Basic Chord Progressions
In
Lesson 3 and in
Lesson 4
I showed you some chord progressions and explained what they are and how to play them. Some chords seem to sound better than others in chord progressions, and a lot of times you will find that many songs use the same chords. Here is why.
BASIC CHORD PROGRESSIONS
BASIC CHORD PROGRESSIONS, LIKE THE BLUES PROGRESSION IN
LESSON 4,
ARE PLAYED WITH THE FIRST(I), FOURTH(IV), AND FIFTH(V)
CHORDS OF THAT GIVEN KEY. THE I CHORD IS CALLED THE "TONIC",
THE IV CHORD "SUBDOMINANT", AND THE V CHORD "DOMINANT". FOR
EXAMPLE; HERE ARE THE CHORDS CORRESPONDING TO THE KEY OF A:
|
A
|
B
|
C
|
D
|
E
|
F
|
G
|
|
I
|
II
|
III
|
IV
|
V
|
VI
|
VII
|
|
Tonic
|
|
|
Subdominant
|
Dominant
|
|
|
THE A IS THE TONIC CHORD, THE D IS THE SUBDOMINANT CHORD, AND THE
E IS THE DOMINANT CHORD. LOOK AT THE BLUES PROGRESSION EXAMPLE FROM
LESSON 4
AND NOTICE THAT ONLY VARIATIONS OF THE A, D, AND E CHORDS ARE BEING USED. WHEN MAKING UP A BLUES PROGRESSION, YOU WILL GET GOOD RESULTS USING THIS FORMULA.
PARALLEL MINOR CHORDS:
BASICALLY THIS TERM MEANS THAT IN A CHORD PROGRESSION, YOU MAY
USE THE MINOR CHORDS IN THE I, IV, & V POSITIONS AND STILL HAVE A
PROGRESSION THAT SOUNDS GOOD.
RELATED MINOR CHORDS:
AFTER READING THE EXPLANATION ABOVE ABOUT THE I, IV, V CHORD
PROGRESSIONS, YOU MIGHT HAVE LOOKED AT PROGRESSIONS #11 & #12 FROM
LESSON 4
AND ASKED "WHY ARE THERE CHORDS IN THERE THAT AREN'T IN THE I, IV, OR V POSITIONS?" HERE IS WHY. THE II, III, AND VI CHORDS CAN BE USED IN THE PROGRESSION IF THEY ARE MINOR CHORDS. IN LESSON 4, PROGRESSION 11, HERE IS WHAT YOU SEE:
|
G
|
A
|
B
|
C
|
D
|
E
|
F
|
|
I
|
II
|
III
|
IV
|
V
|
VI
|
VII
|
|
Used
|
|
|
Used
|
7th
|
Minor
|
|
AS YOU CAN SEE, THE VI CHORD WAS USED IN A MINOR KEY,
MAKING IT SOUND OK.
Note: Please do not limit yourself to these chord patterns when you make up songs. The purpose behind what I went over here is for the beginning guitarist who wants to know why certain chords tend to be used often with other chords. I urge all of my students to experiment. You will also notice that not all of
the chord progressions that I gave you follow these "rules".
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