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The ‘Four chord song' is a medley performed by an Australian comedy group where snippets from a whole host of famous songs are sung over the top of the exact same chord progression. Here's the chords they used:
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The 4 chords used by Axis of awesome in ‘the four chord song' are D, A, B min and G. The key is D Major. In a live video, they played it in E Major using the chords E, B, C# min and A. These are the I, V, vi and IV chords of a major key. Using these chord numbers, you can play this in any key.
Learning the chord numbers, (commonly notated with roman numerals) is the best way to really understand what chords are being used here. It's how you can make sense of why these songs, originally written in different keys with ‘different' chords, are actually using the same type of chord progression and how the band were able to merge them into one key.
Let me explain what they did and how to assign numbers or roman numerals to chords because this concept is incredibly useful for musicians to learn. Using this system, you can change the key of any song too.
Below is also a list of this four chord progression in all 12 major keys so you can play in the key of your choice.
What Chords Did Axis Of Awesome Play In The Four Chord Song?
The main studio version
Their main studio version of the four chord song was recorded in the key of D major. They use the I, V, vi and IV chords, which in this key are D major, A major, B minor and G major. Read on to learn how those numbers work. At first, they play them in a 4 measure (bar) loop. Each chord gets 1 measure like this:
After singing many famous melodies that fit over this cycle such as ‘I'm yours', ‘where is the love' and ‘Take me home, country roads', they change things up a bit. They're playing the same chord sequence still, but this time, each chord only gets half a measure:
This makes it feel twice as fast and gives them a whole bunch of other melodies that will now fit over the quicker chord changes such as ‘No woman no cry' and ‘save tonight'. Towards the end, they revert back to the first pattern.
You can watch how to play this on piano in the key of D major in this short clip:
The popular live video on YouTube
On this live version, they performed the song in the key of E major instead (A whole step higher). Now, they needed to use the I, V, vi and IV chords from that key instead which are E major, B Major, C# minor and A major.
They just applied these chords to the same structure, 1 chord per measure for the first section:
And 2 chords per measure for the 2nd section:
Moving something to another key is called transposing. You can watch how to play this on piano in the key of E major in this short clip:
But how were they able to sing so many songs over these chords? Read on to find out but first here's the chords for the four chord song in all 12 keys for your reference.
The Four Chord song Chord In Every Key
What Are the Four Chords Used In Most Pop Songs?
As displayed in the four chord song, there are many examples of successful pop songs using the same chord progression as each other. It's not usually the entire song, typically it's just one of the main sections, either the verse or the chorus. Of course, there's plenty of other things to set them apart like the melody, lyrics, rhythms, the arrangement and other patterns or embellishments over the chords but the underlying basic structure of the harmony is the same.
The famous four chords used in many pop song progressions are the I, V, vi and IV chords of a major key. The roman numerals represent the numbers of the major scale we begin a chord from (1, 5, 6, 4) so in C major this would be C, G, Amin, F or in G major it would be G, D, Emin, C.
This is the most common sequence of those chords and the one used in ‘the four chord song' but people are sometimes referring to other songs that may use those chords in another order, for example, I, IV, vi, V (1,4,6,5).
This is where we have to stop thinking about specific chords and start thinking about where those chords fit inside the key. Many pop songs that use similar chord progressions are all in a variety of keys.
This means that although they may appear as 2 completely different progressions, by referring to each set of chords using their chord numbers, we can reveal how the pattern of the chord movement is the same, using the same sequence of numbers. We can recognize how 2 progressions that use different chords by name, may essentially be the same thing, the same pattern just played in a higher or lower key.
How To Number The Chords In A Major Key
First, we need to number the notes of a major scale. The starting note of the scale (the root) is number 1, then we just continue through the rest of the notes 2,3,4,5,6 and 7.Here's a few examples of what that looks like in different keys.
In the key of C major
Or in the key of G major
Or D major
When we begin a chord from a particular note of the scale, we can give that chord the same number. If we were in the key of C and play a G major chord, that would be chord number 5 (because G is the 5th note of the C major scale).
Chord number 5 in the key of G major would be D major (because D is the 5th note of the G major scale).
Chord number 5 in the key of D major would be A major (because A is the 5th note of the D major scale)
Roman Numerals
We then tend to use roman numerals instead of regular numbers and commonly, upper case to represent a major chord and lower case to represent minor. Chord 7 is diminished and for that we use lower case with this symbol next to it. o
Let's compare the chord progressions of 3 songs in a different one of these 3 keys:
Song 1: C, G, A min, F
In the key of C major, these letters are numbers 1, 5, 6, and 4 (I, V, vi, IV)
Song 2: G, D, E min, C
In the key of G major, these letters are numbers 1, 5, 6, and 4 (I, V, vi, IV)
Song 3: D, A, B min, G
In the key of D major, these letters are numbers 1, 5, 6, and 4 (I, V, vi, IV)
The 3 chord progressions all appear to be different but if we assign numbers, we can spot a consistent pattern. They all use the same sequence of chord numbers.
Each of these chords actually has a function and a particular sound within the key because we're hearing the relationships between notes and chords. Without getting too theory heavy in this post, the easiest one to understand is chord I. When you finish a song or piece of music by going to chord I, it sounds resolved, at rest and at home. That's true of every key so in the key of C major, the C major chord sounds like home or in the key of D major, the D major chord sounds like home. Chord I is also called the tonic.
Essentially then, if you play the same sequence of chord numbers in any key, whilst the sound will not be ‘exactly' the same because of the range, we can hear the same pattern of the movement between the chords because they are moving the same distances.
Watch this short video clip to hear these concepts for yourself:
This is how axis of awesome were able to find many songs with seemingly different chords and realise that sections of those songs were actually using the same underlying structure. They were all using the I, V, iv, IV sequence. Well, the band weren't the first to notice this but they were the ones to make a funny performance out of it.
They then made the comparison obvious for an audience of non musicians by playing the sequence in only one key with just a simple, constant rhythm to strip out any other distinctive features of each song. The melody of each of the songs they sang would then naturally fit over the top. The melodies are just a pattern inside the scale too and so that pattern can also just be repeated in any other key and sound the same (albeit a little higher or lower)
Which type of chord should start from each number?
It is actually possible to start different types of chord from each of the numbers, some will stay in the key (only use notes from the scale) and you can also change chords to use notes out of the key too sometimes. Notes that stay inside the key, or the scale you're using, are called diatonic and notes that go outside the key are called non-diatonic.
When people just say a chord number though and don't specify anything else afterwards, there is a particular thing they're referring to. They're talking about the triad (3 note chord) formed by playing in 3rds from whichever number you start from. This essentially just means every other note in the scale until you have 3 notes. (Although in Jazz and a few other settings, people commonly assume you will play a 7 chord starting from that same number which have 4 notes)
For example, in the key of C major, starting from the 6th note (A) you would play A, skip B, play C, skip D and then play E. This gives you an A minor chord which is chord number 6 in this key:
In the key of G major starting from the 5th note (D), you would play D, skip E, play F#, skip G and then play A. This gives you a D major chord which is chord number 5 in this key.
Major chords use a root, major 3rd and perfect 5th, minor chords use a root, minor 3rd and perfect 5th. To learn more about building major and minor chords using intervals, you can watch this video here on the piano from scratch YouTube Channel.
Because every major scale is the same pattern or spacing of notes to begin with, (that's why they're all the same type of scale and have the same sound) the types of chords we create like this will be exactly the same for each number of the scale in every major key. For example, chord 1 is always major, chord 6 is always minor and so on.
Here's the full sequence of the chord types in a major key:
A diminished chord is almost like a minor chord, except it has a diminished 5th (flat 5) instead of a perfect 5th.
Check out my 5 PAGE PDF which contains graphics, chord symbols and chord formulas for 18 common 3 and 4 note chord as well as a bit of helpful theory on harmony.
How To Play Any Song On Piano
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In reality, pop music has obviously used a lot of other chord progressions too and this four chord progression is sometimes used to disparage the genre and claim it all sounds the same. It has appeared quite a lot though, the Beatles used it in ‘Let it be' too and it has been responsible for a fair few number 1 hits.
Have you ever seen those letters up above the staff in your sheet music and wondered what they are? Those letters are chord symbols. Although guitar players use chord symbols all the time, for many piano students chords are a mysterious art. Some piano teachers never cover them at all (none of my teachers I had while I was growing up ever did). But for folk, jazz, pop, and rock musicians, chords are the foundation of how they think about, play, and perform music. In this article I'll tell you how to make piano chords, how to read chord symbols, and lots of ways to use chords to make your piano playing more amazing than ever.
Part 1 – What Is a Chord?
Most simply put, if you play more than one note at a time you've got a chord. So which notes do you play to make what chord? With eighty-eight keys on the piano, that makes an impossible number of combinations, right? Actually it's simpler than that. The piano keyboard is made up of only twelve tones. These tones, called the chromatic scale, repeat as you go up the keyboard. Each white or black key is included in the scale, and is a half step away from the keys next to it. As you go up the keyboard, twelve half steps will bring you right back to where you started in the sequence of tones. When you make a chord, the distance, measured in half steps, between the tones of a chord determines what kind of chord it is.
Most chords in modern-day Western music are either a major chord or a minor chord. Ninety-nine percent of all popular music, and almost as much classical music, is built on these two kinds of chords and their variations.
Major Chords
Major and minor chords are made up of three tones, called the root, the third, and the fifth. Chords are always named for their root. The C major chord, for example, will have a C as its root and lowest note. The third is going to be the third tone of the C major scale, or an E. The fifth will be the fifth tone of the C major scale, or the G.
A major chord sounds like a major chord no matter what note it has for its root. This is because the number of half steps between each of the notes will always be the same. Between the root and the third you will always have four half steps, an interval known as a major 3rd. The top two notes of the chord, from the third to the 5th, will be three half steps apart, or a minor 3rd. This is how you build a major chord starting from ANY of the twelve tones of the chromatic scale.
Say you want to make a D major chord. Count up four half steps from D, and you get F-sharp. Then count up three more half steps from F-sharp, you get A. The D major chord is D, F-sharp, A. Now say you want to start on a black key, such as E-flat. Make the chord the same way. Count up four half steps to G, then three half steps to B-flat. Your E-flat major chord is E-flat, G, B-flat.
If you have your piano keyboard handy, see if you can play each major chord, one for each of the twelve tones. You can hear how each major chord has a similar sound. This is because their notes have the same relationship to each other.
Now, back to those letters above the musical staff. For a major chord, you'll simply see the letter name of the root as a capital letter. For an E major chord, you'll see a capital 'E' above the staff. 'F#' means play an F-sharp major chord. 'A' means play an A major chord. That's all there is to it.
Example of a Major Chord Symbol (C major chord): C
Minor Chords
A minor chord is built like an upside-down major chord. It puts the minor 3rd on the bottom, from root to third, and major 3rd on top from the third to the fifth. Minor goes on bottom, major goes on top, and the fifth goes in the same place. To make a minor chord, start on any of the twelve tones of the chromatic scale. To use C as an example again, the C minor chord will have the same root, the C, but then going up three half steps (a minor 3rd) takes us to an E-flat. Four more half steps (a major 3rd) brings us to G. If you want to make a D minor chord, you'll use D, F, and A.
You might have noticed that to change from a major to a minor chord, all you have to do is to move the third (the middle tone) down by one half step. This tiny change swaps a major chord for a minor chord. So, if you know the major chord, create the minor chord simply by lowering the third a half step. Give it a try on your piano. Try to make every possible minor chord, all twelve of them.
In chord symbols, a capital letter and then a lower case 'm' indicates a minor chord. For example, the A minor chord is written, 'Am.' Sometimes you see 'min' instead of just 'm,' but that is less common. You might also see a minus sign for minor, but that happens even less often.
Minor Chord Symbols (C minor chord): Cm, C min, C-
Other Chords
In jazz and some other styles you'll probably come across the more edgy, dissonant diminished chord, built on two minor thirds. For example, to make a C diminished you use C, E-flat, and G-flat. Or for D diminished you'd need D, F, and A-flat. Try a few diminished chords out on your piano to hear for yourself their unique, unsettled sound.
There are also the rather bizarre, space-age augmented chords, built on two major thirds, like C, E, G#. Yes, diminished and augmented chords are much less common than major and minor chords, but for that moment that you come across them, you'll want to be ready to impress your friends by having them in your repertoire.
For a diminished chord you'll see the root followed by the letters 'dim.' Sometimes you'll see a small open circle, like a degree sign. For augmented you usually see 'aug' following the letter name of the root, or a + symbol.
Diminished Chord Symbols (C diminished): C dim, Cº
Augmented Chord Symbols (C augmented): C aug, C+
Sevenths, Suspensions, and More
Add flavor and color to any of these chords by adding one or more tones to your basic root, third, and 5th. The added tones are usually indicated with a number written after the chord symbol. The number means to add that tone in the scale, starting with the root as '1.' You might see a 6, 7, 9, 11, or 13. Those numbers always correspond to a note measured that far from the root in the regular major or minor (not chromatic) scale. Count the root as one, then go by the scale that begins on the root.
One of the most common added tones is a 7th. An easier way to think about 7th for now will be that the 7th is an extra minor third on top of the fifth. The C7 chord is spelled C, E, G, B-flat. Sometimes you'll see a slightly different variation, written C maj 7. That just means to use a major third instead of a minor third on top of the chord, or C, E, G, B.
You can also have a suspension chord, which replaces a tone in the chord with another tone. For example, if you see C sus 4, that number 4 means you'll play the 4th tone above the root instead of the 3rd, or C, F, G. F sus 4 would be F, B-flat, C. An F sus 2 chord symbol means play the 2nd tone of the scale instead of the third, or F, G, C.
One other common thing you see in chord symbols is two capital letters divided by a slash, such as C/G. This doesn't mean you get to choose whether to play a C or a G chord. It means to play a C chord with a single G note below in the bass. For pianists, this means you'll use your right hand to play the chord (the letter before the slash), and use your left hand to play the note after the slash down low on your piano (just a single note, not a chord).
Part 2 – Playing with Chords
Now that you know what notes make up a chord, what next? Chord symbols guide you as you make up your own accompaniment to a song by telling you what notes you can play, but you choose when and where to play them.
Get to Know Your Roots
The simplest way to use chord symbols is to play the melody with your right hand, and every time you see a chord symbol above the staff, play one single note, the root of the chord, with your left hand. If you see a letter C above the staff, play a C with your left hand. If you see an A♭, play an A-flat. It's that easy.
If that goes well and you're feeling ready for a bigger challenge, try playing the root of the chord in a simple rhythm. When you see a chord symbol above the staff, you can assume that chord will continue until the chord changes, no matter how many measures go by before the next chord symbol. So if there's a G above one measure, keep playing G at the start of each measure until you see the next chord symbol. You can also create an exciting pulse of sound by playing the root of the chord once per beat, or even once per every half of a beat! You can mix the rhythm up however you like. Think of the note you're playing with your left hand like the drum beat to the song.
Blocked Chords
Now that you've got the root of the chord down, and can play it with your choice of rhythm, try stacking the other notes of the chord on top of it. If you're new to the piano and have a hard time playing all three notes of a major or minor chord, you can choose to play either just the root and the third, or just the root and the fifth. Once again, you can play only every time you see a chord symbol indicating that the chord changes, or you can play once a measure, or play in any rhythm you like. Try playing one octave below the melody, then two octaves below or more to see how the sound changes. For a fresh, fun sound, you can even play the chords above the melody!
Try out different rhythms with blocked chords, just like you did with the root of the chord. Playing the chords with different rhythms can completely change the feel of a song. Experiment to find out what you think sounds best.
Broken Chords and More
Can You Play Any Song On Piano
Instead of playing all the notes of a chord at the same time, you can play them one at a time. If you've played arpeggios on the piano, this is exactly what's going on. You're playing a chord one note at a time. This can add a really nice sound to your accompaniment pattern. You can play the root first and go up, you can play the top note of the chord first and go down, or you can mix it up and make any new pattern you like.
One famous accompaniment pattern common in classical music, known as the Alberti bass, plays: root, 5th, 3rd, 5th, root, 5th, 3rd, 5th. This pattern continues through the whole song, shifting to a new root with each chord change. The Alberti bass creates a nice classical sound in your accompaniment. A good march beat can be made by alternating the root and the fifth. To make a waltz accompaniment pattern, play first the root only on beat 1, then the third and fifth together on beats 2 and 3 to make a kind of 'oom-pah-pah' sound.
As you play songs using chord symbols don't be afraid to try different things and find accompaniment patterns to create a feel that you like. Once you know the notes in the chord, you can play any of those notes in any rhythm that sounds right to you.
Enjoy the Power and Freedom of Chords
As you play songs using chord symbols don't be afraid to try different things and find accompaniment patterns to create a feel that you like. Once you know the notes in the chord, you can play any of those notes in any rhythm that sounds right to you.
Enjoy the Power and Freedom of Chords
Now you're ready to play using chord symbols! One of my favorite series for children that uses chord symbols is the Wee Sing books, with melody lines and chord symbols for many favorite children's songs. For older learners, you can find many collections of sheet music written with just a melody line and chord symbols. This is called 'lead sheet' style. Large collections of lead sheets are often sold together in what's called a 'Fake' book, so called because once you know the chords you can fake the accompaniment. I'd prefer to say 'make your own' accompaniment. There's nothing fake about that! You can also look for music that says 'for Vocal/Guitar,' which will always include chord symbols.
Explore the world of chords and have fun making music in a whole new way.
Happy playing,
Joseph Hoffman
Learn Piano With Songs Free
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