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Guitar Chord Progressions – Where Do They Come From?

Guitar chord progressions are like baby brothers – you cannot escape from them and they take some explaining. Let us do some analysis on the  term “guitar chord progressions”. In case you did not know, any time two or more notes are played, this is referred to as a “chord”. You probably know that certain guitar chords sound good together. These are called guitar chord “families”. Guitar chord “progressions” are certain sequences of chords that sound so good together that they are used as the musical basis of songs.

Chord progressions are derived from  musical scales like C D E F G A B C. This is the C major scale which is used very often in music. It is just a sequence of notes with no sharps or flats which makes it easy to use to teach music students the principles of music. When we study chord progressions we think of these letters as chords instead of single notes. If we number the chords from one to seven we can work in a practical way with the chords in any key because the basic principles are the same.

If we write out the chords as numbers we have the problem of getting the numbers denoting the chords confused with numbers that are used in the names of the chords. If we are working with the chord B7 we do not want to have to stop and think what “77″ means so we use Roman numerals to number the chords. That way B7 is named VII7. To a newbie that might still be confusing but it is a good way of fixing the problem.

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With your ukulele you can play many nice and fun chord progressions. You will use ukulele tablature so you don’t need to know sheet music.

The following chords presupposes that you have tuned your ukulele in the most common way with the first string with the highest pitch to an A.

We will first learn the two ukulele chords C-major and A7. In order to be able to show you how to play these chords I will present the ukulele tab notation I will use in this article.

Tablature is a form of notation that shows you how to put your fingers on your ukulele to play melodies and chords. The digit before the slash shows you which fret to play and the digit after the slash what string to play. Here is the C-major chord:

0/4 0/3 0/2 3/1

To clarify the before mentioned tab notation: 3/1 means that you press down the third fret on string one. I will also show you the fingerings for your left hand. The left hand fingers are usually numbered:

Index: 1

Middle finger: 2

Ring finger: 3

Pinky: 4

The fingering for the previous C chord is beginning with the fourth string: 0 0 0 3

Let’s start to strum on the ukulele with this chord:

C / / /

You can use your right hand thumb to strum the ukulele chord progressions or use a pick.  Read more...

Just what is it about the tritone chord progression that makes it so mysterious? Perhaps it has to do with its dissonant, clashing sound. It may have something to do with its dubious history. Whatever it is, the tritone chord progression in music made a comeback in music after several centuries of bad publicity.

‘Tritone” is defined as a musical interval that spans three whole tones. A tritone chord may also be called an augmented fourth or diminished fifth chord. The tritone sounds like a clash, or as a dissonant chord. For this reason, the tritone chord was often avoided during Medieval times through to the end of the Romantic era.

For hundreds of years musical styles were, in large part, dictated by the church. During Medieval times, the tritone was viewed as too dissonant for use in common liturgical services. In fact, the tritone chord progression came to represent the devil. Perhaps as early as the 18th century it was commonly known as “diabolus in musica” (the devil in music).

A great deal of superstition came to be associated with the tritone. Many church fathers adhered to the belief that it may even serve to invoke the power of the devil. Because of this superstition, the use of the tritone was banned by the church for liturgical use. Because of this negative association, even secular music produced during these centuries avoided it.  Read more...

A guitar chord progression chart doesn’t need to be complex to sound good.   When musicians look at a chord progression chart they often look for simple chord progressions.  This is especially true with many guitar players.  What is one simple guitar chord progressions?  Where did it come from?

A Simple Guitar Chord Progression and It’s Mechanics

One simple guitar chord progression is the I, IV, V, iv chord progression.  In order to understand this progression more clearly we should look at an example. Let’s look under the hood of a C major chord progression (A major chord progression is often simply called a chord progression.).

Major Scales and How They Contribute to Progressions

First, we must know the C major scale because it has the same letter name as a C chord.  The C major scale has a C, D, E, F, G, A and B note.  We will call the C note the 1st note and the D note the 2nd note etc.  A chord progression comes from the 1st, 4th, 5th and 6th notes.  Therefore, the C chord progression is made up of the C, F, G, and A minor chords (The sixth note leads to a minor not a major chord.).  Now we know how to get major chord progressions.  How about minor chord progressions?

Under the Hood of Minor Chord Progressions

   Read more...