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5.2 · Progressions

The pop loop

Four chords, I, V, vi, IV, in a loop, and you can sing a few hundred hit songs over the top. This is the pop loop: the leave-and-return story, stretched to four stops and set spinning.

Spin the loop

Play it, watch the colors, and notice it never really ends: the last chord hands straight back to the first.

C
G
Am
F

I–V–vi–IV powers an unreasonable share of pop music. Home, the arrow, the dark rest, the stroll.

Am
F
C
G

The same four chords, started two doors down: vi–IV–I–V. Opening on the dark rest makes the whole loop moodier.

Any key, same loop

The pop loop doesn't live in C. It lives in the relationships. Here it is from three different homes. If you can hum along to one, you can hum along to all three.

Quiz

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The pop loop is…

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