chord progressions

[accordian]

how common are chord progressions in songs as
I will look on wikipedia granted not the best place for
information but still better than nothing and see such
and such song is using the same chord progression.
and I've heard all over the place "learn 4 chords and learn
250+ songs" i'm not asking is it worth learning chord progressions
but rather are there more songs with chord progressions than not
etc.

or really could you say that if a song has chords repeated in
a pattern eg. c em dm f g then that is it's chord progression

hopefully this is the correct area for this post as I wasn't sure.

thanks

 

[geoff45789]

C Am F G (or C Am F G7) repeated is very common, especially in songs from the late 50's / early 60's. Most doowop uses this chord sequence. The song 'Those Magic Changes" from Grease is all about that chord sequence and it's magic
Other examples include the Lambada and Tous les Garcons et les Filles

 

[donn]

Within the realm of western music, anyway, pretty much every tune can reasonably be considered to have a chord progression. It's more of a philosophical question. Does, say, a Beethoven symphony have "chords"? At some point you may like to draw a line and say, here it's ridiculous to reduce the music to chords, because we lose too much. In that case, of course, no chords means no chord progression. Where you would draw that line, depends on what your intentions are with respect to these works.

Some tune on the other hand may exist where there's arguably a chord - but only one, and that isn't much of a progression, but in practice there sure wouldn't be many like that. If it has chords, and more than one, that's a chord progression.

 

[wirralaccordion]

I have the opposite problem as I am basically a pianist who has more recently transferred to piano accordion. I tend to play the right hand on the PA as it is written for piano, i.e. with chords ( hymn-like ), but to my mind the sound is "heavy" and so I now try stick to single notes or maybe two note chords which is typical of a lot of the music I have seen written specifically for PA, eg Gary Meisner books, etc.
I recently played in a PA band for the first time and it required a lot of discipline to play just the single notes as was required.
George Shearing style would sound good in the right hand but the left hand would be unplayable!

 

[Tom]

You can end a lot of songs or phrases with 2m, 5, 1. Ie. Dm, G7, C in the key of C. It's just a short progression to end with but quite useful, imho. Also used in jazz music.

 

[Geronimo]

I have the opposite problem as I am basically a pianist who has more recently transferred to piano accordion. I tend to play the right hand on the PA as it is written for piano, i.e. with chords ( hymn-like ), but to my mind the sound is heavy and so I now try stick to single notes or maybe two note chords which is typical of a lot of the music I have seen written specifically for PA, eg Gary Meisner books, etc.
I recently played in a PA band for the first time and it required a lot of discipline to play just the single notes as was required.
George Shearing style would sound good in the right hand but the left hand would be unplayable!

Well, another reason for CBA: you wouldnt know the chord shapes to play anyway, so no discipline required. Basically you restart from scratch. Like on the piano, you can use articulation in the right hand of either accordion type to emphasize melody and deemphasize accompanying chords, but the means of this differentiated articulation are completely different. CBA and PA are of course quite more similar here than piano, so the close acquaintance with PA tends to lead to unsuitable expectations and/or reflexes. Try playing harmonium to get more into the articulatory vibe of accordions...

 

[JeffJetton]

Pretty much all modern songs have chord progressions. A "chord progression" is just the movement of one chord (or harmonic situation) to another*. They're not necessarily always a repeating pattern. If the chords are words, a progression is a sentence.

Every chord in song is part of some sort of chord progression. Some progressions are very common. Others aren't (same as with sentences.)



* Or I guess even the lack of movement. I'd consider "Electric Avenue" to have a chord progression of one chord. Like a one-word sentence. Ha!

 

[donn]

Though to expand a little on something I implied above - its kind of like dinosaurs. We have dug up remnants from 100 million years ago, that give us the skeletal structure and not many other clues, so weve kind of made up the rest. Now they find (they think), many of them may have had feathers! Brightly colored feathers as like as not. Who knows what other totally wrong ideas we have dressed those bones in. Who knows what idiotic messes we would make of tunes if we knew them only by their chord progressions and single melodies (I guess this isnt entirely hypothetical!)

The chord progression is not the tune. Of course obviously its missing the melody - and its also missing the harmony and all the moving parts. The standard accordion is practically built for chord charts, and that isnt a bad thing, but leaving it there at the minimum is a bad thing. Learn how to work the bass buttons for more than just the root of the current chord. Consider reducing the chord buttons to some of the downbeats, not all of them. Etc.

 

[losthobos]

Who knows what idiotic messes we would make of tunes if we knew them only by their chord progressions and single melodies (I guess this isnt entirely hypothetical!)

you mean like working from a jazz fakebook...

 

[donn]

Sure. That's a case where by convention it's encouraged, in that the jazz artist sort of assumes the intention to depart from the spirit of the tune and reinvent it as jazz. So maybe the term "idiotic mess" is a little judgmental, my point is really just that the chord progression very likely doesn't all by itself give you the means to recover the harmonies and structure it refers to.

 

[jozz]

im not asking is it worth learning chord progressions
but rather are there more songs with chord progressions than not
etc.

My guess: for all your purposes: yes

Most songs that you can think of, and are going to look up on YT to play along to, are going to have standard progressions.

And because of the way you are learning to build a song/tune repertoire, I would say its certainly worthwhile for you to learn the 4-chord trick

 

[wirralaccordion]

And because of the way you are learning to build a song/tune repertoire, I would say its certainly worthwhile for you to learn the 4-chord trick

After the 3 chord trick, after the 2 chord trick, after the 1 chord trick!

 

[losthobos]

After the 3 chord trick, after the 2 chord trick, after the 1 chord trick!

Priceless tip.....

 

[Geronimo]

After the 3 chord trick, after the 2 chord trick, after the 1 chord trick!

Priceless tip.....

One chord to rule them all, one chord to find them, one chord to bring them all and in progression bind them in the land of cadence where the tonic lies.

 

[accordian]

After the 3 chord trick, after the 2 chord trick, after the 1 chord trick!

Priceless tip.....

lol

 

[accordian]

And because of the way you are learning to build a song/tune repertoire, I would say its certainly worthwhile for you to learn the 4-chord trick

After the 3 chord trick, after the 2 chord trick, after the 1 chord trick!

didnt know there was a 4 chord trick unless you mean 4 chords 100 songs lol