Progression · 4 chords

I–♭VII–IV–I progression

The I–♭VII–IV–I progression swaps the V chord for a major chord built a whole step below home. That ♭VII is not in the major scale; it is borrowed from the Mixolydian mode, the scale behind a lot of blues rock. In C it is C · B♭ · F · C.

Numerals

I–♭VII–IV–I

Chords

Major · Major · Major · Major

Listen for

♭VII second

How it sounds

Loose and swaggering. Instead of a V chord pulling home, the progression steps down, down again, and settles, so it never sounds strained.

How to pick it out

The second chord drops a whole step below home, the only one of the four that goes down to a major chord. Then it falls again to IV before coming home.

Songs that use it

Sympathy for the Devil and Them’s Gloria loop it, and the long coda of Hey Jude repeats it for minutes.

On the guitar

Easiest in E: E · D · A · E, all open chords.

I–♭VII–IV–I in every key

What’s inside

• Major chords: I, ♭VII, IV

This progression is one of the answers in the game’s “Which progression?” round. Every answer starts on I, so listen to where the second chord goes.