Tuesday, June 3, 2008

C Chord Progressions: I IV V

Remember from last time:

I. C major
ii. Dm
iii. Em
IV. F major
V. G major
vi. Am
vii(b5). Bdim

Many, many, many, many chord progressions in popular music contain some permutation of the I-IV-V progression, and since we're talking about the key of C:

I-IV-V can be replaced by the C, F, and G major chords.

You can change the order of the chords for some familiar-sounding progressions:

As I-IV-V-IV-V: C, F, G, F, and G chords.

As I-V-IV-I: C, G, F, and C chords.

As IV-I-V: The F Lydian-sounding F, C, and G progression. (Also referred to as I-V-II.)

As V-IV-I: The G Mixolydian-sounding G, F, and C progression. (Also referred to as I-bVII-IV.)

All this looks a lot like high school algebra, but it sounds better than it looks (pun intended).

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