1-4-5 what does it mean in piano???

[Dennis1990]

Progressions haves these numbers 1-3-7, 1-4-5 etc.

I have a difficult time knowing what this means?

Can it mean playing it as a note or would it mean only chords???
And can I ply these progressions in 7th chords?? because a lot of these video tutorials I see really only play in triads

Im trying to wrap my head around numbers like these.

 

[Egan]

I'll start off by saying there are no rules, but if you'd like to follow basic music theory and practices (which it sounds like you do) these are the types of things to follow.

The 1-4-5 chord progression is a very, very common chord progression in popular music and has been for decades.

These numbers (1, 4, and 5 in this case) refer to which step/place in a scale that the root note of each chord is in the progression.

For example, we'll use the C major scale. The first note (1) in the scale is C. This means that the first chord (if we're using triads) will be C, E and G. For the 2nd chord in the progression, we're building the chord around the 4th step in the scale, which happens to be an F in this case. That chord would be F, A, C. For the 3rd chord in the progression, the root note of the chord will be on the 5th note in the scale, which is G. That chord would be G, B, D.

You could definitely use 7ths instead of triads if you'd like. I personally love the sound of 7ths.

Keep in mind that the 1- 4 -5 chord progression is going to give you a VERY boring result, but it will sound musically logical and cohesive.

 

[hellion123]

For EG:-
In a c minor key
C -1
D -2
D# -3
F -4
G -5
G# -6
A# -7
So according the numbers (1-4-5)
cminor-fminor-gminor

 

[bandcoach]

For EG:-
In a c minor key
C -1
D -2
D# -3
F -4
G -5
G# -6
A# -7
So according the numbers (1-4-5)
cminor-fminor-gminor

that would be C-D-Eb-F-G-Ab-Bb - note that we now have one of each note name in the scale as opposed to your doubling up on D and G

the problem with Hindu-Arabic numerals is that in most analysis they are reserved for melodic analysis, not for chord analysis. It is also important to know that when we do analyse melodic material we tend to reference the scale tones back to the tonic major scale and alter the notes based on how the current scale differs from the tonic major scale

e.g. C natural minor is related to the tonic major scale of C major

tonic major	natural minor
Note	Scale tone	Scale tone	Note
C	1	1	C
D	2	2	D
E	3	b3	Eb
F	4	4	F
G	5	5	G
A	6	b6	Ab
B	7	b7	Bb

for chord analysis Roman numerals are used and both upper and lower case are used to distinguish between major and minor chords (actually chords with a major 3rd or a minor 3rd) - upper case for major and lower case for minor. Chords are then further defined using #/b and Hindu-Arabic numerals to indicate which chord tone is altered

to take your example above of the c natural minor scale, the chords are as follows

i ~ Cm
iib5 ~ Dmb5
bIII ~ Eb
iv ~ Fm
v ~ Gm
bVI ~ Ab
bVII ~ Bb