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Ok, so you have a CD, or an Mp3, or Midi
file of a song you really like and want
to play yourself. But, you can't find
chords on a website, or the version in
the song book you bought is in some
weird key and you just can't get the
chords to fit or sound right. NO Problem!
For this illustration, let's use the key
of G. Remember, we are looking for a
I IV V chord progression. In G that's G C D.
Hum or sing the song, out loud or in your
head, doesn't matter. Play the I or G chord.
Don't get fancy, just use a plain down
stroke strum. Play the G until it doesn't
fit any more. Now you can either switch to
C or D. We'll say that C works for now. Play
the C chord until it doesn't fit. You can
either switch back to G or progress to D.
Let's say that D worked and you play it until
the song resolves back to G. You have a
G C D G progression. This is common and will
work in a lot of cases. But don't be surprised
if you find that maybe it goes G C G D G.
This is not a hard fast rule, I IV V just a
good starting place.
Sometimes part of the song still won't quite
sound right.
In those cases try this, sometimes the relative minor
chord can be substituted for one of the
major chords. In our case:
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Roman Notation
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Key of G
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I becomes vi
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G > Em
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IV becomes ii
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C > Am
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V becomes iii
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D > Bm
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You might find that your Progression starts
off as G C D G but that it later changes
to G Am D G.
Sometimes a song will be played with a 7 chord
before the final root chord so that you could
wind up with: G C D G, G Am D G, G C D7 G.
A song will always resolve, or end, the verse
on the Root Chord, I, or in this case G.
In cases where the song doesn't seem to Start
in the root chord, you could try to work backwards.
As an example here's how you might find Amazing Grace
listed out on the net:
Amazing Grace - Guitar Chords
I IV
I
Amazing grace! How sweet the sound
I
V
That saved a wretch like me!
I
IV I
I once was lost but now I'm found;
vi I
V I
Was blind, but now I see.
This will work on just about any song and for
any key you wish to play in.
Now, use a search engine like Google.
Type in the name of the song followed by the word lyrics.
When you find a copy of the lyrics, open a text
file with Notepad. Highlight the lyrics where
you found them, and copy/paste them into the blank
Notepad file. Set the font to a unispaced font
like Courier New, use a 12 or 14 pt type size.
Add a line space between each of the lines of the first verse.
Now, go back and type in the chord progression
you worked out over the word where it occurs.
When you are happy with the result, save it and print
out a copy. Now you can play and sing your song
whenever you like!
Don't deprive yourself the pleasure of playing
because you can't find a song with chords added
or because the chords you found were hard to play.
Use this method and play the song and sing
for yourself and family to your hearts content!
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