Chord Progression Theory: A Guide for Guitar Players

MAY 5, 2014 BY TOM FARR

Guitar chords and chord progressions are the foundation of playing any song on
guitar. If you learn just a few chord progressions, youll be playing hundreds of
songs and even making up your own. Chord progression theory is about learning
how chords are formed from scales and how the harmony of music key works.
Below youll learn more about chord progression theory by building a solid
foundation in music theory and building chords from there. If youre just starting
out on the guitar, this beginning guitar course will give you step-by-step
instructions on how to play.

Basic Music Theory

Understanding chord progression theory begins with understanding that chords are built from scales. The major scale is the scale from
which the harmonic structure of all Western music is built, and it is the scale that youll use here to learn how to build chords and
chord progressions.
In music, there are 7 natural notes that are named after the first 7 letters of the alphabet (A-G). If you start with the note C and go
through the next 7 notes until you reach C again, youll have a major scale. It looks like this:

C D E F G A B C

The Chromatic Scale

Notice that once you get to the note G, the note that follows it begins at the first letter of the alphabet again. The C major scale is the
only major scale that features all natural notes. If you add the other notes that are located in between the natural notes, youll have a
chromatic scale. The non-natural notes use the same letter names A through G, but with the addition of sharps () or flats ( ). The
chromatic scale looks like this when using sharps:

C C D D E F F G G A A B C
The chromatic scale looks like this when using flats:

C D D E E F G G A A B B C
Notice the second note in each scale. Though they are called by different names, they are actually the same note. Depending on what
key youre playing in, a nonnatural note may be characterized by a sharp or a flat.

Music Intervals
The distance between two notes is called an interval, and intervals are measured in half steps and whole steps. A half step is the
distance between one note and the next. For example, the distance between E and F in the chromatic scale above is a half step. There
are no notes in between these two notes. A whole step is the distance of two half steps. The distance between C to D in the chromatic
scale above is a whole step because one half step would be from C to C and another half step would be from C to D. Another way to
think of it while looking at the guitar fretboard is to see a half step as the distance between one fret and the next, and a whole step as the
distance between two frets.

The Major Scale Pattern

The major scale is built from a specific pattern of intervals. The pattern of intervals is:

Whole step Whole step Half step Whole step Whole step Whole step Half step
If you start on any note in the chromatic scale and follow the interval pattern above, youll end up with a major scale and is an important
aspect to music theory. The note that you begin with is called the tonic, it is the note by which you will derive the name of the scale. For
example, if you start the pattern on the note E, you will refer to the scale you end up with as E major. The flats and sharps become
important because you cant have a scale that uses the same letter name in the scale twice. For example, if you followed the pattern and

converted by Web2PDFConvert.com

ended up with a C and a C in the same scale, to avoid using the letter C twice, you would call the C note D instead.
Here is what the C major scale looks like when you include the interval pattern with it:

C (WS) D (WS) E (HS) F (WS) G (WS) A (WS) B (HS) C

An Intro to Chord Progression Theory

Chords are built by harmonizing notes so that they sound out together. The most basic chord types, which will be the focus here, have
three notes. To understand how to build the chords in a major key, youll need to think again about the notes of the major scale and,
specifically, the pattern of intervals that makes up a major scale. Think of each interval in the major scale pattern as a scale degree, like
this:

Scale DegreesC Major Scale

1

To build the chords of a major key, you start on the tonic, which is C in this case, and add the note that is a 3rd interval up from the tonic
and the note that is a 5th interval up from the tonic. Its simple counting. Starting at C, count down to 3, and you arrive at E, which is the
second note in a C Major chord. Again starting at C, count down to 5, and you arrive at G, which is the third note in a C Major chord.
Now, youve built a C Major chord using the notes C, E, and G.
Start from each interval and build a chord by adding the note a 3rd up and a 5th up, making sure to stay within the major scale youre
operating in. For example, starting on D, count down 3 notes in the C major scale, and you arrive at F. Counting down 5 notes puts you at
A. Now, you have a chord that contains the notes D, F, and A. This is a D Minor chord.
Its helpful to understand what type of chord each note in a major scale will build if you follow the pattern above. Below, youll notice the
notes of the C major scale. Above each note in a Roman Numeral. If the Roman Numeral is in all caps, the resulting chord is a major
chord. If the Roman Numeral is in all lower case letters, the resulting chord is a minor chord. If there is a degree symbol after the Roman
Numeral, that means it is a diminished chord, which is a chord you likely wont use very often. Below the names of each note are the
notes that make up each chord.
I

ii

iii

IV

vii

viii

C-E-G D-F-A E-G-B F-A-C G-B-D A-C-E B-D-F

The Process of Building Chords for Any Major Scale

Decide what note you want to be the tonic
Using the chromatic scale, follow the major scale interval pattern of whole steps and half steps to list out all the notes in the major
scale of the note you chose as the tonic
Determine what scale degree each note resides on
Build 3-note chords for each note in the major scale by stacking the 3rd and 5th intervals on top of each note

converted by Web2PDFConvert.com

List out the chord names of the major key, using the Roman Numeral method above to differentiate between major, minor, and
diminished chords
Now that you know how to determine what the chords are for any major key, you can begin working on actual chord progressions. In
major keys, the three chords that are used most often are the I, IV, and V chords. The minor chord on vi is often added as well. On the
guitar, these chords like this:

Common Major Chord Progressions

Knowing which chords sound the best in the major scale puts you in a position to get creative with developing chord progressions based
on those chords. The chord progressions below represent some of the most used progressions in popular music over the last several
decades. Try them out using the chords in the key of C that you learned above. As you play through them, youll notice that you can
learn more about guitar chords and changes, and you may even notice some of them sounding like some of your favorite sounds.

I IV
IV

converted by Web2PDFConvert.com

I IV V I
I V IV I
I V IV V
I V vi IV
I vi V IV
I IV vi V
I IV V IV

Putting Chord Progression Theory into Practice

Chord progressions are a lot of fun to play because they allow you to make actual music. Many guitar players love being able to play
chords and make up melodies over them, creating their own songs. Understand chord progression theory helps you to be a more wellrounded player and gives you a foundation on which to build more advanced guitar skills. This course on beginning to advanced guitar
playing will help you to take your guitar playing to the next level.

Filed Under: For Students, Music

TOP UDEMY COURSES:

Top Java Courses
Top Python Courses
Top Excel Courses
Learn Excel With This GIF Tutorial
Become a Web Developer from Scratch! (8100+ students)
Advanced Excel Training (42,660+ students)
Coding for Entrepreneurs (4810+ students)
iOS Development Code Camp (1155+ students)
Advanced Java Programming (735+ students)

POPULAR POSTS
How to Build an iPhone App from Scratch for Non-Technical People: Your quick and dirty guide
Excel Formulas: 10 Formulas That Helped Me Keep My Job
Code Wars: Ruby vs Python vs PHP [Infographic]
Top 10 Programming Languages to Learn in 2014
How to Add Ringtones To Your iPhone (Updated for iOS 7)
8 Best PowerPoint Presentations: How To Create Engaging Presentations

converted by Web2PDFConvert.com

Java Interview Questions: How to crack the TOP 15 questions

Drupal vs Joomla vs WordPress: CMS Showdown [infographic]
Making an App: 6 Things You Should Consider Before Getting Started
10 Frmulas de Excel para ser Ms Productivo

Return to top of page

Copyright 2016 Udemy, Inc. Built on the Genesis Framework

converted by Web2PDFConvert.com