City Pop Chords & Chord Progressions
Explore City Pop chord progressions for guitar with diagrams and audio playback.
5 progressions found
City pop is the sound of Japan's bubble economy: late-70s and 80s records made in Tokyo studios by musicians who had absorbed American AOR, funk and jazz fusion, then built something glossier out of it. Harmonically that means very few plain triads. Almost every chord carries a 7th, a 9th or a 13th, which is what gives the style its distinctive combination of brightness and melancholy.
Three devices do most of the work. The ii-V-I turnaround, lifted straight from jazz, keeps a song circling without ever settling. Secondary dominants — chords borrowed from outside the key, like the II7 in a major progression — lift a phrase before the ii-V pulls it home. And the 丸サ進行, the IVmaj7-III7-vi7 move known in the West as the "Just the Two of Us" changes, supplies the smooth, slightly aching quality that runs through the entire genre and its modern revival.
On guitar, city pop lives in movable maj7 and m7 barre shapes played with a clean tone, usually with light 16th-note comping rather than strumming. Start with Tatsuro Yamashita, Mariya Takeuchi, Anri and Junko Ohashi; for the current wave, Lamp, Ginger Root and Night Tempo work the same harmonic vocabulary.
All City Pop Progressions
City Pop (Plastic Love)
City Popiv7 · VII7 · v7 · i7
The minor-key groove of 80s Japanese city pop. Gm7-C7-Am7-Dm7 creates that sophisticated, urban nightlife feel. This jazzy progression captures the bittersweet, nostalgic quality that defines the genre.
J-Pop City Night (Mayonaka no Door)
J-PopIVmaj7 · iii7 · vi7 · ii7 · V7
The lush, jazzy progression of late-night J-pop ballads. Extended 7th chords and the iii-vi-ii-V turnaround create a sophisticated, dreamy atmosphere perfect for city night scenes.
Just the Two of Us (丸サ進行)
City PopIVmaj7 · III7 · vi7 · v7 · I7
Known in Japan as 丸サ進行, after Sheena Ringo's 'Marunouchi Sadistic', and in the West as the 'Just the Two of Us' changes. The move from IVmaj7 to III7 is the hook: a secondary dominant that pulls hard into the vi chord and gives city pop, neo-soul and modern J-pop their smooth, slightly aching quality.
City Pop ii-V-I Turnaround
City Popii7 · V7 · Imaj7 · vi7
The jazz turnaround that city pop borrowed wholesale. Dm7-G7-Cmaj7 resolves, then vi7 swings it straight back around, which is how these records stay glossy for four minutes without ever quite sounding like they have landed.
Summer City Pop (Secondary Dominant Lift)
City PopImaj7 · II7 · ii7 · V7
The open-window sound of 80s summer city pop. The II7 comes from outside the key and lifts the whole phrase before the ii-V pulls it home, which is what gives these songs their sunlit quality with an edge of wistfulness underneath.
City Pop chords: common questions
- What chords are used in city pop?
- Mostly extended chords rather than plain triads: major 7ths, minor 7ths, 9ths and 13ths, borrowed from jazz and AOR. A typical city pop progression combines a ii-V-I turnaround with secondary dominants, so you will see chords like Dm7, G7, Cmaj7, Am7 and D7 sitting together in the same key.
- What is the 丸サ進行 or "Just the Two of Us" progression?
- It is IVmaj7-III7-vi7, often continuing to v7-I7. Japanese musicians call it 丸サ進行 after Sheena Ringo's "Marunouchi Sadistic"; English-speaking players know it from Grover Washington Jr. and Bill Withers' "Just the Two of Us". The III7 is a secondary dominant that pulls strongly into the vi chord, which is what makes it sound so smooth.
- Is city pop hard to play on guitar?
- The shapes are not difficult, but they are unfamiliar if you have only played open chords. Learn movable maj7 and m7 barre shapes with the root on the sixth and fifth strings and you can play most city pop progressions in any key. The harder part is the feel: clean tone, light 16th-note comping, and staying behind the beat.