One Common Chord Progression: 12 Different Songs

What do “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot”, “Don’t Stop Believing” and “Blue Moon” have in common? They all use the same common chord progression ( I-vi-ii-V7-I)! It’s really amazing to think how many songs all have the same fundamentals. This is exactly the reason why so many music teachers try to drill chords into your head. Once you know your chords properly, almost any song becomes that much easier to learn. People always talk about a secret to a hit song and maybe this is it. This chord progression spans decades and genres of music to really fit almost any style.

Don’t believe us when we say how many songs use the same common chord progression? Watch Debbie perform a medley of songs on the piano.

http://www.easypianostyles.com/

Debbie Gruber, B.M., M.M., is the President of www.EasyPianoStyles.com where she sends out free video piano lessons on playing pop/jazz piano. Debbie was a lecturer in jazz appreciation at Western Michigan University. She is also a piano and voice instructor and performs at many restaurants and parties in the Boston area.

13 comments

Awesome! Thank you so much. Would love to learn all the rhythm patterns, the various positions to play the different chords. Gotta take a class!

When you sing I would like to know what chords you are using, the scales they are from. Please explain. I enjoyed the first lesson.

I wish my piano teachers had used that method when I took lessons. I gave up on piano because they did not teach anything I wanted to learn.

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