Chords for Learn To Play: Diatonic Chord Progressions on Guitar
Tempo:
116.2 bpm
Chords used:
C
G
E
B
D
Tuning:Standard Tuning (EADGBE)Capo:+0fret
Start Jamming...
[C] [E] [G] [B] [C]
[B] [G] [E] [C] [N] Hello friends, Joe here at Reverb.
Today we are going to learn about diatonic chords.
What are diatonic chords?
Well, diatonic chords are chords that fit together in a certain
key.
Chords that sound well together and move well together.
Chords that complement each
other.
Chords of the same family.
So there are two very important reasons as to why you should learn about diatonic chords.
Firstly, and most importantly, your music.
You will improve your performance and your
writing process by knowing about diatonic theory.
Awesome.
Number two is other people's music.
Learning by ear.
Being able to hear a song on the radio
or put on a record and understanding the movement of the chords and saying, yeah, I got that.
So we are going to learn how to find these diatonic chords.
We are going to learn a system
that never fails, which identifies the quality of those chords.
And we are going to learn
how to transpose those chords to a different key.
And hopefully by the end of this lesson
you will be diatonically inclined, my friends, and you can go forth and impress.
To find these diatonic chords, we have to look to the diatonic scale.
And like I said,
today we are learning the diatonic chords of a major key.
So we are looking at the major
scale.
So [C] C major.
[D] [E]
[G] [A] [Am] [B] [F] [D] [C]
[G] That scale, like every single other major scale, has seven different
notes in it.
Those seven notes we refer to as scale degrees.
The first note of the [C] scale
[D] is scale degree one.
The second note, [Em] scale degree two, [N] scale degree three, and so on.
Scale degrees one through seven.
So we use those seven scale degrees to build chords
on top of.
And those chords that we build on top of those seven different scale degrees
are the seven diatonic chords.
Now, how do we define the quality of those chords?
And
by quality I mean major or minor.
That's where the system comes in.
A system that we
got from the Greeks, a system that never fails.
That's right.
Every day, no matter what the
weather is, no matter what time it is, this system works in every major key.
The uppercase
Roman numerals are major chords and the lowercase Roman numerals are minor chords.
And then
you see on that seven chord, there's a little circle there, that means diminished.
We'll
talk about that later.
The system that never fails reads as this.
The one chord is major,
always.
The two chord is minor.
The three chord is minor.
The four chord is major.
The
five chord is also major.
[G] The six chord is minor.
And that seven chord is diminished.
Like I said, those numbers we get from the scale degrees.
So we go back to the scale.
Scale degree one in C [C] major is the note of C.
Now we [B] look at the system.
What is the
one?
The one is major.
So we apply the quality of major to the first scale degree and we
get a C [C] major chord.
Now, we go to the second scale degree, [D] which is the note of D, and
then we look at our system, the system that never fails, and it's lowercase.
That means
that the two chord is minor.
So that note D is the root of the two [Abm] chord and the quality
of that chord [Dm] is minor.
The three chord is also minor and the third scale degree is [Ab] E,
so that means we have an [Em] E minor chord, and so on.
So we're applying the seven scale degrees
as roots of seven different chords.
The quality of those chords being defined with the system.
Let's play through all seven chords of [Eb] C major.
[C]
One chord, C major.
The two chord, [Dm] D minor.
[Em] Three chord, E minor.
[F] Four chord, F major.
[G] Five chord, G major.
[Am] Six chord, it's going
to be A minor.
[Em] Seven chord, [Bm]
B diminished.
[C] And then we're back to C major.
Alright, let's take what we've learned from this system and apply it to a song.
Let's
take a popular song that everybody knows, Let It Be, by the Beatles.
If we're playing
this in the key of C, we have C, [G] G,
[Am] A minor, [F] and F.
[Abm] Now, given the chords that we just
played through in the key of C major, and given that this song is in C major, let's
identify these chords as to their Roman numerals.
So instead of saying C, G, A minor, and F,
[B] we'll identify them by their diatonic qualities.
[C] One, [G]
five, [Am] six minor, [F] and four.
[E]
Let's transpose
it to a different key.
And again, we're taking the diatonic Roman numeral qualities of the
chords and moving them.
We're taking the system and applying it to a different key.
So we
were in C major, let's go to G major.
So if G is our one chord, [D] then D is going to
be the five chord, [E] the six chord is going to be E minor, [Em] and the four chord [C] is going
to be C.
[N]
So we've just taken one, five, six, four, and moved it to a different key.
And
it works every time.
No matter what key you move it to, it'll work.
So you know when you're
jamming with your friends, everybody's playing super loud, you're playing on a chord, somebody
moves to a different chord, the rest of the band tries to catch up, somebody's trying
to solo, somebody else is trying to solo.
Well, if you learn the system, the diatonic
system that never fails, no longer does your jam session have to be a complete mess.
You
can shout out, let's do one, four, and five in this key.
So you can teach the system to
the other folks in the band, so everybody's on the same page.
Teach it to the bass player,
teach it to the other guitar player, the drummer, give the drummer a toy to play with for the
two minutes it takes to teach the other guys.
Then get back to rocking out your song and
knowing that everybody's in the same key.
Okay, so there you have it.
We've learned
the seven diatonic chords of a major key.
I hope that you'll find this helpful with
your own writing, learning other people's songs, improvising, jamming with friends,
transposing music, a lot of options with diatonic chords.
Thanks so much for watching, keep
checking back, [C] we've got new lessons every week.
Don't forget to subscribe to our channel,
see you next time.
[E]
[B] [G] [E] [C] [N] Hello friends, Joe here at Reverb.
Today we are going to learn about diatonic chords.
What are diatonic chords?
Well, diatonic chords are chords that fit together in a certain
key.
Chords that sound well together and move well together.
Chords that complement each
other.
Chords of the same family.
So there are two very important reasons as to why you should learn about diatonic chords.
Firstly, and most importantly, your music.
You will improve your performance and your
writing process by knowing about diatonic theory.
Awesome.
Number two is other people's music.
Learning by ear.
Being able to hear a song on the radio
or put on a record and understanding the movement of the chords and saying, yeah, I got that.
So we are going to learn how to find these diatonic chords.
We are going to learn a system
that never fails, which identifies the quality of those chords.
And we are going to learn
how to transpose those chords to a different key.
And hopefully by the end of this lesson
you will be diatonically inclined, my friends, and you can go forth and impress.
To find these diatonic chords, we have to look to the diatonic scale.
And like I said,
today we are learning the diatonic chords of a major key.
So we are looking at the major
scale.
So [C] C major.
[D] [E]
[G] [A] [Am] [B] [F] [D] [C]
[G] That scale, like every single other major scale, has seven different
notes in it.
Those seven notes we refer to as scale degrees.
The first note of the [C] scale
[D] is scale degree one.
The second note, [Em] scale degree two, [N] scale degree three, and so on.
Scale degrees one through seven.
So we use those seven scale degrees to build chords
on top of.
And those chords that we build on top of those seven different scale degrees
are the seven diatonic chords.
Now, how do we define the quality of those chords?
And
by quality I mean major or minor.
That's where the system comes in.
A system that we
got from the Greeks, a system that never fails.
That's right.
Every day, no matter what the
weather is, no matter what time it is, this system works in every major key.
The uppercase
Roman numerals are major chords and the lowercase Roman numerals are minor chords.
And then
you see on that seven chord, there's a little circle there, that means diminished.
We'll
talk about that later.
The system that never fails reads as this.
The one chord is major,
always.
The two chord is minor.
The three chord is minor.
The four chord is major.
The
five chord is also major.
[G] The six chord is minor.
And that seven chord is diminished.
Like I said, those numbers we get from the scale degrees.
So we go back to the scale.
Scale degree one in C [C] major is the note of C.
Now we [B] look at the system.
What is the
one?
The one is major.
So we apply the quality of major to the first scale degree and we
get a C [C] major chord.
Now, we go to the second scale degree, [D] which is the note of D, and
then we look at our system, the system that never fails, and it's lowercase.
That means
that the two chord is minor.
So that note D is the root of the two [Abm] chord and the quality
of that chord [Dm] is minor.
The three chord is also minor and the third scale degree is [Ab] E,
so that means we have an [Em] E minor chord, and so on.
So we're applying the seven scale degrees
as roots of seven different chords.
The quality of those chords being defined with the system.
Let's play through all seven chords of [Eb] C major.
[C]
One chord, C major.
The two chord, [Dm] D minor.
[Em] Three chord, E minor.
[F] Four chord, F major.
[G] Five chord, G major.
[Am] Six chord, it's going
to be A minor.
[Em] Seven chord, [Bm]
B diminished.
[C] And then we're back to C major.
Alright, let's take what we've learned from this system and apply it to a song.
Let's
take a popular song that everybody knows, Let It Be, by the Beatles.
If we're playing
this in the key of C, we have C, [G] G,
[Am] A minor, [F] and F.
[Abm] Now, given the chords that we just
played through in the key of C major, and given that this song is in C major, let's
identify these chords as to their Roman numerals.
So instead of saying C, G, A minor, and F,
[B] we'll identify them by their diatonic qualities.
[C] One, [G]
five, [Am] six minor, [F] and four.
[E]
Let's transpose
it to a different key.
And again, we're taking the diatonic Roman numeral qualities of the
chords and moving them.
We're taking the system and applying it to a different key.
So we
were in C major, let's go to G major.
So if G is our one chord, [D] then D is going to
be the five chord, [E] the six chord is going to be E minor, [Em] and the four chord [C] is going
to be C.
[N]
So we've just taken one, five, six, four, and moved it to a different key.
And
it works every time.
No matter what key you move it to, it'll work.
So you know when you're
jamming with your friends, everybody's playing super loud, you're playing on a chord, somebody
moves to a different chord, the rest of the band tries to catch up, somebody's trying
to solo, somebody else is trying to solo.
Well, if you learn the system, the diatonic
system that never fails, no longer does your jam session have to be a complete mess.
You
can shout out, let's do one, four, and five in this key.
So you can teach the system to
the other folks in the band, so everybody's on the same page.
Teach it to the bass player,
teach it to the other guitar player, the drummer, give the drummer a toy to play with for the
two minutes it takes to teach the other guys.
Then get back to rocking out your song and
knowing that everybody's in the same key.
Okay, so there you have it.
We've learned
the seven diatonic chords of a major key.
I hope that you'll find this helpful with
your own writing, learning other people's songs, improvising, jamming with friends,
transposing music, a lot of options with diatonic chords.
Thanks so much for watching, keep
checking back, [C] we've got new lessons every week.
Don't forget to subscribe to our channel,
see you next time.
[E]
Key:
C
G
E
B
D
C
G
E
_ [C] _ _ [E] _ [G] _ [B] _ _ [C] _
[B] _ [G] _ [E] _ [C] _ [N] Hello friends, Joe here at Reverb.
Today we are going to learn about diatonic chords.
What are diatonic chords?
Well, diatonic chords are chords that fit together in a certain
key.
Chords that sound well together and move well together.
Chords that complement each
other.
Chords of the same family.
So there are two very important reasons as to why you should learn about diatonic chords.
Firstly, and most importantly, your music.
You will improve your performance and your
writing process by knowing about diatonic theory.
Awesome.
Number two is other people's music.
Learning by ear.
Being able to hear a song on the radio
or put on a record and understanding the movement of the chords and saying, yeah, I got that.
So we are going to learn how to find these diatonic chords.
We are going to learn a system
that never fails, which identifies the quality of those chords.
And we are going to learn
how to transpose those chords to a different key.
And hopefully by the end of this lesson
you will be diatonically inclined, my friends, and you can go forth and impress.
To find these diatonic chords, we have to look to the diatonic scale.
And like I said,
today we are learning the diatonic chords of a major key.
So we are looking at the major
scale.
So [C] C major.
[D] _ [E] _
[G] _ [A] _ [Am] _ [B] _ _ [F] _ [D] _ [C] _
[G] _ That scale, _ like every single other major scale, has seven different
notes in it.
Those seven notes we refer to as scale degrees.
The first note of the [C] scale
[D] is scale degree one.
The second note, [Em] scale degree two, [N] scale degree three, and so on.
Scale degrees one through seven.
_ So we use those seven scale degrees to build chords
on top of.
And those chords that we build on top of those seven different scale degrees
are the seven diatonic chords.
Now, how do we define the quality of those chords?
And
by quality I mean major or minor.
That's where the system comes in.
A system that we
got from the Greeks, a system that never fails.
That's right.
Every day, no matter what the
weather is, no matter what time it is, this system works in every major key.
The uppercase
Roman numerals are major chords and the lowercase Roman numerals are minor chords.
And then
you see on that seven chord, there's a little circle there, that means diminished.
We'll
talk about that later.
The system that never fails reads as this.
The one chord is major,
always.
The two chord is minor.
The three chord is minor.
The four chord is major.
The
five chord is also major.
[G] The six chord is minor.
And that seven chord is diminished.
Like I said, those numbers we get from the scale degrees.
So we go back to the scale.
Scale degree one in C [C] major _ is the note of C.
Now we [B] look at the system.
What is the
one?
The one is major.
So we apply the quality of major to the first scale degree and we
get a C [C] major chord. _ _ _ _
Now, we go to the second scale degree, _ [D] _ which is the note of D, and
then we look at our system, the system that never fails, and it's lowercase.
That means
that the two chord is minor.
So that note D is the root of the two [Abm] chord and the quality
of that chord [Dm] is minor.
_ _ _ The three chord is also minor and the third scale degree is [Ab] E,
so that means we have an [Em] E minor chord, _ _ and so on.
So we're applying the seven scale degrees
as roots of seven different chords.
The quality of those chords being defined with the system.
Let's play through all seven chords of [Eb] C major.
_ [C]
One chord, _ C major.
_ The two chord, [Dm] _ _ D minor.
_ [Em] Three chord, E minor.
_ [F] Four chord, _ F major.
_ _ [G] Five chord, _ G major.
_ _ [Am] Six chord, it's going
to be A minor.
_ [Em] Seven chord, [Bm] _ _
B diminished.
_ _ [C] And then we're back to C major.
_ Alright, let's take what we've learned from this system and apply it to a song.
Let's
take a popular song that everybody knows, Let It Be, by the Beatles.
If we're playing
this in the key of C, we have _ C, [G] _ G, _
[Am] _ A minor, _ [F] _ and F. _
_ [Abm] Now, given the chords that we just
played through in the key of C major, and given that this song is in C major, let's
identify these chords as to their Roman numerals.
So instead of saying C, G, A minor, and F,
[B] we'll identify them by their diatonic qualities.
_ [C] _ One, _ [G] _
_ five, _ [Am] _ _ six minor, _ [F] _ _ and four.
_ [E]
Let's transpose
it to a different key.
And again, we're taking the diatonic Roman numeral qualities of the
chords and moving them.
We're taking the system and applying it to a different key.
So we
were in C major, let's go to G major.
So if G is our one chord, [D] then D is going to
be the five chord, [E] the six chord is going to be E minor, [Em] _ and the four chord [C] is going
to be C.
_ [N]
So we've just taken one, five, six, four, and moved it to a different key.
And
it works every time.
No matter what key you move it to, it'll work.
So you know when you're
jamming with your friends, everybody's playing super loud, you're playing on a chord, somebody
moves to a different chord, the rest of the band tries to catch up, somebody's trying
to solo, somebody else is trying to solo.
Well, if you learn the system, the diatonic
system that never fails, no longer does your jam session have to be a complete mess.
_ You
can shout out, let's do one, four, and five in this key.
So you can teach the system to
the other folks in the band, so everybody's on the same page.
Teach it to the bass player,
teach it to the other guitar player, the drummer, _ _ give the drummer a toy to play with for the
two minutes it takes to teach the other guys.
Then get back to rocking out your song and
knowing that everybody's in the same key.
Okay, so there you have it.
We've learned
the seven diatonic chords of a major key.
I hope that you'll find this helpful with
your own writing, learning other people's songs, improvising, jamming with friends,
transposing music, a lot of options with diatonic chords.
Thanks so much for watching, keep
checking back, [C] we've got new lessons every week.
Don't forget to subscribe to our channel,
see you next time.
_ [E] _
[B] _ [G] _ [E] _ [C] _ [N] Hello friends, Joe here at Reverb.
Today we are going to learn about diatonic chords.
What are diatonic chords?
Well, diatonic chords are chords that fit together in a certain
key.
Chords that sound well together and move well together.
Chords that complement each
other.
Chords of the same family.
So there are two very important reasons as to why you should learn about diatonic chords.
Firstly, and most importantly, your music.
You will improve your performance and your
writing process by knowing about diatonic theory.
Awesome.
Number two is other people's music.
Learning by ear.
Being able to hear a song on the radio
or put on a record and understanding the movement of the chords and saying, yeah, I got that.
So we are going to learn how to find these diatonic chords.
We are going to learn a system
that never fails, which identifies the quality of those chords.
And we are going to learn
how to transpose those chords to a different key.
And hopefully by the end of this lesson
you will be diatonically inclined, my friends, and you can go forth and impress.
To find these diatonic chords, we have to look to the diatonic scale.
And like I said,
today we are learning the diatonic chords of a major key.
So we are looking at the major
scale.
So [C] C major.
[D] _ [E] _
[G] _ [A] _ [Am] _ [B] _ _ [F] _ [D] _ [C] _
[G] _ That scale, _ like every single other major scale, has seven different
notes in it.
Those seven notes we refer to as scale degrees.
The first note of the [C] scale
[D] is scale degree one.
The second note, [Em] scale degree two, [N] scale degree three, and so on.
Scale degrees one through seven.
_ So we use those seven scale degrees to build chords
on top of.
And those chords that we build on top of those seven different scale degrees
are the seven diatonic chords.
Now, how do we define the quality of those chords?
And
by quality I mean major or minor.
That's where the system comes in.
A system that we
got from the Greeks, a system that never fails.
That's right.
Every day, no matter what the
weather is, no matter what time it is, this system works in every major key.
The uppercase
Roman numerals are major chords and the lowercase Roman numerals are minor chords.
And then
you see on that seven chord, there's a little circle there, that means diminished.
We'll
talk about that later.
The system that never fails reads as this.
The one chord is major,
always.
The two chord is minor.
The three chord is minor.
The four chord is major.
The
five chord is also major.
[G] The six chord is minor.
And that seven chord is diminished.
Like I said, those numbers we get from the scale degrees.
So we go back to the scale.
Scale degree one in C [C] major _ is the note of C.
Now we [B] look at the system.
What is the
one?
The one is major.
So we apply the quality of major to the first scale degree and we
get a C [C] major chord. _ _ _ _
Now, we go to the second scale degree, _ [D] _ which is the note of D, and
then we look at our system, the system that never fails, and it's lowercase.
That means
that the two chord is minor.
So that note D is the root of the two [Abm] chord and the quality
of that chord [Dm] is minor.
_ _ _ The three chord is also minor and the third scale degree is [Ab] E,
so that means we have an [Em] E minor chord, _ _ and so on.
So we're applying the seven scale degrees
as roots of seven different chords.
The quality of those chords being defined with the system.
Let's play through all seven chords of [Eb] C major.
_ [C]
One chord, _ C major.
_ The two chord, [Dm] _ _ D minor.
_ [Em] Three chord, E minor.
_ [F] Four chord, _ F major.
_ _ [G] Five chord, _ G major.
_ _ [Am] Six chord, it's going
to be A minor.
_ [Em] Seven chord, [Bm] _ _
B diminished.
_ _ [C] And then we're back to C major.
_ Alright, let's take what we've learned from this system and apply it to a song.
Let's
take a popular song that everybody knows, Let It Be, by the Beatles.
If we're playing
this in the key of C, we have _ C, [G] _ G, _
[Am] _ A minor, _ [F] _ and F. _
_ [Abm] Now, given the chords that we just
played through in the key of C major, and given that this song is in C major, let's
identify these chords as to their Roman numerals.
So instead of saying C, G, A minor, and F,
[B] we'll identify them by their diatonic qualities.
_ [C] _ One, _ [G] _
_ five, _ [Am] _ _ six minor, _ [F] _ _ and four.
_ [E]
Let's transpose
it to a different key.
And again, we're taking the diatonic Roman numeral qualities of the
chords and moving them.
We're taking the system and applying it to a different key.
So we
were in C major, let's go to G major.
So if G is our one chord, [D] then D is going to
be the five chord, [E] the six chord is going to be E minor, [Em] _ and the four chord [C] is going
to be C.
_ [N]
So we've just taken one, five, six, four, and moved it to a different key.
And
it works every time.
No matter what key you move it to, it'll work.
So you know when you're
jamming with your friends, everybody's playing super loud, you're playing on a chord, somebody
moves to a different chord, the rest of the band tries to catch up, somebody's trying
to solo, somebody else is trying to solo.
Well, if you learn the system, the diatonic
system that never fails, no longer does your jam session have to be a complete mess.
_ You
can shout out, let's do one, four, and five in this key.
So you can teach the system to
the other folks in the band, so everybody's on the same page.
Teach it to the bass player,
teach it to the other guitar player, the drummer, _ _ give the drummer a toy to play with for the
two minutes it takes to teach the other guys.
Then get back to rocking out your song and
knowing that everybody's in the same key.
Okay, so there you have it.
We've learned
the seven diatonic chords of a major key.
I hope that you'll find this helpful with
your own writing, learning other people's songs, improvising, jamming with friends,
transposing music, a lot of options with diatonic chords.
Thanks so much for watching, keep
checking back, [C] we've got new lessons every week.
Don't forget to subscribe to our channel,
see you next time.
_ [E] _