Chord Progression Content

Simple chord progression list with two chords

• I-IV Common progression.
• I-V Common progression

Chord progression list with three chords

• I-IV-V Commonly used in rock and roll
• I-II-IV Used by the Beatles in – Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
• I-IV-V7 *V7 is a regular V chord with a minor third on the top. An example of a V7 would be G, B, D, F. You can learn more about sevenths at *How to use 7th Chords in Compositions.
• I-flatted VII-IV Used in gospel music
• I-flatted III-IV One of my favorite progressions, used by Lynyrd Skynyrd in ‘Free Bird’

Chord progression list with four chords

• I-IV-I-V Common progression
• I-IV-I-V7 Common progression with dominant 7th chord in place of V chord
• I-IV-V-IV Common progression with a rolling motion.
• I-vi-IV-V Heart and Soul – Theme from the film Big with Tom Hanks. Thischord progression is fun to play.
• I-vi-ii-V Gershwin in ‘I’ve Got Rhythm’
• I-V-vi-IV Used by Journey in ‘Don’t Stop Believin’. Another fun rollingprogression.
• IV-I-IV-V Chord progression not starting on the tonic!
• I-I-IV-V Similar to the I-IV-V, but more this is more widely used because itis four measures long. Many musical phrases are divisible by 4, normally 16, which makes chord progression using four chords more popular than others.
• vi-IV-I-V Currently a very popular chord progression used by The Offspring, Linkin Park, The Cranberries, OneRepublic, and others. Also used in our composition titled Medley of Waterfalls

Chord progressions list with five chords

• I-vi-ii-IV-V7 Common Progression. Notice how the subsequent chord has many of the same notes. I and vi, ii and IV, both have two notes in common.
• I-vi-ii-V7-ii Similar to the previous chord progression, but with a ii squeezed in between the V7 and the I. This added ii makes the progressionless final at the end. V to I is a popular way to end songs. With the ii, it sounds like the song keeps going.

Chord progressions list with six chords

• I-IV-I-V7-IV-I Blues and jazz is normally a 12–bar progression making this chord progression ideal for jazz tunes.
• The numerous above chord progressions lists are ideal to use if you’re stuck at the keyboard and unsure where to begin. The above chord progressions are popular progression that have been around, but feel free to compose your own progressions. Who knows, maybe you’ll compose the next popular progression.