05 The ’50s Progression
I – vi – IV – V · Key of G major
70 BPM
The strum · Down, down-up
1
&
2
&
3
&
4
&
Two halves that sound the same: “down, down-up” on beats 1–2, again on beats 3–4.
Your hand swings down on every number and up on every “&”. Blank = the swing misses the strings.
The chart
Four beats per box. It loops until you stop it.
G
I
Em
vi
C
IV
D
V
Level up: I–vi–ii–V. Am in place of C turns it into I–vi–ii–V, the changes behind “Blue Moon”.
The strum · Down, down-up
1
&
2
&
3
&
4
&
Two halves that sound the same: “down, down-up” on beats 1–2, again on beats 3–4.
Your hand swings down on every number and up on every “&”. Blank = the swing misses the strings.
The chart
Four beats per box. It loops until you stop it.
G
I
Em
vi
Am
ii
D
V
How to practise with it
- Listen first. Press Play and let it go round twice without touching the guitar. Watch the cursor and hear where the strums land.
- Strum without chords. Rest your fretting hand lightly across the strings and strum along to the muted “chk”. That gets the rhythm into your hand before the chord changes join in.
- Play along. Now add the chords. If a change is late, keep strumming anyway and catch the next one.
- Switch to Click only. Once you can keep up, turn the guitar off and play it yourself against the click. Then nudge the tempo up 5 BPM at a time.
- Level up. When the basic version feels easy, switch to Level up at the top of the player for the variation from the book, and start again from step 1.
Tip: press the space bar to start and stop.