10 Powerful Chord Progressions Every Songwriter Should Know

hey everyone I'm Peggy and today I'm gonna show you ten powerful chord progressions you can use in your songwriting if you want to follow along with this video you can find a MIDI pack in the description below these are powerful chord progressions because they're great starting point for songwriting stick around and I'll show you which one is my favorite which one's my personal favourite Anthony okay cool this is the best chord progression anyone's ever come up with I'll be playing all of the chord progressions in C major but later on I'll show you a great technique in Ableton to help you use any key number one is the most popular chord progression one five six four this is one of the most common chord progressions used in popular music think of songs like Adele Someone Like You journey's don't stop believin or John Denver's take me home country roads let me show you how this sounds over a beat this chord progression is so popular because it's one of the most versatile each of the chords brings in a new layer of emotional intensity and it's great for storytelling number two is sad but uplifting six five four five starting with a minor triad hooks the listener and makes them want to keep listening but overall this chord progression is quite uplifting it's used in a lot of songs think of Rihanna's SMM or Lady Gaga's Marry the Night this progression is really interesting because it never goes back to the tonic it feels like you're on a journey and you never quite get home number three is the storyteller one four six five this chord progression starts with two really strong major chords and then moves to a minor chord creating a sense of loss finally it resolves to the fifth giving you a sense of closure this chord progression is used in a lot of great songs like summer of 69 by Bryan Adams skyscraper by Demi Lovato or no-sleep by Wiz Khalifa I mentioned earlier that there's a really easy way to change the key of the chords in Ableton what you can do is grab the pitch plug-in from the MIDI effects and drag that on to the track that you're working on now you can change the whole key of the song by semitones now that I've done this the song is in E flat major but the MIDI notes are still in C major [Music] number four is the bass players progression one two seven one six for the rising bass line really gives a sense of hope this chord progression is used in a lot of songs that you know and love like blackbird by the Beatles ray of light by Madonna or Nicki Minaj's the night is still young the first quarter of this progression is the one chord C then it's followed by two seven the seven means that you count up seven notes from the root of the chord D like this one two three four five six seven so you end up with C and you tack that onto your triad the next chord is the 1 chord again but this time it's a 1 6 the 6 means that I'm gonna take the 2nd note of the chord and put that in the bass in this case it's me II so I'm gonna build the rest of C major from there number 5 is jazz it up 1 6 2 5 this chord progression is a staple in jazz music and it's often used in what we call the turnaround the turnaround is how we get from the end of the song back to the beginning this chord progression has a pretty traditional sound but it's still used in songs today for instance John Mayer's back to you or fluorescent adolescent by the Arctic Monkeys number 6 is the journey four one six five this is a really happy sounding progression and it feels like you're going somewhere and you almost arrived this chord progression is used in ac/dc see you shook me all night long and Radiohead's black star this chord progression uses all major chords and it has a moving bassline remember that six in the chord that means that the second note of the chord is the lowest note and you're gonna build the rest of your triad on top of that number seven secondary dominance four five five of six and six this chord progression sounds like we're taking a quick turn and the E major triad sounds really powerful and dramatic this chord progression is used in Billy Joel's uptown girl hallelujah by Leonard Cohen and video killed the radio star by the Buggles is it the the bugles the Buggles [Laughter] [Music] listen for the E major chord in this progression it comes from outside of the key of C major and that's what makes it sound so dramatic number eight is the epic progression one flat six five you can really feel the distance between the chords here and it turns the emotional intensity dial up to 11 it's used in songs like Pink Floyd's Eclipse or everybody by the Backstreet Boys okay you'll notice that there's a flat sign next to the sixth chord and it's capitalized normally the sixth chord is minor the capital means that you're gonna make it a major chord and the flat means that you shift the whole thing down by half a step so you end up with a flat major number nine is the minor change four minor for what I mentioned before that I was going to share with you my favorite chord progression and this is it I love it because it's so dramatic and brings a lot of depth to what you're writing I love this core progression you can use it in a lot of ways tack it on to the end of a chord progression to make your whole vibe sound a little sadder or you can start with it and it holds its own this chord progression is used in songs like crazy by Aerosmith or one two three four by The Plain White T's this chord progression has two four chords one is major and one is minor the second one is called a borrowed minor because we borrow it from the key of C minor number ten trap chords one six one five this is a really popular chord progression that's used on a lot of track beats it's dark and it's really good for writing melodies listen for it in your favorite rap songs and let us know what you find the one in this chord progression is lowercase and that means that it's a minor chord in fact the entire progression is in a minor key use this moody progression over a fire beat and you'll have a great trap song what's your favorite chord progression let us know in the comments and don't forget to Like and subscribe so you can get the latest from Lander never mind I'll find someone like you I don't need the rest of those words to the Busic is a journey music is a journey that's hurry the end the video it's like we screaming at the audience

Channel: LANDR

Views: 563,548

Rating: 4.9027014 out of 5

Keywords: Chord progressions, major chords, minor chords, sad chords, happy chords, writing chords, writing chord progressions, how to write chord progressions, songwriting basics, best chord progression, best chord progressions, interesting chord progressions, amazing chord progressions, sad chord progressions, emotional chord progressions, eighteen, beautiful, chord, progression, must, know, perfect, songs, lesson, tutorial, extended chords, teacher, instrumental chords

Id: eVteycbJUsw

Length: 8min 42sec (522 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 10 2020