Saturday 20 July 2013

Understanding Chord Progressions


Understanding Chord Progressions
A common mistake beginner guitarists make is thinking that songs are made of randomly chosen chords. Almost as is every song learnt is a completely unique chord progression that has nothing in common with any other song.

When we understand that songs are made up from chords that are in a key we begin to understand song construction and how to write songs and how to work out songs by ear.
Understanding the circle of 5ths is a big help in understanding song keys.
Circle or cycle of 5ths is a fancy way of telling us to count up in 5’s. We’ll come back to that later.

Key of C the notes in this key are C D E F G A B the chords made up from these notes are:
C  Dm  Em  F  G  Am  Bdim  (simple rule: I IV V are major rest are minor except last which is diminished)

You Cant Always Get What You Want    C F
Dont Look Back In Anger  C G Am E F G C Am G  (Em has been changed to E)
God Gave Rock N Roll To You    C G Am C F  C

Common chord progressions are I IV V                                  I Vi  IV V               ii V I

Not all songs begin with a major chord. In the key of C the Am chord is the sixth chord. This is referred to as relative minor key.  
So the key of C has the same chords and notes as the key of A minor. 

Take for example :
All Along the Watchtower Am G F G 
This song is in A minor and using the IV and V chords

Key of G  
The next key in our circle of 5ths is the key of G. 
Counting 5 places from C we get CDEF    key of G.
The notes in this key are  G A B C D E F#

Chords in this key G Am Bm C D Em F#dim (again I IV V are major the rest minor and last diminished)

Take It Easy G D C    G  D C  G  again using I V and IV chords

Nine times out of ten the beginning chord tells us what key the song is in. Take a look at the following two songs and see if you can work out I IV and V chords.......confused?

Sweet Child of Mine D C G D 
Crazy Little Thing Called Love D G Cadd9

These songs are actually in key of G and start on the V chord. Many famous songs start on the V (fifth chord)


Key of D
Counting up 5 places from G we get to D
Chords in this key are D  Em F#m G A Bm C#dim

Thorn In My Side  D Dsus4 D Dsus2 D  G  A although sus4 and sus2 chords are being used they are still a variant of D so considered to be a I chord moving to G and A which are IV and IV chords.


Strong D G Em A 
Everybody Hurts D G D G 
With Or Without You  D A Bm G
Tambourine Man D Bm  G D
I Want It All (relative minor key of B minor) Bm A Bm    G D G   A G A   Bm A

Hopefully this has been an introduction to understanding chord progressions and keys.
For further progress check out the circle of fifths which takes into account sharp keys and flat keys






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