Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Adult Beginners Forum feeling stupid with chord progs - again

i thought i was doing well with progressions, then came across this, which is apparently a well know country prog...
G-D-A-E (actually it was Eb-Bb-F-C but I moved it up)
so, is this just I-V-II-IV ? all maj?
i got confused because there was no minor chords... I'd just like to read some explanation of progressions that don't fit the standard Maj min progression tables... is it just typical to find non-standard stuff?

It's up to the composer. It would be interesting to know the title?
It could be going around the circle of fifths. "Around the horn" is another chord progression that stays close to the circle of fifths, i.e: B,E,A,D,G. My example being the opposite of your example. Another example is the verse in Hotel California. It stays all major until the last chord if I remember right. (nope. I just checked: Am,E,G,D,F,C,Dm,E,Ret.)
But another example of circular progression. I think of it like tightening up a five bolt wheel, using a star pattern. But I could be nuts.

Chord progressions can be anything a composer wishes to use to accompany his melody.

If it sounds the way he wishes it to sound it is right.

The only reason there are progressions we consider "standard" is because they are used most often by composers.

I IV V is a standard.

I VI IV V is a standard.

When you get into the jazz genre, the I VI II V is a standard.

You need not be troubled by running into one that is not one you recognize.

It is just one the composer thought sounded good to him/her.

here's the reference I saw... I may not even have the chords right. it's a mash of many pop country songs with the same prog and other features...

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=1026261527390221&pnref=story

- you could add another cycle to yours making it - in your key - G-D-A-E-B and you've got Jimmy Hendrix's Hey Joe.

You've chosen the first chord as tonic - the reference for the other chords - but in the case of Hey Joe, I would argue that it's the final chord, the B, which is the I.

I wonder if guitarists would be better able to tell you why it's such a common sequence in pop music.

The I iv ii V progression in the key of G is very popular in C&W and Pop. If they're all major chords rather than the two minors, I guess some tunes would work with that too.

In this case, you do have the chords a little mixed up. You've got your key wrong, which is adding to the confusion. Not all songs will start on 1. These examples don't. There are 2 main chord progressions here.

Main One: IV-I-V. The 4 and 1 are what we call a split bar, 2 beats each. The 5 is a full bar.

Second pattern: Same as the first, but the V goes to a vi (6 minor). B minor (G minor in your moved up version).

By the way, Nashville uses number charts, just actual numbers instead of roman numerals. The chart would say 4-1-5-6m and the key is usually written in the top corner. But the band leader could call out a different key and change it like you did and the band would just follow.

Even the copyrights at the end of movies have given up on the romans. (Super Bowl too next year)

Indeed. In addition to the circle of fifths progressions, just walking down the chromatic scale is another -- like G, Gb, F, E....