4. Am - F - C - G, vi - IV - I - V
Beginning with a minor chord, this progression tends to sound darker and sadder than the other four progressions. Examples of songs that use this progression include the entirety of “Cheap Thrills” by Sia, the chorus of “Africa” by Toto, the entirety of “Apologize” by OneRepublic, and the chorus of “Numb” by Linkin Park. Watch our video on “Zombie” by The Cranberries to learn this emotive progression.
5. C - F - Am - G, I - IV - vi - V
Our final progression is very similar to progression number 4, the only difference is the I and vi chords have switched places. What you’ll end up with is a similar sounding chord progression, just not as sad as the progression in number 4. Examples include the verse and chorus of “Say” by John Mayer, the entirety of “Magic” by B.O.B, the entirety of “Escape” by Enrique Iglesias, the verse and chorus of “Good Life” by One Republic, and the intro riff of “Hit Me With Your Best Shot” by Pat Benatar.
Many of these songs don’t just use the same four or five chords over the entire song. Most of the time, they’d use a combination of different chord progressions for the different sections of the song (verse, prechorus, chorus, etc.), but there’s a good chance that each of the sections uses one of the five common chord progressions.
How Many Chords Do I Have to Practice?
You may have noticed by now that all of these chord progressions really only use a different combination of four chords - the I, IV, V, and vi chords. This means that if you learn these four chords in the five most common guitar keys (C, A, G, E, D), you’ll be ready to play a huge number of songs.
My suggestion is to start with the key of G, as that’s the easiest key to play in, and then work your way through the keys of A, C, D, and finally, E.
Using the Capo to Change keys
Now, what if a song isn’t in one of the common guitar keys?
Well, that’s where your trusty capo will help you out. All you’ll need to do is pick the nearest common guitar key in relation to the key of the song, and then use the capo to move those chords up to get to your target key.
Take note that the capo can only move the key up and not down. So for example, if the song you’re trying to play is in the key of B major, you’d use your chords from the key of A instead of C (you can move A up to B, but you can’t move C down to B).
For a more in-depth study of how to use a capo, check out our video lesson and accompanying article.
Last Word
It really isn’t that difficult to learn how to play pop music on the guitar. As I’ve pointed out, pop songwriters don’t really use that many different chord progressions. With these five chord progressions, you’ll be able to play enough songs to last you a lifetime. These progressions also show up occasionally in other genres of music, so keep an ear out for them in your journey as an aspiring musician. Remember, start off with the key of G, then A, C, D, and E.
For those of you having trouble with playing the chord changes check out the chart below and this accompanying video!
