A little chord progression help?

Rllink · Oct 11, 2014

I was watching a show on TV tonight and there was this music. I happened to be playing around with my uke and I thought that there a D chord, so when I thought that the music was there, I played the D along with it, and it was a D. So then I'm pretty sure they went to a F#m from there then there was a Bm in there. I'm pretty sure that was the way it was going. I was playing along with it that way. I was going D, F#m, D, Bm, I might not have gotten the chord changes exactly right.

Does that sound right? Does it make sense? Do those three go together? If so, how do they go together? What key would they be? What is the formula? Please try to keep any comments simple enough for someone like me to understand. I could be way off too. I was doing it all by ear.

Jim Hanks · Oct 11, 2014

Yes, they go together. It would be the key of D major. The main chords in this key are D, Em, F#m, G, A7, Bm, and C#dim. Those are all the triads based on the notes of the D major scale.

Rllink · Oct 11, 2014

Jim Hanks said:
Yes, they go together. It would be the key of D major. The main chords in this key are D, Em, F#m, G, A7, Bm, and C#dim. Those are all the triads based on the notes of the D major scale.

Thank you Jim. Is there a formula that tells you this, or do you just know that? At least I know that I figured out the chords to the music, but I think that I figured them out more by mistake than by anything, Because when I found the F#m I was trying to get an A to work with the D and it wasn't, so I happened to hit that F# on the E string to move the A a little, and it worked. The Bm was just plain luck. So I think this all has to do with the circle of 5ths, and I have a diagram somewhere. But I was actually going for the A, because for some reason I thought that it was the 5th chord of something, and the forth chord of something was a G in my mind. And they say that if you can play the 1st, 4th, and 5th chord you can play anything, which really doesn't make sense to me, because there are sure a lot of songs with more or less than three chords. So anyway, I think that maybe I am talking about two different things here all together, but right now I'm starting to think that everything I thought that I knew was wrong. I know that I've recently read some posts on a lot of this, but honestly, sometimes I read something about music theory and come out of it more confused than I was before I started. I'm lost.

vanflynn · Oct 11, 2014

If it sound good, do it! Here's a couple of links that are worth checking out

Circle of fifths http://forum.ukuleleunderground.com/showthread.php?11818-Ukulele-Circle-of-Fifths

And Howlin Hobbit on chord progression https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1125378/ukulele docs/uke_chord_progressions.pdf

Hope it helps

CeeJay · Oct 11, 2014

Rllink said:
Thank you Jim. Is there a formula that tells you this, or do you just know that? At least I know that I figured out the chords to the music, but I think that I figured them out more by mistake than by anything, Because when I found the F#m I was trying to get an A to work with the D and it wasn't, so I happened to hit that F# on the E string to move the A a little, and it worked. The Bm was just plain luck. So I think this all has to do with the circle of 5ths, and I have a diagram somewhere. But I was actually going for the A, because for some reason I thought that it was the 5th chord of something, and the forth chord of something was a G in my mind. And they say that if you can play the 1st, 4th, and 5th chord you can play anything, which really doesn't make sense to me, because there are sure a lot of songs with more or less than three chords. So anyway, I think that maybe I am talking about two different things here all together, but right now I'm starting to think that everything I thought that I knew was wrong. I know that I've recently read some posts on a lot of this, but honestly, sometimes I read something about music theory and come out of it more confused than I was before I started. I'm lost.

Try this page ,just follow the charts contained therein...thing about learning a musical instrument is that it is a little bit like being a snake and sloughing skin....you learn something ....simple first position chords for example...then you discover the second and third ...you slough off the skin of the first position chords and move on ....except keep that skin rolled up and under your arm (that's where the snake analogy breaks down a bit ....no shoulders LOL).....and one thing i have learned about music is that often you may come across a piece of info ....Such as ..the Uke open tuned is Am7......the Uke open tuned is C6......how ? Why ? ...the best answer is ....'Cos it is ..Ok? and just live with it .....I always mutter that there aren't twelve different keys cos some of them are the same (the Sharps and the flats )and Am is the same as C...but acceptance is easier ....Hope this page especially the chord prog charts are useful....oh and remember the chords follow the scale of the key ....if I am teaching granny an egg / mouth interface maneuver I apologise.....

Here's the link: http://endofthegame.net/2011/08/16/chordprogressions/

Uncle Rod Higuchi · Oct 13, 2014

my Ukulele Boot Camp only presents 5 keys ( C, F, G, A, and D) but if you had the practice sheets in front of you, you'd probably see #5 - Key of D, and you would find those chords on that page.

There are, obviously, many other keys, but I've found that most of our ukulele songs are in those 5 keys.

keep uke'in',

A little chord progression help?

Rllink

Well-known member

Jim Hanks

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Rllink

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vanflynn

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CeeJay

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Uncle Rod Higuchi

Well-known member

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