Modern Pop Songs that use I-IV-V

music theory
1

Looking to add something a bit more relevant to my students harmony lessons. I typically start with a I-IV-V progression for my older and more rock oriented students, but not as useful for my younger students who all seem to want to be Taylor Swift.

I’ve been looking for songs that use I-IV-V but all I can find are the same old ancient cliches. I know a great deal of modern pop uses the I-vi-IV-V but surely there has to be something more recent that uses the old rock and blues progression in a modern production.

any examples I can add to my teaching repetoir?

2

Is “What Makes You Beautiful” by One Direction recent enough? It was certainly all the rage when I was a young teen

3

Thanks Quentin, it’s certainly more recent than Status Quo :slight_smile:

I’ll give it a listen I’m sure it will be a great option :+1:

4

I am polishing up the Theorytab page as we speak :saluting_face:

5

Yeah that song was a perfect choice. Even my old dinosaur rock brain recognises that toon

1 Like
6

Minor one-four-fives are certainly easier to find in contemporary pop music than major ones. If you’re looking for those as well, here are a few examples:

Show and Tell by Melanie Martinez
Harleys In Hawaii by Katy Perry
Mr Saxobeat by Alexandra Stan

Ironically I found a Taylor Swift song with a major one-four-five:

thanK you alMee

And here are two more examples in major:

Lollipop by MIKA
Detonate by Charli XCX

But yeah pure I-IV-V progressions are much more popular in contemporary rock music, especially pop-punk. Pop songs usually have the vi chord somewhere in between.

1 Like
7

Awesome. Absolutely fantastic examples. Really modern and vibey.

I’ll have fun with these and so will my kids.

Thanks again Paaw you are da wizard

1 Like
8

Haha you’re very welcome, glad I could help :slight_smile:
What exactly are you teaching? Piano?

9

Guitar, bass, synthology, and DAW production. I use songs as examples of the various theory and performance topics I cover