7 super common chord progressions and why they work

this video is sponsored by hook theory today we're going to take a look at seven of the most

common

chord

progressions

that you'll find particularly in pop music. Let's take a look at how

they

sound why

they

sound that way. They do and they usually give you a good set of examples of songs that use this

chord

progression to make it easier to hear it in other examples, so let's probably start with the chord progression that you guys are thinking of right now, which are the famous four chords. of pop music is sometimes called axis progression because the axis of awesome made it a musical joke.

My life is brilliant. My love is pure. I saw an angel. I'm sure it's there. You've already heard it. Lots of examples of songs using this progression, particularly in music, I would say that after the 1980s onwards, it became increasingly popular to use this chord progression and perhaps that popularity peaked in the late 1980s. 2000s and early 2010s, it's hard to say exactly what I feel. It's actually less

common

today than it was 10 years ago, but there are tons of songs that use this progression and it's a really cool progression to loop, which is why it's used so often when it's used in a song, it will repeat. for an extended period of time, potentially for the entire song, the reason it

work

s so well in my opinion is that we start with the root chord and then we get as far away from that root chord as we can, we move to the fifth chord of the song. key that introduces tension and movement, now we need to go somewhere, we can't just stay here, so if we wanted to finish things, we would go back to one and now we sound complete, but that would be a bit boring, so more like.

Instead of going back to one after the fifth chord, we go to six, which offers a different kind of resolution, not full resolution, and then instead of stopping here because again it would be boring, we now introduce a little more attention going to the four chord. Now, the four chord, like the five chord, doesn't necessarily feel resolved, it doesn't want to stay here, so we have to go back somewhere and that brings us back to the single chord when I find myself in moments of trouble. It doesn't matter, I'll find someone like you in a small town.

The next chord progression we're going to talk about is actually a chord progression closely related to the first progression we talked about. This is 6 4 1 5 and why it is closely related. Related is as you may have noticed, it's actually the exact same chord progression as the first, but starting with the sixth chord, it instead becomes a sort of minor version, a minor key version of that famous four chord progression. . and in fact, in that amazing sketch axis from that famous video, they use the fact that these two chord

progressions

are related to the segway in the other progression to make their song list even longer.

This chord progression

work

s for the same reasons that the other chord progression we looked at works, it's just a great balance of tension and release that allows you to continue hanging around indefinitely if you want, I personally prefer this one to the first one. I feel like it has a slight, it's kind of more dramatic in a way, yeah, like we're saying that the first chord, a minor, in this case provides a resting point, the fourth chord introduces some tension, the only chord resolve that tension, but instead of staying resolved, we then go to our most tense chord. the dominant chord that forces the chord progression to continue, so we end up in this perfectly looped chord progression that can continue if necessary for as long as possible the next chord progression actually has a set name, it's weird that chord progressions have an a The Andalusian cadence is a chord progression originally associated at least with the flamenco music of Spain, which is why it has the name Andalusian cadence.

Andalusia is the southern region of Spain, but of course it's not only used in flamenco music, it's used in a wide range of other styles of music and the great thing about this chord progression is that it just has that descending feeling, it's a clear descending progression, beginning with chord one in the minor key, the flat seven. flat six chord and then the five chord and we're getting the major version of the five chord, um, which helps us get back to the one to continue the loop and the way I think about sunlight today, so happy together next.

The chord progression is actually very similar to the Andalusian cadence, it's just the last chord that has differed, so we're still starting with the minor chord, moving to the flatted seventh, moving to the flatted six, but instead of then go to chord five to return. up to the flat seventh, I like to call this chord progression aeolian vamp because in these three chords it effectively paints us in that aeolian color, the natural minor, and it has a less directional sound, I would say, than the Andalusian cadence because it doesn't get those five chords, the five chords undeniably want us to come back, but by avoiding those five chords we remain in a more floating space where we don't necessarily have to go home if we don't want to, wherever you are, oh, every musician can.

He benefits from being able to know how to play a song just by ear, while ear training can sometimes feel like learning a new language. It doesn't have to be so difficult. Hook Theory just released a really fun and effective ear training game called Chord Crush. Chord Crush will play you a chord progression in which only some of the chords are revealed to you and you will have to use your ears to identify the missing chords, even if you have never detected the chords by ear before Chord Crush introduces you to them. absolute basic and then.

The difficulty will increase as you progress for a limited time. You can get a 20 percent discount on an annual premium subscription. Subscribe today at Hook Theory dot com. Forward slash David Bennett. This next chord progression is sometimes called doo-wop changes or 50s chord progression. It starts with one chord, goes to the sixth chord, the fourth chord and the fifth chord and is called do-op changes or 50s chord progression. 50s chords because it was very common in 50s duo music, you can imagine it fits very well into that style. Isn't that right, but it's used across the entire range of styles, as you'll see in a minute?

Why is this chord progression so effective? I think it's just a perfect little journey from tonic back to tonic, so we begin. on our tonic one chord, then we move on to the sixth chord, which is still a resolved sound, it doesn't sound like we now have to move anywhere, so the first two chords are different types of resolved feeling, but then the four chord. the subdominant introduces a little bit of tension and then the v chord the dominant introduces another load of tension which forces us to go back to the beginning to continue the loop um now sometimes this chord progression is mistakenly known as a moon chord progression blue being blue moon a famous song that supposedly uses this chord progression but in reality it is not, blue moon uses the two chords instead of the iv, which is a very similar progression in d minor, in this case it would be our two chords , which is very similar to our four chord, which would be if they just have one different note, they both serve a subdominant function in the key, so both the blue moon progression and the doo-wop progression are very similar, but It is important to remember that they are not. earth angel identical earth angel you will be mine happiness is baby baby generally speaking, the three most important chords of the key are the tonic chord, one, the four chord, the subdominant chord and the fifth chord of the key, which is the dominant chord with just those three. chords you can create a whole sensation of movement the tonic is our home the subdominant is a place far from home but I don't necessarily long to return immediately but then the five really wants to return it is a point of tension so the combination of these three chords gives us three different tones of tension that allow for that feeling of movement, so there are many songs written just using those three chords and many chord progressions based on just those three chords.

One that I want to show you now is a Chord progression that starts on chord one moves to chord five, then goes down to chord four, and then goes back up to chord five. It sounds a very major scale. They are all major keys on all major chords. It sounds very optimistic, isn't it very happy? But yes, once again. This chord progression is used in a wide range of styles and can serve as a really simple but effective foundation to stick with the sounds of the major scale. It's the last chord progression I want to talk about, it's what I would call the mixolydian vampire.

It's a Chord Progression where basically through three chords we basically paint ourselves into that Mixolydian sound, so we start with the root chord in this example f, then we go to the flat version of the seventh chord, which is E flat, then we go to the four B flat chords and then we go back to one and this is enough to give us that mixolydian sound because the mixolydian is exactly the same as the major scale but with the flat of 7 degrees, so the first chord establishes our base of operations , the root of the key. If the second chord immediately gives us that Mixolydian sound by introducing the flat seven, then the B flat gives us somewhere else to go and then we come home, it also has a very satisfying sound because between the flat seven the four and the Te you are moving in the same interval, a fourth or a fifth, depending on your point of view.

So effectively, you could imagine it moving around the circle of fifths. These chords are very closely related and I think it results in a kind of epic. Open sounding chord progression, oh it's so much freedom, you gotta give what you take and a big thank you, as always, to everyone who supports me on Patreon, including a very special thank you to them.