Chord Progressions

Chord progressions provide the harmonic foundation for most popular music, and they can also work well for writing or improvising instrumental piano songs. In this article I'll introduce some basic chord progressions and some ideas for adding flavor and variety to your songs.

The basic chord progression in many Christmas, religious and folk songs is called a I-IV-V progression, because it uses major chords built on the first, fourth and fifth tones of any major scale. This chord progression is displayed below:


Playing the above chord progression can be a little awkward for the left hand (since it has to jump around a lot), so here is the same chord progression with inverted chords (this example uses G7 instead of G, as the V chord is most often a V7 chord):


Any chord can be inverted (meaning that the notes can be played in a different order) for a slightly different sound and to add variety to music. Typically a song will end with the root of the chord in the bass. For example, a song in the key of C will end with a C chord in the root position of C-E-G. But that same C chord can be played with its notes in a different order (E-G-C or G-C-E) throughout a piece.

Songs in a minor key can use chords similar to the I-IV-V7 progression, but minor chords are notated with lower-case roman numerals. Here is a i-iv-v7 minor progression:

The basic chord progression in jazz music is the ii-V7-I progression:


It's important to write and play chords within the usable range of the piano. Sometimes low notes can sound a bit "muddy," as in the following example:


This problem can be solved by playing the chords an octave higher (the right hand can be moved an octave higher as well to avoid conflicts with the left hand):


Another way to solve the problem of "muddy" lower tones is to remove the third, which determines if a chord is major or minor and tends to be the "muddiest" of the three tones in a major or minor chord:


Another useful chord technique is called chord substitution. Two examples of C chord substitution appear below. The first involves using an Em chord instead of C, since Em and C share two notes. The second involves using an Am chord instead of C (since again, Am and C share two notes). This technique can add variety and interest to your chord progressions:


In certain contexts major 7th and minor 7th chords can be substituted for major chords to give songs a more contemporary sound:


Here are the chord progressions used in a few popular songs:

Viva la Vida (Coldplay): IV-V-I-iv
Back to December (Taylor Swift): I-iv-IV-V
I Just Wanna Run (Downtown Fiction): i-III-v-iv
Hallelujah (Leonard Cohen): I-IV-V-vi-IV-V-iii-vi
You Found Me (The Fray): iii-V-IV-V-I

When improvising, I often use the following I-IV-V-vi-V-IV-I progression to provide the harmonic structure:


Try experimenting with your own chord progressions and see what unique harmonies you can come up with!