Post-Rock Chords & Chord Progressions

IV · I · V · vi

The expansive, building progression of post-rock. A-E-B-C#m creates slow-building emotional crescendos. Layers of delay, tremolo picking, and dynamics define Explosions in the Sky's signature sound.

Iadd9 · IVadd9 · vi7

Math rock is defined less by which chords you play than by how they are counted and voiced. This loop runs seven beats instead of eight, so it never quite lands where you expect, and the add9 shapes keep open strings ringing against fretted notes — the bright, bell-like clash the genre is built on. Play it clean, with fingers rather than a pick. For the sound in full, start with American Football, Toe and Covet.

Isus2 · IVsus2 · vi7 · IVmaj7

Suspended chords leave out the third, the note that decides whether a chord is major or minor, so nothing here ever commits to a mood. Held slowly, with the top two strings ringing open through every change, the progression floats rather than moves — the ambient, weightless quality that post-rock and dream pop are after.