Common Chord Progressions Every Beginner Should Know

Here are three simple chord progressions that all beginners should know how to play on the piano. I go over some very basic theory explaining how to construct each one, and demonstrate each one in the key of C major.
Number 1:
I - IV - V progression. This is very popular and can be heard in a countless amount of pop, rock and blues songs. In the key of C, the chords would be: C, F, G.
Number 2:
I - V - vi - IV progression. This is the most popular chord progress of all time and appears in hundreds of famous pop songs. In the key of C, the chords would be: C, G, Am, F.
Number 3:
I - vi - ii - V progression. This is another very common chord progression found in many pop, rock and blues songs. In the key of C, the chords would be: C, Am, Dm, G.
I recommend practicing these in a few different keys to help internalize the progressions and also to allow you to play along to even more songs!
If you have any questions, leave them in the comment box below.
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[@Piano_Pig]

Hope you enjoy the video! What are your guys favourite chord progressions?

[@urbbanq]

man, you craked all the music !! thank you very much for all the information!

[@lorenhorton5268]

PianoPig #

[@hacerclic1020]

I'm really enjoying your videos. I just discovered the I vi ii V progression. With some sevens and nines added and a soft synth sound with a slow attack, it makes a nice ambient progression-like Cmaj7, Amin7, Dmin9, G7. I find it very pretty and relaxing.

[@suanmuichua6921]

新

[@globalmalfunction]

Could you do some progressions in the natural minor scale?

[@marklindsey4668]

Your technique of teaching is very good. The use of hands on keys, measure and notes and coloured notes simultaneously make relearning simple. Students want to hear you play longer portions of complete songs during the videos to give us hope. and encouragement. Without that connection beginners lose comprehension. Practice is still key. Knowing what to practice is crucial for adults. I find myself learning something every time I sit down at the piano lately.Thank you piano puaa

[@Piano_Pig]

Thanks Mark! Glad you've been benefiting from the videos :)

[@nicolasrea2185]

I love teaching myself how to play music you’re always reaching new levels and then you find some gold like this and it opens up a new level... may not be the best tactic for learning but I love it! Thank you sir you explained this perfectly!

[@thebirdcaller3221]

Music is magical, but it’s also logical.

[@search2077]

@@HowIsAsh learning music and learning maths are completely different even though both have their own logic behind them. yes, I agree that music is very different from other subjects but it's still logical, you just have to learn from the beginning and you'll catch on and expand your music knowledge hopefully.

[@captainclipy6236]

svenuu you got frustrated when you couldn’t learn moonlight sonata in a day didn’t you?

[@pradipyash]

@@HowIsAsh woah woah calm down

[@tomknop8675]

@@HowIsAsh hey man, if you still need a video about the basics without assuming you know the basics already, watch this thing completely. Practice it, and then come back to this. I know for sure this is what you need! Good luck ma man, kzbin.info/www/bejne/i5WcdKN9hKxkfac

[@Lennedevries]

music is logical, but if emotion takes over it becomes magical.

[@jjdmadn2425]

"Just use 1-4-5 it's simple !" *proceeds to use out of scale embellishments"

[@anthonydupont3694]

I'm with you on that

[@dalkeiththomas9352]

After hitting chord 1, hit key e only , then hit F key only after chord 4 and then hit chord 5

[@scarolinamoore]

Yeah I noticed that too. Not good to do to beginners

[@kwaziduma1530]

He only used an inversion of the G chord. It might be confusing for a beginner but it's not out of scale.

[@rb8058]

No shit. Do as I say, not as I do, yeah?

[@edkaempf906]

Excellent video. Really clear on how chord progressions work, including use of inverted chords. I'm only a beginner, and you've really helped me understand some basics. Thank you. Only being picky here, but at 5:33 and 5:42, you play an F major chord instead of the D minor in the I - vi - ii - V progression in C. So, you are demonstrating a I - vi - IV - V chord progression.

[@audioplugg5310]

it's been a year since you've posted this comment. how have your piano skills evolved?

[@fraxille_]

4 is the most common way to reharm / alternate the 2 chord

[@chouchoue]

@@audioplugg5310 It's a good video but the example isn't a 1625. That's confusing. It was confusing to me. A total beginner is going to be completely lost with the last example. They're not going to know when to use a flattened 7th in Major. EDIT: I do like he took the time to highlight the keys on top. Makes it easy to follow.

[@chouchoue]

@@fraxille_ Where's the DFA? He uses FAC instead in the entire example.

[@stormplayer002]

@@audioplugg5310 it's been a year since you've posted this comment on his comment. did you receive a reply yet?

[@zacharygarcia9869]

Awesome video for beginners : D! I hope whoever is reading this is haveing a great day ❤🐥

[@614pinetree]

Thank you a million! This is a big help to me learning to play piano by the chords! I’ll keep looking for more of your teachings! ❤️👍

[@Piano_Pig]

Glad you enjoyed it 😀

[@ronjrandall]

Just started piano a week ago, an absolute beginner. Best progression video I have seen yet. I can start slow and progress from here.

[@thewomaninblack731]

You are a great teacher.. Thank you so much for your clear explanations 💜

[@hamiamiam]

Great video. But There is a difference between banging four chords and the way you play them. This is what’s missing in this video : the kind of melody / improvising that you did

[@АрсенийЧемырысТВ]

Yeah yeah I just want to find that thing and don't understand it at all and everything are acting if we know what's it all about

[@AbsoluteAbsurd]

Somethin'123 takes more than watching a video once.

[@zxdp747]

He's using the same chord, but different form.

[@toshiyo822]

Thank you! Can you teach us how to improvise like that with chord progressions and create beautiful Melodies?

[@donk.2070]

Well done. Very clear and concise instructions. I appreciate some theory to understand how progressions and song melodies are created. Now subscribed. Thank you for sharing...

[@LOFIGSD]

As a Guitarist who's Son plays Piano, I can say these lessons are fantastic for Keyboard Players, for learning these in other Keys, most Rock songs for male Vocalists are in Keys easier on the Guitar, i.e A,D,G and E. You could always cheat and use the transpose key on your Keyboard.

[@matthewbolduc2714]

Very excellent basic skill and knowledge made easy. Thank you.

[@mercywambugu8372]

I read music and would really like to master the improvisation techniques. Thank you for your inspirational videos.

[@VincentConard]

I love the name, “Mercy!”

[@jeriahshield2955]

Me looking for videos on chord progression, and finally stumbled on one that worths it ❤❤❤ thanks for clear explanation video

[@MAJORICH1]

Of all teachers I have come across On the KZbin and other social media, you are the Best for me. Thank you.

[@Piano_Pig]

Thank you! Much appreciated 🙏🙏

[@gabrielneyd8612]

Thank you for this tutorial PianoPig. It helped me understand more, unlike other teachers who talk like a rabbit. Thanks for slowing it down i understand it more.

[@TJ-cg8mq]

Amazing... how well explained - and not by a robotic voice! Im sure I can progress just from these short videos - thanks :)

[@Piano_Pig]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@johnheckt5699]

So cool. I love the little riff that starts at around 2:30. Curious. How come you change which finger you play the E on in your C major chord? You start the riff with your middle finger on it then switch to your pointer.....

[@sydneydudikoff1631]

Yes, I found it useful. I'm trying to write a song in the Key of D, and your video helped. Thank you.

[@rebeccao1176]

Love this lesson! Thank you!

[@annang8548]

Hi Pianopig, can u teach us how to play the intro in every video of yours? It’s so jazzy and nice

[@sovanndaily9194]

Well Done. Please keep going further

[@annapintusunshakable9439]

Best video to explain this. You ve done it so well. Thanks so much.

[@keitomineproductions4133]

just nice theory about the 1-4-5 that no one asked for: 1-4-5 is an incomplete cadence (half cadence) but when played as ostinato the 5 resolves to 1 anyway which completes the cadence but drives us forward, so it's just a good old grand old time. 5:52 my mans played a D minor 7th and didn't hit the D until he moved to the G chord. No beginner would have caught that.

[@pranayrawat1]

superb explanation......i will definitely try it. Keep the good work bro. I subscribed.

[@clever12345ful]

Hi, thanks so much for the video! But I have a question, why did you play F as the root key while playing Dm in the C Am Dm G chord? Thank you very much

[@purushothamanswamy8705]

Fantastically explained, enthused me, as you have suggested, I will practice in all keys, thank you.....

[@allenwilliams6126]

Very simply explained ! Thanks so much

[@yatyayat]

C-Am-Dm-G or C-Am-F-G?!

[@Piano_Pig]

Both of those are nice chord progressions and both are worth knowing! I would say the C-Am-F-G progression is more commonly used though!

[@praiseafambo265]

there is an inversion between the G and D

[@wangboolie]

What about if it's a minor scale and not a major...do the chord progressions not work ???

[@MohammedFoda]

it is a great lessons very important to watch .....many thanks for the author.

[@WARDISWARD]

05:44 YOur playing F maj ( which is the fourth chord ) , which is not part of the progression . 1/6/2/5 Just to showcase ?

[@Piano_Pig]

Good spot! I think that was actually just a mistake (probably muscle memory to blame!). But it still worked because F is the relative major of D minor so they are pretty much interchangeable :)

[@philsearcy4290]

Ward de jager thanks for that catch. Had to watch about 3 times to catch it. Learned so much in the repeats!

[@RebornBanochez]

Im aware about this immediately.. he is doing 1 - 6 - 4 - 5 progression

[@Vik51272]

They may be well interchangeable, but with Dm instead of F the progression has quite a different feel to it, so I spotted the difference at once

[@yacnetwork3690]

@@Vik51272 I had to slow motion the video to catch half of this stuff.

[@TheDarkHorse949]

Thank You so much for doing this.

[@nanao8536]

Thanks for making everything so simple......... I'm very to subscribe to your channel

[@welshknight1456]

This was a fantastic lesson for a beginner, easy to understand, thanks very much.

[@doodles6200]

I can't thank you enough, this lesson is what I needed, I mean I've watched a lot of videos about theory and I roughly understand a bunch of things, like how to know the chords in a key, and the 1,4,5 are major, and 2,3,6 are minor and 6 is a relative minor. But I couldn't come up with a chord progression that sound good. your video sir gave me the push I needed.

[@debbieguycrain2776]

Thanks very nice 👍 I've learned so much...

[@mrcjefferson9942]

Beautiful...Easy to follow and understand.

[@udomatthiasdrums5322]

cool stuff!!

[@Piano_Pig]

Thanks!

[@joycejames2975]

Udo Matthias

[@Overth_inc]

LOVING THESE VIDEOS!! Re-learning SO much!

[@larryotismusic]

you make it look so easy

[@leornendeealdenglisc]

Thank you for making this.

[@Piano_Pig]

Thank you for watching it :)

[@henrygmei5804]

Nice,but 4 beginner u should teach them in slow motion also,so that everyone will follow easily.

[@Piano_Pig]

Check out the KZbin speed function. You can choose what speed to play the video, from 0.5x to 2x. This might help you out :)

[@henrygmei5804]

Thank u

[@henrygmei5804]

Thank u

[@donzi32boats80]

I get where you're coming from, as a beginner myself, I followed him quite easily. I do think that slowing things down to slow motion would not benefit those of us that have moved forward on to cord progression and he might lose a lot of subscribers being bored. Like he said, there is always the speed function in which I have used many times here on YT. This is just my opinion, you may very well have a good point.

[@daedrabeats2335]

@@Piano_Pig How do you pull up the speed function? somehow i never have used that before and i have been on KZbin for several years.

[@Voljetay25]

Ima visual learner..so this helps soooo much...numbers dont help...but watching your fingers makes this easier

[@victordelceppo185]

Thanks for your help, what are the chances of having the score sheets of such songs so we can read and play

[@lydiafortune6523]

So, so useful!!! Thanks so much!

[@ninjaX20214]

Very practical..thanks alot

[@dianeandries1331]

Thank you, very useful.

[@ndabenhlendabscedric3181]

LEGENDARY

[@harrison7812]

Tried it on guitar 🎸 amazing stuff

[@samuelmunene7091]

Thank you for this PP.

[@FXYLGHT]

Thanks this really helped me.

[@sangeetapereira8565]

Thank you for sharing

[@annaisabella463]

Thank you I think this will help me😊

[@philipmiller8286]

Well done & straight ahead!

[@dandk_]

I noticed when you're demonstrating some of the chord progression you use the Bb even though it's not in the key of C major. Is it similar to passing chords/non-diatonic chords where as long as it's brief you can get away with it? I'm interested to know the logic behind it.

[@raseshgandhi6702]

Very lovely information

[@zxcvjen]

So helpful! 🤗

[@michaelengland7228]

I wish you supplied sheet music to practice these chords as I can’t make it up on the fly yet.

[@kyleb3754]

WHAT THE F why couldnt somebody have told me this 40 years ago

[@johnblues8717]

I have been trying to understand this for years & paid tutors to learn to read music, I know my major & minor scales but nobody explained chord progression as simply as this.

[@arthurrollins9234]

Thanks again, Would you show me the E major chord progression

[@Old_Man_Jay]

This video is great and easy to follow, but what were those extra notes/chords you were playing outside of the chords you talked about in the video? Were they inversions of the chords or something? I thought it sounded really nice but as a beginner I'd like to know EVERYTHING that was shown in the video so I can perhaps try it myself.

[@mondeusex893]

amazing man it gave me some new ideas very good

[@PaulBSafar]

Man, your voice and flow are so cool that I think I prefer when you speak than when you play.

[@Piano_Pig]

Haha thanks bro!

[@solbjorgnor]

akvarel maling

[@kennethstephani692]

Great video!

[@alejandrogalasso2352]

Great video!!!

[@4givints]

Thanks very nice lesson ill be coming back 4 more. !!!!! Simply-Cool-Cheese !!!!! From From America...Washington DC!!!!!

[@wifi-YT]

Nice tutorial! But I’m confused by your third progression of C Am Dm G as each of the sample songs you play for that progression actually use a bass note progression of C A F G, not C A D G. Why is that? And would those songs work as well using a C A D G bass note instead?

[@kojik4271]

Im going to assume that he is just playing a little off the scale to make it more interesting. not quite sure

[@wifi-YT]

Thanks Koji. I just read older comments where he admits to making a mistake, but notes that the F chord works well in the progression, too.

[@rodela_Kanzion81]

Love the way you explain thank you again👍👍👍👍

[@Piano_Pig]

Glad you enjoyed the video Reyna! :)

[@frederickthompson8686]

Basic, but so helpful. I'm a guitar player just getting into the piano and this is really `great stuff!

[@vodkat07]

1:02 ACE

[@acidset]

I don't much care for common pop or rock chords but thank you for making chord progression more understandable

[@Piano_Pig]

No worries!

[@Daniel2012]

also worth mentioning the ii V I

[@b4rtir4]

That really helped!!!

[@kingsolomon1037]

I really enjoyed it, very nice but I will more grateful if you replay it on key F major

[@crookdude2000]

Why in progression 1 are (right hand) F and G to the right of C used then on progression 2 it’s F and G to the left?

[@daryldeleon2798]

Chord inversion

[@harlemw651]

Great Tutorial! Thanks!

[@moseraychristian]

thank you very much sir

[@andre.79]

Amazing! But I just want to know how to read tablatures for keyboards and play on toy keyboard. Nothing ambitious. Do you have any recommendations? Thanks in advance.

[@seyoumalemseged8901]

Easy to understand thank you

[@KK-rn7yl]

Thank you

[@taephy6742]

Thank you....so clear now!

[@acethemcacethemc1491]

this is awesome! Thank you for these videos. Please keep it up.

[@Piano_Pig]

I will do!

[@430NaVi]

If anyone could help, I don't really understand the part where he just starts playing chords that aren't even part of the progression. Just an explanation would help!

[@nareshprajapati7524]

Thanks piano pig. Its really helps.👍️👍️👍️

Just discovered your channel and loving it.

[@Piano_Pig]

Good to hear :D

[@sweetykhay]

💕 Thanks 💝

[@paragniragmusically2822]

So lovely nd very useful vedio

[@truth__sayer1018]

Nice video, very useful one. Thank you.

[@Piano_Pig]

No problem :)

[@owenrahman8144]

Regarding 1:24 comments. What happens if you are playing a song in a non-major key? Would the progressions sequence be different? Or the same?

[@davidaduse4356]

I loved it...tnx

[@sonyafloyd2618]

wow! great!

[@MINX25]

It made me know better about it

[@jeraldcuccurullo2497]

Excellent teacher!! And I have been teaching since I'm 16 years old and this is very comprehensive and Fun..Thank You my Pig Teach..lol, and Yes I did Subcribe!!😎🎹🎵♩😎🌏

[@Piano_Pig]

Thanks for joining the community! Glad you enjoyed the video 😀

[@v3_venom_78]

4:01 song name pls most beautiful yaar!🥰😊

[@believersnetworktv]

Thanks for this video sir. However, I've an observation especially on playing the first progression. Some keys were involved that you didn't name. We're in Africa we play the African way especially praise. So how one cope with your Western type of play?

[@gracemercygichaga2102]

I think our praise songs have chords too except at a different tempo than western songs.and mostly by the way he talks he probably is used to western music...

[@m.c.4458]

thank you so much!!! i am self teaching this is vey useful.

[@Piano_Pig]

No worries my friend :)