Working with Harmony is like a day at the beach. I feel refreshed and renewed and open for new possibilities.

Ive been playing the same progressions now for ages. Still the possibilities are ample. By tweaking the order, augmenting or diminishing the length of time you play a chord… or adding notes from the scale to a chord, you can pretty much be in the woodshed all night long creating riffs and melodies.

Music is simply awesome.

I would bang my head in frustration when creating riffs and progressions back in the late 90s and all I had to do was read a blog like this one.

This blog offers you the chance to learn all for the cost of zero dollars.

Nowadays its like the back of my hand, I can write a chord progression with good voice leading on a staff, in Roman Numerals, the Nashville way and with regular numbers.

With that being said, here we go with the progressions:

I know my keys and knowing your keys is key.





40 Simple chord progressions that you can use right now to further your songwriting skills:

Lets start with some power chords. Thats what B5 means. Whenever you see the number 5 next to a note it means you play a power chord.

B5 E5 F#5

G Em C D

F# E – Yes you can have a riff with 2 chords. Try arpeggiating the notes or creating a riff withe chord to es to spice it up. Don’t be afraid to use notes from the scale that are not in the chords as well. For example: throw a D note in there somewhere. Listen to my riff here: “As I Am.”

E5 F5 G5 A5 – This here is a phrygian progression. Any notes from the A minor scale will work along with these chords.

E5 F#5 C#5 D5 C#5 B5 – This is in the key of F#m. Search F#m if you are not familiar with F#m.

Am C5 D5 – Key of Am. You could also use A5.

A5 G5 A5 G5 A5 G5 F5 E5 – more in A minor.

D5 E5 F5 D5 F5 – Dorian progression here.

Dm Am C G

D5 E5 F5

E5 F#5 D5 E5 G5 D5

C5 Bb5

C5 F5 G5 Ab5

A E

D5 A5 E5 F#5

D E F D Bb A Bb D G A F G

F Bb F/C C7/G Fadd9 F

E5 C5 E5 G5 E5 D5 D5 E5

E5 E5 C5 D5

E5 F5

G5 A5

G5 A5 F5 G5 A5

A5 E5

A5 E5 F5 C5 Bb5 A5 G5 F5 E5 F5 E5 F5 E5

E5 C5

E5 D5 C5 E5 D5 C5 B5 D5 E5

E5 C5 Csus4 D5 Dsus4



Bm G D A

E5 G5 F#5 A5 E5 E5

Ab5 F#5 F#5 G#5 C#5



Am D Am Dm9 A9 D9 Am9 Dm9

Cmaj7 Aadd9 G6 F#4maj7

D Bm

D G

D G#4add6

D G C#m7 F#m Bm Em A A7 D D

E5 D5 E5 B5 C#5

F Em7b5 Dm7 Dm9sus4

C G Dm Em

F#5 F#5 D#5 C#5

The greatest obstacle to writing a song is not lack of knowledge. Its FEAR. Kill off FEAR and you have won the day.