Famous Chord Progressions I-V-vi-IV

Here is another chord progression used in many songs. Simpe 1-5-6-4 formula or I-V-vi-IV. For simplicity, Let's take a look at the C major chord progression and it's sale degrees,

1(I) = C major
2(ii) =D minor
3(iii)=E minor
4(IV)=F major
5(V)= G major
6(vi)=A minor
7(vii) B diminished

Major= Indicated by a capital or uppercase roman numeral
Minor=Indicated by a lowercase roman numeral

So for this chord progression in the key of C major we'd use

1(I) = C major
5(V)= G major
6(vi)=A minor
4(IV)=F major

Here are a few songs that use this chord progression, bare in mind that they may be using it in another key.

Adele- Someone like you

Linkin Park- Numb

Red Hot Chili Peppers- Snow(hey oh)

Bush- Glycerine

Jason Mraz- I'm yours

Try apply this chord progression to every key you can think of and keep on rocking!

The Natural Minor Scale

Since we've already covered the major scale, I thought it'd be fitting to introduce the natural minor scale which is related to the major scale.

The pattern for the natural minor scale is

W, H, W, W, H, W, W

W=Whole step= tone= 2 frets
H= Half Step= semitone= 1 fret

To find the related natural minor to any major scale then you use the same notes of the major scale but starting from the 6th degree, on the major scale, as the minor scale root

C major scale

1. C
2. D
3. E
4. F
5. G
6. A
7. B
8. C

is related to the Natural A minor scale

1. A
2. B
3. C
4. D
5. E
6. F
7. G
8. A

Try applying this pattern to every key and jam on!

Famous Chord Progressions I-IV-V-I

Now that you've learned which chords you can draw from a major scale, I'm going to show you some songs that use that same major chord progression with a basic pattern; I-IV-V-I

The pattern is referring to scale degrees that you play sequence. Let's take a look at the C major chord progression and it's sale degrees,

1(I) = C major
2(ii) =D minor
3(iii)=E minor
4(IV)=F major
5(V)= G major
6(Vi)=A minor
7(vii) B diminished

Major= Indicated by a capital or uppercase roman numeral
Minor=Indicated by a lowercase roman numeral

If we apply the I-IV-V-I formula to the key of C major then we'd play

C major
F major
G major
C major

We can apply this pattern to any key and here are a few for example

Key of G= G C D G
Key of A= A D E A
Key of D= D G A D


Here are a few famous songs that use this I-IV-V-I  pattern

1. Surrender by Cheap Trick

2. Good Riddance(Time of your life) by Green Day

3. Blitzkrieg Bop By The Ramones

4. Sugar Sugar by the Archies

5. Message in a bottle by The Police

Go to your guitar and try this chord progression pattern in a couple keys. Now, GO FORTH AND ROCK!

Major Chord Progression

A chord may be built upon any note within a scale which means a seven note scale allows seven basic chords. Each degree of the scale becoming the root of its own chord in a chord progression. If we wanted to make a major chord progression then we'd used a simple pattern and apply if to any major scale; for the sake of simplicity I will start with C major. 

1. C= Tonic = Major chord
2. D= Super Tonic = Minor Chord
3. E= Mediant = Minor Chord
4. F= Sub-Dominant = Major chord
5. G= Dominant = Major chord
6. A= Sub-Mediant = Minor chord
7. B= Leading Tone = Diminished chord
8. C 

So the pattern for a major chord progression is:

1. Major
2. Minor
3. Minor
4. Major
5. Major
6. Minor
7. Diminished

You add these chord values to each scale degree starting from the root. You can apply this formula to every key there is. If you figure out the major scale in every key then you just have to remember the major chord progression formula and apply it to every key.

Here is an easy reference chart for the major chord progressions of the major scales of the natural tones.

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Below isn't necessary unless you want full understanding of how chords were chosen

If you're like me then you're probably asking, "how did they find that pattern?" Let's take the C Major scale so we could make this easy. Basically, the 1-3-5 formula used to make a major chord is used with every degree within C major while staying in C major...

C

D
E
F
G
A
B
C

The major scale in the key of C; to find the first chord we use the 1-3-5 pattern starting with C and repeat the process with entire scale to find each note we'll use. You should end up with something like this:

CEG= C Major
DFA= D Minor
EGB= E Minor
FAC= F Major
GBD= G Major
ACE= A Minor
BDF= B Diminished

Try applying this to different keys and enjoy!

Chord Construction

In my last post I introduced you to the major scale, along with leaving some patterns for others, so I could lead to chord construction. By now, I would hope that you at least tried writing up the major scale in a couple different keys. Its completely fine if you haven't yet but I'd advise to give it a try so you can confirm your understanding. 

Just like scales, chords come in many different shapes, sizes, and patterns. One of the most basic chord patterns is that of the major chord which is 1-3-5. What does the 1-3-5 mean? Those are just scale degrees(a scale degree is the name given to a particular note of a scale to specify its position relative to the tonic). Sometimes scale degrees are repeated in 2 octaves so we can add 9ths and 13ths among others.

The names of the Scale Degrees are:

1. Tonic
2. Supertonic
3. Mediant
4. Subdominant
5. Dominant
6. Submediant
7. Leading Tone

We already learned the scale degrees of the C major scale so let's apply this major chord pattern to the C Major scale.

1. C= Tonic(root)
2. D= Supertonic
3. E= Mediant
4. F= Subdominant
5. G= Dominant
6. A= Submediant
7. B= Leading Tone
8. C= Tonic( You repeat if you're going to add another octave)

If we apply the 1-3-5 pattern to the C mjor scale, we are given the notes C,E, and G. So now we'll look at the shape of a C major chord and dissect the notes the comprises the chord.

This is the C chord in it's open string position(there are many different places to play a C chord which would be playing the same tone at a higher or lower octave, depending on the position). As you probably noticed, the only notes within the C Major chord are the ones we've deduced by using the major chord pattern with it's relative scale(C major scale).

We can use this same chord pattern with it's relative scale in any key. Let's try finding a D major chord using the D major scale. The scale degrees of  D major are

1. D
2. E
3. F#
4. G
5. A
6. B
7. C#
8. D

Using the major chord patter of 1-3-5, we are left with the notes D, F#, and A. Here is the open string position for the D chord and as you can see, it only uses the notes we've just taken from the D major scale.

Here is a few of the most basic chords to learn in their open string positions. Practice each of these chords until they sound clean and transitions between the chords are fluent. The best way to practice is to play slowly and accurately. If the chords are sounding funny then play every individual string while holding the chord until you find what note you were hitting wrong and fix that note.

I hope this quick reference guide will help you along the way to finding new chords.