Chord & FretBlues · quick-change — Cavaquinho
What is the Blues · quick-change progression?
The Blues · quick-change progression is E → A → E → E (I – IV – I – I), in the key of E. Read as harmonic function it moves tonic → subdominant → tonic → tonic, cycling as a vamp with no full cadence. Play one chord per bar and let it loop.
Four chords, a whole story: E (I, home) → A (IV, the stroll) → E (I, home) → E (I, home). Hit play. First pass, just listen. Second pass, follow with your finger on the names — and notice that by the second-to-last chord, your body already knows E — home — is coming.
Cavaquinho
Its chords sound tight and punchy; instead of holding long shapes, it keeps the beat moving with short, repeated strums. In pop, rock or blues the cavaquinho is an unusual guest; it adds a bright, chopping rhythm layer, but it can't cover the low end a band expects. Its home chord E keeps its lowest note on E and rings 1 open string.
Circle of Fifths — See the key's diatonic chords and its secondary dominants · open in Chord & Fret
Save this progression in Chord & FretReharmonize — Want richer substitutions? Reharmonize the progression in a tap · use it in Chord & Fret
Learn each chord of the trip
This is one shape of E. In Chord & Fret, you open every position of all 4 chords in this progression along the neck — on any instrument, and hear each one. Open in Chord & Fret →
Metronome — Drill this change in time, with tap tempo and subdivisions · try it in Chord & Fret
If you want to keep exploring, the Chord & Fret app picks up right here, with every variation of this chord one tap away. On the stores.