When did this become the most common progression?

[brianrost]

like Dirty Little Secret, Any Way You Want It, Con Te Partiro, Let it Be, Afterlife, Beast of Burden.... and well, probably 50% of punk rock.

Well, I stopped listening to punk 40 years ago and I only have heard of and heard 3 of the songs on that short list so that makes sense.

 

[steelbed45]

I have a “dumb” question. Why are some of the Roman numerals written in lower case?

I, IV and V are dominant chords
ii, iii, vi and vii are sub dominant chords

 

[lermgalieu]

All I know is that I refuse to listen to the video that @FatStringer52 posted - I think it's the same one my son played for me and it literally drove me insane for a week.

 

[g-dude]

"how do we get out of this song?" changes of I IV.

I'll solve that problem for you. Always go to the I for a single beat, followed by a pause, and then hit it three times so that it sound like a "cha cha cha".

 

[Corigan]

So common that I have given it the shorthand of Punkbox. I play the punkbox in a lot of songs.

My friends and I call it the rockbox. I see all sorts of people using it, myself included.

 

[g-dude]

I, IV and V are dominant chords
ii, iii, vi and vii are sub dominant chords

Nope.

I / i = Tonic
ii / iio = Supertonic
iii / III = Mediant
IV / iv = Subdominant
V / v = Dominant
vi / VI = Submediant
viio / VII = Leading tone or Subtonic


Edit: Now, when you're talking about 7th chords, you can make a I, IV, V into a dominant seventh chord, but that's different than whether it is the dominant of the scale. Dominant seventh is basically describing a major triad with a minor 7th added to it, as opposed to a major seventh chord which is a major chord with a major 7th added to it.

 

[brianrost]

"how do we get out of this song?" changes of I IV.

I'll solve that problem for you. Always go to the I for a single beat, followed by a pause, and then hit it three times so that it sound like a "cha cha cha".

The all time offender IMHO is "Feelin' Alright", which gets called often at jam sessions because it's so easy to wank on. Then after 500 bars of soloing two or three bros get on the mikes and repeat the chorus over and over. The problem with such a song, seriously, is that the IV resolving to I is not as strong a resolution as V to I and there's no true cadence.

I'd have to go listen to live versions again, but both the original Traffic version and the more popular Joe Cocker version just fade out. The only way I can think of stopping gracefully is the "church ending" (plagal cadence), holding the IV for an extra bar or two before hitting the final I. Walking the bass down the roots of IV iii ii I is optional

BTW, I have to fess up that after watching the Rick Beato video (which I had seen before but forgot about) that there is one application of the I, IV, V and vi chords that I have played fairly often. It's found in a lot of southern soul songs from the 60s, and it even ties in with the I IV discussion

"Tell Mama" by Etta James is perhaps the best known. The chorus is endless I IV but the verse is:
vi V IV V played twice, then resolves back to I.

So I guess I V vi IV is just the 21st century equivalent of the 50s doo-wop changes. Since I haven't listened to contemporary pop or country since the 90s, I've missed out

Thanks for the education, guess I'll go write me some hit songs now

 

[Cave Puppy]

'90s pop is all about 1 5 6 4 - Good (better than ezra) is at least one song. I know there are several others with that pattern from the '90s I just can't think of them now.

 

[BarfanyShart]

 

[Papageno]

Nope.

I / i = Tonic
ii / iio = Supertonic
iii / III = Mediant
IV / iv = Subdominant
V / v = Dominant
vi / VI = Submediant
viio / VII = Leading tone or Subtonic


Edit: Now, when you're talking about 7th chords, you can make a I, IV, V into a dominant seventh chord, but that's different than whether it is the dominant of the scale. Dominant seventh is basically describing a major triad with a minor 7th added to it, as opposed to a major seventh chord which is a major chord with a major 7th added to it.

These are the traditional qualifiers for chords.

In functional harmony (as used for example in jazz), one usually distinguishes only 3 functions for chords (tetrads): tonic, subdominant, and dominant. In major harmony, tonic chords are those wich contain neither 4 nor 7 (the leading tone), subdominant chords contain 4 but not 7, and dominant chords contain both 4 and 7 (which form a very unstable tritone).
In C major this is:
- tonic: Cmaj7 (or C6), Em7, Am7
- subdominant: Dm7, Fmaj7
- dominant : G7, Bm7b5 (less frequent as a dominant chord), Bo7 (not diatonic in major, but frequently used as a rootless altered dominant, i.e G7b9 without the G).

Chords of a given family can be easily substituted to each other without changing their functional role in the harmonic progression (because they share 3 chord tones).

 

[g-dude]

These are the traditional qualifiers for chords.

In functional harmony (as used for example in jazz), one usually distinguishes only 3 functions for chords (tetrads): tonic, subdominant, and dominant. In major harmony, tonic chords are those wich contain neither 4 nor 7 (the leading tone), subdominant chords contain 4 but not 7, and dominant chords contain both 4 and 7 (which form a very unstable tritone).
In C major this is:
- tonic: Cmaj7 (or C6), Em7, Am7
- subdominant: Dm7, Fmaj7
- dominant : G7, Bm7b5 (less frequent as a dominant chord), Bo7 (not diatonic in major, but frequently used as a rootless altered dominant, i.e G7b9 without the G).

Chords of a given family can be easily substituted to each other without changing their functional role in the harmonic progression (because they share 3 chord tones).

So what you're saying is that what I wrote was correct, what you wrote is correct...and the post that I responded to was incorrect.

Works for me.

 

[Snarf]

Seems like every Interwebz instruction site states this is the most common progression in music:

I V vi IV

When I started playing it sure seemed that the I vi IV V progession (with or without a bridge or ii replacing IV) was a lot more common overall if you looked back to music from the 1920s up until the 1960s.

While I have never played a lot of rock, I never have played a song on stage using the I V vi IV changes, but plenty of variations on I IV V and I bVII V, vi V IV (with or without iii) and of course the old standby "how do we get out of this song?" changes of I IV.

This is a serious question, BTW.

Innarwebzz is getting to the point where the most common chord progression is Giant Steps due to all the hot, hot memes.

Edit: Scrolled up a little bit to see where this thread went, and yup, I see obligatory music theory pissing contest. Never change, Talkbass, never change.

 

[Malcolm1935]

Three chord wonders were I-IV-V for ever, then we started seeing some other flavor and or passing chords being added. And it's here that the VI got added.

Once other chords were OK the ii and iii started being used. The old tried and true IMO is still the I-IV-V or all three with a b7 added.

The ii-V-I has been used in jazz forever.

My two cents.

 

[mambo4]

I see obligatory music theory pissing contest.

Not 100% True: our current system of even tempered western pissing contest was formulated in the 1700s.
Ancient Greek pissing contests used just intonation.

 

[ElectroVibe]

I–V–vi–IV progression - Wikipedia

If you click next to the Year column you can see the songs in ascending or descending order.

 

[longfinger]

When I started playing it sure seemed that the I vi IV V progession (with or without a bridge or ii replacing IV) was a lot more common overall if you looked back to music from the 1920s up until the 1960s.

That is probably accurate. The 1-6-4-5 is more common in the 50s-60s rock n roll along with the 1-4-5.

Perhaps the 1-5-6-4 gets more popular in the 70s 80s and up to now 2020s. And of course variations of of it... 6-4-1-5 ; 4-1-5-6; 5-6-4-1 etc. It seems that these make up the bulk of pop-rock-country in the last 40 years.

Of course, latin "salsa" is all about the 1-4-5-4-1. (Add in the common 1-5-5-1)

 

[longfinger]

These are the traditional qualifiers for chords.

In functional harmony (as used for example in jazz), one usually distinguishes only 3 functions for chords (tetrads): tonic, subdominant, and dominant. In major harmony, tonic chords are those wich contain neither 4 nor 7 (the leading tone), subdominant chords contain 4 but not 7, and dominant chords contain both 4 and 7 (which form a very unstable tritone).
In C major this is:
- tonic: Cmaj7 (or C6), Em7, Am7
- subdominant: Dm7, Fmaj7
- dominant : G7, Bm7b5 (less frequent as a dominant chord), Bo7 (not diatonic in major, but frequently used as a rootless altered dominant, i.e G7b9 without the G).

Chords of a given family can be easily substituted to each other without changing their functional role in the harmonic progression (because they share 3 chord tones).

Just a little correction to this good post.

For functional harmony the term is "pre-dominant", not "subdominant".

Subdominant is the name of the IV chord, the chord below the dominant.
Pre-Dominant is the Function of the chord that is before the dominant (hence "pre") (eg. IV, or ii)

 

[Papageno]

Just a little correction to this good post.

For functional harmony the term is "pre-dominant", not "subdominant".

Subdominant is the name of the IV chord, the chord below the dominant.
Pre-Dominant is the Function of the chord that is before the dominant (hence "pre") (eg. IV, or ii)

You're absolutely right. I'm aware of the point you make. However, a number of authors (e.g., Mulholland and Hojnacki in the Berklee Book of Jazz Harmony) use also the word subdominant in the sense of pre-dominant function (i.e. not only for chord IV), in the same way as the word tonic is also used to note the tonic function (i.e. not only chord I). That might seem confusing at first, but usually the context makes clear whether the words tonic, or subdominant refer to the chord's function or the chord's degree. I believe in my post, I was quite clear about the distinction between degree and function.

In the similar way, depending on context, the word dominant may refer to the chord degree (i.e. V in major), or chord quality (e.g. chords I7, IV7 in blues), or to chord function (e.g. secondary dominants). The context usually makes clear what is meant (unless it is not clear in the author's mind...).

 

[Jazz Ad]

When I started playing it sure seemed that the I vi IV V progession (with or without a bridge or ii replacing IV)

With ot without II

 

[chris_b]

Do chord progressions really matter? They are just a method of delivering the melody and hooks, that make the song.