Jack of All Staves Digital Music Theory Resource Library

Basic Chord Progressions

Once you understand how diatonic scales and chords are built, it's time to work on arranging them into usable combinations. On this page are resources designed to help you understand how some common basic chord progressions are designed and some guidelines for how to build your own. Read, watch, and listen to the resources provided, and then work on recreating some of the chord progressions that you like on your keyboard!

You can either scroll down this page, or click one of the following links to jump to a particular resource:

Exploring Common Chord Progressions: Website

This website (click the image on the right) provides an overview of some common chord progressions that are used in a lot of popular music. It includes notation both notation and audio examples. Try reading through, listening, and figuring out what sorts of chord progressions appeal to you. Once you've done so, see if you can recreate those progressions on the keyboard!

Citation:

Musical U Team. (n.d.). Exploring Common Chord Progressions. https://www.musical-u.com/learn/exploring-common-chord-progressions/

Exploring Common Chord Progressions - Musical U

Diatonic Chord Progressions: YouTube Video

The first half of the video below is an excellent review of how diatonic chords are built. It includes visualization on the keyboard and with notation to see how the concepts work. About half way through the video, the speaker starts to show how to rearrange these diatonic chords into interesting progressions. Watch and listen, and then try to recreate some of the progressions that you like on your own keyboard!

Citation:

Hoffman Academy. (2017, November 25). Diatonic Chord Progressions - Piano Lesson 185 - Hoffman Academy [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCVHODUK_AQ

Hearing Common Chord Progressions: Web Application

The website linked at right shows a variety of chord progressions with Roman numeral notation. By clicking each chord of the progression, you can hear it and see it visualized on the piano diagram. Use this tool as a quick reference to hear how different arrangements of chords sound. When you find some that you like, try playing them on the piano, and seeing if you can move them into different keys using the tools on this page and the "Diatonic Chords" page!

Citation:

Muted.io. (2023). Common Chord Progressions: Interactive Piano Chart. https://muted.io/chord-progressions/

Common Chord Progressions: Interactive Piano Chart | muted.io

Popular Chord Progressions: Webpage

The website embedded below is an excellent tool for seeing how various chord progressions sound and how they're used in popular music recordings. Each progression listed can be played back for an audio reference while visually showing which chord is playing in Roman numeral notation, chord names, and notes on a keyboard diagram. They key can also be changed as desired so you can see/hear examples outside of the key of C. Beneath each progression is a list of recordings that use the given progression. If you click on any of the songs, it will take you to a separate page where you can play a portion of the song an hear how the progression (and melody!) sound in context! Definitely worth taking some time to explore to see just how prevalent many of these progressions are all over popular music!

Citation:

Hooktheory. (2023). Popular Chord Progressions. https://www.hooktheory.com/theorytab/common-chord-progressions

Axis of Awesome: YouTube

This is a fun video, but it illustrates an important point. I've had many students who feel overwhelmed with how much there is to learn in music, and that's a valid feeling. However, it's also important to realize that even getting familiar with the basics can be enough to play and write songs. This video is a mashup of over 40 different popular songs that all use the same chord progression (I - V - vi - IV). It one chord progression has worked for so many artists, it can work for us too!

Citation:

Phiddy1990. (2012, November 2). Axis of Awesome (Clean) [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTYrkOZ5nCs

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