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I-V-VI-IV progression
I-IV-V progression Recent Posts

I-VI-IV-V progression
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I-IV-VI-V progression Mayer’s Legendary Tone
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Practicing the chords
John Mayer: How a Pop Icon Can Help You
Using the capo to change keys Improve Your Guitar Skills
What are Keys and Why Should We Know
About Them?
You’d imagine that when it comes to a complex topic such as chord progressions in
music, there’d literally be millions of possible combinations. Well, there are, but when
it comes to pop music, most pop songs rehash the same common chord progressions
with maybe a different rhythm pattern, instrumental arrangement, or song structure.

So let’s take a look at ve common

chord progressions that will allow you
to play hundreds (even thousands) of
the most popular songs today. Practice
these progressions in the ve most
common guitar keys, C, A, G, E, and D
major.

The following chord progressions will be

presented in roman numerals so it’d be
easier use them in different keys. The
chart at the end of this article shows
the chords in each key.

5 Common Guitar Chord Progressions for Pop Music That …

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THE CHORD PROGRESSIONS

1. I – V -VI – IV

This might be the most popular chord progression in western pop music. There is an
actual mathematical explanation as to why it’s such a pleasant chord progression; the
quick summary is that these four chords are opposites of each other: the V chord is
the opposite of I, the vi is the opposite of V, and the IV is the opposite of vi. The
contrast between them is what makes the progression sound so good.

Songs that use this chord progression include the verse of Let it Be by The Beatles,
the entirety of No Woman No Cry by Bob Marley, the chorus of Love Someone by
Justin Bieber, the verse and chorus of Love Story by Taylor Swift, the verse of Don’t
Stop Believing by Journey, the verse of Hey Soul Sister by Train, the chorus of
Someone Like You by Adele, the verse and chorus of Collide by Howie Day, and the
list goes on and on.

2. I – IV – V

This chord progression may be considered the foundation of classic rock ‘n’ roll,
modern rock, and pop music. It is extremely common in songs from the 60s to 70s
and traces its roots all the way back to the blues. Playing these three chords in
different variations will also give you some other common progressions. A good
example is the 12 bar blues which goes I – I – I – I – IV – IV – I – I – V – IV – I – V.
Another example is I – IV – V – IV which allows us to play songs like Louie Louie by
Richard Berry, and Wild Thing by The Troggs.

An example of a song that uses the simple I – IV – V progression is the verse of

Good Riddance by Green Day, and the entirety of Stir it Up by Bob Marley. Take
some time to play around with these three chords and you’d be surprised by how
many songs you can play by simply rearranging the order of the progression.

3. I – VI – IV – V

This chord progression is also known as the 50s progression because, as its name
implies, it was very popular in the 50s. Its rise is associated with the mainstream
popularity of the doo-wop genre at the time.

Popular songs that use this progression include the entirety of Stand By Me by Ben
E. King, the verse of (All day long they work so hard…) Chain Gang by Sam Cooke,
and the verse of (Oh, my love, my darling…) Unchained Melody made popular by The
Righteous Brothers. Many modern pop songs also use the 50s progression; examples
include the entirety of Beautiful Girls by Sean Kingston, the chorus of What About
Now by Daughtry, and funnily enough, the entirety of Friday by Rebecca Black.

Learn with LPM

If you are looking to review your guitar basics like tuning, setup, reading TABS etc.
with Ze, check out his  Intro to Guitar Playing Course for Beginners. 

Learn Guitar Online | Course Preview | Guitar Essentials

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1:36 / 1:36

4. VI – IV – I – V

Beginning with a minor chord, this progression tends to sound darker or sadder than
the other four progressions.

Examples of songs that use this progression include the entirety of Cheap Thrills by
Sia, the chorus of Africa by Toto, the entirety of Apologize by OneRepublic, the verse
and chorus of Zombie by The Cranberries, and the chorus of Numb by Linkin Park.

5. I – IV – VI – V

Notice how this example is very similar to progression number 4; the only difference
is the I and vi chords are switched around. What you’ll end up with is a similar
sounding chord progression, just not as sad as progression number 4 as this last
progression begins with a major chord.

Examples include the verse and chorus of Say by John Mayer, the entirety of Magic
by B.O.B, the entirety of Escape by Enrique Iglesias, the verse and chorus of Good
Life by OneRepublic, and the intro riff of Hit Me With Your Best Shot by Pat Benatar.

Many of these songs don’t just use the same four or ve chords over the entire song.
Most of the time, they’d use a combination of different chord progressions for the
different sections of the song (verse, prechorus, chorus, etc.), but there’s a good
chance that each of the sections uses one of the ve common chord progressions.

HOW MANY CHORDS DO I HAVE TO PRACTICE?

You may have noticed by now that all of these chord progressions really only use a
different combination of four chords – the I, IV, V, and vi chord.

This means that if you learn these four chords in the ve most common guitar keys
(C, A, G, E, D), you’d be ready to play a huge number of songs. You really only have
to learn 12 chords, as every key shares some chords with the others.

My suggestion is to start with the key of G, as that’s the easiest key to play in, and
then work your way through the keys of A, C, D, and nally, E.

USING THE CAPO TO CHANGE KEYS

Now, what if a song isn’t in one of the common guitar keys?

Well, that’s where your trusty capo will help you out.

All you’ll need to do is pick the nearest common guitar key in relation to the key of
the song, and then use the capo to move those chords up to get to your target key.

Take note that the capo can only move the key up, and not down. So for example, if
the song you’re trying to play is in the key of B major, you’d use your chords from
the key of A instead of C.

The next question is, which fret should you place your capo on?

Using the example from above, if we’re going to move our A major chords into a B
major song, we need to see how many steps B is away from A. In this case, it is a
whole step away, which is two frets on the guitar.

So you’d put the capo on the second fret, and, by using the same chords, you’ll be
playing in the key of B.

Use the following diagram to calculate how many steps each note is away from each
other:
A–B^C–D–E^F–G–A

– is a whole step, meaning 2 frets away

^ is a half step, meaning 1 fret away

LAST WORD
It really isn’t that dif cult to learn how to play pop music on the guitar. As I’ve
pointed out, pop songwriters these days don’t really use that many different chord
progressions.

With these ve chord progressions, you’ll be able to play enough songs to last you
a lifetime. These progressions also show up occasionally in other genres of music,
so keep an ear out for them in your journey as an aspiring musician.

Remember, start off with the key of G, then A, C, D, and E. For those of you having
trouble with playing the chord changes, check the video above. I will demonstrate
some tips you can use to make them a lot easier.

I ii iii IV V vi vii°

C D E F G A B

G A B C D E F#

D E F# G A B C#

A B C# D E F# G#

E F# G# A B C# D#

B C# D# E F# G# A#

F# G# A# B C# D# E#

F G A Bb C D E

Bb C D Eb F G A

Eb F G Ab Bb C D

Ab Bb C Db Eb F G

Db Eb F Gb Ab Bb C

More About the Teacher

Ze rst began his journey playing original music and top

40s pop tunes around the country's popular venues.
Eventually, through the music of John Mayer, he found a
strong attraction to blues music. Ze has years of
experience teaching beginners and intermediate guitarists.
Currently with Liberty Park Music he is teaching
Introduction to Guitar Playing for Complete Beginners,
Rhythm Guitar to learn about strumming, chords and
more,  Guitar Essentials as a fast-track review course, and
lots of Song Lessons on pop and rock hits.

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5 thoughts on “Learn 5 Common Guitar Chord

Progressions and Play 100+ Songs”
Your email address will not be published. Required elds are marked with *.

bruce papp
October 17, 2016 at 5:43 pm |
Reply

brilliant article!….many thanks for making it simple

Brandon
October 18, 2016 at 2:51 am |
Reply

Thanks Bruce. Let us know if you have any questions you’d like us to help
answer, or areas you’d like to learn about. Leave a comment here, or email
askLPM@libertyparkmusic.com and we will try to get back to you as soon
as we can! Keep on learning buddy!

morgan
November 1, 2016 at 8:30 pm |
Reply

How would I know when to play a minor or a major chord in the chord
progression?

Ze
November 4, 2016 at 4:01 am |
Reply

Hi there. Thanks for the question. Whether to play a minor or major chord
really depends on the key of the song. The chart at the end of the article
shows what the 7 possible chords are in all 12 keys, so you can refer to
that chart to determine whether a major or minor chord will be
appropriate. Let me know if you want more clari cation on this!

nanoo
August 30, 2017 at 9:20 am |
Reply

It’s amazing designed for me to have a website, which is bene cial

designed for my experience. thanks admin

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