Common progressions in popular music

I thought I'd go over various chord progressions used in popular music with this post. Chord progressions are one of the fundamental aspects of western music and being familiar with chords and how move in progressions is very important. I know some people are thinking, why learn this or isn't better to just sit down with a keyboard/guitar and mess around until something interesting comes. Of course you can do that, but most of the time when people do that they end up reinventing the wheel needlessly. There is a reason why some chord progressions are popular. They sound good and bring about an emotion in people. A good reason to learn about chord progressions is that they allow you to invoke an emotion in people while still allowing you enough room to express yourself and be creative. For example Bob Marley's "No woman, no cry" and Journey's "Don't stop believing" use the same chord progression, but I doubt anyone would say they sound the same. Anyway, on to the good stuff.

I'm going to use Roman numerals for chords. For example I, ii, iii,IV, V, vi, viidim. In C this would be C major, D minor, E minor, F major, G major A minor and B diminished. Uppercase numerals are major chords, lower case are minor and diminished chords are indicated by dim and augmented chords by aug. They might also have 7, 7(#9),sus, ect added to indicate any additions to the basic chord.

The Emotional Girl Chord progression(I-V-vi-IV)

I heard this progression called this once and although I don't agree completely it's as good a name as any. This chord progression is used in hundreds of pop, rock, and folk songs. In the key of C the chords would be C-G-A minor-F. For me the appeal of this progression is that it's a bit emotionally neutral. It can be happy without being too sweet and syrupy or cool without being sad and depressing. It's not as overpowering as some other progressions and can work in a variety of styles without sounding out of place.

The Blues chord progression(I7-IV7-I7-V7-IV7-I7-V7)

There are a million variations of this, but I'm sure everyone reading this is familiar with the sound. The great thing about the blues is that it can be used is so many ways. It can be slow and sad or fast and raunchy. There is a whole genre of music based on this chord progression, enough said. This progression is also common in classic rock music. Every musician should know this by heart.

 

The Minor blues chord progression (i-iv-i-VI7-V7-i-V7)

As with the above, there are tons of variations on this progression. This is a sadder darker version of the normal blues progression. If you want something really sad and emotional, try this progression. For extra emotion try this with a  slow 12/8 time signature.

 

The Andalusian chord progression(i-bVII-bVI-V) or (i-bVII-bVI-bVII)
This is used in tons of hard rock songs. This is another minor chord progression, but it's not really that sad IMO, it's more aggressive and sometimes angry. This progression makes me want to walk down the street wearing a jean jacket and sunglasses. Lots of 80s hard rock and metal bands used this and often times instead of full chords they'll just use power chords. Many older songs use this also. It's extremely popular.

 

The Square chord progression (I-IV-V)

I'm calling this the square chord progression because it's old and not very hip. In fact it's a few hundred years old and is the basis for a lot of classical music. Despite it's age you still hear it quite often. It's a classic in a sense, so you'd be wise not to over look it. This is a very upbeat and happy progression that can work in a few different types of music.

 

The Reverse Square progression (V-IV-I)

 This is a little higher on the cool factor. This isn't too popular now, but it's quite common in classic rock. This progression sounds happy without being too sweet and weak sounding. It reminds me a bit of country music and gives this a "down home" sort of feel. Well it least that's what it makes me think of.

I hope that was useful and don't worry there is more to come. I'll be going over more progressions that I hope will help you make better music. As always leave some comments below and if you have an idea or something you want me to answer, feel free to ask.

part 2