Three Chord Theory...

Three Chord Theory...

As soon as you are able to play your Basic Chords, you will notice that some sound better together than others.  In any key there are three chords which appear in virtually every basic progression.  They will always sound good together, whatever order you put them in.  These are your  primary chords and they represent the building blocks of all musical composition. 

You can fine these three chords in any key by looking at the major scale. 

Take the key of C as an example.  The Key of C has no sharps of flats so the notes are

C D E F G A B C.

The note C is called the root note and the chord built on the root is C major or the tonic chord. 

The other 2 primary chords are the 4th and the 5th.  Counting up the scale that would be F and G. (Root note is always counted as 1)

These chords are also called the sub-dominant and dominant.  In any key these chords have the same relationship to each other and together compromise the "Three Chord Theory". 

The Roman Numeral System is used in music theory to identify each chord in a given key.  The first chord built on the root note is I, the second note of the scale is II, the third note is III and the fourth is IV and so on up to VIII which is the octave.

Be practical as it will be the  best way of taking in this information and understanding "Three Chord theory". By playing you will familiarize yourself with the sounds behind the rules. 

Learn to play the chords one after another in various combinations and listen to the effects they create.

The chart below sets out many of the most common I-IV-V chord progressions using your basic chord set. The I and IV chords in this chart can be major or minor but the V chord or dominant is always major and is usually played as a seventh chord.