The 1-5-6-4 Chord Progression Toolkit

The 1-5-6-4 (or I-V-vi-IV) chord progression turns up in hundreds of pop songs, and it's incredibly useful to be able to play around with it on the piano or keyboard. 1-5-6-4 may only have four chords, but it has massive musical power. You can hear the progression in Adele’s “Someone Like You”, The Beatles’ “Let It Be”, Bob Marley’s “No Woman No Cry”, Taylor Swift’s “All Too Well” and many, many more songs. In this tutorial I take the 1-5-6-4 progression apart, look at the chords and structure and why it works so well, whether as a chord loop or as part of a wider progression, and give you some tips and techniques for improvising on it with your piano or keyboard.

Along the way I take a look at some useful bits of piano/keyboard technique and music theory, including loops, cadences, chord voicing, bassline development, chord extension, decoration and suspension, passing chords and chromatic mediant passing chords. In other words, there’s a ton of stuff in this tutorial that will help you whether you’re an improvising piano or keyboard player wanting to learning pop styles, a producer, a songwriter, or if you just want to learn more about chord progressions and music theory

OTHER USEFUL TUTORIALS

BILL’S SOCIAL MEDIA

00:00 Why 1-5-6-4 matters
00:41 The basic music theory
01:40 Voicing the 1-5-6-4 chords
04:58 Loops and cadences
08:30 Improvising on the 1-5-6-4 progression
11:31 Chord extensions, progressions, decorations
13:20 Advanced bassline voicings
14:36 Passing chords and chromatic mediants
17:35 My books and Piano Packs
19:26 What to do now

#chords #piano

[duaneeickhoff]

Easy to follow—perfect visual angle along with clear audio; outstanding instruction!

[itsannchoo]

This was the best explanation of how to approach 1564 chords. As someone who has a background in music theory but want to begin some freestyle playing, I've never felt any video or person explain this so clearly. Thank you!

[johnrottler]

Note that Pachabel’s Canon also fallows a similar chord progression with the first part of the Canon’s iconic chord progression being 1 5 6 3 which is why it sounds so similar to Pachabel’s Canon and why Canon in D can be mashed up with so many pop songs as it only differs by one chord from the Four Chords of Pop

[Pilotlon]

Just love this tut, Bill. Some customer projects have kept me away from practicing it much for the last few days, but much of that is behind me for the moment. And, some cold rainy (below freezing) days and evenings this coming week, will match the expressions I'm able to draw out from this progression. I've taken to heart your comment about letting your ear find some combinations that work, which sort of naturally lends itself to some passing notes and embellishments....some yours...some mine. Then, I've taken your "time suspension" practice comments from your other recent video, to begin to really nail this down into something that I can begin to call "my own song"....something that I can see myself even playing for others. Marvelous. Can't thank you enough for this one.

[tristanjohndeleon]

As someone who plays piano without sheet music, memorizing chord progressions, and playing by ear, this is super helpful. My favorite progressions are 6-4-1-5 and this one. Mainly because 1-6-4-5 is too mainstream 😅. That's how I learned to play River Flows to You and Say You Won't Let Go. Love your videos 'cause they teach me different ways to branch out from my simple chord progressions.

[coloaten]

A really great lesson, thanks Bill. I really think it's worth trying all these techniques you show in all 12 keys, around the circle of 4ths/5ths. This kind of playing around is also great for hand independence without specifically doing hand independence exercises, which can get a bit boring. So many benefits :)

[janetgoodall]

This is so good Bill. I love your book how to really play the piano.Thank you.

[XantherBlaze]

I love you. And .. ahh . I'm really glad that you used the word jam.

[daysofpractice]

Great lesson, Bill. I found this I immensely helpful. :)

[kalmonds]

thank u Bill. A very thought provoking video! Very insightful and well explained! I owe so much of my playing now to your generous teaching videos. Now off to practice some 1 -5 -6 -4!!!

[mulattotvc]

Luv it bill. Tks. Complex stuff very clearly explained as usual. Abraco.

[MartiA]

Worth multiple repeat watches. pick up a little more each time.

[feanor]

Amazing video, high quality as usual. Everything's top notch in this channel.
Great teacher, beautiful Nord piano, well positioned camera and oh, what an accent (still wondering where you are from).
Keep on the good work Bill.
Cheers

[DojoOfCool]

Interesting video had me trying things while listening. Looking at the I V VI IV by function its a Tonic, Dominant, Tonic, Dominant progression, so you get your V-I cadence when it loops. Then adding the A7/C# you setting up the Dm with it's V, A7 kind of a Jazz view of the same thing. Now what I was enjoying doing was taking that Bb and making it into a "backdoor II-V" for more of a turnaround sound so instead of Bb for a measure I used Bbmi Eb7 then back to the top. Fun to add some movement to this progression.

[va_valentin_]

Very nice thumnail! And great tutorial!

[XantherBlaze]

You have helped me further along. Thank you, sir.

[dizzitoast]

You are a wonderful teacher! Thank you!

[davidwackett]

Well it got me playing and being creative, so thanks

[ratghost]

Right off the bat I'm hearing 'Let It Be'.

[ToastandJam]

This is excellent Bill! I haven't been playing piano long (since Jan) and just getting into messing about with this progression. It is a lot of fun noodling around with it. Also, I'm interested in learning about your setup. Do you go line in from your Nord when making videos or... ? I am thinking of upgrading to a Nord (Dexibell is my second choice). What sort of amplification do you use/recommend or is best suited. Note: I will probably mostly be playing at a home studio environment. Thanks once again for an excellent video!