[Hack&Lube]

Originally Posted by troutman

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/0..._n_838316.html

Our lives were changed forever when we first heard the great comedy rock band Axis of Awesome's "Four Chord Song," which humorously proved that every popular song from John Denver to Lady GaGa uses the same four chords.

Many songs are based on a chord progression of I - IV -V (root notes in the scale). C-F-G is a common folk progression. E-A-B is common in blues. In the songs in the video the progression is I - V - vi - IV

Reader comment:

in a given key, chords are denoted by the relationsh#ip to the tonic. for instance, in "don't stop believing"#, E is the tonic (the one, or "I" in roman numerals), B is the fifth note of the E major scale (the "V"), C# is the sixth note of the scale (and the chord is minor, so it's "vi" in lower-case#), and A is the fourth note of the scale (the "IV").
so,
E, B, C#m, A = I, V, vi, IV
this chord progressio#n is generally referred to as "one, five, three, four". you can switch the key, and just use the I, V, vi and IV in that key, as in "forever young", which is in C major:
C, G, Am, F = I, V, vi, IV
"with or without you" is in D major (you left out the G, btw):
D, A, Bm, G = I, V, vi, IV
the chorus to "paparazzi#" is in Ab major (they weren't talking about the verse):
Ab, Eb, Fm, Db = I, V, vi, IV
so yes. totally true. there's your music lesson for the day.

This is actually really helpful to any amateur musician who wants to sound better than they actually are or maybe make up songs to sing to girls over Facebook.

I'm totally looping some E, B, C#m, A right now to a cheesy 80s guitar solo.