Singer-songwriter progression 1 in G major
G · Em · C · D
I · vi · IV · V
Plain-spoken and intimate, built on the doo wop I vi IV V loop, open ended, built to loop straight back round
Singer-songwriter chord progressions for guitar
Fingerpicked, lyric-first, room to breathe. These progressions sound plain-spoken and intimate, usually sit in G major, C major, D major, A minor and E minor and suit a tempo of around 88 BPM. Every chord has a guitar diagram for standard EADGBE tuning.
Generate a new Singer-songwriter progression
4 Singer-songwriter chord progressions to play now
Singer-songwriter progression 2 in C major
Em · F · C · G/B
iii · IV · I · V
Plain-spoken and intimate, left hanging on the dominant
Singer-songwriter progression 3 in D major
D · A · D · Em
I · V · I · ii
Plain-spoken and intimate, open ended, built to loop straight back round
Singer-songwriter progression 4 in A minor
F · A7 · Dm · Am
VI · V7/iv · iv · i
Plain-spoken and intimate, a secondary dominant pulling into the next chord, a soft plagal landing
A strum pattern for Singer-songwriter songs
One bar of eighth notes. Down arrows are downstrokes, up arrows upstrokes, dots are misses: keep your hand moving through them.
↓ · · ↑ ↓ · · ·
1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &
How to use these progressions
Play each chord for the length shown, repeat the loop, and hum or sing over it until a melody turns up. The Roman numerals under each progression name the chords by their place in the key, so the same pattern works in any key: open it in the generator and change the key to suit your voice. Chord progressions are not covered by copyright, so anything you write over them is yours.
Same mood on ukulele
Singer-songwriter chord progressions for ukulele
More genres for guitar
- PopFour-chord loops, big hooks
- R&BSmooth, slow-moving, lots of colour
- Lo-fiJazzy seventh loops, slow and warm
- ReggaetónMinor four-chord loop over a dembow pulse
- Latin popBright loops with a montuno lilt
- K-popMaximal pop, key lifts and borrowed colour
- IndieModal, jangly, a little off-centre
- Alt rockRiff-led and minor-leaning, ♭VII and ♭VI bite
- Bedroom popHazy maj7 loops, soft and close
- CountryBoom-chick, I IV V, walking bass
- Música mexicanaCorrido and banda, a vals lilt in three
- BluesDominant sevenths, 12-bar turnarounds
- FolkFingerpicked, modal, story-telling
- ReggaeOff-beat skank, nothing on the one
- Pop punkSingalong four-chord choruses, all downstrokes
- GospelPassing dominants, plagal amens