Knowing Chord Progressions

Chord progressions form the harmony of a piece of music. If you need an ear primer for chords and haven't seen it yet, visit the Piano Chords page.

The Usual Way

The usual way to learn something is to start with the easy, and then experience the not so easy. We're going to do things a little differently here.

The Way We'll Do It

Since we will only be using three or four different major chords, we will start with a more active sound clip, and work backwards towards something less active and simple. The reason for this? It's for you to learn to take an active piece of music and figure out the harmony. The three sound clips below will contain the exact same chord progressions.

Before You Listen

One small caution. After succeeding with this little exercise some people get excited and try to decipher complex pieces of music. Please remember, music is a vast ocean. It takes a number of steps, and a bit of time to navigate out there. Still, the listening exercise on this page will open your mind.

If You're Up For It

If you want to give yourself a little test, don't look at the flash player while it plays, as the chord symbols will visibly scroll during playback. So, if you know something about harmony jot down your answers. You can use chords symbols or roman numerals. If you don't know much about music just listen. In any case, the chord symbols and roman numerals will be revealed in the second paragraph after the sound clips.

All set? Here we go!

First sound clip: played up a bit.

Second sound clip: just slightly played up.

Third sound clip: the simple chords.

Alright. How was that for you? In the end, it doesn't matter if it took you a while to get the answers; or if you didn't get the answers at all. Listening to music and understanding it is a matter of conditioning. You can repeat this exercise as much as you want and condition your mind to understand.

Oh! You probably want to check the answers. Click here to open answers to chord progressions.txt in your browser, or right-click to download it.

Now, if you'd like to hear how chords can affect a melody, visit the Music Chords page.

Written Material

If you're looking for more written material on this subject Wikipedia has good material. To avoid getting overwhelmed, sift through and break it down in steps, if this is new to you.

If you haven't seen it yet, here's a little exercise that is simple and adaptable to various levels of difficulty: Play Piano By Ear. It's one of the best tips to learn and utilize for all levels of ability.

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Chord Progressions

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