r ue F i re ’ s

T
7-STEP
Chord
Progressions
Theory Guide
 TrueFire’s 7-Step Chord
Progression Theory Guide

Many beginning players and songwriters believe that you

1 DO RE MI

need to know hundreds of chords to play or write lots of

songs. Not so. You can play or write thousands of songs with There are only 12 notes in all of Western
just a handful of chords AND a basic understanding of chord music: A, A# or Bb, B, C, C# or Db, D, D# or Eb,
progressions. E, F, and F# or Gb.

This simple theory guide will explain what a chord
progressions is, show you how they are formed, and teach you
how to construct and apply them in any key easily and quickly.
Many music teachers would argue that this guide is an
oversimplified, superficial shortcut to understanding chord
progressions and the theory behind them. They would be
100% correct.
The Major Scale can be viewed as the foundation
from which ALL scales and ALL chords are formed.
There are only 12 Major scales, each of the
twelve starting on one of the 12 notes listed above.
The Major scale is comprised of 7 notes. See
the C Major scale spelled out below:

Nonetheless, this guide will get you up and running very Key of C
quickly; all you need to learn are just a few musical terms, a
Major scale, a simple numbering system, and how to interpret
a simple chart.
C D E F G A B
NOTE! This guide assumes that you know the names of the
notes on each fret of the low E and A string on your guitar. To
The popular Do-Re-Mi song represents the notes of a
get the most out of this guide, you should also know the basic
Major scale:
open position and barre chords (major, minor and seventh
chords).
Key of C
Ready? Lets dig in…
C D E F G A B
Do Re Mi Fa Sol La Ti

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 2 SCALE DEGREES
The sequence of notes in the scale are referred to as
3 CHORD TYPES
There are two basic types of chords: Major
Scale Degrees, and are numbered from 1 to 7: and Minor chords. Chords are made when a
combination of notes from a scale are played at the
Key of C same time.

For example, if you play a C, E and G note all at the

C D E F G A B same time, you are playing a C Major chord. If

Do Re Mi Fa Sol La Ti
you play an E, G and B note at the same time, you
are playing an E Minor chord.

The first note of the Major scale also is the name

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 of the Key. So, the C Major scale and all of the
corresponding chords built from that scale are all in
The distance between those 7 notes is specified in the Key of C.
Whole Steps and Half Steps where a half step
equals one fret and a whole step equals two frets. Each scale degree has a Chord Type associated
with it: 3 Major chords, 3 Minor chords and 1
In the chart below, you’ll note that the distance Diminished chord (don’t worry about this chord type
between C and D is a whole step (2 frets) but the for now).
distance between the E and the F note is only a half
step. Key of C
Use this formula with any note and you will have the
Major Scale in the key of that note.
C D E F G A B
C D E F G A B Do Re Mi Fa Sol La Ti
steps
Do Re Mi Fa Sol La Ti 1 2 3 4
Major Minor Minor Major Major Minor
5 6
Dim.
7
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Half Whole Whole Half Whole Whole Whole Half
1 fret 2 frets 2 frets 1 fret 2 frets 2 frets 2 frets 1 fret

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 Add the name of the corresponding note to the
chord type and you’ll have all of the Major and
Minor chords associated with that scale.
Key of C
For example, thousands of popular rock, folk and
blues songs are played using a chord progression,
in the key of C, consisting of the chords C, F and G
or C, F and G7.
Musicians and singers play songs in different keys
to either accommodate the instrumentation or more

C D E F G A B usually to accommodate the pitch range of the

Do Re Mi Fa Sol La Ti
vocalist.

1 2 3 4
Major Minor Minor Major Major Minor
C Major D Minor E Minor F Major
5
G Major
6
A Minor
7
Dim.
B Dim.
5 TRANSPOSING CHORD
PROGRESSIONS
To play a song in a different key, the chords have to
The 5th degree chord (in this case the G) is often
be transposed to the new key. For example, a
times a Dominant 7th chord, which is still a Major
song might need to be transposed from the Key of C
Chord but it will be referred to as G7.
to the Key of D to accommodate the vocalist.

To transpose a chord progression from the key of C

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to the key of D, instead of using the C Major scale
CHORD PROGRESSIONS as the foundation, the D Major scale is used. The
relationship between the scale, the scale degrees
and the chord types remain consistent -- only the
notes and the chord names change.
A Chord Progression is a sequence of chords
from the same Key, built from the same Major scale, Key of D
which is repeated throughout a song as a verse,
chorus or bridge.
D E F# G A B C#
Do Re Mi Fa Sol La Ti
Songs consist of one or more chord progressions.
Songs can also change keys within the framework of
the song.

There are only a few chord progressions used in 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

popular music, and thousands upon thousands Major Minor Minor Major Major Minor Dim.
of songs are played with these same chord
D Major E Minor F# Minor G Major A Major B Minor B# Dim.
progressions.

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 6 7
NASHVILLE
NUMBERING SYSTEM
To make quick transposition of chord progressions
easier for musicians, a method known as the
Nashville Numbering System was devised, where
chords are indicated by a scale degree. This evolved
into a system where upper and lower case Roman
numerals are used (minor chords are indicated with
lower case Roman numerals);
VISUALIZATION &
MEMORIZATION
To apply this system to any progression, in any key,
you simply apply the formulas that we’ve provided
for you in this guide.
You’ll quickly learn that certain keys are used much
more frequently than other keys and these will be
come second nature to you.

You’ll also quickly be able to do the translations of

Key of C the numbering system to chord names without having
to reference a chart especially if you play barre

C D E F G A B chords, as you’ll start to recognize the visual patterns

Do Re Mi Fa Sol La Ti
of these chord progressions on your fretboard and
can simply move the progression up or down on
your neck.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Use the following blank charts to chart out ALL of the

keys for your own reference. This will really help you
Major Minor Minor Major Major Minor Dim. understand and apply the principles presented in this
C Major D Minor E Minor F Major G Major A Minor B Dim. guide.
I ii iii IV V vi vii°
Key of C
This numbering system makes it extremely easy to
write out chord progressions and transpose songs to
other keys, For example, in the key of C, instead of
writing a progression as C Major, D Minor and G
C D E F G A B
Major, the progression is spelled I-ii-V and spoken as
a “One, Two, Five in the key of C.”
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Major Minor Minor Major Major Minor Dim.
If the vocalist needs a different key, the vocalist C Major D Minor E Minor F Major G Major A Minor B Dim.
would simply call the same I-ii-V progression but ask I ii iii IV V vi vii°
for it in the key of D. The musicians would know to
play a D Major, E Minor and A Major.

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 Key of: Key of:

Key of: Key of:

Key of: Key of:

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 Key of: Key of:

Key of: Key of:

Key of: Key of:

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