Music theory / harmony
Chord progressions: how they work
A progression is a sequence of chords that creates expectation and then satisfies or frustrates it. A small number of patterns account for most of the music you have ever heard, and they are all built from the same seven chords.
If chords are new to you, read music theory basics first for how triads are built. This page assumes you know that a major key contains seven chords and starts from there.
The seven chords, and their jobs
| Numeral | In C major | Function | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|
| I | C | Tonic | Home. Stable. Where phrases resolve. |
| ii | Dm | Predominant | Sets up the dominant. |
| iii | Em | Tonic-ish | Ambiguous. Least used of the seven. |
| IV | F | Predominant | Departure from home. Warm, open. |
| V | G | Dominant | Maximum tension. Pulls hard to I. |
| vi | Am | Tonic substitute | Home, but shaded minor. |
| vii° | B° | Dominant | Rare in root position. Usually a V7 without its root. |
That function column is the important one. Progressions are not random chord sequences; they are journeys through three functional zones: tonic, then predominant, then dominant, then back to tonic. Almost every progression you know is a route through that cycle.
Why V pulls so hard
The V chord in C major is G–B–D. The B is the leading tone, a semitone below the tonic, and semitone motion is the strongest melodic pull in tonal music. Add the seventh to make G7 and you get an F as well, a semitone above E, pulling downward. Two semitone tensions resolving in opposite directions is why the dominant seventh sounds so unfinished on its own.
That resolution is what a cadence is, and cadences are how phrases punctuate.
The progressions worth knowing
| Numerals | In C | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| I–V–vi–IV | C–G–Am–F | The dominant pop progression of the last thirty years. |
| I–vi–IV–V | C–Am–F–G | Doo-wop. Same chords, different order, entirely different feel. |
| ii–V–I | Dm–G–C | The core of jazz. A clean run through the functional cycle. |
| I–IV–V | C–F–G | Blues, folk, early rock. See the 12-bar blues. |
| I–bVII–IV | C–B♭–F | Borrowed flat-7. Rock. See modal mixture. |
| vi–IV–I–V | Am–F–C–G | Row one rotated to start on the minor. |
Rows one and six contain identical chords. What changes is which one the phrase starts and ends on, and that alone shifts the emotional weight completely. Progressions are about order and emphasis, not ingredients.
Two devices that add colour
- Secondary dominants. Borrow the V of a chord that is not the tonic. V/V in C major is D major, which pulls to G much harder than Dm would.
- Modal mixture. Take a chord from the parallel minor. A sudden F minor in C major is one of the most reliably affecting moves in popular music.
Harmonic function organises chords into equivalence classes by their behaviour rather than their content. Chords sharing a function are substitutable within a progression, which is why vi can stand for I and why ii and IV are interchangeable in a great many contexts.
Kostka & Payne, Tonal Harmony, 8th ed.
Hear them, do not just read them
Open the chord progression generator and play each row above in three different keys. Then try altering one chord at a time and listening to what changes. Reading a progression teaches you its name; playing it teaches you its sound, and only the second one is any use when you are writing or transcribing.
For minor keys, see the minor chord progression chart. For a printable reference in all twelve keys, there is a free chord progression chart PDF.
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