Pop chord progressions

Also called four-chord loop or I V vi IV

Many pop songs loop four chords. The best known are I–V–vi–IV (C–G–Am–F in C major) and its rotation vi–IV–I–V (Am–F–C–G): the same four chords, started from a different one.

What are the common four-chord loops?

A loop is a short progression that goes round and round. In a major key the best-known one uses the chords on the first, fifth, sixth and fourth degrees: I, V, vi and IV, which is three major chords and one minor. In C they are C, G, Am and F, usually one to a measure.

I–V–vi–IV in C: C, G, Am and F.

Why does vi–IV–I–V feel different?

It is the same four chords, started one chord later. Which chord you hear as home depends on where the loop begins and where it rests. Starting on C, the loop opens on the tonic and the other chords are trips away from it. Starting on Am, it opens on a minor chord and tends to sound more wistful, and the tonic does not arrive until the third measure, so it feels like one stop among four rather than the place everything returns to. A melody that rests on C can still make C feel like home.

vi–IV–I–V in C: Am, F, C and G. The same chords from a different starting point.

A third loop, I–vi–IV–V, is the same four chords in yet another order. To move a loop to another key, keep the numerals and change the letters, as the table does.

LoopIn CIn GIn D
I–V–vi–IVC – G – Am – FG – D – Em – CD – A – Bm – G
vi–IV–I–VAm – F – C – GEm – C – G – DBm – G – D – A
I–vi–IV–VC – Am – F – GG – Em – C – DD – Bm – G – A

What makes a song its own, if the chords are shared?

A progression is a pattern, the way a scale is, and the same few chords sit under countless songs that have nothing else in common. What makes a song its own is the melody, the words and the arrangement laid over the chords.

Common questions

How do you play I–V–vi–IV in another key?

Count the degrees from the new tonic and keep the qualities. In G, I is G, V is D, vi is Em and IV is C. The lower-case vi marks the minor chord on the sixth note.

What is the difference between I–V–vi–IV and vi–IV–I–V?

They use the same four chords. I–V–vi–IV begins on the tonic, while vi–IV–I–V begins on the chord of the relative minor, so it opens on a minor chord and ends on the V, which pulls it back to the start.

Why do so many songs use the same four chords?

Together the four triads contain every note of the major scale, so none is out of key, though over a single chord some notes (F over C, B over F) sound tenser than others. They also include the tonic, the dominant and the subdominant, the three chords that define a key.