A minor chord progressions, worked chord by chord

In A natural minor the seven diatonic chords are: Am, Bdim, C, Dm, Em, F, G. In Roman numerals: i ii° III iv v VI VII. Uppercase means major, lowercase means minor, the ring after ii means diminished.

The natural-minor v: why the dominant sounds soft

The v chord (E minor: E-G-B) is minor because A natural minor uses G natural, not G sharp. That gives a soft, modal cadence when v resolves to i. Compare that to A major’s I-V-I which uses G sharp and has a strong pull. The natural-minor v sounds honest but weak.

Harmonic minor and the raised seventh

Harmonic minor raises the seventh degree to restore the leading-tone pull. In A harmonic minor: A B C D E F G#. Now the V chord becomes E major (E-G#-B), and V-i is a strong cadence.

Workhorse minor progressions

• i-VI-III-VII in A minor: Am-F-C-G. The Zombie shape. Sad but resolved.
• i-iv-V-i in A harmonic minor: Am-Dm-E-Am. The classical minor cadence.
• i-VII-VI-V in A minor: Am-G-F-E. The descending-bass line. Stairway to Heaven opens on a variation.
• i-V-i in A harmonic minor: Am-E-Am. The two-chord shell, still tonal.

Natural, harmonic, melodic: pick one at a time

Adult learners try to learn all three minor scales at once and get confused. Order: natural minor first (relative minor of C, no sharps, easy shape). Then harmonic minor (raise the seventh, get the classical cadence). Then melodic minor (raise sixth and seventh going up, lower them going down; used in classical melody writing).

Play it in the tool

Open the chord progression generator, set the key to A minor, switch between natural and harmonic presets to hear the difference.