Do All Chords Go Together
The chords that are in the same key will be the chords that are most effective when played together. As an example, the notes G, Em, C, and D will all function together since they are all in the key of G. After that, you may utilize link chords to switch between keys!
Different Types Of Chord Progressions
There are many different types of chord progressions on piano that belong to different styles of music. Chord progressions can be used to analyze and make harmonic reductions of any style of music, from any time period. Musicians often use chord progressions as a short hand, to make their audience feel certain things. For instance, a composer might want their music to sound like classical music, or the blues, or contemporary pop music. Understanding basic chord progressions is the simple way to do this.
Read on to learn some of the more popular chord progressions.
Best Piano Chord Progressions
The piano is a beautiful instrument. It sounds great on its own, and it sounds great in orchestras and bands too.
Guitar sometimes gets all the attention in mainstream music, but the truth is, as youre about to see, pop and rock music simply wouldnt be what it is today without the piano.
In this guide, well be looking specifically at some of the best piano chord progressions you can find, along with examples for each!
But first, if it’s your aim to do music professionally, you’ll want to check out our free ebook while it’s still available:
Free eBook: Discover how real independent musicians like you are making $4,077 – $22,573+ monthly via Youtube, let me know where to send the details:
Read Also: Play Fur Elise On Piano
The Notes And Chords Of The Major Scale
The purpose of this section is to give you a guideline for understanding why some chords seem to go better together than others.
Moreover, understanding the notes of the major scale as well as the chords will help you become a better player and a more informed musician in general. It has the added benefit of helping your improvisation skills as well.
Right away, we should start off by outlining the notes and chords of the C Major Scale which are the following:
C, D, E, F, G, A, B, and C again.
Those are the notes of the C Major scale.
The chords of the major scale are the following:
I, ii, iii, IV, V, vi, viiø
The large roman numerals mean that the scale degree is major, the lower-case roman numerals mean that the scale degree is minor and then the lower-case roman numeral with the little ø beside it means that its a diminished triad.
There is also the 3 chord in the minor scale, III+, which means that its augmented, in addition to other chords that have the little 7 over top of it, which signifies that its a dominant 7th chord.
Lets construct triad chords using the notes of the C Major scale.
I, ii, iii, IV, V, vi, viiø
C Major = I
B Half-Diminished = viiø
How To Find Minor Chords
Minor chords are the opposite of major chords. Its the yin and the yang. The happy and the sad. So, if major chords use the 4-3 rule, minor chords use the 3-4 rule. So, major chords are Boom 4-3 and minor chords are Boom 3-4.
So, for minor chords, we would do the exact same thing as for major chords, but simply count 3 notes first, then 4 notes. A video example is here. Does this make sense to you now?
At this point, Im going to give you the cheat sheets, because in reality, when were playing songs, we have to have these chords memorized otherwise it would take us forever to figure out every chord of the song.
Why Piano Chords Are King
So whats the big deal with chords?
Well, chords are what allow us to harmonize, form melodies, and write cadences that end a song in a satisfying way.
The presence of chords may not be immediately obvious when you look at a piece of music, but once you learn how to identify them, youll start to see chords everywhere. For example, take a look at the sheet music for Someone You Loved by Lewis Capaldi.
As you can see, in the first measure, all the notes of the melody belong to the D chord . And in the second measure, most of the notes hail from the A chord .
Another good thing about chords is you dont necessarily need to know how to read sheet music in order to use them.
Well run over piano chords in detail in this article. But first, lets review what intervals are.
What Piano Chords Work Well Together
But What Makes A Chord Minor
Chords are made of three or more notes from the same scale. A basic chord of three notes, or triad, uses the first, third, and fifth notes from a scale.
A major chord consists of three notes:
A minor chord, on the other hand, uses the same 1st and 5th notes as the major chord, but the 3rd is lowered or flattened by a half step or semitone.
A flat note uses the little symbol. Major chords are said to have major thirds in them, but minor chords use minor thirds.
Its the small change in the third interval that makes it sound minor. In minor chords, the 3rd note is now closer to the all-important 1st note.
You can see this on the keyboard diagram below.
When we hear it, it creates tension, or dissonance.
What Notes On The Piano Sound Good Together
In popular music, the G, C and D chords are frequently used, and the numbers will be added later on some of the most well-known ones. Additionally, it is not very difficult to learn or understand these songs, and they are able to sound really good together. Do you know the piano chords in rkey chords go together?
Add Another Fourth Chord
Far from all guitarists knows that it’s possible to add yet another major chord which tones is partly outside the key. These chords are even far away from the key since its relative minor is not in the key as was the case above. Therefore, it will be more important where you put this second non-diatonic chord in sequences to make it sound great otherwise, it could be too much dissonance. Here are some sequences that include this non-diatonic chord together with diatonic chords:
B â D#m â E â G#m These four-parts groups are, among other things, great when creating verses in songs. You mustn’t use all four in every progression, or in this particular order. Look at the groups as resources from which you can combine two, three or four chords together.If you want to go more into depth, see the 500 Guitar Chord Progressions ebook.
What To Practice
It may be intimidating to figure out exactly what to practice. If youre new to chords, here are some basics to get you started:
Solid and Broken
You can use solid and broken routines to practice a sequence of diatonic chords, a sequence of inversions, or even a pop progression.
Solid practice is when you play a sequence of chords with all the notes together.
Broken practice is when you play a sequence of chords with the notes apart.
Practicing diatonic chords like this is helpful because it hammers in the concept. When youre familiar with all the chords of a certain key, youll have faster access to the tools you need to play songs and improvise.
And when it comes to inversions, practicing them broken and solid will get you used to the different chord shapes.
Chord Transitions
Main article: Change Chords Faster on the Piano
One way to practice inversions is to break them down into single transitions. Practice transitioning from root position to 1st inversion a few times, then 1st inversion to 2nd inversion, then 2nd inversion back to root position.
There are tons of combinations you can use to transition using inversions. This can feel intimidating, so we suggest focusing on a few key progressions that are common:
Learn Different Progressions
While the 1-5-6-4 pop and 2-5-1 jazz progressions are handy, to really understand chords, it helps to know a variety of progressions.
Here are some progression routines to check out:
Practice Something Other Than C Major!
What Do I Do Now
Now that youve learned fundamentals of writing chord progressions, the next step is to practice. Take what youve learned and go practice writing!
I recommend having dedicated sessions that focus on writing chord progressions. This will allow you to dive deeply into the topic, helping you strengthen and sharpen your songwriting skills.
For simplicities sake, Ive kept our options quite limited for this article. In reality, professional songwriters will break many of the rules Ive laid out.
This leads to my last rule: trust your ears.
If you dont know why a chord fits, but it does, leave it! Just like youd experiment with a new synth, play around with the chords in your piano roll and try out new ideas. In the end, always go with what sounds best.
On top of that, always try looking and see if you can get access to the MIDI of your favourite songs. Heres a great pack from Basic Wavez with 50 of the most famous EDM Chord Progressions in MIDI format.
Lastly, if you want to learn about chord progressions used by artists such as Flume and Madeon, check out my Track Breakdown article series.
Any questions? Email me at .
Want this entire article summed up in a one page PDF?
Download the free Chord Progression Cheat Sheet. Its a one-page guide containing all the essentials youll need to write a catchy chord progression.
Connor O’Brien
CONTENT
Piano Chord Progressions Everyone Should Know
The piano chord progressions on the following list can be used in any of the 12 major keys. For simplicitys sake, our list of chord progressions below is shown both in Roman numerals and in the key of C Major, as an example. .
In each genre of music, there are specific chord progressions that are commonly used and well loved. Below, youll learn seven of the most common piano chord progressions from jazz, gospel, blues, and more! Looking for more help with piano chords? Check out this video tutorial:
What Are The 4 Chords In Every Pop Song
The I, V, vi, and IV chords in a major key are the most well-known four chords in pop song progressions, and they are utilized in many popular songs. When we begin a chord with the roman numerals, we are starting from the numbers of the major scale . For example, in the key of C major, this would be C, D, Emin, C in the key of G major, this would be G D, Emin, C and so on.
Where Do Chords Get Their Names
Now that you know what chords are, lets learn about more about where chords get their names.
If youve only ever seen chords listed on sheet music, you might be puzzled. They look like clusters of notes. How can you identify them? And if youve seen chord notation, you might still be wondering what the difference is between a C, Cminor, Csus, C7, and so on.
Well get into the different kinds of chords in the next section, but for now well look at letter notation for chords. All those different chords I mentioned just now take their name from a very specific note: a root note.
Whats a root note? Simply put, its the first note of the chord and the note that gives it its name. This means that anytime you see any chord beginning with C, you can be sure that the first note of that chord is you guessed it C.
This is a super-easy to remember and super-helpful. You can automatically identify of the chords notes just from its name alone.
The Blues Chord Progression: I Iv V
The Blues is one of the cornerstones of popular music! Why do we say that? Its because every song in existence will have a I IV V or a variation of it!
With some exceptions, many good chord progressions are variations of the I IV V! Therefore, this is the first chord progression we must learn.
Blues chord progressions, whether they be with 12-, 8-, or 16-bar choruses, always have a I IV V chord progression at its core. In the key of C, the I IV V chord progression is C, F, and G.
Check out this 12-bar blues example in the key of C:
Examples of songs that use a I IV V chord progression are plenty! Im inclined to think that just about every song in the planet has used it or some variation of it. Matter of fact is that every blues song has it!
If youre wondering how we would be able to use the I IV V in songs, you can check out this Piano Chord Progressions I, IV, V, IV tutorial. For some really solid blues piano, check out this awesome blue course called The Breakthrough Blues Piano Method created by none other than Blues Hall of Fame legend Bruce Katz.
Classic hits that have this chord progression include La Bamba by Ritchie Valens
Wild Thing by The Troggs
and Whitesnakes Here I Go Again.
More recent hits that feature this good chord progression include Hotel Yorba by the White Stripes.
A number of songs by The Beatles feature the I IV V chord progression such as Twist and Shout:
What Do You Mean By A Chord Progression
Chord progressions are a series of two or more chords that are played in a piece of music. They form the harmony and backbone of full arrangement or sometimes even stand alone. For a singer-songwriter, chord progressions that are played on an acoustic guitar or piano with a vocal melody on top are the whole songs.
Individually, chords don’t actually “say” a whole lot. In fact, they can be minor, major, or diminished and can convey vague emotions and tonality. However, sequencing chords together will allow you to express more complex emotions and ideas.
Using solid progress as the foundation, you’ll be able to build a complete song around it more easily. Melodies and lead lines naturally reveal themselves on the basis of the chords you’ve put together.
If you are wondering how to properly write a song and feel overwhelmed, finding chords that will go together would be a great place to start. So how does one do that?
If you’re a chords-first type of songwriter, this must have happened to you many times. You can find a nice couple of chords such as C and Dm. You can play them back and forth, but then you’ll wonder – What other chords will go well with these two? Other than random searching with your keyboard or guitar, are there any other ways to know how and why chords work so well together while others do not?
If you continue going up the scale and build triads on top of each note of a C major scale, you will get –
- C: C-E-G
- Am: A-C-E
- Bdim: B-D-F
Guitar Chords That Sound Good Together Include The Following:
1. F, B and C
2. C, Am, F, G 50s Progression
3. C, F, Bb, F
4.. Cm, E, B and A
5. Fm, B and C
6. Am, G, F, E Andalusian Cadence
7. E, A, and B
8. Dm, Bb7, C Backdoor Progression
9. D, A, B and G
10. A, E, G, D Chromatic Descending
11.. E, B and G
12. Am6, Dm, G6, C Circle Progression
13. D, Am7 and G
14. C, G7, F7, F7, C7, G7, C7, G7 8 Bar Blues
15. C, G, F and Am
16. G, C, D and Em
17. B, A G F
18. D, A, C and G
19. Dm, F and C
20. D, C, B and F
21. Dm, G, C Common Jazz Progression
22. D, A and G
23. A, D and E
24. D, C and G
25. D, G, Bm and A
26. C7, F7, Dm7, G
27. E, B, Cm, Gm and A
28. D, F, G, C and G
29. D, A, G and Em
30. Em, G, D, C and A
31. D, E and F
32. Asus2, E, B and G
33. Am7, Dm7, G7 and Cm7
34. C, G, Am, F
35. Fm7, B7, E and A
36. G7, C, C9, Dm7 and C
37. F, Em, Am, G and Am
Why Do Certain Chords Sound Good With Others
The reason why chords sound together has to do with intervallic relationships between notes and how they sound in conjunction with the others.
For instance, if one is in the Key of C Major, there are particular intervals within the scale, that are also built into the chords, so when you play those chords together in combination with each other, the intervals just end up meshing well together.
This is, of course, a very basic explanation of why they sound good together. In the future, maybe Ill write a full tutorial and explanation on why some chords sound good and others dont.
***I couldnt upload the video in one part due to YouTubes restrictions regarding new accounts.
