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2
A Note Ab o ut the Mu s ic al E x am p l es

This book features musical examples to help you learn.

Since not all eBook readers have full support for sound clips, we provide a number of alternatives:

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Simply press the Play button within the book to play the sound directly.

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Tap the link next to the play button to open the sound in your web browser.

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On a computer, using Adobe Reader software to open the PDF version of the eBook will work best.

If you have any difficulties please email support@EasyEarTraining.com.

3
Co nte nt s

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

What is a chord? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

What is a chord progression? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

The 3 chords every musician should know . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

How to learn from thousands of 3 chord songs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 2

Meet vi, the sad twin of the chord family . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 6

The most important four-chord progression: vi-IV-I-V . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 9

Four chords and the truth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 3

BONUS Lesson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 1

The Perfect Next Step for Guitar Players . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 0

Don’t stop there... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

 I ntro du c t ion
For a long time I wandered lost in a mess of chords.
I would diligently learn the chords for each song I wanted to play,
play it for a while, and then move on - starting almost from scratch
to learn the next song.

I couldn’t play anything I didn’t have the sheet music for and I had no
idea why particular chords were used for a song. I just played what
I was told to.

Discovering one simple musical concept changed this completely and freed me as a musician.

Here it is:

You c an p lay any so n g u sin g ju st three c h o rds.

It sounds too good to be true - and in truth, there are some subtleties to it. You can use more chords
to make a more compelling arrangement. Playing in particular keys means learning more chords.

But the point remains: Three chords are all you need.

If you know this, then suddenly playing a song by ear doesn’t seem so vast and intimidating a
challenge...

In this book you’re going to learn why 3 chords are all you need, which 3 chords they are, and how
to use them to play songs by ear. We’ll even take it one step further and look at the next most
important chord you can add, with the ‘four chord trick’.

Learning about 3-chord songs and “the I-IV-V” is one of the liberating advances I’ve made as
a musician.

I hope you’ll find it just as exciting and empowering as I did.

Christopher Sutton
Founder, Easy Ear Training

P.S. Don’t miss the great bonus resources we’ve put at the back of this book - they’ll help you
continue learning, and connect your new 3-chord understanding with your instrument.

5
What is a chord?
A chord is three or more notes played at once.
Different combinations of notes will create different chord sounds. Some work well together – some
not so much!

Listen to a chord Here’s a less

(E major triad) pleasant chord!

Listen online Listen online

Learning about the different types of chord, and learning to recognise them by ear is a key part of
harmonic ear training and very important for composing, writing songs and playing by ear.

A series of chords played one after another is called a chord progression.

Learn more about Chords

What is a chord? 6
What is a chord progression?

A chord progression (or just “progression”) is a sequence of chords

played one after another.
There are particular common chord progressions which are used again and again in popular music,
because certain chords work well together to create moods and a satisfying sense of progress in
music. This leads to a large number of “3 chord songs” and “4 chord songs”.

Here are a few examples of what is probably the most popular chord progression – The “I-V-vi-IV”
progression. It should sound familiar, it’s used in thousands of songs!

The ‘I-V-vi-IV’ in A Same progression, Same progression, Same progression,

different rhythm different key (C) different instrument
(piano)
Listen online Listen online Listen online
Listen online

Can you hear the similarity of musical character, despite the rhythm, key and instrument changing?

Here’s a completely different progression to contrast:

There are endless possible chord progressions so when composing or

writing songs don’t be afraid to experiment and explore.

A different chord Still, popular music often returns to the tried-and-true, and perhaps all you
progression need is “four chords and the truth”!

Listen online

What is a chord progression? 7

The 3 chords
every musician should know
Learning about chords can be overwhelming.

Want to learn to play guitar? Trying to learn how

to write pop songs? Need to analyse a 14th
Century composition for music theory class?
Understanding the world of chords is essential for
all of these, but there’s so much to learn.

Fortunately there is a particular way to look at

chords which is simple – but actually provides the
bulk of the understanding you’ll need to build
these musical skills!

From the 24 major and minor chords, to all the

variants (augmented, extended, and power chords,
just to name a few types!), to knowing which can be
used when according to complex rules of harmony… There is an awful lot to know about chords!
But most of the music we listen to sounds so simple and so natural – surely things can’t be all that
complicated?

It turns there are just three chords which are most important to any piece of music. If you want
to really improve your music appreciation, learn about these 3 chords.

The 3 chords every musician should know 8

It’s as easy as 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

This lesson will discuss the I, IV and V chords and their importance in music.

Don’t be discouraged by the use of the strange symbols I, IV and V! If you’re not familiar with
roman numerals, that’s just a way of writing “the one, four and five chords”. As you follow along, just
read I as “one”, IV as “four” and V as “five”.

We’ll use the famous song “Imagine” by John Lennon as our example of a I–V-IV (“one five four”)
progression.

Whether you are just starting to explore music or have been playing an instrument for many years,
you have surely heard or read about the I, IV and V chords. These chords are extensively talked
about in music theory and for a very good reason; in short, they represent the fundamentals of
classical and popular music.

These three chords are considered the backbone, or driving force behind many well-known pieces
of music. In fact, there are a huge number of popular pieces of music which use only these three
chords! You can buy whole books of 3 chord guitar songs, for example. This is why you should
learn to recognise I, IV and V chords by ear.

Whether you are a fan of Mozart or prefer listening to the Beatles, the I, IV and V chords are three
chords that you should definitely learn more about. Read on to find out why the I, IV and V chords
are so important in music. We will also be analyzing a few short clips of audio to develop your
appreciation of these chords.

The 3 chords every musician should know 9

Types of chord

There are a lot of different ways to think about chords. If you play guitar, you probably think in terms
of chord boxes and fingering shapes which can be moved up and down the fretboard. A pianist
may think in terms of the visual pattern on the keyboard or relate them to the corresponding scales.

When we talk about I, IV and V, we’re actually looking at things slightly differently, in a way that’s
more familiar to the song writer or composer.

These ‘degree’ labels let us talk about what chords do and how they sound without getting bogged
down in key signatures and sharps and flats and fingering and so on. If what you’re interested in is
hearing chords and the impact they have on a song’s sound, this roman numeral (or ‘degree’) analy-
sis is the way to go.

Just one catch: You can’t directly hear a “I chord” or a “IV chord” – we do need to pick a key for our
examples. We’ll use the key of C, which means our I, IV and V chords are C, F and G major
respectively. Explanation below!

For now, just take a listen to these three chords:

The I Chord in C = The IV Chord in C = The V Chord in C =

C major F major G major

Listen online Listen online Listen online

The 3 chords every musician should know 10

The I chord

The one chord is also referred to as the ‘tonic’ chord. This chord will usually let you know what key
a song is written in. As we said above, the I chord isn’t a particular chord; it depends on the tonality
of a song. For example, if you wrote a song in the key of F, your I chord would be F. However, if your
song is written in C, the I chord would be C.

Because the I chord matches the key, it is the most important of all the chords in that key, and the
other chords used will all have a sound based on their relation to the I chord.

The I chord is what sparks the beginning of the song and is also what the song usually comes back
to at the end, in a cycle.

Listen to the example below, which is the chords to “Imagine” by John Lennon. Notice how each
musical phrase starts with C and comes back to it. This is the I chord of the song!

Progression: I-V-IV

The chord progression

of ‘Imagine’

Listen online

The 3 chords every musician should know 11

The IV chord

The IV chord will be a chord based on the fourth degree of your tonality. The term ‘degree’ just
means where that note occurs in the key’s scale.

For example, in our example song above the I chord was C major. From the C major scale, we know
the fourth note will be F. This means that the IV chord of this song is F major. Simple as that!

There’s another relationship here that is interesting to look at: because C is the fifth note in an F
Major scale, if our key is F, then F becomes our I chord and C will be our V chord. This is actually one
of the reasons that these two particular chords work so well together. We will learn later the
dominance of the “V-I” sound, but in short: going from I to IV (e.g. C to F) is also using that particular
dominance.

Because the tonic note of the I chord is one of the notes in the IV chord, it makes it very easy to go
from IV to I or I to IV seamlessly in music. Having this note in common links the sound of the two
chords.

Listen again to the clip of Imagine, and notice this time how the transition from the last chord (F or
“IV“) back to the first (C or “I“) is pleasing to the ears and feels natural.

The chord progression

of ‘Imagine’

Listen online

The 3 chords every musician should know 12

The V chord

Hopefully now you’re getting the hang of this “degrees”

idea. Have you already figured out why the V chord in
the key of C is a G Major? It’s simply that G is the fifth
note in the C major scale.

The V chord is often referred to as the ‘dominant’ chord,

which is a good word for how it sounds: powerful,
imposing. It creates a tension that forces the human
ears to impatiently wait for a more relaxed tonic sound
– such as IV or I.

This man knew the importance of the V chord

(Photo: Yoko Ono)

Music is all about tension and release and the V chord is essential to create a tension. It gives a
reason, or a way, to go back to the I chord naturally.

It is also used in many common chord progressions you’ll encounter such as “I–IV–V–I“, “vi-IV-I-V”
and “ii–V–I“.

You will often find the V chord placed in front of the I or IV chord, since both of those chords feature
the tonic note of the tonality. For example, let’s see how Imagine would sound if Lennon decided
not to release back to the IV chord after using the V:

Progression: I-IV

Alternative
chord progression Not very convincing is it? This is because the V chord cannot stand on it’s
for ‘Imagine’ own – it needs to release to a tonic sound!

Listen online

In conclusion: the I, IV and V chords are the backbone of music composition. Popular songs such as
“Imagine” will use those ear-pleasing chords because they form natural chord progressions which
do not disturb the tonal aspect of listening to music. When you create or listen to music, pay atten-
tion to those three chords and you’ll soon realize that many of your favorite pieces were written
around those three simple chords!

As we learned at the beginning, there are a huge number of songs (in all genres) that rely
exclusively on these three chords. Read on to discover some popular examples of three chord
songs.

The 3 chords every musician should know 13

How to learn from thousands
of 3 chord songs
You’ve probably heard of “3-chord songs” before. These songs tend to be catchy and popular
and only feature a few select chords – usually the same ones repeating themselves over and
over.

Have you seen these books in music shops: “How to play 3 chord guitar” or “1000 songs with 3
chords”? It might sound like exaggeration but there really are a huge number of songs which rely
on just 3 chords. You might be surprised just how much variety is possible despite this simple
musical basis.

The good news? These songs are great for beginner musicians and are also the perfect tool to train
your ears and learn how to recognize certain chords. Ear training exercises are great, of course, but
nothing beats the capacity of recognizing chords in actual pieces and songs you hear.

How to learn from thousands of 3 chord songs 14

Popular 3-chord songs

Let’s start by looking at some of the most well-known 3 chord songs:

Ring of Fire (Johnny Cash)

Sweet Home Alabama (Lynyrd Skynyrd)
Leaving on a Jet Plane (John Denver)
Shook me All Night Long (AC/DC)
All Shook Up (Elvis Presley)
Love is a Rose (Neil Young)
Donna (Richie Valens)
Amazing Grace (Daniel Thomas)

You can also explore The Beatles’ early releases, though some of these push the 3-chord concept a
little bit further by adding a few extra chords.

As you can see, a big chunk of blues, rock & roll and earlier popular music was based around
3-chord progressions. There is a reason for that: often three chords is all you need!

Keeping the harmony simple allows these songs to focus more on the lyrics, the melody, or the
arrangement, for example. Regardless of why they were written that way, these songs can help you
improve your musical ears.

How to learn from thousands of 3 chord songs 15

The 3 most important chords

As you know by now, the three most important chords in music

are the “I, IV and V” chords.

It shouldn’t surprise you then to learn that all those 3-chord songs
will most likely use the I, IV and V chords. These chords are also
the standard progression for a “twelve-bar blues”, the foundation
of blues music.

Those three chords are what represent the ‘tonic’ sound, which is
the core harmonic context of a song. All the other chords which
can be used in a particular tonality are usually only there to either
move from one of the chords to another in a more colorful manner, or add a minor touch to an oth-
erwise major sound.

Most beginners, when trying to figure out how to play a particular song, will pull up tabs or sheet
music from the Internet. When faced with 3-chord songs, don’t do this! Instead, use your ears.

Try to figure out what the I chord is; in most of those songs, it will be a simple major triad. You
should find there’s a particular major chord which sounds good pretty much throughout the song.
You can also try playing the corresponding major scale and seeing if it fits well against the melody.

Those songs are based on simplicity, so you won’t need hours to figure out what chords are being
used!

Once you figured out the key of the song, or the I chord), you’ll then be able to figure out the IV and
V chords – just count up the scale to the fourth and fifth notes and use the corresponding major
chords. For example, if your I chord turns out to be F Major, you would count up F-G-A-B♭-C to learn
the IV and V chords are B♭ Major and C Major respectively. These are probably the ones being used
throughout the song.

Note they won’t necessarily be found in the order “I-IV-V“! This is the next thing you’ll need to use
your ears to figure out: what is the progression? Not so hard once you know it’s all based around
just three chords!

How to learn from thousands of 3 chord songs 16

Practice exercise for 3 chord songs

Here is a little exercise for you to try. The song “Love Me Do” by the Beatles, is a typical 3-chords
song. By listening to the audio clip of the song, and the slowed down piano version that follows, can
you figure out the I, IV and V chords and then write out the entire chord progression to the song?

Love me do: Verse Love me do: Chorus

Listen online Listen online

If you’re having difficulty getting started there’s a hint below!

Training your ears means eventually being able to recognize what chords and intervals are present in
a song without sitting down with your instrument or spending hours at the piano or guitar trying to
figure out what goes on in a particular song. The key to being able to do that is to practice ear training.

Use those 3-chord songs to do so; they are simple, easy to get started with, and will also help you
build your repertoire. The more you practice those songs and try to transcribe the chord
progressions yourself, the more your ears will get used to the I-IV-V progressions and you will soon
be able to spot those chords, even in more complicated songs.

Exercise hint: “Love Me Do” starts on a G Major chord.

How to learn from thousands of 3 chord songs 17

Meet vi, the sad twin
of the chord family
Are you looking to play pop songs by ear or
improve your music transcription skills? Want to
spice up your song-writing? Have you heard of a
‘four chord song’ and wondered what that means?

Make sure you know about the I, IV and V chords and

their use in popular three-chord songs before
reading on in this article.

It’s time to expand beyond the I, IV and V chords.

These three chords are used in many songs, called
“3 chord songs”, but there’s a whole lot more you can
learn to recognise with only a bit more ear training.

So, how can you take a simple 3-chord progression and turn it into something a bit more colorful
and different?

Add a fourth chord, of course! Just as there are a huge number of 3 chord songs, there are even
more “four chord songs”. There’s even a whole chapter of this book devoted to a particular 4-chord
progression (the “sensitive female chord progression”) which is used in a surprising number of
popular songs!

Read on to find out how adding a fourth chord, the vi (or “six”) chord, creates a whole new range of
possible 4-chord progressions and 4-chord songs. In fact because this set of four chords is so
versatile they are often called the “magic 4 chords”.

Training your ear to hear the vi chord will allow you to appreciate and recognise vastly more chord
progressions and easily play songs by ear or write new songs yourself.

Meet vi, the sad twin of the chord family 18

Meet the vi chord

The vi chord can be defined as the ‘sad twin’ of the I chord – it is the first chord of the minor scale
and so complements the sound of the I of the relative major scale. Like the I chord, it can be used
in many different places in a chord progression. You can use it simply to move more effectively from
one chord to another, or even to add a touch of color and a new minor dimension to an otherwise
entirely major chord progression.

Let’s start with a little bit of theory regarding the vi chord. The vi chord is a triad based on the sixth
degree of a major scale. For example, if we are in the key of C, the sixth chord would be a triad
based off A:

C–D–E–F–G–A–B–C

So from the C Major scale we can see the vi chord would be A–C–E, forming an A minor chord.
As you will notice, there is only one note that differs from the C major chord (C-E-G).

Let’s listen to the I chord and the vi chord played one after the other:

Listen:
I - vi progression
(C - Am) As you can hear, these chords have very different sounds, yet somehow
remaining quite similar. This is because one is a major triad and one is a
Listen online minor triad.

Meet vi, the sad twin of the chord family 19

A happy traveller

The great similarity between the I and vi chord is very important, because this will allow you to use
the vi chord throughout the 3-chord progressions you’re already familiar with, and it will sound very
at home while still adding a bit of color and variety.

Let’s listen to some example progressions, this time with the vi chord inserted in a I, IV and V
progression:

C – Am – F – G – C C – F – Am – G – C
= =
I – vi – IV – V – I I – IV – vi – V – I

Listen: Listen:
I - vi progression I - IV - vi - V - I
(C - Am) progression

Listen online Listen online

As you can see, the vi chord is at home anywhere in this progression – it really is like the ‘sad twin’ of
the I chord!

In summary, the vi chord is a very versatile chord that can be inserted in many contexts within
a traditional 3-chord songs. This creates a “4 chord song”.

It adds a new sound to an otherwise major progression and is easy to recognize due to its
simultaneous similarity and difference with the I chord.

Meet vi, the sad twin of the chord family 20

The most important four-
chord progression: vi-IV-I-V
In the last chapter we introduced the vi chord: the “sad twin” of the chord family. Now it’s time
to look at the most common progression using this chord, one which turns up in all kinds of
songs and will undoubtedly sound very familiar to you…

The vi–IV–I–V progression, also referred to as I–V–vi–IV, is a very popular option for many
songwriters. In fact, you would be very surprised if you did a bit of analysis on all your favorite hits
to realize how many of them use that exact same progression! That should tell you something: this
particular chord progression is like gold. Not only does it sound natural and familiar, but it is ‘catchy’
and can support very beautiful melodies.

In a way this is the natural extension of the “three chord song” or “three chord trick” we looked at
before. By introducing the minor vi chord we create a more powerful and emotional progression.
And like that 3 chord trick you’ll find there are lots of easy 4 chord songs you can play just by
learning to play this progression on your instrument.

Read on to learn all about the ‘four-chord song’ chords…

The m o s t i m p o r t a nt fo u r c h o rd p ro gre s s i o n : v i-I V-I-V 21

The famous four chord progression

Let’s start by listening to this progression:

Four chord song

progression: vi-IV-I-V

Listen online
This was Am–F–C–G: vi–IV–I–V in the key of C.

And now the alternative form:

Four chord song

progression: I-V-vi-IV

Listen online

That time it was C–G-Am–F: I–V–vi–IV. Same chords, same order – just starting on a different chord
(I instead of vi).

The m o s t i m p o r t a nt fo u r c h o rd p ro gre s s i o n : v i-I V-I-V 22

The wide world of four-chord songs

I’m sure you’ve already started thinking about one or two songs you know that this chord
progression reminds you of. This is because there are, indeed, a ton of them. Here’s a dozen on a
YouTube playlist:

• The Beatles – Let it Be (verse)

• U2 – With or Without You
• Black Eyed Peas – Where is the Love
• The Rolling Stones – Beast of Burden
• Lady Gaga – Paparazzi (chorus)
• Red Hot Chili Peppers – Under the Bridge (verse)
• Journey – Don’t Stop Believing (that classic piano intro!)
• Bob Marley – No Woman No Cry
• Toto – Africa (chorus)
• Men at Work – Down Under (chorus with extra V turnaround)
• Richard Marx – Right Here Waiting (chorus)
• Maroon 5 – She Will be Loved (chorus)
• A-HA – Take on Me (almost! Can you spot the difference?)
• and SO MANY MORE!

Of course not all these songs rely solely on these four particular chords – but their chorus, or more
recognizable hooks, revolve around them. Going from 60’s rock to the 80’s and pop icons of the 00’s,
these four chords have been used, reused, and recycled again and again...

The m o s t i m p o r t a nt fo u r c h o rd p ro gre s s i o n : v i-I V-I-V 23

Make it your own

The point is: vi–IV–I–V is perhaps one of the most natural chord progressions in music. It is pleasing
to the ears and can support very different melodies. After all, for The Beatles, Bob Marley, Michael
Jackson and Toto to write four very different songs based on the same chord progression it has be a
very versatile combination of chords indeed!

If you are a songwriter, you might think you should shy away from using this chord progression as it
has already been covered. However, it is important to note that there is only a limited combination
of chords in music and hopefully the examples above demonstrate just how versatile this
progression can be. Use it to your advantage to write your own melodies. It’s a great way to start –
and there’s nothing wrong in following in the footsteps of musical geniuses that came before you!

For more about this magic progression (also called the “sensitive female chord progression”!) read
on to “Four Chords and the Truth”.

The m o s t i m p o r t a nt fo u r c h o rd p ro gre s s i o n : v i-I V-I-V 24

Four chords and the truth
There’s an old joke that asks:
“What’s the difference between a rock guitarist and a jazz guitarist?”

Answer:
“A rock guitarist plays three chords to a million people
and a jazz guitarist plays a million chords to three people!”

That may be true, but if you want a stone cold hit you need to write a four chord song. Don’t
believe me? Check out “The Four Chord Song” by Australian comedy rock band Axis of Awesome.

Well-trained ears may even pick out what the four chords are (guitarists: no peeking at Lee’s left hand!)

Warning: This video contains a few F bombs if you are offended by such things or you want to play it to
youngsters please use the following link: Kid-friendly version

It turns out that the four magical chords are E, B, C# minor and A. But with so many chords to
choose from, why did dozens of hit songs end up with the same four chords?

At first glance, it seems strange that so many songs should have the same chords. After all, with
12 notes to choose from, and a choice of major or minor, there should be thousands of pleas-
ant-sounding chord progressions and we should never need to repeat ourselves. Unfortunately for
budding songwriters, the odds are that picking four chords at random will result in something that
sounds horrible. So what are the secrets behind those four magical chords? To find an answer we
need to understand where chords come from.

Fo ur c h o rds a n d t h e t r u t h 25
Where do chords come from

Most Western music is based on the notes of a particular

scale, often called the key.

If a song is in C major, you can be confident that any of the

notes on the C major scale will sound good and are unlikely
to clash. Chords are no different; any chord that contains
only notes from the song’s key will sound like it fits in with
the song. Luckily, we do not have to find them by trial and
error. There is a simple trick we can use to build all of the chords of a key. Pick a note from the scale
to be the first note of your chord, then move two steps up the scale for your next note, then up two
more for the final one.

If we take the Axis of Awesome as an example, the song is in the key of E major so we have the
notes: E, F#, G#, A, B, C#, and D#.

Listen to the E Major scale.

E Major Scale (piano) E Major Scale (guitar)

Listen online Listen online

This section contains a few simplifications for the sake of brevity. If you want to learn more about
chord theory there are lots of great books available and keep your eyes peeled for future articles
on EasyEarTraining.com.

Fo ur c h o rds a n d t h e t r u t h 26
Right then, let’s make some chords! We’ll use the trick from above to pick out the right notes:

Notes Chord Name Chord Number

E, G#, B E Major I
F#, A, C# F# Minor II
G#, B, D# G# Minor III
A, C#, E A Major IV
B , D# , F# B Major V
C#, E, G# C# Minor VI
D#, F#, A D# Diminished VII

Looking at the table, you can see that from our E major scale we have the four magical chords E, B,
C# minor and A!

The Chords of E Major

Chords of E Major (piano) Chords of E Major (guitar)

Listen online Listen online

Fo ur c h o rds a n d t h e t r u t h 27
What Have The Romans Ever Done For Us?

We have found out why songs in the same key tend to have the same chords, but there is another
secret behind the Axis of Awesome’s “Four Chord Song.” Many of the songs they weave into their
medley are not in the songs’ original keys (for example, U2’s version of “With or Without You” is in
D, “Let It Be” is in G, and “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” is in B#). In other words, Axis of Awesome
transposed all of the songs into E major regardless of their original key. Does this mean they are
cheats and the four chords are not magical after all?

Far from it. If you go through every major scale and figure out all the chords, a pattern emerges.
Whatever major scale you start with, you will find a major chord, then two minors, then two majors,
then another minor, and finally a diminished chord.

If you look again at the table above, you will notice that I labeled our list of E major chords with
Roman numerals. If we call the chords in “Four Chord Song” by their numbers rather than their
names, our chord progression of E, B, C# minor, and A becomes I-V-vi-IV. In fact, regardless of what
key they are in, all of our four-chord songs share the progression I-V-vi-IV.

This unassuming sequence of Roman numerals is the source of our four-chord magic.

The Four Chord Song! (click to view interactive score)

Four Chord Song (piano) Four Chord Song (guitar)

Listen online Listen online

Now let us step back to the 1950s, because before there was the four-chord song there was the
Three-Chord Trick.

Fo ur c h o rds a n d t h e t r u t h 28
Anyone Can Play Guitar

If you were to write down the chord sequences

of every rock and roll, country, or blues song
released during the 1950s or early ’60s using our
Roman numeral approach, you might be sur-
prised to discover that nearly every single one of
them was based almost exclusively on the three
major chords in our list: namely, I, IV and V. This
shortcut to writing a pop hit became so famous
that it was known as the Three-Chord Trick. The
songwriter Harlan Howard claimed all you
needed to write country music was “three chords
and the truth” (which has been cheekily para-
phrased for the title of this chapter).

When a snobbish music critic dismisses a new

band’s sound as, “derivative, three-chord rub-
bish,” or when Status Quo or the Ramones are
described as always using the same three chords,
these are the chords referred to. They may use E,
A and B or C, F and G, but when we look at it as Roman numerals, it always comes down to I-IV-V.

Chord progressions heavy in major chords have a strident sound, perfect for energetic music like
rock and roll, and changing between major chords produces the joyous harmony associated with
praise music (the change from IV to I is even called the “Amen” change for this reason). But when
you require more emotional weight, using only those three energetic chords may leave your song
sounding somewhat unsophisticated.

Fo ur c h o rds a n d t h e t r u t h 29
How Strange The Change From Major
To Minor
Into each life, some rain must fall, and so sometimes songwriters need to convey a sense of sadness
or yearning, and for this we need minor chords.

A common mistake budding songwriters make is trying to write sad songs using only minor chords.
No doubt even the greatest songwriters have embarrassing tunes like that squirreled away some-
where, the results of their inexperience and sparked by teenage angst. In fact, it is almost impossi-
ble to find a popular song containing only minor chords, because they tend to sound self-pitying or
oppressive, rather than moving.

Skilled songwriters, on the other hand, may use that ploy to play with our emotions. In “Street Spirit
(Fade Out) by Radiohead, the verses consist of only A minor and E minor chords that establish a
claustrophobic sound. When it finally moves to C major in the chorus, it opens up and suddenly you
can breathe again. Listen to this clip and see if you can hear the change.

Radiohead – Street Spirit (fade out)

Could you hear it? If you need a little help: it’s on the line “Fade out again.”

The songs that make up Axis of Awesome’s medley are filled with lyrics such as “Don’t stop believing,”
“I can’t live with or without you,” and “When I find myself in times of trouble, mother Mary comes to me.”
If you were looking for a common theme among the songs, you might say they tend to sound pos-
itive in character, but also reflective, or as though one were striving to overcome adversity. If we set
out to write a song with that kind of feel we would probably write a progression with mostly major
chords, and slip in the occasional minor. You should not be surprised to hear this is exactly what we
get with the I-V-vi-IV.

Fo ur c h o rds a n d t h e t r u t h 30
The Sensitive Female Chord Progression

You may wonder why “Four Chord Song” uses the VI chord rather than the other available minors in
our list (II or III). The answer is that the VI chord is the strongest and most pleasing to the ear of the
minor chords.

It is the relative minor, so called because a minor scale starting on the same note as the VI chord
would contain exactly the same notes as the major scale starting at I.

For example, the E major scale we have been using has the notes E, F#, G#, A, B, C#, and D#. If we
write the scale out starting from our vi chord C#, we get the notes C#, D#, E, F#, G#, A, and B, which
is the C# minor scale.

We could go even further, and start our whole progression from the VI chord. This would give us the
progression vi-IV-I-V. You probably won’t be surprised to hear that this is also a very popular chord
progression, so popular in fact that it is known as “The Sensitive Female Chord Progression.” It even
has its own website.

Fo ur c h o rds a n d t h e t r u t h 31
They May Be Magical,
But They’re Not Everything
By now, you might be feeling a little down, thinking that perhaps all
the genius songwriters you idolized are just hacks churning out the
same chord sequence again and again.

You may even be thinking about writing a sensitive song about it,
using the vi-IV-I-V progression – until you realize how ironic that
would be.

But fear not. The choice of chords is just one aspect of writing a
song, and an overemphasized aspect at that. The chord progression
provides the harmony of a song, but music contains many
elements. As well as harmony, there is melody, rhythm, tempo,
meter, dynamics, articulation, and timbre. And beyond the music,
many artists feel that the story told by the lyrics is just as important
to the success of a song.
Ultimately, it is the emotional impact a song has on you that matters, not just its chords. If you
learned that “Born In The USA” uses the same two chords all the way through (B and E), or that
“Chain of Fools” by Aretha Franklin only has one chord (C#), would it make you think less of these
wonderfully impassioned works?

Next time you have the radio on, see how many songs you can hear that use the I-V-VI-IV
progression!

Fo ur c h o rds a n d t h e t r u t h 32
BONUS Lesson

Being able to play by ear is one of the most desirable skills among musicians. But many people
assume it’s a gift: you’ve either got it or you don’t.

If you’ve read this far, hopefully you’re now convinced: you can learn to play by ear!

Still not sure?

We have a bonus lesson for you: Lisa McCormick of GettingStartedWithGuitar.net will show you
just how easy it can be, and reveal the “sexy secret of one, four, five”…

B O N US Le s s o n 33
The sexy secret of “One, Four, Five”
Let’s face it, sometimes music theory just doesn’t seem very sexy.

But wait –

Have you ever lusted after figuring out how to play a song on the guitar or
piano, instantly, just by ear?

No sheet music, no tabs, no chord charts. Just you, the naked song, and
the starry night. A match made in heaven.

Turns out, you may be a whole lot closer to that than you think.

In many cases, all you need is an understanding of the magic of “One, Four, Five”, in order to quickly
figure out how to play thousands of songs, by ear.

What’s “One, Four, Five”?

“One, Four, Five” is common shorthand for Basic Chord Theory. And Basic Chord Theory is the hidden
system behind what makes chords work together, within a key.

If you play a chord-based instrument (guitar, piano, organ, banjo, mandolin, ukulele, etc.), under-
standing Basic Chord Theory can be a real game changer for you and how you connect with your
instrument.

B O N US Le s s o n 34
What Does it Mean?
Let’s roll up our sleeves and dig in. Ready?

Every major key (like the key of C, for example), has a corresponding major scale (the C major scale).

Think: Do, Re, Me, Fa, Sol, La, Ti, Do.

(alternatively: sing the first line to the Christmas Carol “Joy to the World”… and you’ll have the major
scale – backwards!)

Now, replace the Do, Re, Mi’s, etc. with numbers:

Do = 1. Re = 2. Mi = 3. Fa = 4. Sol = 5. La = 6. Ti = 7.

We’re going to be interested in numbers 1, 4 and 5… But what are they? Sticking with the example
of the key of C, and the C major scale, sing or play the scale starting on C:

Now, C = 1. D = 2. E = 3. F = 4. G = 5. A = 6. B = 7.

With me so far?

Single out number 1, number 4, and number 5 (“One, Four, Five”, remember?)

And you get: C, F, and G.

Finally, play those as major CHORDS (not just notes). You get a C major chord, an F major chord, and
a G major chord.

B O N US Le s s o n 35
Ready for the Sexy Part?

Now let’s use these three chords (the “One”, the “Four”, and the “Five”) to figure out how to play a
song by ear. Grab your instrument and play along as you read.

Let’s use the song “Amazing Grace” as our guinea pig. Here’s the tune, if you need a reminder:

Amazing grace, how sweet the sound

That saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost, but now I’m found,
Was blind, but now I see.

Listen to the melody

Listen online

Play a C chord on your instrument, and sing “Amazing grace” (with your voice on the note G). Keep
going into the song (“… how sweet the sound…”), playing a C chord the whole time.

When you get to the word “sweet”, you’ll notice the C chord clashes with your voice!

Hear how the chord clashes at this point

Listen online

Ouch. Time to try a different option.

The rule of thumb here is to keep playing the same chord until you reach a point in the song
where that chord does not work any more.

B O N US Le s s o n 36
Here’s the trick: rather than trying every other chord in the world to fix the problem, try using either
the “Four” chord (F major), or, the “Five” chord (G major), to accompany the word “sweet” in the song.

Turns out the F chord sounds pretty good there – that’s the “Four chord”, remember.

The four chord matches the melody better

Listen online

Keep playing the four chord, and singing the song (“sweet the sound”). When you get to the word
“sound”, you should hear that it sounds like it’s time to change chords.

Hear it’s time for a change again

Listen online

Again, don’t waste your time trying every chord in the world. Try your other two options from our
“one”, “four” and “five”: the C (“one”) or the G (“five”) chord.

… and you’ll that coming back to the C chord sounds pretty good there (the “One” chord).

Returning to the ‘one’ chord works well

Listen online

Stay with the C chord, and keep singing the song (“That saved a wretch like me”). When you get to
the word “me”, notice that the chord works… but it doesn’t feel like it does the tune justice, does it?

A change is needed here

Listen online

B O N US Le s s o n 37
What are your options? F, or G. Let’s try the G, just for ha ha’s (the “Five” chord).

Sing ‘me’ and play the G chord. Ah, how sweet the sound!

The five chord is best choice

Listen online

Keep with the G chord, and keep singing the song. (“I once was lost”).

Doesn’t sound quite right, does it? The G no longer fits the melody, and the chord wants to change
again.

The G isn’t right any more

Listen online

What’ll you go for? The C? The F?

… if you figured out that it is a C, well done!

Now, you could continue chord-by-chord, but here’s a shortcut: can you hear that this third line is
quite similar to the first line of the song? Then you can probably guess that the chords to use are the
same!

So for “I once was lost, but now I’m found” we move from the C (one) to an F (four) and back to C
(one), just like we did for “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound”.

It’s just like the first line

Listen online

B O N US Le s s o n 38
Almost to the end of the song now. Sing “was blind but”, and play C. Sing “now I” and play G. And
finally back to the “one” C chord to finish with “I see”!

Tip: It’s very common to start and end a song with the “one” chord.

A quick back and forth to finish

Listen online

Now congratulate yourself! Hopefully you’re feeling a bit less lost and a bit less blind – or deaf!

You’ve just played this song by ear.

This is the power of “One, Four, Five” in a nutshell.

B O N US Le s s o n 39
Five More Little Factoids You Need to Know:

• This system works in every key, exactly the same way. Try working out the
same song, in another key. How about the key of G?
• This system will work for thousands of basic songs. Folk songs, pop songs,
rock songs (remember “Three chords and an attitude”? THIS is what they were
talking about!).
• The more you practice working songs out by this system of trial and error,
the better and faster you’ll get at it. Playing by ear will begin to come to
naturally.
• When “1”, “4” and “5” don’t cut it, try the “2”, “3”, or the “6”. But here’s the
rub: play these as MINOR chords!
• Amongst musicians, chord-numbers are represented with Roman
Numerals. Now that you understand the basics of the system, start using the
nomenclature that the big kids use: 1 = I, 2 = II, 3 = III, 4 = IV, 5 = V, 6 = VI, 7 =
VII.
You may be wondering “What about the VII chord?” In fact it shows up far less frequently than 1
through 6. And when it does, it is played as a diminished chord. Let’s worry about that one later!

B O N US Le s s o n 40
Now, Go Forth and Play!

Now that you know the secret system behind I-IV-V (that’s “One, Four, Five, remember), try it on
some other common basic songs, just to get the hang of it.

Try ‘Yankee Doodle’. ‘Rockabye Baby’. ‘You Are My Sunshine’. ‘Happy Birthday’. ‘Joy to the World’. ‘Blue
Suede Shoes’…

Amaze yourself and impress your listener as song after song after song pours out of you and
your instrument, seemingly like magic.

Now, that’s sexy.

Lisa McCormick is a guitarist, recording artist, and guitar instructor for

GuitarTricks.com. You can explore her tutorials, videos and courses at
GettingStartedWithGuitar.net, including the The Guitar-Ease Play-by-Ear
System and Chord Theory Magic which cover just the kind of powerful ma-
terial introduced in this lesson. She has also created a specific ear training
program for guitar – perfect if you want to learn to play guitar by ear!

B O N US Le s s o n 41
The Perfect Next Step for Guitar Players

Now that you know about 3-chord and 4-chord songs, there’s a great way to continue learning and
apply what you know to your guitar.

Lisa McCormick (author of The Sexy Secret of ‘1, 4, 5’) has created a special video masterclass called
“Guitar-Ease” which walks you through playing 3- and 4-chord songs by ear on guitar.

Discover how the Guitar-Ease Play-by-Ear System works:

42
Don’t stop there...

Keep those ears improving!

Find more information and the next steps you can take:

Learn more

43
www.EasyEarTraining.com