This chord progression is one of the greatest of all time!

Good morning, this is Duane Shinn, and today I’d like to talk about the 1 5 6 3 4 1 4 5 chord progression. It’s one of the most famous chord progressions of all times, in fact, some people have referred to it as the greatest chord progression ever written. Well I’ll let you judge for yourself. We’re just going to play that progression today and learn it, and then tomorrow, I’m going to teach what it is and how to improvise on it. Meanwhile, you can guess what this chord progression is. It’s a famous, famous piece.

The 1 chord is played for one measure, and then the 5 chord is played for one measure, and then the 6 chord is played for one measure, and then the 3 chord is played for one measure, and then the 4 chord is played for one measure, and the 1 chord is again played for one measure, the 4 chord for one measure, and the 5 chord for one measure, and then it repeats, and each measure is exactly the same length, so it’s an 8 bar, 8 measure chord progression.

1 5 6 3 4 1 4 1 and so on, it repeats. Now you can do that in any key, so if I did it in the key of D for example, it would be 1 5 6 3 4 1 4 5 and then back to 1. If I did it in the key of F, what would it be? 1 5 6 3 4 1 4 5 and 1.

I want you to memorize that chord progression because it’s very very important, and we’re going to improvise on it tomorrow after identifying what it is. Meanwhile, can you guess what it is? You’ve heard it a million times I’m sure. If you have, then in the area below the video where you can comment, write what you think it is, would you? I’d appreciate that, I’m just curious to see if you can recognize it from the chord progression itself without any of the melody or the tune, OK? That’s it for today, that’s the chord progression. I’ll do it once more and then we’re done. Let’s do it in the key of D flat this time. 1 5 6 3 4 1 4 5 1. OK that’s it for today, if you enjoy these little tips, come on over to playpiano.com and sign up for our series of free piano tips and I hope to see you there, so bye bye for now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Am_AFaKsvZs
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