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Common Pop Chord Progressions · Acedra
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Common Pop Chord Progressions
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today we're going to take a look at seven of the most common core progressions that you'll find particularly in pop music we're going to have a look at how they sound why they sound the way they do and generally give you a a good set of examples of of songs that use this score progression to make it easier to hear it in other examples so let's start with probably the core progression that you guys are all thinking of right now which is the famous four chords of pop music
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sometimes called the axis progression because it was famously um made into a musical joke by the access of awesome is brilliant pure an angel of that I'm that's just two songs that are similar young want to be forever [Music] young so just there you've already heard a whole bunch of examples of songs using this progression particularly in music I would say after the from the 1980s onward it became increasingly popular to use this cor progression and perhaps that popularity peaked around the late
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2000s early 2010s it's hard to say exactly I feel like it's less common today actually um than it was 10 years ago but there's loads and loads of songs that use this
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progression and it's just a really great progression to to Loop which is why it's used so so often well often when it's used in a song it will be looped for extensive period of time potentially for the entire song why it works so well in my opinion is we start with the the root chord then we move away as far away as we can really from that root chord we move to the fifth chord of the key that introduces tension and motion we we now need to go somewhere we can't just stay
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here so if we wanted to wrap things up we'd go back to one and now we sound completed done but that would be a bit boring so rather than going back to one after the five chord we go to Six which offers a different type of resolution not a full resolution and then rather than staying here because once again that would be boring we now introduce a bit more tension by going to the four chord now the four chord much like the five chord doesn't necessarily feel resolved it doesn't
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want to stay here so we need to go back somewhere and that pulls us back to the one chord when I find myself in times of trouble Mother Mary comes to me I was there I remember it all too well
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Take On Me Take never mind I'll find someone like you I wish just a small girl living in a lonely world you feel the love
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[Music] M let it go let it go can't
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hold the next core progression we're going to talk about is actually a very closely related core progression to that first progression we talked about this is 6415 and why it's closely related is as you may have noticed it's actually the exact same core progression as the first one but starting with the six chord instead it sort of becomes like a minor version a minor key version of that famous four C [Music] [Applause]
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progression got to take a life to D me away from you [Music]
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make things so complicated I see the way you my hand on a plade if you're going to San Francisco tonight and fight the break up da come tomorrow and actually in that access of awesome skit that famous video they use the fact that these two core progressions are related to segue into the other progression to sort of make their list of songs even [Music]
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[Applause] [Music] longer this cor progression sort of works for the same reason that the other chord progression that we looked at works it's just a great balance of tension and release that allows it to continue looping around in indefinitely if you wanted
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to I personally prefer this one over the first one I feel like this has a slight it's kind of more dramatic in a way yeah like we were saying the first chord a minor in this instance is providing a point of rest the four chord introduces some tension the one chord resolves that tension but rather than remaining resolved we then go to our most tense chord the dominant chord which forces the chord progression to continue so we wind up in this perfectly looped chord progression that
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can that can just keep going around if it needs to as long as possible the next chord progression actually has a established name it's rare that c progressions have a a well recognized name really but this one does it's the Andalusian Cadence now the andalucian Cadence is a chord progression Associated what originally at least with flamco music from Spain which is why it has the name andalucian Cadence Andalucia being the southern region of Spain but of course it's not just used
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in uh flamco music it's used in a whole range of the stars of music and what is great about this chord progression is it just has that sense of descending it's a clear descending progression um starting on the one chord in the minor key the flat seven chord flat six chord and then the five chord and we're getting the major version of the five chord um which helps us then pull back up to the one to continue the loop don't come back no more no more no more no more don't come back [Music]
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no I love the colorful clothes she wear and the way that sunlight plays upon a head
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[Music] I do I think about to day and night it's only right to think about the girl you love and hold her ti so happy together as I walk along I wonder what went wrong so strong the next chord progression is actually very similar to the andalucian Cadence it's just the last chord that has differed so we're still starting on the minor one chord going to the flat 7 going to the flat six but rather than than then going to the five chord going back up to the flat
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7 I like to call this chord progression the aolon vamp because it in these three chords effectively paints us into that AOL in color than natural minor and it has a less directional sound I would say than the andalucian Cadence because we're not getting that five chord the five chord undeniably wants us to go back home but by avoiding that five chord we remain in a sort of floatier space where we don't necessarily have to go home if we don't want to could have had [Applause] iten in the
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Deep you have my
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[Music] heart we
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are from wherever you are now I've been waiting for this moment all my life oh oh to cut me off this next core progression is sometimes called the do changes or the 50s core progression um it starts in the one chord goes to the sixth chord to the four chord chord and to the five chord and it's called the do changes or the 50s chord progression because it was very common in 50s doop music you can imagine
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[Music]
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[Music] it fits that star really well doesn't it but it's used in the whole range of stars as you'll see in a minute um why this chord progression is so effective I think is it's just a perfect little little journey away from the tonic back to the tonic so we start on our tonic chord of one then we move to the sixth chord which is still a resolved sound it doesn't sound like we now have to move anywhere so the first two chords are sort of just different types of feeling resol
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but then the four chord the subdominant introduces a bit of tension and then the five chord the dominant introduces a load more tension which forces us back around to the beginning to continue the loop um now sometimes this chord progression is wrongly referred to as the Blue Moon chord progression Blue Moon being a famous song which supposedly uses this chord progression but it actually doesn't it the Blue Moon um uses the two chord rather than than the four chord um which is a very very
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similar
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progression D minor in this instance would be our two chord which is very similar to our four chord which would be F there only one note different they both serve a subdominant function in the key so both the Blue Moon progression and the dwop progression are very similar but it's important to remember that they're not identical
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dream dream dream but I will love
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you Earth Angel Earth Angel will you be mine [Music] Happiness is a Warm [Music] Gun Jesus from on stand tired baby baby baby like baby baby baby no like baby baby baby oh I thought you always generally speaking the three most important chords of the key are the tonic chord one the four chord the subdominant chord and the fifth chord of the key which is the dominant chord with just those three chords you can create a whole sense of motion the tonic is our home the
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subdominant is a place away from the home but not um yearning necessarily to return immediately back but then the five really does want to go back it's a point of tension so the combination of these three chords gives us three different shades of tension allowing for that sense of movement so there are loads of Songs written just using those three chords um loads of chord progressions based on just those three chords um one I want to show you now out is a chord progression that starts on the one
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chord moves to the five chord then goes down to four then back up to five very major uh scale sounding they're all major key all major
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chords sounds very upbeat doesn't it very happy but yeah once again this chord progression is used in a whole whole range of styles and can just serve as a really simple but effective bed to keep us in that major scale [Music] sound my I live on the second floor Wonderland you wonder around time Dre time [Music] Small [Music] Things the night fall [Music] down the last C progression I want to talk about is what I would call the Mixel lydian Vamp it's a core progression where we basically just
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through the means of three chords basically get painted into that Mixel liian sound so it we start on the root chord in this example F then we go to the flat version of the seven chord which is E flat we then go to the four chord B flat and then we go back to one and this is enough to give us that mixian sound because mixian is ex exactly the same as the major scale but with the flat 7° so the first chord establishes our home base the root of the key F the second chord immediately
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gives us that Mixel liian Sound by introducing the flat seven then the B flat gives us another place to go to and then we return back home it also has a very satisfying sound because between the flat 7 the four and the one we're moving by the same interval a fourth or a fifth depending on your point of view um so effectively you could imagine it as moving around the circle of fifths these these chords are very closely related and I think it results in a very sort of Epic open
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sounding chord progression
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[Applause]
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[Music]
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Cur day like this [Music] here I around St Petersburg when I it the time for change [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music]
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[Music] kind of look for us We crave a different kind of let we be your R freedom freedom Freedom you got to give for what to take stay home [Music]
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and a big thank you as always goes to everybody who supports me on patreon including an extra special thanks going to these wonderful people
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[Music]
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