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  • Chord Progression

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    LucLaMot
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    Chord progressions follow certain patterns based on the tonic, subdominant, and dominant chords in a key. Common progressions include I-IV-V, ii-V-I, and circle progressions where the chord roots move around the circle of fourths. Secondary dominant chords borrow chords from other keys to create temporary tonic-dominant relationships. Borrowed chords from the parallel minor key can also be used to spice up progressions. Typical progressions and chord relationships in the key of C major are explained.

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    Chord progressions follow certain patterns based on the tonic, subdominant, and dominant chords in a key. Common progressions include I-IV-V, ii-V-I, and circle progressions where the chord roots move around the circle of fourths. Secondary dominant chords borrow chords from other keys to create temporary tonic-dominant relationships. Borrowed chords from the parallel minor key can also be used to spice up progressions. Typical progressions and chord relationships in the key of C major are explained.

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    50 views3 pages

    Chord Progression

    Uploaded by

    LucLaMot
    Chord progressions follow certain patterns based on the tonic, subdominant, and dominant chords in a key. Common progressions include I-IV-V, ii-V-I, and circle progressions where the chord roots move around the circle of fourths. Secondary dominant chords borrow chords from other keys to create temporary tonic-dominant relationships. Borrowed chords from the parallel minor key can also be used to spice up progressions. Typical progressions and chord relationships in the key of C major are explained.

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    of 3

    Chord

    Progression

    Chords in a key can be categorized into three areas:
    • Tonic
    • Subdominant
    • Dominant

    Tonic chords move to either Subdominant or Dominant Chords
    Subdominant chords move to Dominant
    Dominant chords move to Tonic

    Chord progressions that move backwards, Subdominant to Tonic or Dominant to Subdominant
    are called retrogression.

    In the key of C Major, the chords are:
    I C Major (C E G)
    ii D minor (D F A)
    iii E minor (E G B)
    IV F Major (F A C)
    V G Major (G B D)
    vi A minor (A C E)
    viiº B diminished (B D F)

    Tonic Subdominant Dominant
    C Major F Major G Major
    E minor D minor B diminished
    A minor

    Chords can move up and down in each column. This is less of a chord progression and
    considered more of a change in color. Play C major to E minor to A minor. This creates a sense
    of color change and not so much forward momentum.

    Typical chord progressions:
    I IV V (C F G) The I IV and V chords in a key are called the primary chords. With those three
    chords alone you can harmonize any melody note in the key.
    ii V I
    I vi ii V I
    viiº iii vi ii V I IV (This called a circle progression. The roots of each chord move around the circle
    of 4ths. B-E-A-D-G-C-F

    Chords with roots that are a third apart (C to E, C to A, A to F, F to D, E to G, G to B) will share
    two notes in common. This creates very smooth chord changes.
    Chords with roots a fourth or fifth apart (C to F, D to G, B to E, E to A, A to D) will share one note
    in common.
    Chords with roots a second apart ( C to D, D to E, E to F, F to G, G to A, A to B, B to C) will have
    no tones in common. This is considered less smooth as all the notes are new when the chords
    change.

    Secondary Dominant Chords:
    In each key there is one true Dominant relationship. That is the V-I (G to C).
    Secondary Dominant relationships can be created by changing the quality of chords in the key
    to create a temporary Dominant to Tonic (V to I) progression. We are basically creating a
    temporary new Tonic on chords in the key. We borrow the V chord from the new temporary
    Tonic chord.

    D7 to G (V of the V chord) this sounds as if we are moving to the key of G. G is really the V chord
    in the key of C, but the D7 chord make G sound like the new Tonic (I) chord. This is used in
    almost every country song.
    E7 to Am
    A7 to Dm
    B7 to Em
    C7 to F

    The Band’s “Ophelia” uses quite a bit of Secondary Dominants
    (I)C – (V/vi)E7- (V/ii)A7- (V/V) D7 – (IV)F – (V)G each chord be one measure
    (I)C –(V/ii)A7- (V/V) D7 –(V)G as the tag of the progression. Each chord is two beats.

    Borrowed chords:

    We can create fresh sounding progressions by borrowing chords from the parallel minor key
    (parallel keys share the same root note but have different scale construction).
    C Major = C D E F G A B
    C Major’s parallel minor scale is C minor = C D Eb F G Ab Bb

    The chords in the key of C minor are:
    i C minor (C Eb G)
    iiº D diminished (D F Ab)
    bIII Eb Major (Eb G Bb)
    iv F minor (F Ab C)
    v G minor (G Bb D)
    bVI Ab Major (Ab C Eb)
    bVII Bb Major (Bb D F)

    Check out the Beatles “In My Life”. The song is in the key of A Major, but when the words “in
    my life” are sung, the chord is D minor. The minor iv chord. In the key of (I)C major this would
    be (iv)F minor.

    Many Southern Rock progressions use the bVII chord. In “Can’t You See” the key is D Major and
    the chords move from (I) D Major – (bVII) C Major – (IV) G Major. Yes, D C and G major are the
    V, IV, and I chords in the key of G respectively, but because D sounds like the Tonic chord (the
    song want to end on D) D is actually the tonic.

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