February 2021
When I was young I sang in a church choir. I must have been reasonably good because I was one of the head choristers in what was quite a big choir (Holy Trinity, Bingley). My career as a chorister didn't last too long, but it was long enough for me to learn some very basic music theory. Then as a teenager I became very good at playing chords and chord inversions on our Selmer organ, which became very useful when I went on to play the guitar. I have never been naturally musical and I have never been particularly proficient on any instrument. However, when you can play chords and know how to put them together it's possible to be quite creative.
Symbolically, Roman numerals can be used to represent chords in any particular key. Uppercase for Major chords, Lowercase for Minor chords. Additionally, superscript+ is used for augmented chords and superscripto is used for diminished chords.
For example, a very common chord sequence could be represented as I - vi - IV - V
The key of C has the notes C D E F G A B C, so in the sequence: I = C major, vi = A minor, IV = F major, V = G major. That is, C - Am - F - G as it would be written for guitar.
In the key of G, the sequence (or progression) becomes G - Em - C - D.
In the key of D, the sequence (or progression) becomes D - Bm - G - A.
The fact is, some chords sound good together. They always have and they always will. As well as that, the same chord progression can be used to produce totally different songs or and totally different tunes.
The chart below can be useful in producing chord progressions that work.
Common Chord Progressions
No.
Symbols
In C
1.
I - V - vi - IV
C - G - Am - F
2.
I - vi - IV - V
C - Am - F - G
3.
I - V -vi - iii - IV - I - IV - V
C - G - Am - Em - F - C - F - G
4.
ii - V - I
Dm - G - C
5.
I - IV - ii - V
C - F - Dm - G
6.
vi - V - IV - III
Am - G - F - E
7.
vi - I - II - vi - I - III
Am - C - D - F - Am - C - E
8.
I - V - vi - iii - IV
C - G - Am - Em - F
9.
I - ii - iii - IV -V
C - Dm - Em - F - G
10.
I - IV - ii -V
C - F - Dm - G
And so on.....
Number 1 is used quite often, as can be seen with Axis of Awesome. Number 2 was used in numerous 60s and 70s hits. Number 7 is 'House of the Rising Sun'.
