LESSON #3 Richard Ho’opi’i Sr, legendary Hawaiian singer, at the 2009 Aloha Falsetto Festival in Redondo Beach. photo by Oceanfront Photography MASTERING I, IV, V CHORD PROGRESSIONS Big Three Chords Three Big Can you really learn hundreds of songs...by ear...overnight? Yes, you can! alphabet from A to G? Then you just When you can free yourself from passed the most stringent the music stand, you can spend more Have you ever wondered about requirements to pass this course! time enjoying being in the moment that one friend who always seemed Learning the “Big Three” chords which means having more fun! to be able to figure out songs in a will open your ears to all you’ve snap...even though they’d never been missing out on all these years even heard the song before? and those same old song sheets will Contents You’ve always felt that surely now suddenly light up for you as there must be some sort of pattern to Talk To The Hand! 2 you experience all those familiar it all and perhaps you’ve even tunes in a whole new way. Sounds Like...? 3 noticed some similarities among Ditch the feelings of frustration songs you’ve been playing but could Chord Progressions 4 at feeling stuck looking at a piece of never quite connect the dots. music paper because you can’t seem Bonus! Hawaiian Vamps 5 Well here’s the good news: Can to remember which chords you’re you count to five? Can you recite the Additional Resources 6 supposed to play next! Noteworthy George Harrison Lyle Ritz Ohta San Tiny Tim James Hill Byron Yasui Ukulele Players Bill Tapia Troy Fernandez William H Macy (surprised at some of these names?) Jake Shimabukuro Abe Lagrimas Greg Hawkes Benny Chong Bryan Tolentino Johnny Winter Aunty Geri I - IV - V for the keys Brigoli at the 2008 Aloha most commonly used Falsetto Festival for ukulele in Redondo Beach. photo by I IV V Oceanfront A D E Photography C F G D G A F B♭ C G C D And here are the rest: B♭ E♭ F B E F# C# F# G# D♭ G♭ A♭ E A B F# B C# G♭ C♭ D♭ Talk To The Hand! OK let’s jump right into this! Note: Uppercase Roman Stick out your thumb as if you’re hitchiking. Let’s call that thumb “ONE”, numerals I, IV, V are typically your index finger “TWO”, middle finger “THREE”, ring used to denote 1, 4, 5 in the finger “FOUR” and the pinky “FIVE”. So far so good? “industry” and indicate MAJOR chords. MINOR Now if we were to call that same thumb “A” and we chords are written with a little moved forward through the alphabet, your index finger “m” next to them like Fm, Am, would be “B”, middle finger “C”, ring finger “D” and the Dm7, etc. pinky would be “E”. Still with me? Okay, great. Now pick up your ukulele and strum the A chord (ONE) followed by the D chord (FOUR), followed by the E chord (FIVE) then back to A. Repeat a few times. Sounds good doesn’t it? This is known as a “I - IV - V - I” chord progression. What about chords like G7 and C7? Let’s apply the same process to the key of C where C is now “1” on the You will notice a V7 chord thumb. Then it follows that the index finger=D/2, middle=E/3, ring=F/4, often used in place of a pinky=G/5. Now strum the C chord (1), followed by the F chord (4), the G regular V chord just before chord (5) and back to the C chord. You just played a I - IV - V - 1 chord returning to the I chord. This progression in the key of C. And guess what - you even modulated from the sort of substitution is perfectly key of A to the key of C, just by starting with a different letter on your thumb! acceptable and serves to heighten the tension of a V Really? Is that all there is to it? Yep, that’s basically it! Now we move on resolving to I. Dominant 7th to the next page - training our ear to hearing and recognizing different chords, as they’re called, also combinations of I, IV and V chords, regardless of what key a song is in. To lend a bluesy feel to the music. help you achieve this, chord progressions to many well-known songs are used to illustrate this concept on page 4. As of this writing, when we practiced jazz musician hearing/singing those Sound-alike Songs and ukulele master Bill Tapia intervals. is still going 1999 (Prince)/Sussudio (Phil strong at 102! Ever hear a song on Collins) the radio and mistook it for a different tune? Ghostbusters (Ray Parker Happens all the time Jr)/I Want A New Drug but why? Because so (Huey Lewis & The News) many songs contain the same elements like Sloop John B (Beach Boys)/ similar melody, rhythm, chords, or all of the Rhinestone Cowboy (Glen above. Sometimes just Campbell) Sounds Like....? enough to fool us at first and In music school ear training, we sometimes blatant ripoffs like “He’s Honey Baby (Three Plus)/ learned to identify certain tonal So Fine” and “My Sweet Lord” Drop (Mana’o Company) intervals with specific songs we were Consider the similarities between already familiar with. For example, these songs: How Can I Get Over (Pure the interval between the notes C and Heart)/What’s Up (4 Non F is called a “Perfect Fourth” and •“Twist And Shout”/“La Bamba” Blondes) sounds just like the first two notes of •“Good Lovin’”/”Me and Julio “Here Comes The Bride”. The Down By The Schoolyard” Million (Kawaihae)/No interval between C and A sounded •Twinkle Twinkle Little Star/ABC like “My Bonnie” and C to the next Woman No Cry (Bob Song higher register C are the first two Marley) notes to “Somewhere Over The If you were to figure out what Rainbow” - that interval is called an makes one of the songs in the pair “octave”. tick - say, a certain chord Prince and Huey Lewis In other words, we learned by progression - then it follows that that considered Sussudio and association; when we heard two same formula should apply to the Ghostbusters so similar to notes, we were conditioned to think other, right? their own songs that they of a certain song and were then Consider, too, that the above hit filed lawsuits, claiming able to name the interval. Notice it songs owe their popularity to their copyright infringement. But was just the interval, not necessarily memorable hooks. So what makes a I find it easy to believe that the EXACT notes. Relative Pitch is song so “hum-mable”? One big since musicians find being able to hear relationships reason is simple harmonic movement between notes while Perfect Pitch is inspiration from so many (chord progressions) involving only the ability to name those specific two or three chords. Simple different sources and notes. All worthy musicians have harmony usually makes for simple aspects of their lives, it’s worked hard to develop a strong melody. Think of some very catchy sometimes hard to tell if the sense of Relative Pitch while Perfect tunes you know and love to hum. tune they’re hearing in their Pitch is an enviable skill only a lucky Whether it’s “I Hate Myself For head comes from divine few are born with. Loving You” by Joan Jett (which inspiration or other even my mother can be heard lingering influences. The Fortunately, relative pitch for singing to herself...but hopefully not bottom line is that they’re chord progressions can be learned about me) or “Old MacDonald”, always LISTENING. very quickly - you just need the right chances are it’s only a few chords reference points like how we had backing that melody. Songwriter Harlan Howard once Three Chord Songs Chord progressions to said "All you need to write a If you feel two chords aren’t some familiar tunes: country song is three chords and interesting enough for you, you can the truth." This is the crux behind always venture into “jazz” territory I - V - I this lesson on the “Big Three” (thanks Lou). You can mix up the I, (ex: C - G - C) chords: I, IV, V. IV and V chords a few different ways - here are two of the most •Achy Breaky Heart basic: •Jambalaya One Chord Songs I - IV - V - I •Clementine The easiest song of all has just A very strong, straightforward •Iko Iko one chord the whole way through. and natural sounding progression. You say you don’t know any one- This should immediately remind you I - IV - I chord songs? Take another listen to of a dozen songs right away. (ex: C - F - C) “Bad To The Bone” (G chord) or Tempo, rhythm, and strumming “Chain of Fools” (C chord) - no pattern are factors that differentiate •Walk On The Wild Side harmonic movement. Don’t mistake •Gymnopédie songs containing the same chord increased or decreased volume for a progression. •What I Got (Sublime) change in chords. I - V - IV - I The reverse of the above, this I - IV - V - I Two Chord Songs chord progression resolves in a (ex: C - F - G - C) Lou Reed once said "One chord natural albeit softer way. To me, this •Twist and Shout is fine. Two chords is pushing it.