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Chord Progressions
Music is composed of several elements: melody, timing, rhythm, lyric, and harmony. This lesson will deal with
harmony, in the form of chord progressions. Just from looking at the term “chord progression” one can get a pretty
good idea of what a chord progression is: a series of chords played to harmonize with the melody of a song. There
is no way you have to progress to harmonize, it is entirely dependent on the song; however, there are some chord
progression which are both common and mostly fool-proof.
Perhaps the most basic of all chord progressions is the I-IV (1-4) progression. With the I being the tonic chord
(most any chord will do) and the IV being, obviously, the IV chord above that tonic. E-A, C-F, G-C are all common
examples of this progression, although this progression tends to be boring without a really amazing melody.
Another common but more complex (and, as such, more interesting) chord progression is the circle of fifths. The
circle of fifths is a musical tool showing how all of the 12 keys are related. It is based on a simple principle:
in the clockwise direction, each new key is the dominant (V) of the previous key. Therefore, in the other direction,
each key is the sub-dominant (IV) of the previous key. The outside track is the circle of fifths for major scales,
and the inner track contains the appropriate minor keys for the major keys listed. Here it is:
Another common chord progression in jazz, the II-V-I progression is actually the harmonic building block of many
other progressions.
The chords are built using either a major scale or a minor scale resulting in either a Major II-V-I or a Minor II-V-I.
Major II-V-I
For the example, I shall use the C major scale.
Notes in C Major:
C D E F G A B C
Next, we must build the chord. Since we're doing jazz, most chords are 4-part chords (triads + some form of 7th usually).
We use the I, III, V, and VII notes from the appropriate mode of the C scale. For the II chord, the appropriate mode
would be D Dorian. Using the notes from C, but using D as a root, we arrive at our first chord:
D F A C - Also known as a D minor 7th chord.
Next, we would be interested in making the V chord. Using the above process, we arrive at:
G B D F - Also known as G dominant seventh.
Finally, the I chord, is
C E G B - Also known as C Major 7.
The same thing is done for a minor progression; however, the minor C scale would be substituted in for the major one
to arrive at the chords.
There are many other progressions you can use, depending on the sound you want and the song you are harmonizing with.
Learned this material? Take the quiz and finalize it!.
Continue to Lesson 3
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