{"id":42205,"date":"2017-12-28T16:00:48","date_gmt":"2017-12-28T16:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.musical-u.com\/?p=42205\/"},"modified":"2024-05-10T10:30:17","modified_gmt":"2024-05-10T10:30:17","slug":"about-the-i-iv-v-and-vi-chords","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.musical-u.com\/learn\/about-the-i-iv-v-and-vi-chords\/","title":{"rendered":"About the I, IV, V and vi Chords"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b>Chords sometimes referred to with numbers, and chord progressions as a series of numbers, such as I-IV-V or 1-4-5. Find out what these numbers mean, how to build chords on any note in any key, and how you can use this to write unforgettable songs!<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Listen to the episode:<\/p>\n<div class='mu_podcast_embed'><iframe style='border: none' src='\/\/html5-player.libsyn.com\/embed\/episode\/id\/6086034\/height\/90\/width\/640\/theme\/custom\/autonext\/no\/thumbnail\/yes\/autoplay\/no\/preload\/no\/no_addthis\/no\/direction\/backward\/render-playlist\/no\/custom-color\/59638c\/' height='90' width='640' scrolling='no'  allowfullscreen webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen oallowfullscreen msallowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<div class='podcast_subscribe_buttons'><p class='subscribe_cta'>Subscribe For Future Episodes!<\/p>\n    <div class='buttons'><a href='http:\/\/musicalitynow.com\/subscribeitunes' target='_blank' class='label' onclick='logPodSubscribe(\"apple\");'><i class='fa fa-apple' aria-hidden='true'><\/i> Apple Podcasts<\/a><span class='separator'> | <\/span><a href='http:\/\/musicalitynow.com\/subscribeandroid' target='_blank' class='label' onclick='logPodSubscribe(\"android\");'><i class='fa fa-android' aria-hidden='true'><\/i> Android<\/a><span class='separator'> | <\/span><a href='http:\/\/musicalitynow.com\/subscribeyoutube' target='_blank' class='label' onclick='logPodSubscribe(\"youtube\");'><i class='fa fa-youtube' aria-hidden='true'><\/i> YouTube<\/a><span class='separator'> | <\/span><a href='http:\/\/musicalitynow.com\/subscribegplay' target='_blank' class='label' onclick='logPodSubscribe(\"gplay\");'><i class='fa fa-google' aria-hidden='true'><\/i> Google Play<\/a><span class='separator'> | <\/span><a href='http:\/\/musicalitynow.com\/subscribestitcher' target='_blank' class='label' onclick='logPodSubscribe(\"stitcher\");'><img src='https:\/\/www.musical-u.com\/wp-content\/themes\/Divi-MU\/img\/Stitcher-icon.png' alt='Stitcher' class='podcast_icon'>Stitcher<\/a><span class='separator'> | <\/span><a href='http:\/\/musicalitynow.com\/subscriberss' target='_blank' class='label' onclick='logPodSubscribe(\"rss\");'><i class='fa fa-rss' aria-hidden='true'><\/i> RSS<\/a><\/div>\n    <p class='review_cta'>Enjoying the show? Please consider <a href='https:\/\/www.musical-u.com\/podcast-review\/' target='_blank' onclick='logPodReview();'>rating and reviewing it!<\/a><\/p>\n    <\/div>\n<h2>Links and Resources<\/h2>\n<ul class=\"shownotes_links\">\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/musicalitynow.com\/32\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Turning Ordinary People into Musicians, with Casey McCann<\/a>\u00a0(interview)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/musicalitynow.com\/24\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Note2Self: &#8220;I Love This!&#8221;, with Lisa McCormick<\/a>\u00a0(interview)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/musicalitynow.com\/8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Making Ear Training Fun, with Steve Myers<\/a>\u00a0(interview)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/musicalitynow.com\/14\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Finding the Notes Yourself, with Sara Campbell<\/a>\u00a0(interview)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/musicalitynow.com\/6\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Seriously Enjoyable Music Learning, with Shelle Soelberg<\/a>\u00a0(interview)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/musicalitynow.com\/26\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">A Toolbox of Musical Understanding, with Scott Sharp<\/a>\u00a0(interview)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.musical-u.com\/learn\/hearing-chord-progressions-i-iv-v-in-major-keys\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">I-IV-V Chords in Major Keys<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.musical-u.com\/learn\/the-most-important-four-chord-progression-vi-iv-i-v\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The vi-IV-I-V chord progression<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.musical-u.com\/learn\/how-to-use-circle-fifths\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Circle of Fifths<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Podcast Episode: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.musical-u.com\/learn\/about-the-power-of-solfa\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Power of Solfa<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div class='podcast_review_cta'><p class='review_cta'>Enjoying Musicality Now? Please support the show by rating and reviewing it!<\/p>\n    <p class='review_button'><a class='cta_button' href='https:\/\/www.musical-u.com\/podcast-review\/' target='_blank' onclick='logPodReview();'>Rate and Review!<\/a><\/p>\n    <\/div><!-- MU Podcast Schema -->\n<div class='mu_podcast_schema' itemscope itemtype='https:\/\/schema.org\/PodcastEpisode'>\n <div style='display:none;'>\n  <a itemprop='url' href='https:\/\/www.musical-u.com\/learn\/about-the-i-iv-v-and-vi-chords\/'>\n       <span itemprop='name'>About the I, IV, V and vi Chords<\/span>\n  <\/a>\n  <div itemprop='datePublished' datetime= '2017-12-28T16:00:48+00:00'>2017-12-28T16:00:48+00:00<\/div>\n  <div itemprop='description'>Learn about the four chords that countless musical masterpieces have been built on, how they're named, and how you can craft tunes out of them yourself.<\/div>\n    <div itemprop='associatedMedia' itemscope itemtype='https:\/\/schema.org\/MediaObject'>\n      <div itemprop='image' href= 'https:\/\/www.musical-u.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/TMP033-About-the-I-IV-V-and-vi-Chords-FI-1.jpg'>https:\/\/www.musical-u.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/TMP033-About-the-I-IV-V-and-vi-Chords-FI-1.jpg<\/div>\n   <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<h2>Transcript<\/h2><div class='mu_podcast_transcript'>\n        <div id='mu_podcast_transcript-link-42205' aria-expanded='false' class='sh_link sh_hide'><a class='cta_button mu_podcast_transcript_showhide_link' href='#' onclick=\"showhide_toggle('mu_podcast_transcript',42205,'Show Transcript','Hide Transcript');return false;\"><span id='mu_podcast_transcript-toggle-42205'>Show Transcript<\/span><\/a><\/div><div id='mu_podcast_transcript-content-42205' class='sh-content sh-hide' style='display:none;'>\n        <div itemprop='audio' itemscope itemtype='https:\/\/schema.org\/AudioObject'>\n          <div itemprop='transcript'>\n           \n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>In several past episodes the same topic has come up: a way of thinking about chords that makes it much easier to play by ear, improvise, and get an instinctive feel for what\u2019s going on in the music you hear. Steve Myers, Sara Campbell, Shelle Soelberg, Casey McCann, Lisa McCormick, Scott Sharp &#8211; all these guests have mentioned the \u201cone, four, five and six\u201d chords.<\/p>\n<p>The band Blues Traveler even start one of their hit songs by declaring it\u2019s \u201cJust another 1, 4, 5\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>So what are those chords and why do they matter?<\/p>\n<p>This is one of the most valuable things to wrap your head around in music. And if you don\u2019t play chords on your instrument, please don\u2019t tune out! Understanding how harmony works can help you improvise melodies, it can help you write your own music, it can help you decipher music notation and sight-read more easily. It\u2019s that fundamental.<\/p>\n<h2>What are the 1, 4, 5 and 6 chords?<\/h2>\n<p>Simply put, when people talk about chords using numbers like this they are just referring to chords relative to the key, the tonic note. It\u2019s a shorthand for the role that each chord plays in a key &#8211; and the things people say about chords using numbers are true in any key.<\/p>\n<p>In a recent episode we talked about finding chords in scales &#8211; and that\u2019s exactly what we\u2019re doing when we talk about the 1, 4, 5 and 6. It\u2019s taking that number note from the key\u2019s scale and building a chord on it.<\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s get concrete for a moment. The power of this system is that it abstracts away from the particulars of any one key &#8211; but that can also make it a bit confusing at first.<\/p>\n<p>Supposing we\u2019re in the key of C Major. Note 1 in the scale is C. Note 4 is F, note 5 is G and note 6 is A. As covered in that previous episode we can build a three-note chord called a \u201ctriad\u201d starting from each of those notes.<\/p>\n<p>When we do this from the note C we get the C major chord, and that\u2019s our \u201cone\u201d chord. From the F note we get an F major chord and that\u2019s our \u201cfour\u201d chord. From the G note we get a G major chord and that\u2019s our \u201cfive\u201d chord. And finally from the A we actually get an A minor chord, and that\u2019s our \u201csix\u201d chord.<\/p>\n<p>Can we build chords from notes 2, 3 and 7 too? Of course! But we\u2019ll talk in a moment about why those aren\u2019t the ones we\u2019re focusing on right now.<\/p>\n<p>So we can build these four chords from the scale, and we can do that in any key.<\/p>\n<p>If we do it in the key of G Major instead of C Major we end up with G major as our \u201cone\u201d, C major as our \u201cfour\u201d, D major as our \u201cfive\u201d and E minor as our \u201csix\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019ll definitely be talking about the Circle of Fifths in a future episode because that\u2019s a terrific way to shortcut this process of figuring out the chords in any key without needing to count through notes of the scale. But for now just know that you can figure out what these one, four, five and six chords are in any key. The one, four and five will always come out as major triads and the six will always be minor.<\/p>\n<p>So what\u2019s the point of all this?<\/p>\n<h2>Why the 1, 4, 5 and 6 chords matter<\/h2>\n<p>In our episode on The Power of Solfa we talked about how naming or numbering the notes of the scale relative to the root note is helpful because it gets us away from all the letter names and sharps and flats that vary in every key, and gets us directly to the way we actually hear music. We interpret notes relative to the key\u2019s tonic, and so naming notes in that way makes it far easier to start understanding what\u2019s going on in the music you hear.<\/p>\n<p>Exactly the same is true of chords. When we abstract away from any one key and talk in terms of these chord numbers we get straight to the heart of how harmony actually works and how our ears are interpreting the chords we hear.<\/p>\n<p>Here are a few questions you might have found yourself asking about chords:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Why do these chords sound good when I play them after each other but those other ones don\u2019t?<\/li>\n<li>How can I know what chords to choose when I\u2019m writing a song?<\/li>\n<li>If I want to play a song in a different key than the sheet music or recording I have, how do I know what chords to play?<\/li>\n<li>Why do so many pop and rock songs sound kind of the same even though they have different melodies?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em>All<\/em> of these questions can be answered easily when we think in terms of chord numbers &#8211; but they all get very complicated if you only think about the literal names of chords in different keys.<\/p>\n<p>For example: The one, four and five chords are the most commonly-used chords in almost every genre of music, with the six chord following shortly after. That means that a ton of music we hear each day is using just those chords.<\/p>\n<p>If we only thought in terms of keys and chord names that wouldn\u2019t be obvious. We\u2019d be able to hear that the songs\u2019 chord progressions sounded kind of similar but they\u2019d all have different chords so it wouldn\u2019t be clear why. When we translate those chords into this one, four, five, six naming system it\u2019s immediately obvious: they are all using exactly the same chords, just in a variety of keys.<\/p>\n<p>That is a massive shortcut if you want to train your ears to recognise chords. Because really what you want to learn isn\u2019t \u201chow can I hear a C-G-A minor-F progression?\u201d &#8211; it\u2019s \u201chow can I hear a 1-5-6-4 progression no matter what key it happens to be in?\u201d Your ears really don\u2019t mind what key is being used and so you can quickly train them to hear that same pattern in any key.<\/p>\n<p>So the one, four, five and six chords matter because they are the most frequently used in music, and thinking about them in this numbered system matters because it lets you focus on what\u2019s actually going on harmonically and how your ears are actually interpreting the chords musically.<\/p>\n<p>The next question we have to tackle is&#8230;<\/p>\n<h2>Rome or Nashville?<\/h2>\n<p>As I\u2019ve been explaining this I\u2019ve just been saying \u201cone\u201d, \u201cfour\u201d, \u201cfive\u201d and so on. But when it comes to writing the chords down there are a couple of different systems.<\/p>\n<p>The first is the Nashville Numbering System. Super simple, we literally just write down the number. The number \u201c1\u201d for one, the number \u201c4\u201d for four, and so on. Generally the major\/minor quality of the chord is assumed based on what\u2019s normal for the key, so for the \u201csix\u201d chord you just write the number \u201c6\u201d and the musician reading it knows that\u2019ll be a minor chord.<\/p>\n<p>The second system looks intimidating but is just as simple. It\u2019s to use Roman numerals for the chord numbers. We write a capital \u201cI\u201d for the one chord, a capital \u201cI\u201d followed by a capital \u201cV\u201d for the four chord, a capital \u201cV\u201d for the five chord, and a lowercase \u201cv\u201d and \u201ci\u201d for the six chord. That can look weird if you\u2019re not used to Roman numerals but actually that weirdness is part of its advantage. We use numbers for lots of different things in music but we only use Roman numerals for naming chords like this. So when you see these symbols written down you immediately know that it\u2019s referring to chords in the key. You still say them out loud as \u201cone\u201d, \u201cfour\u201d, \u201cfive\u201d and so on.<\/p>\n<h2>Start using the 1, 4, 5 and 6<\/h2>\n<p>So now you understand what the one, four, five and six chords are. You can start taking advantage of this immediately. Next time you\u2019re playing a piece of music ask yourself what the numbers are for the chords being used. You might be surprised how often it boils down to just these three or four chords. That\u2019s why you might hear people talking about \u201c3-chord songs\u201d and \u201c4-chord songs\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>The next big step is to start learning to recognise these chords when they\u2019re used. As I said before, you have a huge shortcut here because you know you\u2019re just looking for the same patterns, no matter what key is being used. We have a whole Roadmap and set of modules for learning to recognise and play chords by ear in Musical U and it\u2019s centered on this insight: that focusing on just the one, four, five and six chords actually covers a huge amount of ground.<\/p>\n<p>Yes there are other chords that can be used, and yes the types of chord can go beyond just major and minor. But get your mind and ears wrapped around the one, four, five and six chords and you\u2019ve got the best possible foundation for understanding and recognising each and every chord you hear.<\/p>\n<div class='podcast_subscribe_buttons'><p class='subscribe_cta'>Subscribe For Future Episodes!<\/p>\n    <div class='buttons'><a href='http:\/\/musicalitynow.com\/subscribeitunes' target='_blank' class='label' onclick='logPodSubscribe(\"apple\");'><i class='fa fa-apple' aria-hidden='true'><\/i> Apple Podcasts<\/a><span class='separator'> | <\/span><a href='http:\/\/musicalitynow.com\/subscribeandroid' target='_blank' class='label' onclick='logPodSubscribe(\"android\");'><i class='fa fa-android' aria-hidden='true'><\/i> Android<\/a><span class='separator'> | <\/span><a href='http:\/\/musicalitynow.com\/subscribeyoutube' target='_blank' class='label' onclick='logPodSubscribe(\"youtube\");'><i class='fa fa-youtube' aria-hidden='true'><\/i> YouTube<\/a><span class='separator'> | <\/span><a href='http:\/\/musicalitynow.com\/subscribegplay' target='_blank' class='label' onclick='logPodSubscribe(\"gplay\");'><i class='fa fa-google' aria-hidden='true'><\/i> Google Play<\/a><span class='separator'> | <\/span><a href='http:\/\/musicalitynow.com\/subscribestitcher' target='_blank' class='label' onclick='logPodSubscribe(\"stitcher\");'><img src='https:\/\/www.musical-u.com\/wp-content\/themes\/Divi-MU\/img\/Stitcher-icon.png' alt='Stitcher' class='podcast_icon'>Stitcher<\/a><span class='separator'> | <\/span><a href='http:\/\/musicalitynow.com\/subscriberss' target='_blank' class='label' onclick='logPodSubscribe(\"rss\");'><i class='fa fa-rss' aria-hidden='true'><\/i> RSS<\/a><\/div>\n    <p class='review_cta'>Enjoying the show? Please consider <a href='https:\/\/www.musical-u.com\/podcast-review\/' target='_blank' onclick='logPodReview();'>rating and reviewing it!<\/a><\/p>\n    <\/div>\n\n          <\/div>\n        <\/div>\n        <\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<!-- \/MU Podcast Schema -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Learn about the four chords that countless musical masterpieces have been built on, how they&#8217;re named, and how you can craft tunes out of them yourself.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":42208,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_ml_titleColor":"#000000","_ml_titleFont":"Roboto","_ml_titleFontSize":1.136,"_ml_titleFontWeight":"400","_ml_titleLineHeight":1.3,"_ml_metaColor":"#708090","_ml_metaFont":"Montserrat","_ml_metaFontSize":0.6785,"_ml_metaFontWeight":"400","_ml_metaLineHeight":0.92,"_ml_bodyColor":"#a9a9a9","_ml_bodyFont":"Open Sans","_ml_bodyFontSize":0.85,"_ml_bodyFontWeight":"400","_ml_bodyLineHeight":1.2,"_ml_wooPriceColor":"#666","_ml_wooPriceFont":"Open Sans","_ml_wooPriceFontSize":0.9,"_ml_wooPriceFontWeight":"400","_ml_wooPriceLineHeight":1.27,"_ml_headingColor":"#000","_ml_headingFont":"Merriweather","_ml_headingFontSize":2.02,"_ml_headingFontWeight":"700","_ml_headingLineHeight":1.47,"_mlglobal_userfontcolors":{"headingColorUser":[],"titleColorUser":[],"metaColorUser":[],"bodyColorUser":[],"wooPriceColorUser":[]},"footnotes":""},"categories":[640,641,494,752],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42205","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-3-chord-songs","category-4-chord-songs","category-chord-progressions","category-podcast"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.5 - 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