Chord Progressions

Chord Progressions

Most of Western music, especially pop, rock, blues, jazz, and classical, is built on sequences of chords.

There are some chord progressions which are used in lots and lots of different songs – they have been tried and tested in many different styles and will work.

A chord progression is a mere skeleton of a song. Everything that you build up around it is meant to decorate, highlight, and enhance the bare bones.

Common Chord Progressions

Three-chord progressions

• [1] [4] [5] [5]
• [1] [1] [4] [5]
• [1] [4] [1] [5]
• [1] [4] [5] [4]

Blues changes
[1] [1] [1] [1]
[4] [4] [1] [1]
[5] [4] [1] [1]

Pachelbel’s Canon
[1] [5] [6] [3] [4] [1] [4] [5]

Heart and Soul / Ice Cream Changes
[1] [6] [4] [5]

The Four Chords
[1] [5] [6] [4]