Punk Chords & Chord Progressions

I · V · vi · IV

Same chords as the sad ballad, but played fast and energetic. The backbone of countless pop punk and emo songs from the 2000s.

I · IV · V

Fast, simple, and aggressive. The Ramones took basic rock chords and played them at breakneck speed with all downstrokes, creating the blueprint for punk rock.

I · IV · V

Three major chords, played fast, downstroked throughout. Punk did not invent I-IV-V — it is the backbone of blues and early rock and roll — but it stripped the progression of everything else and ran it at double the tempo, which is why two minutes of it still sounds like an argument.