Chord Numeral Flash Cards — Free Harmony Learning Tool

Chord Numerals - I, ii, iii, IV, V, and vi

There is a way to unlock the subject of Harmony, and that’s through Chord Numerals.

Playing chords and chord progressions by ear seems an unattainable feat for many. A dream never to be realized. But the truth is that you can learn how to play harmony by ear. How? Start with Chord Numerals.

Chord Numerals look just like roman numerals, but in the context of music, they represent the six most popular chords in human history; but most importantly, they do so in a way that combines how they sound with how they’re constructed. This is important. Combining sound with theory is the actual game-changer: chord names don’t do this (they de-emphasize functional/diatonic harmony, they promote absolute pitch and a static approach to harmony), guitar tabs don’t do this (they emphasize where you put your fingers over what you’re hearing and how chord progressions behave), and most guitar tutorials certainly do not do this (Why would they? You’re just there to learn one song, after all). The one exception in today’s music education landscape — sheet music — does combine sound with theory. But to use sheet music, one needs to learn how to read standard notation. And as ubiquitous as standard notation is, it is just as esoteric with its ledger lines, stems, noteheads, clefs, and jargon descended from Italian opera.

There is a better way to learn all of these real world chord progressions by ear.

Four Chord Song

Have you ever heard of the “Four Chord Song?” If you haven’t check out this hilariously funny and slightly acerbic comedic video.

The truth in this video is plain to see: many popular songs use a powerful chord progression.

The chord progression they call “1-2-3-4” in this performance is really I-V-vi-IV (pronounced “One-Five-Six-Four”). It just might be the most popular chord progression in musical history. It is the progression used in all of these popular songs, and many more:

  1. Journey — “Don’t Stop Believing,”
  2. James Blunt — “You’re Beautiful”
  3. Alphaville — “Forever Young”
  4. Jason Mraz — I’m Yours
  5. Mika — Happy Ending
  6. Alex Lloyd — Amazing
  7. The Calling — Wherever You Will Go
  8. Elton John — Can You Feel The Love Tonight,
  9. Maroon 5 — She Will Be Loved
  10. The Last Goodnight — Pictures Of You
  11. U2 — With Or Without You
  12. Crowded House — Fall At Your Feet
  13. Kasey Chambers — Not Pretty Enough
  14. The Beatles — Let it Be
  15. Red Hot Chili Peppers — Under the Bridge
  16. Daryl Braithwaite — The Horses
  17. Bob Marley — No Woman No Cry
  18. Marcy Playground — Sex and Candy
  19. Men At Work — Land Down Under
  20. Banjo Patterson’s Waltzing Matilda
  21. A Ha — Take On Me
  22. Green Day — When I Come Around
  23. Eagle Eye Cherry — Save Tonight
  24. Toto — Africa
  25. Beyonce — If I Were A Boy
  26. The Offspring — Self Esteem
  27. The Offspring — You’re Gonna Go Far Kid
  28. Pink — You and Your Hand
  29. Lady Gaga — Poker Face
  30. Aqua — Barbie Girl
  31. The Fray — You Found Me
  32. 30h!3 — Don’t Trust Me
  33. MGMT — Kids
  34. Tim Minchin — Canvas Bags
  35. Natalie Imbruglia — Torn
  36. Five For Fighting — Superman
  37. Missy Higgins — Scar

Chord Numeral Flash Cards and You

Chord Numerals represent the six most popular chords from the Major Scale. Using these Chord Numeral flash cards, you can try any number of the following exercises to improve your level of fluency in Harmony:

  1. Chord Spelling — perhaps the most immediately useful of these exercises when it comes to improving your musical communication with others, you can use these flash cards as a way to challenge your ability to spell chords. Lay the flash cards face down in a random order, pick any key, and flip one over. Now name the chord, and spell the notes of the chord out. Example: Key of C, flip over card “IV.” What is your answer? “F Major, F-A-C.”
  2. Songwriting — Stuck when it comes to writing new chord progressions? You can create new (diatonic) chord progressions you haven’t used in your songwriting before. Example, vi-iii-IV-I sounds nice. In the key of C, that means Am-Em-F-C. Try it!
  3. Relative Pitch Training — the most musically beneficial skill to come from quizzing yourself in Harmony is most certainly the ability to outline a chord by singing it out loud without the aid of an instrument. Lay the flash cards face down in a random order, play any tonic, and flip one over. Now sing the chord out, relative to the tonic. Example: Key of C, flip over card “IV.” Your task: play the “C” to establish your tonic, then sing F Major (F-A-C) out loud without any help from an instrument. When you can hear the “1” (a.k.a. the tonic) but can sing “4–6–8” (a.k.a. the subdominant, submediant, tonic, or the subdominant chord) without any other reference pitches, you build your internal model of the Major Scale from that tonic. An internal model of pitch relationships is EVERYTHING when it comes to ear-training. I can’t possibly overstate it.

Preview the Harmony Module!

Harmony for all.

Playing chord and chord progressions by ear is not just for the select few.

It’s available to you now, if you want to work for it.

Playing by ear and knowing what you’re hearing… why, it’s worth more than all the tabs and tutorials in the world, combined And you can extract the chords from a song you love yourself… if you know the way.

Episode 04 on Vertical Harmony shows the way. Using explanations that just make sense, that don’t rely on technical jargon, with fun homework, and audio examples of popular songs, take your ear and understanding of chords to the next level. Watch now below.

Download high-resolution WARRENMUSIC Chord Numeral flash cards here, completely FREE.

Buy the entire module now, without risk: if you aren’t satisfied, you can ask for your money back.

Here’s the breakdown of the entire module:

*To interact with the Visual Aids and Homework I’ve created, just click “File,” then click “Make a copy…” then voilà! Enjoy the entire Harmony Module today.

Get to the next level.

Playing by ear and knowing what you’re hearing… that’s musicianship. And musicianship is what enables me to do what I do. To break apart Radiohead, Bon Iver, Minus the Bear, James Blake, Sigur Rós, and all of my favorite artists’ music into bite-sized, easy to manage chunks. Musical fragments and ideas that I can use to re-create the song, re-contextualize, or do new things with.

That’s what it takes to get to the next level.

To translate raw sound into tangible scale degrees, chord numerals, and units of time. It can be done.

And I’ll show you how if you let me.

If you give this series a shot, I promise, it won’t let you down.

Purchase the Harmony Module today for $99.

  • Skills you can use to work out real world chords and chord progressions by ear
  • Working knowledge of Diatonic Harmony via popular songs, fun demonstrations, and digestible music theory breakdowns
  • Introduction to Chord Numerals expanding The WARRENMUSIC Grid**
  • 10 in-depth episodes ranging from 10-40 minutes in length
  • Lifetime access
  • Visual Aids
  • Audio Examples
  • Worksheets (Song Puzzles)
  • Interactive Tools
  • Access to Members-Only Harony Module Forum
  • Direct help from fellow learners and Warren

The Harmony Module is complete!

Friends of WARRENMUSIC,

I’m extremely proud to announce we just finished uploading the final cut of the Harmony Module. Watch the teaser for it right now.

The Music You Love, and the Music You Make… Bridging the gap between the two is now more possible than ever. Take control of your musicianship in a whole new way, all while working at your own pace, and be among the first to preview the entire Harmony Module today.

Thank you to those of you who pre-ordered the Harmony Module for making this possible with your early support.


The next iteration of the website is nearing completion. Update your bookmarks: we have moved to warrenmusic.xyz as a permanent home for the series. Each video has its own page and comments section to feel more seamless.

Until then, watch this blog, your inbox, and/or your YouTube subscription THIS WEEK to enjoy the first four episodes, completely free. Here is the Module breakdown:

*To interact with the Visual Aids and Homework I’ve created, just click “File,” then click “Make a copy…” then voilà! Watch here/your inbox/your YouTube subscription for the release of the next episode!

This is, by far, the most ambitious project I’ve ever attempted. Bigger than my YouTube covers, my now-defunct band, perhaps even greater than my solo album, which is still in the works. But as challenging as it’s been, it would be an even greater burden to keep quiet about this whole thing. To help you get more out of the music you love has become one of my life’s dreams! To help you go beyond tabs, beyond tutorials, and… inward? Yes! Inward, to developing your own ear. To establishing your own understanding of music.

Purchase the Melody, Harmony, and Rhythm* Modules today.

If you hit any roadblocks, know that I’m right there with you, pushing myself to my limits, too. Not only with the scope of this project, but every day with my ear-training, and my understanding of music as well.

All the best,

Warren

P.S. Remember, you can also find me on Skype for private tutoring, or learn your favorite songs with me via custom tutorials and chord charts.


*Rhythm Module is available as a pre-order. Melody and Harmony are available for access today.

  • Skills you can use to work out real world chords and chord progressions by ear
  • Working knowledge of Diatonic Harmony via popular songs, fun demonstrations, and digestible music theory breakdowns
  • Introduction to Chord Numerals expanding The WARRENMUSIC Grid**
  • 10 in-depth episodes ranging from 10-40 minutes in length
  • Lifetime access
  • Visual Aids
  • Audio Examples
  • Worksheets (Song Puzzles)
  • Interactive Tools
  • Access to Members-Only Harony Module Forum
  • Direct help from fellow learners and Warren

What Is a Diatonic Chord?

“…most musicians expect to perform a number of musical tasks that might seem extremely daunting to the layman: transposing chords and chord progressions, improvisation/soloing, arranging, re-mixing, navigating alternate tunings (guitar), analyzing the harmony of a song they love, re-harmonizing a song, and the list goes on. Knowing what chords are diatonic and what chords are non-diatonic gives musicians a huge boost in thinking about and approaching these tasks. Most musicians already know the diatonic triads in every major key, if not by simple memorization, then probably by rote, over time, which can help when trying to learn to play a basic chord progression by ear.”
View my full answer and follow me on Quora.