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6.10.10
"Hey Joe" Chords: I - V - II - VI - III, How the Chord Progression Works

Here's why the 'Hey Joe' chord progression, I - V - II - VI - III, a rare example consecutive fifths up chord changes, actually works (Figure 83):

Chord progression Chase chart for the 1965 hit song Hey Joe recorded by Jimi Hendrix and written by Billy Roberts.

FIGURE 83: Chord Map of “Hey Joe” (Words and Music by Billy Roberts, 1965)

Three reasons:

  1. Movement to any chord from any other chord of the same type sounds palatable—especially if such movement forms a regular pattern of some kind (see the 10 chord progression guidelines near the end of this chapter). In this case:

  • All of the chords are the same type (major triads), and
  • The progression moves in the same fifth-up steps.

  1. Using only consonant chords (major triads) helps offset the sonic weirdness of so many consecutive fifths up.

  2. The first fifth-up progression is from the tonic chord, which makes it perfectly palatable, as discussed earlier in this chapter.

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