The Magic of Chord Progressions

At some point in your ukulele journey, it may seem impossible to learn songs for memory. Yet, musicians do learn many songs for memory and they often use a “magic” technique called Chord Progressions. A chord progression is a group of chords played in a particular sequence and used multiple times throughout a song. If you think about a repeating verse melody or chorus in a song - those are probably chord progressions. Each section may use two, three, or more chords that are repeated.

Chord progressions also help you anticipate which chord might come next when playing without sheet music, jamming with other musicians, or playing along with a recording. Once you get familiar with a few common chord progressions, songs get a lot easier to follow.

In the song, Jambalaya, by Hank Williams, you can find a small chord progression of C-G7-C and it is played over and over again throughout the song. If you look at the song, “Let It Be”, by The Beatles, you’ll find a chord progression in the verse of the song: The I V vi IV. On the uke in the key of C major that will be C-G-Am-F.

One chord progression, called the I V vi IV (1 5 6 4) is the basis for hundreds - maybe thousands of pop and rock songs. The band “Axis of Awesome” has a fabulous comedy routine on YouTube that shows how many rock songs use this progression. Look it up when you get a chance. Yes, you too could write a hit rock song with these four chords!

Why the Roman Numerals?

It all starts with the Key…

Let’s use the Key of C Major as an example. Remember that the notes of the Key of C Major are C D E F G A B. Those notes are the basis for the Chord Family in the Key of C Major.

A chord family is a set of chords that are based on a particular key and include major and minor pitches. Chord families are a great way to learn chords that work well together since they are based on the same key.

So the chord family for the Key of C Major is comprised of the chords: C Dm Em F G Am Bdim.

Well, each of those chords has a number equivalent. The notes in the Key of C Major - C D E F G A B - are numbered 1 2 3 4 5 6 7. The chords in the Key of C Major have the same number as the note they are based on - C (1) Dm (2) Em (3) F (4) G (5) Am (6), Bdim (7). The number represents the “scale degree”.

To distinguish the notes from the chords with similar names, we use Roman Numerals for the chords. So, C Dm Em F G Am Bdim is the same as I ii iii IV V vi VII. The upper-case Roman Numerals are major chords and the lower-case Roman Numerals are minor chords. And, by using Roman Numerals you can refer to a sequence of chords - a progression - in any key. As long as you have the Roman Numerals you can play the progression in the key of C or G or whatever key you like and it will have the same tonal pattern.

Try a Little Experiment…

Try this popular chord progression in three different Chord Families and see if you can hear how they sound the same and yet different!

The I V vi IV chord progression in…

• Key of G = G D Em C

• Key of C = C G Am F

• Key of F = F C Dm Bb

The tonal pattern for each key is the same but the pitch is different. Changing keys can make a song easier to sing or easier to play. When you change the key of a song it is called transposing. And we will tackle that in another post!