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Hearing the Changes
Knowing what the chords of a song or chord progressions are and when the when the change.
Publisher: Curt Sheller Publications Authors(s): Curt Sheller
Category: Chords Instrument: Any Subjects(s): Chords • Intermediate • Advanced • Repertoire • Progressions • Harmony
photo by Louis Martin
Page Updated:
12 October 2025
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Hearing the Changes

Hearing The Changes is knowing what the chords of a song or chord progression are and when they change. This lesson gets you on the road to developing this ability.

This involves knowing the Chords of the Major & Minor Keys and the Scales that are used for common progressions and songs. And the ability to recognize the sound of intervals—the distance between intervals that make up the chord. The major, minor, diminished, and augmented triads—the foundation of just about every chord—each have a distinct sound that you can learn to recognize.
Learning a bit or a lot of the Principles of Music can go a long way in understanding how these chords and chord progressions move and interact together. There is actually A LOT more in common between songs than one might guess.

Some Tips for Learning to Hear the Changes

Hearing and figuring out the chords to a song takes the same skills as transcribing a song and is limited to the chords of the song. You might be doing it in real-time as you are playing the song or listening to the song.
Without, in the least, some skills mentioned above, it's often a hit-or-miss, hunt-and-peck method of figuring out what the chord changes are for a song. This is fine if your NOT trying to do this in real time as you play.
Here are a few tips for figuring out the chords:
  • First find where the chord changes are.
  • Locate the bass or root of the first chord.
  • Is the chord major or minor?
    • Major chords, the most common, are passive and sound resolved and peaceful, happy, relaxed, sometimes a bit bold. The majority of songs are in Major Keys and the I chord of the key/scale, the Tonic is typically the home chord and at the end of a verse or chorus. Might even be the first chord of the song, i.e. chord progression.
    • Minor chords have a sad and mysterious quality.
    • Diminished and Augmented chords are a bit of an unnerving quality. Very suspenseful. I, (Curt) call the diminished and augmented chords one of the movie chords. The augmented chord is great in horror movies used for when you know someone is not making it out of that scene.
Root Voicings
At the heart of the overwhelming majority of chords are the basic traditional triads, the major, minor, diminished, and augmented triads that form the foundation of ALL chords traditionally built in thirds.
If the song is simple, then start checking to see if the chord is a traditional major, minor, 7th or power 5 chord. Or, maybe a contemporary sus4, sus2 or add 2, add 9 chords.
If it is a more sophisticated rich harmony, a.k.a. chords. Then try 4-part chords maj7, m7, 7, dim7, aug7, etc… These are often called Jazz chords, which are just 4-part chords.
With each success, on to the next chord.
NOTE: Sometimes it is easier to figure this out on piano then the ukulele or guitar. You don't need piano technique, you just need to know how to make Simple Chords on the Piano and knowing the names of the piano keys — pretty easy on piano.
Bass Voicings
If the chord not quite right, but seems like the right chord but not the 100% the right root. It might be a chord inversion or Slash Chord .
If it sounds like a C major chord but now exactly the C chord you are playing, the lowest note might not be the root C. Try C/D, C/E, Cm/F, C/G, Cm/G, C/Bb, C/B, with the notes after the slash the lowest note in the chord voicing. If this fails, it could be any bass note with C as the name of the chord.
Checkout Classic Endings for Ukulele lesson for a common use of slash chords to create a descending bass line. The root movement of a descending bass lines is a great harmonic clue when trying to figure out, "Hear" the chord changes.
Cliché and Common Progressions with Distinct Bass Lines
Here are some examples of this type of chord progressions.
  • Cm Cm/maj7 Cm7 Cm6 ( Cm Cm/B Cm/Bb Cm/A) — This progression is typically notated wrong. You'll hear it after you become more familiar with the correct notation.
  • C Cm7+5 Cm6 Cm7+5 — I call this the Secret Agent sound and it is typically supporting the melody. Witchcraft is a jazz standard that has this movement.
  • C Cmaj7 C6 Cmaj7 — A common substitution for two measures or 8 beats of C
  • Cmaj7 Caug C6 Cmaj7 or C Caug C6 Caug C
Repeat this process until you have determined each chord. Overtime, this gets quicker, to the point you can do it on the fly.
Check out Jim D'Ville's Play Ukulele by Ear • Three Chord Club for many examples of simple songs, we already know that you can learn by ear.
First Steps
After being able to hear when a chord actually changes to a new chord, an easy first step. And figuring out that first chord. A few tips for guessing the next chord:
What is the Key that First Chord Came From?
This is finding the tonality of the first chord and chances if the progression, i.e. song's chords seem to all get together is the find the key.
I always start with a major key, as that is the overwhelming majority of keys that songs are in. Then the diatonic chords of the major scale/key and the Key of C , and progress through the chords of the key in this order: C, G, G7, F, Am, Em, Dm . I'll also simply improvise over the chords using the C Major Pentatonic scale: C D E G A C' and see if it sounds OK. I'll then introduce the F note to the scale and see if it still sounds OK. All in the effort to eliminate what it is not. If the F doesn't work on to F# and the the next, the Key of G and so on. It' s a proccess of elimination.
Lets say it is the Key of C . I'll then start to listen to see if the chords have a quality of bold, happy, mysterious, sad. A feeling of being home and restful (consonance quality) or A feeling of being restless and creating tension (dissonance quality) and wanting to go home. Now it's starting to get narrowed down. And simply trying chords that are acting as a Tonic I or acting as a Dominant V . I'll eliminate the possibilities.
Chords do have a propensity to harmonically move to other chords. These are what you are listening for — the common harmonic moves.
A Few Chord Propensities
V to I
  • The BIG one in Tonic-Dominant Harmony and the most common harmonic sequence of chords is the dominant to tonic. e.g., in the key of C , the G7, the V harmonically wants to resolve to C, the I – this is want our ear is expecting. Memorizing this move in ALL 15 keys is a great harmonic investment. Hear it, learn it, internalize it, and get it under our fingers.
LINK: Checkout out page 42 of Harmonic Analysis for Scale Selection and Chord Substitution for chord's most common harmonic function.
Secondary Dominants
  • Turns out there is such a thing as a Secondary Dominant — not the main Dominant chord in a key. These Secondary Dominant chords also function just as a dominant chord functions and wants to resolve to its Tonic. A good example in the Key of C is a C to C7 resolving to F (there is that memorize the V to I in all major and minor keys). So much so that if I see this in much I rarely look at the next chord, I know it has a 99% chance of resolving to F. Our ear actually want that. This move is actually somewhat easy to ear. It is a V to I, just not in the main key/tonality.
Hearing the Changes is transcribing the chord progression as it is being played.
I once asked Chuck Anderson my mentor/teacher/kumu. How do get through a song (on the bandstand) that you don't know. His reply was You lay back, learn it through the first verse and chorus.. Now in the On the Bandstand scenario, you most likely be given the key, tempo, etc. So your choices are narrowed down a bit.
Song Style Clues
Pop, Rock, Folk, Blues, Country, Bluegrass, etc, for the most part, harmonically uses Triads (3 note chords), and 7th chords and scale wise Pentatonic scales. And also stays in one key for the most part.
Jazz
Jazz is harmonically richer uses 4-part chords and scale wise Diatonic scales. Jazz often modulates to other keys.
Blues
The Blues can be a simple I IV V using Triads all the way to a Jazz Blues using 4-part .
A Blues is one of the first song forms that one will recognize harmonically. What you are hearing is the I to IV and I to V harmonic movements.
For examples of the harmonic possibilities see my book A Guide to Blues Chord Progressions for Ukulele A to Z .
Ear Training Links
Although Ear Training is actually the wrong term, it's more training of either your voice or fingers to duplicate what we already can hear. We just need to name what we hear and get either our voice or finger to replicate this.
Using a daily ear training resource is one of the best ways to make that connection between you mind and inner-ear. And ultimately getting it out using you voice and or ear. Start slow and don't move on too fast.
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