Fifties (1950s) Chord Progressions

Another common way of extending the I - IV - V sequence is by adding the chord of the sixth scale degree, giving the sequence I - vi - IV - V or I - vi - ii - V, sometimes called the 50s progression.

Author(s): Curt Sheller Publisher: Curt Sheller Publications Code: UL59d

Main Category: Chords Main Instrument: Any

Subjects: Chords

2026-04-09

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Fifties (1950s) Chord Progressions

Another common way of extending the I - IV - V sequence is by adding the chord of the sixth scale degree, giving the sequence I - vi - IV - V or I - vi - ii - V, sometimes called the 50s progression.

1 6 4 5 -or- 1 6 2 5

In fact this sequence had been in use from the earliest days of classical music (used often by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart), but after generating popular hits such as Rogers and Hart's Blue Moon (1934), Jerome Kern and Dorothy Fields 1936 and Hoagy Carmichael's Heart and Soul (1938), it became associated with the black American vocal groups of the 1940s, The Ink Spots and The Mills Brothers Till The, and thus later became the entire basis of the 1950s doo-wop genre, a typical example being The Monotones' The Book of Love.

Here are a few of the many songs that use this progression.

All You Have To Do Is Dream – Everly Brothers
I Will Always Love You – Dolly Parton
Crocodile Rock – Elton John
Earth Angel – The Penguins
Happiness Is A Warm Gun – The Beatles
Jesus Of Suburbia – Green Day
Baby – Justin Bieber

The above are but a few of the many songs that use this progression or variation of it.