Chord & FretReggae · vamp maior — Guitar
What is the Reggae · vamp maior progression?
The Reggae · vamp maior progression is A → D (I – IV), in the key of A. Read as harmonic function it moves tonic → subdominant, cycling as a vamp with no full cadence. Play one chord per bar and let it loop.
Four chords, a whole story: A (I, home) → D (IV, the stroll). 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 A — home — is coming.
Guitar
On the acoustic guitar you hold the whole song in your hands: the low sixth string lays down a bass note while the higher strings build the chord above it. Folk, country and Celtic songs are built on the acoustic guitar; in reggae it chops the off-beat, and Hawaiian slack-key is its own gentle guitar tradition. Its home chord A keeps its lowest note on A and rings 2 open strings.
Circle of Fifths — See the key's diatonic chords and its secondary dominants · try it in Chord & Fret
Save this progression in Chord & FretReharmonize — Want richer substitutions? Reharmonize the progression in a tap · see it in Chord & Fret
Learn each chord of the trip
This is one shape of A. In Chord & Fret, you open every position of all 2 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 · open in Chord & Fret
If this scale won you over, the Chord & Fret app plays it along with you — any key, any tuning. It's on the App Store and Google Play.