Free Online Guitar Lessons
Lesson 8 - Chord Progressions

Purpose: This is a free online guitar lesson, a sample of the online guitar lessons available from Wolfman's School of Music.

This lesson serves as an introduction and overview to the basic theory and application of chord progressions and will help you to develop your playing skills.

Sections:

• Chord Progressions - chords progressing from one to the next
• Diatonic Harmony - how notes function within a particular chord and how chords function within a particular key
• Melodic Embellishment - how to spice up a chord progression

Chord Progressions

Chord progressions are simply a series of chords \"progressing\" from one to the next. Practically any group of chords played in sequence can be considered a chord progression. Even a sequence of only 2 or 3 chords can be considered a progression.

There are many, many types of chord progressions. They vary in length and complexity depending on the period, style and composer of the particular piece of music you are playing. Most popular songs consist of a melody backed by chord progressions. The skills taught in this lesson will help you to play your favorite songs by doing the following:

• teaching the theory of how chords function in a key
• training the ear to develop sonic/aural recognition of chords
• introducing common or cliche chord progressions in popular music

The most basic chord progression in contemporary popular music is known as the I-IV-V (pronounced \"one-four-five\") progression. The term I-IV-V refers to chords built from the root (I), the fourth (IV) and fifth (V) degrees of the major scale. This chord progression serves as the basis for all folk, country, blues, rock, pop and Top 40 music. Literally, hundreds of popular songs that enjoy frequent radio air play consist of little or nothing more than the I-IV-V chord progression. It is actually very easy to learn and a lot of fun to play.

Diatonic Harmony (Harmonized Chord Scale)

\"Dia\" means across or through as in diagonal or diameter. \"Tonic\" means key. Diatonic means that all the notes in a scale or chord progression are derived from the same key.

\"Diatonic Harmony\" is the study of how notes function within a particular chord in relation to each other and how chords function within a particular key in relation to each other. Understanding diatonic harmony is necessary in order to construct or analyze music and to see how chords function in terms of key and their respective types.

When we write out single note scales, we label each tone with Arabic numbers like so:

However, when we write out a chord scale, we use roman numerals to label the chords. The roman numerals refer to the location of the chord in the key, like so:

This is how each chord get it's name/definition.

In the Key of C, the I-IV-V progression consists of the chords C-F-G. This progression can be applied to any of the 12 keys as shown below.

There are many variations of the I-IV-V progression. The most common is known as the Standard 12 Bar Blues Progression.

Audio Clip: I-IV-V Progression

This progression can be played in all 12 keys.

In it's simplest form, this progression is played using open chord forms. Playing this same progression with movable chord forms adds textural and tonal variation. Playing the progression with barre chords adds consistent finger placement, meaning that the form stays the same while traveling up and down the neck. Texture and tone quality remain uniform.

The texture and tone quality, as well as the complexity of the progression within the 12 bar form, can be further modified by substituting chords of different type and function. The simpler of these variations will be discussed in this lesson. More advanced variations will be discussed in a more advanced course.

Expanding the I-IV-V Progression

Here are variations or extensions of the I-IV-V progression. There are literally hundreds of popular songs from Rock, Pop, Blues, Country and Top 40 based on the following progressions. Even more exciting is the incredible number of songs that can be played when these variations are combined and interwoven.

I - VImin - IV - V

12 Bars in the Key of C based on the I-VImin-IV-V

Audio Clip: I-VI-IV-V Progression

I - VI min - II min - V

12 Bars in the Key of C based on the I-VImin-IImin-V

Audio Clip: I-VI-II-V Progression

Melodic Embellishment

Melodic Embellishment is an excellent way to add variation and color to a chord progression, both melodically and rythmically. The embellishment is produced by using the hammer-on and pull-off technique of the fretting hand. Let's look at each technique individually.

Hammer-on simply means to bring the fretting finger down to hit the string at a particular fret. When the effect is executed properly, you should be able to hear two distinct tones. The first tone is produced by strumming or picking the string. The second tone is produced by the hammer-on, the act of fretting the string, the act of \"hammering\" the fretting finger down on the string.

The pull-off technique is essentially the opposite. Again, two distinct tones should be produced, the first by strumming or picking the string, the other by the act of pulling-off the string.

The hammer-on technique has an ascending sound, moving from a lower note to a higher note. The pull-off technique has a descending sound, moving from a higher note to a lower note.

Multi-finger Embellishment