Q: Why does there seem to be so much emphasis on knowing the chord progression of a song to be able to play it?
A: the word 'progression' here is distracting and doesn't really make sense. it usually tricks people into thinking that all chords are somehow 'progressing', and that's just not true. it's like saying the rooms in a house are a "room progression" ....... really we just mean ... "the rooms". So, do you have to know what rooms are in a house, in order to build the house? well, yes, only if the house has rooms. if it's a no-room house, then you don't have to know the rooms. or maybe the rooms are already built and you just have to build the rest of the house. but, for a roomed house then you'll need the rooms, for sure