I–IV–V–I chord progression
The backbone of folk, blues and rock: home, away, further away, home.01
In every key
Roman numerals name each chord by its place in the key: I is home, IV and V are the major chords around it, ii, iii and vi the minor ones. The same pattern works in any key.
| Key | Chords | How to play it | Practise |
|---|---|---|---|
| C | C F G C | Open chords | Play along |
| G | G C D G | Open chords | Play along |
| D | D G A D | Open chords | Play along |
| A | A D E A | Open chords | Play along |
| E | E A B E | Barre chords, or capo 2 with D shapes | Play along |
| F | F B♭ C F | Barre chords, or capo 3 with D shapes | Play along |
| B♭ | B♭ E♭ F B♭ | Barre chords, or capo 1 with A shapes | Play along |
| E♭ | E♭ A♭ B♭ E♭ | Barre chords, or capo 1 with D shapes | Play along |
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Songs that use it
- “La Bamba” – Ritchie Valens (the same I, IV and V)
Chords only, as usually played. The songs themselves aren’t included.
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The change to practise
In C the slowest change is F → G: nothing stays down, so land all fingers as one shape.
Play along in time
Chordbyte plays the progression with a metronome and a one-bar count-in, shows each chord as it comes, and has four strumming patterns from one strum per chord to “old faithful”. Pick a key in the table above, or start in C.
Play I–IV–V–I in C04