What is I-IV-V ?

  If you've played Guitar for more than a few months, you'll have inevitably heard of the phrase, I-IV-V (1-4-5). Visit any music store, online forum, or Music School, and you'll be hard pressed to NOT hear about it. As for myself, snippets of conversations like, "It's just one, four, five, MAN!!", uttered by some grizzled old bass player still roll around in my head from decades ago. So what's all the fuss about? What is I-IV-V?

  Without going into alot of detail about how chords are constructed (see music theory/harmony), let's quickly look at the C Major Scale. The C Major Scale is made up of the notes: C D E F G A B C. It is arguably the most important scale in Western Music, at least from a theory standpoint. And, it's the source of many of the important chords that are used in music. Basically, each note of the scale yields a different chord ; we have seven notes and therefore seven different chords emerge. From the C Major Scale, the following basic chords appear:

• I.   C
• ii.  Dmi
• iii. Emi
• IV. F
• V.  G
• vi.  Ami
• vii. B dim

  Now, if you notice, each chord has a roman numeral next to it, one through seven. Starting to see something emerge? Well, I-IV-V is simply the 1st, 4th, and 5th chords associated with any major scale. In the key of C Major, I-IV-V is the chords C, F, and G. Sound familiar yet? It should!  If I had a dollar for every song made up of C, F,  and G, I'd be a millionaire many times over!! Additionally, the reason these three chords are so commonly used is that they're the strongest and most stable chords in any key. And, they fit into every genre of music, from Jazz, to Classical, to Punk Rock. In fact, the only three chords in most Blues Songs is I-IV-V.

  Not only are the I-IV-V chords ubiquitous, as I hinted at above, they're recycleable. For example, if you learn how to play a Blues in G (G, C, and D), there are a lot of Blues tunes that use those very same chords. You could learn I-IV-V in a handful of keys and be able to sit in on a Blues Jam without even knowing the specific songs. You can think of them as Chord Templates. And, as I mentioned earlier, many genres of music use I-IV-V. If you know I-IV-V in the key of D (D, G, and A), you can play songs like Margaritaville, Southern Cross, and Back in Black (the chorus section). Nice huh?

  So, the moral of this story here is this: YOU GOTTA KNOW I-IV-V! And more specifically, I-IV-V in all twelve keys. You will literally cut the learning curve in half when you get these chord patterns nailed down. Not to mention you'll be on your way to being a great rhythm Guitar Player. And next time someone shouts at you, "Come on, it's just I-IV-V, MAN!!", you'll be in the know! Welcome to the inner circle!

  Tune in for the next installment of Have Guitar Will Travel.