6 common chord progressions and why they work

You can see my first video on common chord changes here:

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 Introduction
0:22 the Plagal Cascade
2:44 the "Can't Stop" progression
5:45 the "Closing Time" progression
9:05 the OTHER other Axis progression
13:02 the "Mr. Brightside" progression
15:39 the 12 bar blues

[Zveebo]

It’s funny how certain chord progressions are instantly evocative of a certain era of music. The ‘Closing Time’ progression instantly makes me think of turn of the millennium / noughties music as soon as I hear it, even when used by someone like Phoebe Bridgers in completely contemporary songs.

[randomtubist]

As a band geek back in my school days, I always wondered why every American high school and university fight song sounded almost the exact same. With videos like this, I've actually been able to put it into words. They all have almost the exact same 16-bar "Fight Song" Chord Progression. It was always some variation on:

||: I | I | I | I |
V | I | V | V |
I | I | IV | iii |
IV | I | I V | I :||

[MrMurkosullivan]

I legitimately burst out in laughter with the Paramore -> Olivia Rodrigo cut. HAhahahaha very well played David.

[JonHarris]

I never realized that U2's I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For uses the 12 bar blues progression. With major 7th's instead of dominant, it certainly doesn't have much of a blues flavor, but does fit the progression.

[sfisher]

Love how you include a wide spectrum of music genres to these videos

Also this helps explain why I kept getting reminded of "Misery Business" in "Good 4 U" they share the same chord in the same instrument (Guitar), have a female vocals and deal with similar topics (Something in a School Drama)

[MumbleEtc]

a fact i've always got a little giggle from is that a good portion of the soundtrack for the original DOOM is in 12 bar blues

[SpeedySonicX]

You’ve done secondary dominants, but I think it would be a really interesting video if you covered secondary leading tones. Those can get really fun, and I’d very much like to learn more about them. I know what they are but never how to use them!

[Seapatico]

I love the 3 TSwift songs in a row, and then including "Half of my heart" which has Taylor on backup Vox

[joedurantguitar]

10:46 What's My Age Again? actually switches to the I, V, VI, IV in the chorus, so it's actually the same progression as in the verse but shifted along by one chord. The intro riff is actually brought back in in the outro, only shifted along by one note. Always thought it was clever how they did that :)

[lawrencetaylor]

Merci beaucoup David. I've been watching you for years, and I'm not a musician.
Ahem, I wasn't a musician. I bought a piano last month and started at 65. Now your videos make much more sense since I'm also taking a foreign language course.

[michaelogden]

Shoutout to "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" for using two of these progressions.

Also, another common variation on the 12-bar blues that wasn't covered here: bar 2 sometimes uses the IV chord. You will probably hear the term "quick-change" used for this variation.

[jalawto]

I remember reading how they write pop music to play with your emotions and they have it down to a science. My guess is that with the Axis of Awesome chord progression they switch the order of the IV and V just so that when you stop listening to the song you just run it over endlessly in your head. If it ended on the 5 then the song would be over and I wouldn’t go out and buy big macs or whatever it is pop music these days is on about. Having a looping chord progression in your head is maddening!

[da_schnitzel]

Your transitions between songs in your examples are really well done :)

[philipkudrna]

Sensational, how you put all that songs together in a row and have also incorporated most recent songs from Olivia Rodrigo and others! You have put a lot of work into this. Very enlightening!

[Steveofthejungle]

That transition from Attention to Sweet Dreams was so smooth

[bobsykes]

Your song examples in this one are fantastic! I discovered that my heart is owned by the "Plagal Cascade". Every one of those song examples is an all time favorite of mine! Of course the 12-bar Blues kicks some serious ass, too, but nothing like that first one. Great video!

[RideOpJ]

In the jazz idiom, it's the chord progression of "I Got Rhythm" by the Gershwins that became one of the most common. Several be-bop era tunes are written over "Rhythm Changes", and commonly played by jazz musicians at jam sessions as a medium for improvisation.

[bellygunnermusic]

I've been composing more years than you've been alive. but I did it thru intuition. it's very great to me to have certain musicals conventions defined and labeled. I figured there were a names for these things, but being uneducated, I never knew what. thank you for sharing your knowledge. you're giving a gentleman's language to a savage's instincts.and nice playing at the end of your presentation. love it.

[milestone]

some of those examples of 12-bar blues progressions surprised me a lot. never thought of "black or white" or "still haven't found what i'm looking for" as 12-bar blues before, but they totally are. great video!

[zhaoli]

The Axis progression is magical in that its 4 chords always sound good no matter how they're arranged. I even just found a variant royal road: IV > V > vi > I.