Doing the right things poorly is better
than doing the wrong things perfectly
Matt Lankford
 
LEARN THIS AND YOU CAN CALL YOURSELF A MUSICIAN
 
An intermediate level guitarist understands the MAJOR CHORD PROGRESSION sometimes called the Nashville Number System.
 
Benefits of knowing the MAJOR CHORD PROGRESSION:
  • Remember thousands of songs using just a few patterns
  • Know what scales will be good to play over chords
  • Hitting the “wrong” chord will not turn into a disaster
  • Playing by “ear” will be much easier
  • Composing your own music will be easy and fun
 
Some chords sound more natural together than others. The reason for this is they share the same notes in the MAJOR SCALE. Three of the chords in any KEY are MINOR, three are MAJOR, and one is DIMINISHED.
 
There are SEVEN chords in the MAJOR CHORD PROGRESSION.
 
You should learn this progression using the bar or moveable chords of the NOVICE. Where the chords are in relation to the ROOT is what you want to concentrate on at first.
 
 The First Six
 
 
 
Looking at the image above, The ONE or ROOT is on the fat string of the guitar. Each number should be played as a chord using the following list :
  • The ONE should be played as a MAJOR E SHAPE
  • The TWO should be played as a MINOR E SHAPE
  • The THREE should be played as a MINOR E SHAPE
  • The FOUR should be played as a MAJOR A SHAPE
  • The FIVE should be played as a MAJOR A SHAPE
  • The SIX should be played as a MINOR A SHAPE
Start playing them and notice how you never find a combination of these that does not work together. 
 
This is almost the complete MAJOR CHORD PROGRESSION. The SEVEN is the only missing chord and we will tackle that after we get the first six down. The KEY is the ONE which is also yellow.
 
If you are playing two chords that are MAJOR and they are two frets apart, you will know the chords are the FOUR and FIVE chords of the MAJOR CHORD PROGRESSION.
 
If you are playing two chords that are MINOR and are two frets apart, you will know that the two chords are the SECOND and THIRD of the MAJOR CHORD PROGRESSION.