'Damn It!' - Blink 182
You can learn most of these chords (if you haven't already) in
our guitar
chords you must know lesson. Here are the chords not included
in that lesson:
Chord Substitutions
Now that you have played ten chord progressions in the key of C,
you might want to look for another chord progression or two. You
can do this by simply substituting a new chord for an old chord
in a progression. Here are some common chord substitutions:
| Use: |
In Place of: |
| iii - Em |
I - C |
| IV - F |
ii - Dm |
| vii - B dim |
V - G |
These chord substitutions can be substituted vice versa also! Now
you can put together 100's of progressions using only the chords
of C Major. When you want to make a chord progression in a new key,
first you need to figure out what chords are in that key. Go to
our Guitar
Chord Basics lesson which will show you step by step how to
build the chords in a new key.
Once you figure out the chords in the new key, label them I, ii,
iii, etc.. Then you can plug those new chords into the progressions
shown in this lesson!
Happy Writing!
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