In a
musical composition, a chord progression or harmonic progression (informally chord changes, used as a
plural
The plural (sometimes abbreviated pl., pl, or ), in many languages, is one of the values of the grammatical category of number. The plural of a noun typically denotes a quantity greater than the default quantity represented by that noun. This de ...
) is a succession of
chords. Chord progressions are the foundation of
harmony in Western musical tradition from the
common practice era of
Classical music to the 21st century. Chord progressions are the foundation of Western
popular music
Popular music is music with wide appeal that is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. These forms and styles can be enjoyed and performed by people with little or no musical training.Popular Music. (2015). ''Fu ...
styles (e.g.,
pop music
Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom. The terms ''popular music'' and ''pop music'' are often used interchangeably, although the former descri ...
,
rock music
Rock music is a broad genre of popular music that originated as " rock and roll" in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of different styles in the mid-1960s and later, particularly in the United States an ...
),
traditional music
Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has ...
, as well as genres such as
blues and
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...
. In these genres, chord progressions are the defining feature on which melody and rhythm are built.
In tonal music, chord progressions have the function of either establishing or otherwise contradicting a
tonality
Tonality is the arrangement of pitches and/or chords of a musical work in a hierarchy of perceived relations, stabilities, attractions and directionality. In this hierarchy, the single pitch or triadic chord with the greatest stability is ca ...
, the technical name for what is commonly understood as the "
key" of a song or piece. Chord progressions, such as the common chord progression
I–vi–ii–V, are usually expressed by
Roman numerals in Classical music theory. In many styles of popular and traditional music, chord progressions are expressed using the name and "
quality
Quality may refer to:
Concepts
*Quality (business), the ''non-inferiority'' or ''superiority'' of something
*Quality (philosophy), an attribute or a property
*Quality (physics), in response theory
* Energy quality, used in various science discipl ...
" of the chords. For example, the previously mentioned chord progression, in the key of C major, would be written as C major–A minor–D minor–G major in a fake book or
lead sheet
A lead sheet or fake sheet is a form of musical notation that specifies the essential elements of a popular song: the melody, lyrics and harmony. The melody is written in modern Western music notation, the lyric is written as text below the st ...
. In the first chord, C major, the "C" indicates that the chord is built on the
root note
In music theory, the concept of root is the idea that a chord can be represented and named by one of its notes. It is linked to harmonic thinking—the idea that vertical aggregates of notes can form a single unit, a chord. It is in this sense ...
"C" and the word "major" indicates that a
major chord
In music theory
Music theory is the study of the practices and possibilities of music. ''The Oxford Companion to Music'' describes three interrelated uses of the term "music theory". The first is the " rudiments", that are needed to understan ...
is built on this "C" note.
In rock and blues, musicians also often refer to chord progressions using
Roman numerals, as this facilitates transposing a song to a new key. For example, rock and blues musicians often think of the
12-bar blues as consisting of I, IV, and V chords. Thus, a simple version of the 12-bar blues might be expressed as I–I–I–I, IV–IV–I–I, V–IV–I–I. By thinking of this blues progression in Roman numerals, a
backup band
A backup band or backing band is a musical ensemble that typically accompanies a single artist who is the featured performer. The situation may be a live performance or in a recording session, and the group may or may not have its own name, such a ...
or
rhythm section could be instructed by a
bandleader to play the chord progression in any key. For example, if the bandleader asked the band to play this chord progression in the key of C major, the chords would be C–C–C–C, F–F–C–C, G–F–C–C; if the bandleader wanted the song in G major, the chords would be G–G–G–G, C–C–G–G, D–C–G–G; and so on.
The complexity of a chord progression varies from genre to genre and over different historical periods. Some pop and rock songs from the 1980s to the 2010s have fairly simple chord progressions.
Funk emphasizes the
groove
Groove or Grooves may refer to:
Music
* Groove (music)
* Groove (drumming)
* The Groove (band), an Australian rock/pop band of the 1960s
* The Groove (Sirius XM), a US radio station
* Groove 101.7FM, a former Perth, Australia, radio station
...
and rhythm as the key element, so entire funk songs may be based on one chord. Some
jazz-funk
Jazz-funk is a subgenre of jazz music characterized by a strong back beat ( groove), electrified sounds, and an early prevalence of analog synthesizers. The integration of funk, soul, and R&B music and styles into jazz resulted in the creat ...
songs are based on a two-, three-, or four-chord
. Some
punk
Punk or punks may refer to:
Genres, subculture, and related aspects
* Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres
* Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...
and
hardcore punk
Hardcore punk (also known as simply hardcore) is a punk rock music genre and subculture that originated in the late 1970s. It is generally faster, harder, and more aggressive than other forms of punk rock. Its roots can be traced to earlier p ...
songs use only a few chords. On the other hand,
bebop
Bebop or bop is a style of jazz developed in the early-to-mid-1940s in the United States. The style features compositions characterized by a fast tempo, complex chord progressions with rapid chord changes and numerous changes of key, instrumen ...
jazz songs may have
32-bar song forms with one or two chord changes every bar.
Basic theory
![Chord progression](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0a/Chord_progression.png)
A chord may be built upon any note of a
musical scale
In music theory, a scale is any set of musical notes ordered by fundamental frequency or pitch. A scale ordered by increasing pitch is an ascending scale, and a scale ordered by decreasing pitch is a descending scale.
Often, especially in the ...
. Therefore, a seven-note
diatonic scale allows seven basic
diatonic triads, each degree of the scale becoming the
root
In vascular plants, the roots are the organs of a plant that are modified to provide anchorage for the plant and take in water and nutrients into the plant body, which allows plants to grow taller and faster. They are most often below the su ...
of its own chord. A chord built upon the note E is an E chord of some
type (major, minor, diminished, etc.) Chords in a progression may also have more than three notes, such as in the case of a
seventh chord
A seventh chord is a chord consisting of a triad plus a note forming an interval of a seventh above the chord's root. When not otherwise specified, a "seventh chord" usually means a dominant seventh chord: a major triad together with a mi ...
(V
7 is particularly common) or an
extended chord. The harmonic
function
Function or functionality may refer to:
Computing
* Function key, a type of key on computer keyboards
* Function model, a structured representation of processes in a system
* Function object or functor or functionoid, a concept of object-oriente ...
of any particular chord depends on the context of the particular chord progression in which it is found.
[ Schoenberg, Arnold. ''Structural Functions of Harmony'', Norton, 1954, p. 1.]
Diatonic and chromatic chords
The diatonic harmonization of any
major scale
The major scale (or Ionian mode) is one of the most commonly used musical scales, especially in Western music. It is one of the diatonic scales. Like many musical scales, it is made up of seven notes: the eighth duplicates the first at double ...
results in three
major triads, which are based on the first, fourth, and fifth
scale degrees. The triads are referred to as the
tonic chord
Tonic may refer to:
* Tonic water, a drink traditionally containing quinine
* Soft drink, a carbonated beverage
*Tonic (physiology), the response of a muscle fiber or nerve ending typified by slow, continuous action
* Tonic syllable, the stressed ...
(in
Roman numeral analysis, symbolized by "I"), the
subdominant chord (IV), and the
dominant chord
In music, the dominant is the fifth scale degree () of the diatonic scale. It is called the ''dominant'' because it is second in importance to the first scale degree, the tonic. In the movable do solfège system, the dominant note is sung as "So ...
, (V), respectively. These three triads include, and therefore can
harmonize
In music, harmonization is the chordal accompaniment to a line or melody: "Using chords and melodies together, making harmony by stacking scale tones as triads".
A harmonized scale can be created by using each note of a musical scale as a ...
, every note of that scale. Many simple
traditional music
Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has ...
,
folk music
Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...
and
rock and roll
Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It originated from African-American music such as jazz, rhythm a ...
songs use only these three chord types (e.g.
The Troggs
The Troggs (originally called the Troglodytes) are an English garage rock band formed in Andover, Hampshire in May 1964. Their most famous songs include the US chart-topper " Wild Thing", " With a Girl Like You" and " Love Is All Around", all ...
' "
Wild Thing", which uses I, IV and V chords).
The same major scale also has three
minor chords, the
supertonic chord (ii),
mediant chord In music, the mediant (''Latin'': to be in the middle) is the third scale degree () of a diatonic scale, being the note halfway between the tonic and the dominant.Benward & Saker (2003), p.32. In the movable do solfège system, the mediant note ...
(iii), and
submediant chord (vi), respectively. These chords stand in the same relationship to one another (in the
relative minor key) as do the three major chords, so that they may be viewed as the first (i), fourth (iv) and fifth (v) degrees of the relative minor key. For example, the relative minor of C major is A minor, and in the key of A minor, the i, iv and v chords are A minor, D minor and E minor. In practice, in a minor key, the
third
Third or 3rd may refer to:
Numbers
* 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3
* , a fraction of one third
* Second#Sexagesimal divisions of calendar time and day, 1⁄60 of a ''second'', or 1⁄3600 of a ''minute''
Places
* 3rd Street (d ...
of the dominant chord is often raised by one semitone to form a major chord (or a
dominant seventh chord if the
seventh
Seventh is the ordinal form of the number seven.
Seventh may refer to:
* Seventh Amendment to the United States Constitution
* A fraction (mathematics), , equal to one of seven equal parts
Film and television
*"The Seventh", a second-season e ...
is added).
In addition, the seventh degree of the major scale (i.e. the
leading tone
In music theory, a leading-tone (also called a subsemitone, and a leading-note in the UK) is a note or pitch which resolves or "leads" to a note one semitone higher or lower, being a lower and upper leading-tone, respectively. Typically, ''the ...
) forms a
diminished chord
In music theory, a diminished triad (also known as the minor flatted fifth) is a triad consisting of two minor thirds above the root. It is a minor triad with a lowered ( flattened) fifth. When using chord symbols, it may be indicated by the ...
(vii).
A chord may also have
chromatic notes, that is, notes outside of the diatonic scale. Perhaps the most basic chromatic
alteration in simple folk songs is the raised fourth degree () that results when the
third
Third or 3rd may refer to:
Numbers
* 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3
* , a fraction of one third
* Second#Sexagesimal divisions of calendar time and day, 1⁄60 of a ''second'', or 1⁄3600 of a ''minute''
Places
* 3rd Street (d ...
of the ii chord is raised one
semitone
A semitone, also called a half step or a half tone, is the smallest musical interval commonly used in Western tonal music, and it is considered the most dissonant when sounded harmonically.
It is defined as the interval between two adjacent no ...
. Such a chord typically functions as the
secondary dominant of the V chord (V/V). In some instances, chromatic notes are introduced to
modulate to a new key. This in turn may lead to a
resolution
Resolution(s) may refer to:
Common meanings
* Resolution (debate), the statement which is debated in policy debate
* Resolution (law), a written motion adopted by a deliberative body
* New Year's resolution, a commitment that an individual mak ...
back to the original key later on, so that the entire sequence of chords helps create an extended
musical form and a sense of movement.
Progressions
Although there are many possible progressions, in practice, progressions are often limited to a few bars' lengths and certain progressions are favored above others. There is also a certain amount of fashion in which a chord progression is defined (e.g., the
12-bar blues progression) and may even help in defining an entire
genre
Genre () is any form or type of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially-agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other for ...
.
In western
classical notation, chords are numbered with Roman numerals. Other types of
chord notation
Musicians use various kinds of chord names and symbols in different contexts to represent musical chords. In most genres of popular music, including jazz, pop, and rock, a chord name and its corresponding symbol typically indicate one or more ...
have been devised, from
figured bass
Figured bass is musical notation in which numerals and symbols appear above or below (or next to) a bass note. The numerals and symbols (often accidentals) indicate intervals, chords, and non-chord tones that a musician playing piano, harpsi ...
to the
chord chart
A chord chart (or chart) is a form of musical notation that describes the basic harmonic and rhythmic information for a song or tune. It is the most common form of notation used by professional session musicians playing jazz or popular music. ...
. These usually allow or even require a certain amount of
improvisation.
Common progressions
Simple progressions
Diatonic scales such as the
major and minor
In Western music, the adjectives major and minor may describe a chord, scale, or key. As such, composition, movement, section, or phrase may be referred to by its key, including whether that key is major or minor.
Intervals
Some intervals ...
scales lend themselves particularly well to the construction of common chords because they contain many
perfect fifths. Such scales predominate in those regions where harmony is an essential part of music, as, for example, in the
common practice period
In European art music, the common-practice period is the era of the tonal system. Most of its features persisted from the mid-Baroque period through the Classical and Romantic periods, roughly from 1650 to 1900. There was much stylistic evoluti ...
of western classical music. In considering
Arab
The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...
and
Indian
Indian or Indians may refer to:
Peoples South Asia
* Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor
** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country
* South Asia ...
music, where diatonic scales are used, there are also available a number of non-diatonic scales, the music has no chord changes, remaining always upon the key-chord, an attribute which has also been observed in
hard rock,
hip hop,
funk,
disco,
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...
, etc.
Alternation between two chords may be thought of as the most basic chord progression. Many well-known pieces are built harmonically upon the mere repetition of two chords of the same scale.
For example, many of the more straightforward melodies in classical music consist entirely or mostly of alternation between the tonic (I) and the dominant (V, sometimes with an
added seventh), as do popular songs such as "
Achy Breaky Heart
Achy may refer to:
* Suffering from pain
Pain is a distressing feeling often caused by intense or damaging stimuli. The International Association for the Study of Pain defines pain as "an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associate ...
".
The Isley Brothers
The Isley Brothers ( ) are an American musical group originally from Cincinnati, Ohio, that began as a vocal trio consisting of brothers O'Kelly Isley Jr., Rudolph Isley and Ronald Isley in the 1950s. With a career spanning over seven decade ...
' "
Shout" uses I–vi throughout.
Three-chord progressions
Three-chord progression are more common since a melody may then dwell on any note of the scale. They are often presented as successions of four chords (as shown below), in order to produce a binary
harmonic rhythm
In music theory, harmonic rhythm, also known as harmonic tempo, is the rate at which the chords change (or progress) in a musical composition, in relation to the rate of notes. Thus a passage in common time with a stream of sixteenth notes and ch ...
, but then two of the four chords are the same.
*
*
*
*
Often the chords may be selected to
fit a pre-conceived melody, but just as often it is the progression itself that gives rise to the melody.
Similar progressions abound in
African popular music
African popular music (also styled Afropop, Afro-pop or Afro pop), like African traditional music, is vast and varied. Most contemporary genres of African popular music build on cross-pollination with western popular music. Many genres of p ...
. They may be varied by the addition of
sevenths (or other
scale degrees) to any chord or by substitution of the
relative minor
In music, relative keys are the major and minor scales that have the same key signatures (enharmonically equivalent), meaning that they share all the same notes but are arranged in a different order of whole steps and half steps. A pair of major an ...
of the IV chord to give, for example, I–ii–V. This sequence, using the
ii chord, is also used
cadentially in a common chord progression of
jazz harmony
Jazz harmony is the theory and practice of how chords are used in jazz music. Jazz bears certain similarities to other practices in the tradition of Western harmony, such as many chord progressions, and the incorporation of the major and min ...
, the so-called
ii–V–I turnaround.
Three-chord progressions provide the harmonic foundation of much African and American popular music, and they occur sectionally in many pieces of classical music (such as the opening bars of
Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classic ...
's
''Pastoral'' Symphony).
Where such a simple sequence does not represent the entire harmonic structure of a piece, it may readily be extended for greater variety. Frequently, an opening
phrase
In syntax and grammar, a phrase is a group of words or singular word acting as a grammatical unit. For instance, the English expression "the very happy squirrel" is a noun phrase which contains the adjective phrase "very happy". Phrases can consi ...
has the progression I–IV–V–V, which ends on an
unresolved dominant, may be "
answered" by a similar phrase that resolves back onto the
tonic chord
Tonic may refer to:
* Tonic water, a drink traditionally containing quinine
* Soft drink, a carbonated beverage
*Tonic (physiology), the response of a muscle fiber or nerve ending typified by slow, continuous action
* Tonic syllable, the stressed ...
, giving a structure of double the length:
:
Additionally, such a passage may be alternated with a different progression to give a simple
binary
Binary may refer to:
Science and technology Mathematics
* Binary number, a representation of numbers using only two digits (0 and 1)
* Binary function, a function that takes two arguments
* Binary operation, a mathematical operation that ta ...
or
ternary form
Ternary form, sometimes called song form, is a three-part musical form consisting of an opening section (A), a following section (B) and then a repetition of the first section (A). It is usually schematized as A–B–A. Prominent examples inclu ...
such as that of the popular
32-bar form (see
musical form).
Blues changes
The
12-bar blues and its many variants use an elongated, three-line form of the I–IV–V progression that has also generated countless hit records, including the most significant output of
rock and roll
Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It originated from African-American music such as jazz, rhythm a ...
ers such as
Chuck Berry
Charles Edward Anderson Berry (October 18, 1926 – March 18, 2017) was an American singer, songwriter and guitarist who pioneered rock and roll. Nicknamed the " Father of Rock and Roll", he refined and developed rhythm and blues into th ...
and
Little Richard. In its most elementary form (and there are many variants), the chord progression is
:
Blues progressions have also been subjected to densely chromatic elaboration, as in the
Bird blues.
Steedman (1984) proposed that a set of recursive
rewrite rules generate all
well-formed transformation
Transformation may refer to:
Science and mathematics
In biology and medicine
* Metamorphosis, the biological process of changing physical form after birth or hatching
* Malignant transformation, the process of cells becoming cancerous
* Tran ...
s of jazz, both basic blues chord changes and slightly modified sequences (such as the "
rhythm changes
Rhythm changes are a common 32- bar chord progression in jazz, originating as the chord progression for George Gershwin's "I Got Rhythm". The progression is in AABA form, with each A section based on repetitions of the ubiquitous I–vi–ii–V ...
"). Important transformations include:
* replacement of (or addition to) a chord with its dominant, subdominant or the
tritone substitution
The tritone substitution is a common chord substitution found in both jazz and classical music. Where jazz is concerned, it was the precursor to more complex substitution patterns like Coltrane changes. Tritone substitutions are sometimes used i ...
.
* use of chromatic passing chords.
* extensively applying the
ii–V–I turnaround.
* chord alterations such as minor chords, diminished sevenths, etc.
1950s progression
Another common way of extending the I–IV–V progression is by adding the chord of the sixth scale degree, giving the sequence I–vi–IV–V or
I–vi–ii–V, sometimes called the
50s progression
The 50s progression (also known as the "Heart and Soul" chords, the "Stand by Me" changes, the doo-wop progression and the "ice cream changes") is a chord progression and turnaround used in Western popular music. The progression, represented in Ro ...
or doo-wop progression.
This progression had been in use from the earliest days of classical music and then generated popular hits such as
Rodgers and Hart
Rodgers and Hart were an American songwriting partnership between composer Richard Rodgers (1902–1979) and the lyricist Lorenz Hart (1895–1943). They worked together on 28 stage musicals and more than 500 songs from 1919 until Hart' ...
's "
Blue Moon" (1934) and
Hoagy Carmichael
Hoagland Howard Carmichael (November 22, 1899 – December 27, 1981) was an American musician, composer, songwriter, actor and lawyer. Carmichael was one of the most successful Tin Pan Alley songwriters of the 1930s, and was among the first ...
's "
Heart and Soul" (1938).
Taken up into the pop mainstream, it continued to be used sectionally, as in the last part of The Beatles' "
Happiness Is a Warm Gun
"Happiness Is a Warm Gun" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1968 album ''The Beatles'' (also known as "the White Album"). It was written by John Lennon and credited to the Lennon–McCartney partnership. The song was co ...
".
Circle progressions
Introducing the ii chord into these progressions emphasises their appeal as constituting elementary forms of
circle progression
A circle is a shape consisting of all points in a plane that are at a given distance from a given point, the centre. Equivalently, it is the curve traced out by a point that moves in a plane so that its distance from a given point is const ...
. These, named for the
circle of fifths
In music theory, the circle of fifths is a way of organizing the 12 chromatic pitches as a sequence of perfect fifths. (This is strictly true in the standard 12-tone equal temperament system — using a different system requires one interval of ...
, consist of "adjacent
roots
A root is the part of a plant, generally underground, that anchors the plant body, and absorbs and stores water and nutrients.
Root or roots may also refer to:
Art, entertainment, and media
* ''The Root'' (magazine), an online magazine focusing ...
in ascending fourth or descending fifth relationship"—for instance, the sequence vi–ii–V–I ascends with each successive chord to one a fourth above the previous. Such a motion, based upon close harmonic relations, offers "undoubtedly the most common and the strongest of all harmonic progressions".
Short cyclical progressions may be derived by selecting a sequence of chords from the series completing a circle from the tonic through all seven diatonic chords:
I–IV–viio–iii–vi–ii–V–I
This type of progression was much used by classical composers, who introduced increasingly subtle inflections. Particularly, substitution of major for minor chords giving, for example, I–VI–II–V allowed a more sophisticated
chromaticism as well as the possibility of
modulation. These harmonic conventions were taken up by American popular entertainers, giving rise to many variations on those harmonic staples of early
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...
that have been dubbed the
ragtime progression and the
stomp progression In music and jazz harmony, the Stomp progression is an eight-bar chord progression named for its use in the "stomp" section of the composition " King Porter Stomp" (1923) by Jelly Roll Morton. The composition was later arranged by Fletcher Henderso ...
. All such progressions may be found used sectionally, as for example in the much-used "
rhythm changes
Rhythm changes are a common 32- bar chord progression in jazz, originating as the chord progression for George Gershwin's "I Got Rhythm". The progression is in AABA form, with each A section based on repetitions of the ubiquitous I–vi–ii–V ...
" of
George Gershwin
George Gershwin (; born Jacob Gershwine; September 26, 1898 – July 11, 1937) was an American composer and pianist whose compositions spanned popular, jazz and classical genres. Among his best-known works are the orchestral compositions ' ...
's "
I Got Rhythm
"I Got Rhythm" is a piece composed by George Gershwin with lyrics by Ira Gershwin and published in 1930, which became a jazz standard. Its chord progression, known as the " rhythm changes", is the foundation for many other popular jazz tunes suc ...
".
Harmonizing the scale
As well as the cyclical underpinning of chords, the ear tends to respond well to a linear thread; chords following the scale upwards or downwards. These are often referred to as step progressions
because they follow the steps of the scale, making the scale itself a
bassline. In the 17th century, descending bass lines found favour for
"divisions on the ground", so that
Pachelbel's canon
Pachelbel's Canon (also known as the Canon in D, P 37) is an accompanied canon by the German Baroque composer Johann Pachelbel. The canon was originally scored for three violins and basso continuo and paired with a gigue, known as ''Canon and ...
contains very similar harmonizations of the descending major scale.
At its simplest, this descending sequence may simply introduce an extra chord, either III or V, into the I–vi–IV–V type of sequence described above. This chord allows the harmonization of the
seventh degree, and so of the bass line I–VII–VI....
The finale measures of the first movement of
Ravel
Joseph Maurice Ravel (7 March 1875 – 28 December 1937) was a French composer, pianist and conductor. He is often associated with Impressionism along with his elder contemporary Claude Debussy, although both composers rejected the term. In ...
's
Piano Concerto in G feature the harmonization of a descending hybrid scale (
phrygo-major). In this special case, Ravel used a parallel series of major triads (G F E D C B A G).
Minor and modal progressions
Similar strategies to all the above, work equally well in
minor modes: there have been one-, two-, and three-minor-chord songs,
minor blues. A notable example of a descending minor chord progression is the four-chord
Andalusian cadence, i–VII–VI–V.
Folk and blues tunes frequently use the
Mixolydian
Mixolydian mode may refer to one of three things: the name applied to one of the ancient Greek ''harmoniai'' or ''tonoi'', based on a particular octave species or scale; one of the medieval church modes; or a modern musical mode or diatonic scal ...
scale, which has a flat seventh degree, altering the position of the three major chords to I–VII–IV. For example, if the major scale of C, which gives the three chords C, F and G on the first, fourth and fifth degrees, is played with G as the tonic, then the same chords will now appear on the first, fourth, and seventh degrees. A common chord progression with these chords is I-VII–IV-I, which also can be played as I-I-VII–IV or VII–IV-I-I.
The minor-third step from a minor key up to the
relative major encouraged ascending scale progressions, particularly based on an ascending
pentatonic scale
A pentatonic scale is a musical scale with five notes per octave, in contrast to the heptatonic scale, which has seven notes per octave (such as the major scale and minor scale).
Pentatonic scales were developed independently by many an ...
. Typical of the type is the sequence i–III–IV (or iv)–VI.
According to Tom Sutcliffe:
This came about partly from the similarity of the
blues scale
Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the African- ...
to
modal scales and partly from the characteristics of the guitar and the use of parallel major chords on the
pentatonic minor scale. With
barre chord
In music, a barre chord (also spelled bar chord) is a type of chord on a guitar or other stringed instrument played by using one finger to press down multiple strings across a single fret of the fingerboard (like a bar pressing down the string ...
s on guitar, the same chord shape can be moved up and down the neck without changing the fingering. This phenomenon is also linked to the rise in use of
power chords
A power chord (also fifth chord) is a colloquial name for a chord in guitar music, especially electric guitar, that consists of the root note and the fifth, as well as possibly octaves of those notes. Power chords are commonly played on ...
in various sub-genres of
rock music
Rock music is a broad genre of popular music that originated as " rock and roll" in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of different styles in the mid-1960s and later, particularly in the United States an ...
.
See also
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Chromatic mediant
In music, chromatic mediants are "altered mediant and submediant chords." A chromatic mediant relationship defined conservatively is a relationship between two sections and/or chords whose roots are related by a major third or minor third, and ...
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Diatonic function
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Ear training
Ear training or aural skills is a music theory study in which musicians learn to identify pitches, intervals, melody, chords, rhythms, solfeges, and other basic elements of music, solely by hearing. The application of this skill is analogous t ...
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List of chord progressions
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List of songs containing the 50s progression
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List of songs containing the I–V–vi–IV progression
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Montgomery-Ward bridge
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Passamezzo moderno
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Passing chord
In music, a passing chord is a chord that connects, or passes between, the notes of two diatonic chords. "Any chord that moves between one diatonic chord and another one nearby may be loosely termed a passing chord. A diatonic passing chord ma ...
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Root progression
In music theory, the concept of root is the idea that a chord can be represented and named by one of its notes. It is linked to harmonic thinking—the idea that vertical aggregates of notes can form a single unit, a chord. It is in this sense ...
s
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Sequence (music)
In music, a sequence is the restatement of a motif or longer melodic (or harmonic) passage at a higher or lower pitch in the same voice.Benward and Saker (2003). ''Music: In Theory and Practice, Vol. I'', p.111-12. Seventh Edition. . It is o ...
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Twelve-bar blues
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Traditional sub-Saharan African harmony
Traditional sub-Saharan African harmony is a music theory of harmony in sub-Saharan African music based on the principles of homophonic parallelism (chords based around a leading melody that follow its rhythm and contour), homophonic polyphony ...
References
Further reading
* Lloyd, Peter (2014). ''The Secret Life of Chords: A guide to chord progressions and composition''. Australian eBook Publisher. .
* Middleton, Richard (1990/2002). "Studying Popular Music". Philadelphia: Open University Press. .
* Nettles, Barrie & Graf, Richard (1997). ''The Chord Scale Theory and Jazz Harmony''. Advance Music, .
* R., Ken (2012). ''DOG EAR Tritone Substitution for Jazz Guitar'', Amazon Digital Services, Inc., ASIN: B008FRWNIW
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chord Progression
Harmony
Jazz terminology
Musical terminology