The Major Chords
Now it is time to put some of that theory we have been looking at to some practical work. We are now going to see how the major chords of the scale interact with each other. Do you remember which chords in the scale were major ones? The I, IV, and V. The first combination of chords we’ll look at is the I – V – I progression.

I – V – I
The I-V-I progression is arguably the most common one in Western music (by Western I mean music from the Americas and Western Europe, not cowboy music -- though that is included). This is also the strongest of all the chord changes, especially if we extend the V to make it a V7 chord. Remember our discussion of how extensions are created? Once you play a V7 chord there is an incredible pull to return to the I chord. This pull is so strong that once some students living with the great composer Hayden snuck into his music room late one night and played a G7 chord on his piano, and then waited. Several minutes later they heard a shuffle down the stars as the master sleepily made his way to the piano, where he sat down and played a resounding C major chord – and then went back to bed.

“ Jambalaya” (1MB - MP3 file), by Hank Williams is a good example of a tune composed entirely with the I and V chords. The intro actually starts on a V7 chord, and the pull is so strong you can feel the need to go to the I chord.

I have also created a Flash 6 file for "Jambalaya" that plays the song and graphically shows the changes as they happen. To view this file, you will need to get the latest Flash reader software. Right-Click (PC) or Control Click (Mac) on the image when it comes up, and select "play" to start the sound. Select "Rewind" then "Play" to hear the song again. Select "Loop" to play the song repeatedly.