Devon Guitar Lessons

The Most Common Chord Progressions

by Allen Hopgood

All the songs you play on your guitar have certain chord patterns. These chord patterns are known as chord progressions. A chord progression is a series of two or more chords played one after the other. Although some chord progressions can be quite complex, you will notice, through learning, listening to and playing many songs, there are certain patterns that occur quite often. These patterns have been proven to work well together in many different musical styles.

To begin hearing these patterns and getting them into your ear and under your fingers, let’s look at two of the most common progressions used in many songs, styles and genres. By studying the chord progressions below and playing them with a variety of strumming and picking patterns, you will soon discover that by listening to your favourite music or songs on the radio you’ll hear these patterns (chord changes) being played.

When playings songs, the chords that are used are commonly referred to as being in a particular key. A key is simply a group of notes and/or chords that when played together sound harmonious. When playing chord progressions, each chord is referred to as an interval in relation to the root or one chord.

You can refer to these intervals as the first, second, third, fourth etc. However, when they are written down, they are written as Roman numerals I, ii, iii, IV etc.

For example in the Key of C, the chords are:

I ii iii IV V vi vii I

C Dm Em F G Am Bdim C

Above the chords in the diagram above, you can see the Roman numerals that tell you what each chord is in relation to the C chord. Take note, that all major chords are written in an upper case font – I, IV, V. While the minor chords are written in a lower case font – ii, iii, vi. The 7th chord, the diminished chord, is also written in a lower case font – vii. The diminished chord is seldom used in most pop, rock, blues songs though.

Let’s look now at the first most common chord progression. The I – IV change. Play through the examples below with any strumming pattern you like and take note of what the I chord is and what the IV chord is for the respective keys. Saying the chord names and their interval name out loud as you change the chords will help you to retain this information quicker.

Key of C
I IV
||: C / / / | C / / / | F / / / | F / / / :|| Key of G
I IV
||: G / / / | G / / / | C / / / | C / / / :||

Key of D
I IV
||: D / / / | D / / / | G / / / |G / / / :||
Key of A
I IV
||: A / / / | A / / / | D / / / |D / / / :||

Now you know the I – IV change let’s turn our attention to the second most common chord progression, the I – V change. Again use any strumming pattern you like. Better still, use every strumming pattern you know through the changes. I’m sure you’ll start hearing some familiar song sections.

Key of C
I V
||: C / / / | C / / / | G / / / |G / / / :|| Key of G
I V
||: G / / / | G / / / | D / / / |D / / / :||

Key of D
I V
||: D / / / | D / / / | A / / / |A / / / :||
Key of A
I V
||: A / / / | A / / / | E / / / |E / / / :||

Once you are comfortable with the above chord progressions try playing them over 2 measures instead of 4 measures like this:
I IV
||: C / / / | F / / / :||

You will likely hear them played in songs like this too:

I IV I IV
||: C / F / | C / F / :||

Or similar to this:
I V I V
||: C / G / | C / G / :||

Play these chord progressions over and over many times with all of the strumming patterns and picking patterns you know to really lock them into your ear and memory. Then start listening to your favourite songs to hear the patterns. There are thousands of songs in all styles and genres that utilise these two chord progressions in the intro, verse, chorus and bridge sections. Have fun discovering them.
The author Allen Hopgood, is a professional guitar teacher from Gold Coast, Australia. Having played guitar since 1983, he has played alongside some of the Australian music industry’s biggest names.