I don't really understand (at all) what chord progressions are. I'm trying to write songs, but absolutely nothing is coming. I'm unable to come up with anything that sounds good togther. Chord progressions, as far as I know, help out with this, but seeing as how I don't know about them, I figure I better find out!

short answer: a grouping of chords together in such a way so as to create a melody. Try these progressions for starters: strum a G chord then a C chord then a D chord then back to C then G again a very simple progression that is also pleasing to the ear.

some chords sort of go together in a group of the same key.    meaning you can't just randomly throw in chords and it will sound good. G C D are in key.  There are other but you get the idea

here is a little help ,LEARN YOUR MAJOR SCALES, WILL USE A-MAJOR HERE ,OKY YOU HAVE,, A, B, C, D, E, F, G,--------- LEARN THE  A, C, E, THAT IS THE 1,3,5 CHORDS IN THE A MAJOR  SCALE,,  YOU CAN USE THE SAME 1,3,5 CHORDS IN ANY MAJOR  KEY AND THEY WILL SOUND GOOD TOGETHER,WELL HOPE THIS WILL HELP. ,AND IF ANY ONE SEES THIS TO BE WRONG PLEASE HELP,, I,AM STILL LEARNING MY SELF.ROCK ON

C, Am, F and G is a chord progression...and each chord comes from the 'Harmonized Scale' of its Root key signature (key of C in this triad example):

  I = C
II = Dm
III = Em
IV = F
  V = G
VI = Am
VII = Bdim (or Bmb5)

...hence, the progression consists of the chords I(C), VI(Am), IV(F) and V(G).

...play around with combinations of any/all of those chords and you'll begin to recognize 'progressions' used by many, many, many popular songs.

P.S.--"technically" the Roman Numeral chord designations are: UPPER-case for MAJOR chords (ie: C, F, G) and lower-case for the MINOR chords (Dm, Em, Am and Bdim), so the progression would be: I, vi, IV, V.

choard progressons are a series of choards and solos put together to make something like a short song

i once learned a song with just the 3 chords g,c,and d.

Old Tele man wrote:

C, Am, F and G is a chord progression...and each chord comes from the 'Harmonized Scale' of its Root key signature (key of C in this triad example):

  I = C
II = Dm
III = Em
IV = F
  V = G
VI = Am
VII = Bdim (or Bmb5)

...hence, the progression consists of the chords I(C), VI(Am), IV(F) and V(G).

...play around with combinations of any/all of those chords and you'll begin to recognize 'progressions' used by many, many, many popular songs.

P.S.--"technically" the Roman Numeral chord designations are: UPPER-case for MAJOR chords (ie: C, F, G) and lower-case for the MINOR chords (Dm, Em, Am and Bdim), so the progression would be: I, vi, IV, V.

I've been playing mostly by ear for almost 30 years now except the last 6 months since I discovered music theory on wikipedia. I've struggled mightily for every bit of info I can gain from those articles. But, they are so confusing and strain my little pea brain with all this talk of just intonation, cents, etc. and all i want to know is how it applies to equal tempered. With all the info I've managed to wrestle out of wiki there is one thing I never could figure out, why in the heck do they mix upper and lower case roman numerals. Now I know, and Thank You OMT, for not cluttering up my brain with useless intonations that are unachievable for guitar and finally shining the light on the roman numerals.

Well stated bobo, I'd like to add that I look at many sites for reference and while many of them have info that is prolly exactly correct, some don't. I was going to copy some scale/chord charts from a fledgling site I found and part way along I noticed (even with my limited knowledge) that some of the intervals weren't accurate, not even something open to interpretation.

Also I guess everyone knows that Wiki is wide open to correction and interpretation. And yes, our own Old Tele Man is 'the man' here and a large part of why no other site gets as much of my attention as chordbook does. Ok, off the soapbox now !

GuitarZen

I found this little 8 page "book" with a spinnable wheel on the front at Guitar Center that was just awesome for helping with chord progressions and song writing. It's called "The Chord Wheel" and it is a Hal Leonard book. There is a clear wheel on the front cover with a triangle outline shape for each Key and the Roman numerals printed in the shapes. The chords are printed in color boxes on the cover and you can spin the clear wheel to the Key you want and you will see all the notes for that key along with their corresponding Roman Numerals outlined by the triangle printed on the clear wheel.
It has helped me immensely with trasnposing keys. I can take a song with a I,IV,V progression in the key of C and just spin the wheel to any other key and see immediately what chords to play for that key. Now I can sing my favorite songs in the key that best fits my voice! It's a great tool!
The font cover of the book alone is worth the $15 price tag, but you also get a little theory inside the book along with some neat tricks for helping with writing your own songs. I bought it on a whim, immediately recognizing it's potential and I'm so glad I did.

Here is a link to the book. I imagine you could get it at any music store and probably on Amazon, but I found it oneday when I was in GC for a new set of strings!

Hal Leonard The Chord Wheel
http://www.guitarcenter.com/Hal-Leonard … 1156811.gc

Happy picking!

Thanks for all the info.  I've been playing by ear for 15 years, and just now am starting to dabble in theory.  Interesting stuff

BigBeado wrote:

Thanks for all the info.  I've been playing by ear for 15 years, and just now am starting to dabble in theory.  Interesting stuff

Dabbling in theory has been the single biggest boost to my playing ability than has taken place over almost 30 years of playing by ear.

Bob I am starting to understand that more, and more.  In my younger days I would scorn the technical over the feel, but now I see both as equally beneficial

If you are wanting to start by learning a simple I-IV-V chord progression that can be used for many styles of music, check out the Quick Start Video Lesson on:

GuitarMore.com


(There is also a little beginning, easy to understand music theory on the website too).

A great chord progression is  Dm and then a small F using just the first four strings, then a C and an E,  it meshes well together

So each genre of music has its own different chord progression?
I've been trying out jazz for about 5 months and I've just been
using II-V-I

Atom1k wrote:

So each genre of music has its own different chord progression?
I've been trying out jazz for about 5 months and I've just been
using II-V-I

No, not true at all. Certain chord arrangements might be a defining characteristic of certain genres, but any chord progressions can be made to feel like a certain genre regardless of what they may be due to the way a piece of music is presented in its entirety. A person may assemble any damn old chords he feels like into a progression. There are no rules when your making up your own stuff. Now if your following the rules of key signatures then your II-V-I progression must be minor-Major or 7th-Major. Personally if I wanted jazzy music I'd use 4, 5, and 6 note chord types and more than just 3 chords in my progression. Of course my interpretation of what jazz is is contempo jazz or elevator music with its complex melodies and instrument virtuousity's.