How to recognise chord progressions by ear

Relative pitch is a skill that any musician can learn and it allows you to identify the chord progression of a song just by ear! Today we'll look at every chord you could encounter in the major key and learn what it sounds like.

And, an extra special thanks goes to Douglas Lind, Vidad Flowers, Ivan Pang, Waylon Fairbanks, Jon Dye, Austin Russell, Christopher Ryan, Toot & Paul Peijzel, the channel’s Patreon saints! 😇

0:00 what is Relative pitch?
1:25 I
2:14 V
3:19 IV
4:43 vi
5:46 ii
7:01 iii
8:42 Chord Crush
9:30 bVII
11:18 bIII
12:39 bVI
13:51 bII
15:23 bV
16:45 iv
18:24 III
20:14 II
21:34 VI
22:56 VII
24:07 v
25:42 QUIZ TIME
30:50 Patreon

[RavenclawNimbus]

I love the whole "and the world lives as 1" thing, that was too perfect!

[mrclay]

Note for viewers, it took me a few *years* to go from recognizing IV and V reliably to all the chromatics here. You can absolutely do it, but you've gotta learn and play songs and get those chords in your fingers and associated with the Roman numeral in your head while playing them.

Great overview of the common major/minor here!

[MilopineDesign]

This video looks like a drop everything I'm doing situation

[tereruggiu]

i love how you tailor almost every video on beginners. i admire you. it's so humble and wise. and generous, really.

[bigbirdmusic]

DBP tries not to reference Radiohead challenge (impossible)

[businessenglishlessonseslf]

Hello David. As a musician who never really properly learned about music in the formal sense, I've been following many YouTube teachers, and you're way out in front and my absolute favourite. I have to compliment you on your relaxed style of presenting music theory in a way that keeps me engaged. I've learned so much already and will continue to follow you, so please keep it going, keep it relaxed and thank you for taking the time to assist oldies like myself who never had the music education we should have had. Although I was theoretically a professional musician, I really only played at a very basic level and watching your videos has made me realise how much better I would have been had I taken the music classes at school that were available. But now through your easy-to-understand and step-by-step approach, I'm gradually catching up. Thank you and I'll see you in the next one!!!

[Carlosaxchez]

I've been waiting for this video since I was 13, now I'm 27. So thanks a lot. Best teacher ever.

[OurgasmComrade]

Other songs that use the VII chord like Karma Police are:
"Sexy Sadie" by The Beatles
"Mr Sandman" by The Chordettes"
"Dream A Little Dream Of Me" by the Mamas and the Papas

And minor version of the vii is found in the Beatles' "Yesterday", the second chord right after the tonic!

[parsifal]

I earned a music degree in college. This video reminded me of my music theory classes. I graduated 50 years ago! You are a great teacher!

[benrosenthal]

Strangely did a lot better on the harder levels of the quiz haha! Stuff like the IV iv I or bVI bVII I have such distinctive sounds it's hard to confuse them for anything else. I always have issues with distinguishing IV I, because it feels like a strong resolution to me so I always think it must be V

[adb]

Oh, man... the "and the world would live as the I chord" was amazingly genius.
The world would live as complete, at rest, in peace... as the I chord. That captures the whole ethics of "Imagine".
Brilliant.

[adamlane]

I loved a little quiz at the end. it definitely encouraged me to be a more active participant. Often times I find myself just listening, but never applying.

[gnorung]

Playing the chords on the piano as they came up in the songs was such a nice touch! As a piano player, identifying the chords where there is no piano or keyboard accompaniment is always an added challenge, so it was nice not having to worry about them in this instance. It gets even more difficult when the song does not start on tonic (it usually doesn't I think) and chords are never explicitly played but implied or just played in an unusual or complex way.
One thing I'd add is that for most genres, identifying the bass helps immensely, as it's almost always the root if there is a bass player. Even for inversions and slash chords it helps to figure out the rest, I'd say. Otherwise I guess it mostly comes down to familiarity or if that doesn't work, fiddling on your main instrument. Either way, this video is a very good play to start.👍

[praetorfenix]

This is awesome! Working out chords by ear is a skill I've been trying to develop lately and this will help a lot. Think you could do a similar video focused on minor keys?

[evenglare]

Love it as always. If you ever get a chance, and its totally cool if not, but I'd love to see a video of songs that dont "resolve" in a traditional sense. One of my favorites its Flowers Never Bend by Simon & Garfunkel and even when I've heard it a billion times, that last chord is always so unsettling and I love it. I dont know of any more songs that do that. Further more I'd love to hear your take on why a song would end like that. I'm sure at that point its more artistic stylistic choice than anything. But yeah, I dont believe ive ever seen a video that covers something like that.

[GoneAfterMidnight]

I'm currently teaching on of my students how to recognize chord progressions by ear so this video couldn't have come out at a better time! Very well put together. I will have to send this to them as another thing to learn from!

[simonsanchezkumrich]

you should just only give us radiohead and beatles examples at this point lmao, great video david btw: i want u to make videos on exotic scales and modes (like pentatonic or melodic minor modes)

[marije]

I'll always recognise I-III-IV-iv and bVI-bVII-I and picardy thirds. These are the best. Honorable mention to I-IV-I-iv-i-V-I

[dannygibor]

Excellent as always. In addition to your explanation there are also chord inversions (major, minor, 7ths), diminished/augmented chords and other mixes (like IV on V).
When I analyze a new song I listen to the chord progression like you explained but I also listen to the bass line at the same time.
Once I nail down the correct bass note, I usually have only a couple of options for building the right chord on top of the bass. This is usually a 1-3-5 (basic chord) but it could be a chord inversion like 1-3-6 or 1-4-6.
For example, when starting with C major, you'll notice the bass jumps to E and then to F. The 2nd chord may sound like a iii (Em) but in this case it's actually the same C chord, played using the 2nd inversion (E-G-C or 1-3-6). The only difference from the iii chord is the C note instead of B.
These are subtle differences that require some practice in order to identify correctly.

[fiscaldisco]

More of these quizzes please! I’m improving a lot but it’s hard to find good practice