popular chord progressions and example songs

[goolimari]

Hello all,

I listen to a lot of music, (LOTS, really..),but most of the listening is passive....ever since i've picked up the bass, i have realized the need to actively listen to what's happening and what the players are playing..the first chord progression i learnt was the blues I IV V, and even though i have been listening to blues for like five ears now, it was only recently that i actively heard and anticipated the changes and it felt good!

so my question is, what are the most popular chord changes used in modern music, and more importantly, for each of the chord progression, can i have an example song, so that i can listen to it and 'internalise' the changes..

i am quite sure this will take my bass playing the the next level!

-thanks

-gooli

[Depth_Charge]

Blink 182's "All The Small Things" uses a CGF progression

[BassChuck]

A lot of pop songs for decades have used progressions that are variations of The Blues. My suggestion would be to explore the blues completely. This will give you a valueable background to the majority of pop music. After that understanding what ii7 (or IV) to V7 is all about unlocks other doors.

There are so many books and websites that it will be very easy to find helpful matterial. I would suggest that you check out www.jazzbooks.com to get a ton of really fine stuff. Very Jazz/Blues oriented, but worth it.

[Deacon_Blues]

I started learning the same thing, i.e. the major chords I, IV and V and how they sound related to each other. Next step was to learn to identify also the minor chords ii, iii and vi in the same way. Most pop music are made up using mainly these six "basic chords", but it's far from unusual to put in some other diatonic or non-diatonic chords, or write songs another modes than the ionian. To identify those ones are the following step. Most common other modes I assume are dorian (minor, example: "Evil Ways" by Santana) and mixolydian (major, example: "Sweet Home Alabama" by Lynyrd Skynyrd).

I have never actively practiced ear training, it has come pretty naturally by transcribing songs for my bands' repertoires, by playing along to records and by an interest in a wide range of music. I'm far from full-learned in this but I've come pretty far nevertheless, I think. It has taken me roughly 12 years to get to the point where I am now, but I think it's possible to learn these things way quicker if you're focused on it and study hard.

[troy2003]

the I vi IV V is a popular one-Every Breathe You take uses this in the verse

[liltommyg]

The I VI IV V is also in "Stand by Me"

[lowb1970]

Originally Posted by Depth_Charge

Blink 182's "All The Small Things" uses a CGF progression

+1

[ARCtrooper225]

i-VI-III-VII (Am-F-G-C) seems to be popular (and overused to an extent).
If you are an RHCP/John Frusciante fan, you'll find he uses F-C-Dm A LOT in his songs (scar tissue,by the way, dani california, just to name a few that most would know)

[middy]

Of course, there's always the beloved I-V-vi-iii-IV-I-IV-V.

[mambo4]

Originally Posted by ARCtrooper225

i-VI-III-VII (Am-F-G-C) seems to be popular (and overused to an extent).

Sorry to be nit picking, but you probly meant i-VI-VII-III(Am-F-G-C)

Also, I'd tend to consider it a vi-IV-V-I in the key of C -but it depends on what comes next.

[stedtale]

Originally Posted by middy

Of course, there's always the beloved I-V-vi-iii-IV-I-IV-V.

The Mountains Win Again?

[Liko]

Originally Posted by stedtale

The Mountains Win Again?

Pachelbel's Canon. D-A-Bm-F#m-G-D-G-A

The link is to Rob Paravonian's sketch on this rather popular progression:

Rob Paravonian at Penn State

You may notice a pattern here.

Seriously, there is some chord theory to be learned here. For each pitch in any 7-tone scale (major, minor, any mode) you can construct a triad with the note two notes higher and the note four notes higher within that scale. For instance, in the key of C major, you can construct the following 135triads based on notes in the key of C:

CEG (Cmaj)
DFA (Dmin)
EGB (Emin)
FAC (Fmaj)
GBD (Gmaj)
ACE (Amin)
BDF (Bdim)

Let us examine these chords. CEG is the natural chord of the tonic (root) of the C major scale. It is, by definition, a C major triad (R-M3-P5). If you play FAC and GBD, you will notice that those chords are also major. These three chords are known respectively as the I, IV, and V chords. They are the three major chords in any major key. If you were to look at the circle of fifths and find C, you'll discover that F is the next letter counterclockwise, while G is the next clockwise letter. This is the fastest way to find the IV and V chords of any key, and just one of the many uses of the circle of fifths.

Now, let's look at the chords based on the second, third, and sixth. They have the same interval between third and fifth, however the third is flat; it's a minor chord. These are the ii, iii, and vi chords. If you're playing in a major key and want a minor sound, play these chords and you won't sound like you've changed keys (because you haven't).

The last chord is special. It is the 7th, 2nd and 4th. It's special because it's the only triad in each key that contains both of the half-steps naturally found in the major scale (between the 7th and root and the 3rd and 4th). It's the diminished chord, also known as the tritone because there are a total of three half steps between each note in the chord.

These seven chords, I-ii-iii-IV-V-vi-<vii>, make up the natural major progression. Pachelbel's canon uses 5 out of these 8 chords: I-iii-IV-V-vi. The second is sometimes heard in songs in major keys; the seventh rarely so. Probably 80% of major chord progressions in pop music use some combination of the 5 chords in Pachelbel's Canon.

Now, the natural minor scale is the 6th mode of the major. Amin is the same key signature as Cmaj. Therefore, the progression through natural chords is similar, but you start two steps back:

i-<ii>-III-iv-v-VI-VII

Notice that in a minor key, the root, fourth and fifth are minor. This makes the root, fourth and fifth of any major or minor key a very powerful progression, as the quality of those three chords is always the same.

[timmbass]

I use some ear training software named Earope:

http://www.cope.dk/english/

That includes chord progressions as a part of their training.

You basically pick if you want to hear intervals, scales, chords, inversions, or chord progressions. Then you pick which ones you want to include in the training/testing, then it plays those and you pick which ones you think it is and if you are correct it beeps and moves on to the next, and if you are wrong it buzzes and you have to pick again.

It is ok software, I don't use it as much as I wish I did, and I have not used the chord progression part of it.

Here is a fairly good webpage for chord progressions:

http://www.accessrock.com/Songwritin...rogression.asp

Here is an interesting page on overused progressions:

http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=706650

You might find this helpful:

http://www.angelfire.com/fl4/moneychords/lesson.html

And of course there is the book titled "Hearin' the Changes" that is discussed here:

http://groups.google.com/group/rec.m...e=UTF-8&rnum=1

[David Lansen]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chord_p..._popular_music

with examples

[funkybassinator]

I-iii-VII-VI seems to be in every other song i listen to.

[remo]

D - A - Bm - G

[WJGreer]

Here is an interesting article that John Mayer wrote for Esquire Magazine. He discusses the Minor 6-4-1-5 progression, and how it has become ubiquitous in modern popular music.

[stedtale]

Originally Posted by Liko

Pachelbel's Canon. D-A-Bm-F#m-G-D-G-A

who's Pachelbel?

[goolimari]

Pachelbel Rant - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdxkVQy7QLM

[DocBop]

Originally Posted by stedtale

who's Pachelbel?

I don't know but he's hired a law firm to start suing everyone for plagiarism.

That's why I stick to Jazz. As Shelly Manne said... We never play anything the same way once.