Piano chord progressions: the chart, the voicings and the songs

Most songs you know run on a handful of chord patterns, and on the piano you can see every one of them as shapes under your hands. Learn a pattern once, in numbers, and you can play it in any key and in hundreds of songs.

This guide gives you the piano chord progressions to learn first and a chart of the chords in all 12 major and 12 minor keys. It shows how to voice each progression with two hands so it sounds like a record, and every progression comes with songs to play and a link to hear it in any key.

A piano chord progression is a sequence of chords from one key, written in roman numerals so the same pattern works in every key. The most common one is I–V–vi–IV, which is C–G–Am–F in C major. Pianists play it with the root of each chord in the left hand and right-hand triads in inversions, so every finger moves a step or less from one chord to the next.

The piano chord progressions to learn first

These ten patterns cover most pop, rock, soul, blues and jazz standards. Each row gives the numbers and the chords in three easy piano keys. The minor progressions use the relative minor keys of the same three, so the chords stay on the same white and black keys. Click a progression’s name to hear it on piano, in any key and at any tempo, in the free chord progression player.

Two of the rows share their chords. Am–F–C–G is the pop loop started on its minor chord, and it is also the epic minor loop in A minor. Which chord the song treats as home decides whether you hear it as major or minor.

How roman numerals turn a key into chords

A key gives you seven notes. Build a three-note chord, a triad, on each of them by stacking every other note of the scale, and you get the seven chords of the key. In C major the scale is C, D, E, F, G, A, B. Start on D, skip E, take F, skip G, take A, and you have D–F–A, a D minor chord.

Each chord is named by the scale step it starts on, in roman numerals. An uppercase numeral means a major chord, a lowercase one means minor, and a small circle (°) means diminished. The pattern of qualities is the same in every major key: major, minor, minor, major, major, minor, diminished.

The V chord pulls hardest toward home because it holds B, the note one half step below C. Play G and then C, and you can hear the B resolve up to C. That pull from V to I drives most progressions. The I, IV and V chords together contain all seven notes of the scale, which is why three chords can carry a whole song.

Add one more stacked note and you get seventh chords, the sound of jazz and soul. In C they are Cmaj7, Dm7, Em7, Fmaj7, G7, Am7 and Bm7♭5. The All About Piano chapter on diatonic four-part chords writes all seven out on the staff.

Piano chord progression chart for all 12 major keys

This chart is your transposition tool. Read a progression’s numbers along the top, then read the row of the key you want. I–V–vi–IV in E♭ major is E♭–B♭–Cm–A♭. Every chord links to its page in the chord finder, which shows the keys to press, the notes and the sound.

The rows run around the circle of fifths: sharps added one by one from C to F♯, then flats from F to D♭. F♯ major is the same set of keys as G♭ major, written G♭–A♭m–B♭m–C♭–D♭–E♭m–Fdim. On the piano a key with more black keys is not harder in principle. The triad shapes change, and the fingers learn each one by playing it.

Chords in a minor key

A minor key uses the same seven notes as its relative major, so it has the same seven chords. They are counted from a different home. In A minor the chords are Am, Bdim, C, Dm, Em, F and G, the C major chords started on A.

Minor songs change one thing. They often raise the seventh note of the scale, taken from the harmonic minor scale, to make the V chord major. In A minor that turns Em into E (E–G♯–B), and the G♯ pulls up to A the way B pulls up to C in C major. That is why the Andalusian cadence ends on a major V, and why most classical pieces in minor keys use a major V at their cadences.

D♯ minor is the same set of keys as E♭ minor: E♭m, Fdim, G♭, A♭m, B♭m, C♭ and D♭, with B♭ as the major V. The chord progression player writes minor-key numerals as ♭III, ♭VI and ♭VII, measured against the major scale on the same tonic. Both systems name the same chords. For the scales underneath, see major and minor scales.

How to voice a chord progression on piano

A chord symbol tells you which notes to play. The voicing is how you spread those notes across two hands. Played as block chords in root position, a progression jumps around the keyboard and sounds stiff. Three habits fix that: give the left hand the bass, give the right hand the triad, and invert the right hand so it barely moves.

Left hand: the root, then the root and fifth

Start with one note in the left hand, the root of each chord, below middle C. For C–G–Am–F that is C, G, A and F. The root in the bass tells the ear which chord it is hearing, so the right hand can play the chord in any order above it.

When single notes feel steady, add the fifth above the root: C–G, G–D, A–E, F–C. The open fifth sounds full without muddying the bass, because it leaves the third to the right hand. An octave, the root played with the thumb and fifth finger, is the louder option for choruses.

Right hand: triads and their inversions

An inversion is the same chord with a different note on the bottom. C major in root position is C–E–G. Move the C up an octave and you get first inversion, E–G–C. Move the E up as well and you get second inversion, G–C–E. All three are C major, because they contain the same three notes.

⤢

Inversions let the right hand pick the version of each chord that sits closest to the one before it. The All About Piano lesson on what inversions are and why we use them drills all three positions of every major and minor triad.

Voice leading: keep common notes, move the rest by step

Voice leading means moving from chord to chord with the smallest possible steps. The rule at the keyboard is simple. If two chords share a note, keep that finger where it is. Move every other finger to the nearest note of the new chord.

Here is the pop loop in C, voiced this way. The right hand stays inside one hand position around middle C, and no finger moves more than a whole step.

Move the same shape to G major and the fingering stays the same: G–B–D, F♯–A–D, G–B–E, G–C–E. Once your hand knows the shape, every key is a matter of finding the new starting chord. The All About Piano lesson on voice leading between inversions works through the same idea with I–IV–V–I.

Left-hand patterns that add rhythm

Once the chords change cleanly, give the left hand a pattern. Each one below fits a style, and each is built from the root, fifth and octave you already know.

• Whole-note roots. One bass note per chord, held for the bar. Best for slow ballads and for learning a song.
• Root and fifth, alternating. Root on beat 1, fifth on beat 3. In C that is C then G. This adds a gentle pulse for pop and folk.
• Broken chord, 1–5–8. Root, fifth, then the octave above the root, played as a rising figure: C–G–C. This is the flowing ballad sound, as in River Flows in You.
• Alberti bass. Root, fifth, third, fifth, repeated: C–G–E–G. This is the classical pattern, common in Mozart’s sonatas.
• Boogie bass. Root and fifth, then root and sixth, back and forth: C–G, C–A. This is the rock and roll and blues left hand.

For more on how the hands share the work, see piano hand position, which covers finger numbers and how to keep the wrist loose through chord changes.

The progressions one by one, with songs

Each section gives the chords in C, a voicing that keeps the right hand in place, and songs to play next. The link under each heading opens that progression in the player, where you can choose any of the 12 keys and any tempo from 40 to 200 BPM.

I–V–vi–IV: the four chords in most pop songs

C–G–Am–F covers home, the pull, the minor turn and a soft landing that sets up the return. It is the voice-led loop from the table above. Let It Be by The Beatles plays it in C, so you can use the exact voicing from the voice-leading table. Journey’s Don’t Stop Believin’ opens with a piano riff that starts on the same loop in E major: E–B–C♯m–A. No Woman, No Cry by Bob Marley uses the C–G–Am–F version. Hear it: I–V–vi–IV in the player.

vi–IV–I–V: the same loop, started on the minor chord

Am–F–C–G uses the four chords of the pop loop and starts on vi, so the minor chord becomes the anchor and the loop turns wistful. Voice it from first-inversion Am: C–E–A, C–F–A, C–E–G, B–D–G. Yiruma’s River Flows in You runs this pattern in A major, F♯m–D–A–E, with broken chords in the left hand. Hear it: vi–IV–I–V in the player.

I–IV–V: three chords, all the notes of the key

C–F–G is the oldest pattern here and the base of early rock and roll, folk and country. Keep your thumb on C: C–E–G, then C–F–A, then B–D–G, then back to C–E–G. The hand never leaves its position. Ritchie Valens’s La Bamba loops it fast, and it is a good first song for the boogie bass. Hear it: I–IV–V in the player.

I–vi–IV–V: the ’50s progression

C–Am–F–G is the doo-wop sound, with the minor chord in second place. Voice it C–E–G, C–E–A, C–F–A, B–D–G. Ben E. King’s Stand by Me uses it in A: A–F♯m–D–E. Hoagy Carmichael’s Heart and Soul, the duet many people learn at their first piano, loops it with either F or Dm as the third chord. The Dm version is its own pattern, I–vi–ii–V, which leads straight into jazz. Hear it: I–vi–IV–V in the player.

ii–V–I: the jazz cadence

Dm7–G7–Cmaj7 is the building block of jazz standards. Seventh chords have four notes, so jazz pianists often thin them out into shell voicings. The left hand plays the root, and the right hand plays only the third and the seventh, the two notes that define the chord.

• Dm7 (D–F–A–C): left hand D, right hand F and C.
• G7 (G–B–D–F): left hand G, right hand F and B. The F stays, and C slides down a half step to B.
• Cmaj7 (C–E–G–B): left hand C, right hand E and B. The B stays, and F slides down a half step to E.

Two notes move by a half step, and the rest stays put. Duke Ellington’s Satin Doll opens with ii–V pairs, Dm7–G7 and Em7–A7. In C, Bart Howard’s Fly Me to the Moon opens Am7–Dm7–G7–Cmaj7, the longer vi–ii–V–I. Joseph Kosma’s Autumn Leaves alternates a major ii–V–I with a minor ii–V–i. Hear it: ii–V–I in the player.

The 12-bar blues

The blues is a 12-bar form built from I, IV and V, each played as a dominant seventh chord. In C the bars run like this, one chord per bar:

Play the boogie bass in the left hand: C–G, C–A for C7, F–C, F–D for F7, G–D, G–E for G7. In the right hand, the third and seventh of each chord give the blues color with two fingers. That is E and B♭ for C7, E♭ and A for F7, F and B for G7. Each change moves the two right-hand fingers by a half step or a whole step. Chuck Berry’s Johnny B. Goode and Hound Dog, first recorded by Big Mama Thornton, both follow the form. Hear it: 12-bar blues in the player.

The Pachelbel progression

Pachelbel’s Canon in D repeats eight chords: D–A–Bm–F♯m–G–D–G–A, or C–G–Am–Em–F–C–F–G in C. It is the progression that shows best why inversions matter in the left hand, and the next section uses it. Hear it: the Pachelbel progression in the player.

Minor progressions: the epic loop and the Andalusian cadence

Am–F–C–G, i–VI–III–VII, is the minor reading of the pop loop. The Cranberries’ Zombie uses it as Em–C–G–D. Voice it the same way as vi–IV–I–V. Hear it: the epic minor loop in the player.

The Andalusian cadence, Am–G–F–E, walks down the keyboard one step at a time and lands on the major V. Play all four right-hand chords in first inversion, and the hand slides down as one block: C–E–A, B–D–G, A–C–F, G♯–B–E. The left hand walks A, G, F, E underneath. Ray Charles’s Hit the Road Jack is this pattern in A minor. Hear it: the Andalusian cadence in the player.

I–♭VII–IV: a chord borrowed from outside the key

C–B♭–F uses B♭, a major chord one whole step below home that is not in C major. The B♭ gives rock its open, anthem-like sound. In the right hand, C–E–G moves to B♭–D–F and then to A–C–F, and no finger moves more than a whole step. Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Sweet Home Alabama loops it in D as D–C–G. Hear it: I–♭VII–IV in the player.

Slash chords and walking bass lines

Inversions work in the left hand too. Lead sheets write them as slash chords: C/E means a C chord with E in the bass, and G/B means a G chord with B in the bass. The letter after the slash is the left hand’s note.

Slash chords turn the bass into a melody. Play the Pachelbel progression in C with roots only, and the left hand jumps C, G, A, E, F, C, F, G. Write it as C – G/B – Am – Em/G – F – C/E – F – G, and the bass walks down the scale C, B, A, G, F, E, then climbs F, G. The right hand plays the same chords as before.

Billy Joel’s Piano Man uses the same move. Its verse starts C – G/B – F/A – C/G, and the bass steps down C, B, A, G before the next chords take it lower still. Once you can hear a walking bass, you will find it in hymns, ballads and film themes.

A practice plan for any new progression

Learn a progression in this order, and give each step a few days before adding the next. The changes are the hard part, so practice them slowly and in time.

1. Block chords, root position, both hands. Play each chord as a triad in the right hand with the root below in the left. Say the chord names aloud as you play.
2. Left hand alone. Play the roots, then root and fifth, until the bass line is automatic.
3. Right hand voice-led. Find the inversion of each chord nearest the first one, using the common-note rule. Write the fingering in pencil.
4. Hands together, slowly. Set the chord progression player to the progression and your key, and play along at 60 BPM. Raise the tempo by 5 BPM only after three clean passes.
5. Add a left-hand pattern. Pick the pattern that fits the song’s style, from whole notes to the boogie bass.
6. Move it to a new key. Use the 12-key chart above, starting with G and F, then the keys with more black keys.
7. Play a real song. Open one of the score links in the progression’s section on musescore.com and play the arrangement.

If you don’t have a keyboard nearby, the free virtual piano plays from your computer keyboard, so you can try a voicing and hear it before you practice it on a real instrument.

Piano and guitar: same numbers, different hands

The numbers are the same on every instrument. I–V–vi–IV is C–G–Am–F whether you play it on a piano, a guitar or a ukulele. What differs is what is easy. Guitarists choose keys like G, C, D, A and E because their chords fall under open shapes. On the piano every major triad has the same shape of intervals in every key, and only the pattern of black and white keys changes. Inversions are also free on the piano, because you choose the bottom note by moving one finger.

If you play both, the guide to guitar chord progressions covers the same patterns in the five open-chord guitar keys, with a capo for everything else.

Frequently asked questions

What is the most common chord progression on piano?

I–V–vi–IV, which is C–G–Am–F in C major, is the most common progression in pop music. I–IV–V (C–F–G) is the oldest and most common in rock and roll, folk and blues. In jazz the most common is ii–V–I (Dm7–G7–Cmaj7).

What are the 4 chords used in most songs?

The I, V, vi and IV chords of a key. In C major they are C, G, Am and F; in G major, G, D, Em and C. Songs play them in different orders, most often I–V–vi–IV and vi–IV–I–V.

How do you find which chords go together on piano?

Chords go together when they belong to the same key. Build a triad on each note of the key’s scale, using only notes from that scale. In C major that gives C, Dm, Em, F, G, Am and Bdim. The 12-key chart above lists the seven chords of every major key.

How do you make chord progressions sound smooth on piano?

Play the root in the left hand and invert the right-hand triads so each chord sits close to the one before. Keep any note the two chords share under the same finger and move the others to the nearest note. In C, the pop loop C–G–Am–F becomes C–E–G, B–D–G, C–E–A, C–F–A.

What is a 2-5-1 on piano?

A 2-5-1 is the ii–V–I progression, the most common cadence in jazz. In C it is Dm7–G7–Cmaj7. A simple piano voicing plays the root in the left hand and the third and seventh in the right hand: F and C, then F and B, then E and B.

Pick one progression and play it in three keys

Start with I–V–vi–IV. Play it in C with the voice-led right hand from the table, then in G and F using the chart, and then in one song from its section. When the changes feel easy, add the next progression from the first table. To write your own voicings out on a grand staff and play them back, download MuseScore Studio free, and browse piano scores on musescore.com for arrangements of every song in this guide.