What is a chord progression?

A chord progression is a series of chords played in an order that sounds good together. Most songs loop a short progression of three or four chords for the whole verse or chorus. Because the chords come from the same key, they sound like they belong together.

What are the four chords in most pop songs?

The famous four-chord progression is I–V–vi–IV. In the key of C that is C, G, Am, F. Hundreds of pop songs use exactly these four chords in this order, which is why it is sometimes called the four-chord song.

What is the easiest chord progression on ukulele?

I–IV–V — in the key of C that is C, F and G. These are three of the first chords most players learn, and together they can carry a huge number of folk, country and blues songs. Add Am and you can also play the four-chord progression.

What do the Roman numerals I, IV and V mean in music?

They number the chords built on each step of a key. I is the home chord, IV is the chord four steps up, V is five steps up, and so on. Upper case means a major chord and lower case (ii, iii, vi) means minor. Writing a progression in numerals lets you play it in any key by swapping in that key's chords.

How do I change a chord progression to a different key?

Keep the Roman numerals the same and read off the chords for the new key, or paste the chords into a transposer and shift them up or down. Players often move a song to a key whose chords are easier to fret, or to suit a singer's range.

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Ukulele chord progressions

Here is the happy secret of pop music: most songs run on the same few chord progressions. Learn a handful and you can busk through hundreds of tunes — and start writing your own. A progression is just a few chords played in an order that sounds good, looped round and round. Below are the most useful ones, written out in the easy ukulele keys so you can play them today.

A 30-second primer on the numbers

Each key has seven chords, one built on every step of its scale. We number them with Roman numerals — I is the home chord, IV the one four steps up, V five steps up, and so on. Upper case means a major chord; lower case (ii, iii, vi) means a minor one. Writing a progression in numerals is the trick that lets you play the very same song in any key — just read the chords off the row you want.

Key	I	ii	iii	IV	V	vi
C	C	Dm	Em	F	G	Am
G	G	Am	Bm	C	D	Em
F	F	Gm	Am	B♭	C	Dm

6. The 12-bar blues

numerals I · IV · V over twelve bars

Not a four-chord loop but a twelve-bar form — the grid above is the road map, read left to right, four bars per row. Same three chords as the three-chord trick (here C, F, G), arranged in the pattern every blues and a lot of rock & roll is built on. Swap in C7, F7 and G7 for the real bluesy bite.

Good for: blues, boogie and 12-bar rock & roll.

Play any of these in your key

Every progression above is written in C, but the numerals make it portable. To move one into a friendlier key — or to match a singer — you have two easy paths:

Read the chords straight off the key table near the top: for the four-chord trick in G, I–V–vi–IV becomes G–D–Em–C.
Or paste the chords into the chord transposer in the app and shift them up or down a step at a time.

Build them from scratch, too. The app’s chord tools include a “chords in a key” picker — choose a key and it lays out all seven chords with their numerals, so you can grab the I, IV, V and vi and assemble any progression on this page yourself.

Open the practice app →

How to make them sound like music

Hold each chord for a steady count — usually four beats — then change. Even four slow beats per chord already sounds like a song.
Loop it. When you reach the last chord, go straight back to the first. Most verses and choruses are one progression repeated.
Add a strum. Lay a pattern from the strumming page over the top — even all-down strums work — or fingerpick it for something gentler.
Practise the changes, not just the chords. The hard part is switching cleanly in time; loop just the two chords that trip you up until the move is smooth.
Then try singing over it. Hum a melody, or pull a real tune from the easy songs list — many of them use exactly these progressions.

Make sure you’re in tune first, keep the chord chart open beside you, and have fun spotting these four-chord loops hiding inside the songs you already know.