I - IV - V Melodies

by Mike Lindyn
www.GuitarKnowledgenet.com ©2004

The I - IV - V progression is the most common progression in rock/blues based music. If you know any songs at all you probably know one with a I – IV – V progression in it. This could be any song that goes G – C – D or A – D – E, or a bunch of other simple progressions like this.

But besides being able to use this I – IV – V progression with chords you can also use it with melody lines. Below are two example of the I – IV – V progression being used in a melody line (though these are melody lines they could be used to replace a harmony or act as the harmony).

The first of these examples is a very common blues rhythm line. This was the first of these I – IV – V melody lines I learned as a kid. The second example is a section from a song I wrote that uses this same idea and is based off the same chords in the same order.

Once you get these down try to figure out some of your own.

1)





  Example  



2)





Example