You may have seen the 2009 Axis of Awesome video demonstrating that thousands of songs use the same chord progression. This particular progression, the most popular of them all, is called the I – V – vi – IV (one, five, six, four). In the key of G that’s G, D, Em and C. So without further ado, here are 39 songs in chronological order from 1969 – 2013, that you can play using those chords in that order. Many of them are not in the key of G originally but they can be! Click on any title for a link to a chart from somewhere on the interwebs!
*hint: Can’t play all of the chords? Try messing with the “transpose” button until the first chord is G!
| –Oh Darling | Beatles, The | 1969 |
| –Let it Be | Beatles, The | 1970 |
| –Country Roads | Denver, John | 1971 |
| –No Woman No Cry | Marley, Bob | 1974 |
| –Beast of Burden | Rolling Stones, The | 1978 |
| –So Lonely | Police, The | 1978 |
| –Don’t Stop Believing | Journey | 1981 |
| –Land Down Under | Men at Work | 1981 |
| –Sexual Healing (actually I, V, ii, IV) | Gaye, Marvin | 1982 |
| –Take on Me | AhHa | 1985 |
| –With or Without You | U2 | 1987 |
| –Man in the Mirror | Jackson, Michael | 1987 |
| –We Didn’t Start the Fire | Joel, Billy | 1989 |
| –Right Here Waiting | Marx, Richard | 1989 |
| –Under the Bridge | RHCP | 1991 |
| –Soul to Squeeze | RHCP | 1991 |
| –Forever Young | Alphaville | 1992 |
| –Good | Better Than Ezra | 1993 |
| –Glycerine | Bush | 1994 |
| –When I Come Around | Greenday | 1994 |
| –Can You Feel the Love Tonight | John, Elton | 1994 |
| –Head Over Feet | Morrissette, Alanis | 1995 |
| –Push | Matchbox 20 | 1997 |
| –All Star (actually I, V, ii, IV) | Smashmouth | 1999 |
| –I’m Yours | Mraz, Jason | 2005 |
| –You’re Beautiful | Blunt, James | 2005 |
| –Happy Ending | Mika | 2006 |
| –Tear Drops on My Guitar | Swift, Taylor | 2006 |
| –The Story | Carlile, Brandi | 2007 |
| –Stop and Stare | One Republic | 2007 |
| –No One | Keys, Alicia | 2007 |
| –Pictures of You | The Last Goodnight | 2008 |
| –Love Story | Swift, Taylor | 2008 |
| –The Show | Lenka | 2008 |
| –Hey Soul Sister | Train | 2009 |
| –Someone Like You | Adele | 2011 |
| –I’m on the Edge of Glory | Lady Gaga | 2011 |
| –We Are Never Getting Back Together | Swift, Taylor | 2012 |
| –Wrecking Ball | Cyrus, Miley | 2013 |
Try writing your own I, V, vi, IV hit with one of these guitar friendly keys!
| I | V | vi | IV |
| A | E | F#m | D |
| C | G | Am | F |
| D | A | Bm | G |
| E | B | C#m | A |
| F | C | Dm | Bb |
