A Treasure Trove of I V vi IV Songs
Recently, while helping one of my students choose some new music to learn, I came across a really cool (and free) resource. I had gone online looking for a list of songs that stress the chords in her current vocabulary—I, IV, V, and vi. (“vi” is lower case because it’s minor.) In the key of C, that would be the C, F, G and A minor chords.
And wouldn’t you know, on Wikipedia I found a massive list of songs containing those very chords, in the form of the I V vi IV progression, and its moodier minor-key cousin, vi IV I V. (They’re the same sequence, really, just starting from different places.) The power and beauty of these progressions is truly remarkable, which is why they’re used again and again by virtually every composer or songwriter who takes pen to hand (or sets fingers to keyboard).
My Play and Sing course teaches a number of songs in this category, and the first three lessons of Pop Piano Accompaniment focus solely on the two progressions.
What makes the Wikipedia list especially useful is that you can sort it according to Title, Artist, Year, or Progression. So if you’re looking for, say, a song by Beyonce, just click the “Artist” heading and two songs come up under her name. (Including If I Were A Boy, for which I provide keyboard styles in Pop Piano Accompaniment.)
For those of you who subscribe to my courses (not to mention all you others), this list just may come in handy. Oh—and if you haven’t seen it, check out this highly entertaining video featuring a comic medley of many of these songs. Enjoy!
