However, whichever keys the original songs are in, they do have their chord progressions – their essential formula – in common. To understand this properly, we need to introduce a bit of theory.

In that it is the only way within a key to write a 3 chord progression containing only major chords. Any additional chords must by default be minor or diminished. How Is I-IV-V Used?

It’s worth noting that the chord progressions used in most pop songs are relatively simple, mostly made up of a cycle of between two and four chords that are diatonic to the song’s key. Diatonic means ...

Step 3: Let’s bring about the change of key by inserting a D minor chord at the end of our G minor section, and continuing the same progression in the new key of Am. The same VI - iv - i progression ...

Hook Theory is a song database, and after analyzing 1,300 popular songs, looking at the chord progressions in each, it spit back some pretty cool visualizations.