The first number is the root, the second one is minor second, the third one is also minor, the fourth and fifth are major, the sixth is minor, and the seventh is diminished. Here, we have seven numbers where upper case numbers are used to mark major, while the lower case is used for minor chords. This system is using Roman numerals to mark chord progression. The main idea behind this system is to simplify the progression and use only numbers instead of letters. The second way of writing the chord progression is using the so-called Nashville number system. We would use letters to address each chord where C would be C major, Cm is minor, Cm7 is C minor seventh, and so on. It might turn out that there are only three or four different chords for the entire song. What you would need to do is to see how many unique chord changes there are during the song. While it might be complicated seeing dozens of chords used for the single song, the truth is that there is a much simpler chord progression behind them. And after that, you would write chords above the lyrics whenever there is a chord change. If there is an intro to the song, you would simply write the chord progression that is used for the intro.
The idea is to have the lyrics of the song and simply write chords above the line where the chord is changed.Įach of these writings will have different segments where the first part would be the intro, for example. The first one is the one you probably encountered already. However, there are two other ways that you might encounter on your musical journey. Of course, if you could read sheet music you will have no problems with chord progressions. Since before music could be recorded as easily as today, musicians needed a way to somehow write their songs. There are several ways how musicians could write something like the chord progression. But for writing using only your guitar, progression will be the basis of your song. Of course, if you play with the band, you would consider other instruments as well. For now, it is only important to know that when you play three chords like C, G, and D, that is called a progression of chords.īasically, the chord progression will be the foundation of your song, and you will base the rest of the song around it. Similar to the scale, there are certain rules about building a progression, but more on that later.
Any chords that are played one after the other will make a chord progression. It can be intro, verse, chorus, or anything else. But what is a chord progression, anyway? The chord progression is a sequence of two or more chords during the segment of the song.