Chord Progressions

Home, the dominant, a moment of shade on the relative minor, then IV to open things back up. The loop returns to I from IV, a soft landing with no leading tone, so it can turn over all day.

The axis chords, started on the minor one. Opening on vi makes the loop feel like a minor key, and the major I arrives in the third bar as a lift instead of as home.

Starting on IV means the loop opens in mid-air, and I passes by in bar two without sounding like a landing. V then resolves to vi instead of I, leaving a question that the next IV answers.

The roots drop by thirds through the first three chords, and each new chord keeps two notes of the one before, so the changes melt into each other. Then V steps up from IV and pushes firmly back to I.

IV and V build up as if heading for I, but the harmony slips to iii instead, which falls a fifth to vi. The tonic chord never appears, and that is where the bittersweet, always-moving feel comes from.

The Royal Road in seventh chords, extended so the roots keep falling in fifths from iii until the tonic finally lands in bar seven. The closing I7 adds a flat seventh that leans back into the opening IV.

Begins on the relative minor and ends with a plain IV – V – I cadence, so every pass through the loop travels from shadow to a clear arrival. The bass climbs a step from IV to V on the way.

Up through the three primary chords and back down again. V never resolves straight to I; it falls back through IV first, which keeps the loop rolling instead of stopping at a cadence.

The tonic keeps coming back: out to IV and home, then out to V, which hangs at the end of the line until the repeat resolves it. Easy to sing over because I is never more than a bar away.

I and IV make a bright start, then vi darkens the third bar before V turns it around. With the minor chord late and V last, each repeat lands back on I with a full V – I close.

The iii chord shares two notes with I, so the first change is gentle. From there the bass walks up by step through IV to the dominant, and the loop turns over with a full V – I.

Like the axis progression, but ii takes the place of vi. The ii chord shares two notes with the IV that follows, so the second half of the loop is one long subdominant color sinking gently back to I.

IV and ii are two shades of the same subdominant color and share two notes, so bars two and three feel like one long step away from home. V then closes the loop with the strongest pull back to I.

The roots fall a fourth and rise a step, three times over, which lets a scale line descend through the whole phrase above them. IV – V at the end sets up the repeat.

The chords are plain, but thirds and fifths in the bass let it step down the scale one note per bar, from the tonic all the way to the second degree. That steady downward walk is what makes it sound stately.

Two chords per bar while the bass walks down the scale under them, then a full bar each of IV and V. The passing bass notes turn a plain I – vi – IV into one long slide down to the root of IV.

The axis progression, softened: V sits on its third so the bass steps down from I to vi, and the fifth of the key rings through all four chords, as a fifth, a root, a seventh and a ninth in turn.

A I – vi – ii – V where the V is a IV chord over the dominant bass note: the bass plays the dominant, but the chord on top has no leading tone. The pull home is still there, only softer and wider.

Two major sevenths a fourth apart with two notes in common. With no dominant chord anywhere, nothing pulls; the harmony just drifts from one to the other and back.

Three chords climbing by step. IV and V promise the major tonic, but the top of the climb is the relative minor, and the loop stays there for two bars before starting again.

The bass holds the tonic throughout while the chords above move through I, IV and V. The V chord rubs against the pedal, with notes a step either side of it, and the friction releases when the harmony settles back on I.

One chord in three colors: the third lifts to the fourth and falls back, then dips to the second. Root and fifth never move, so all the motion is a single inner voice.

The iv chord is borrowed from the parallel minor. Its lowered third continues a line that falls by half steps through IV, iv and back to I, and that one sinking voice carries the wistful feeling.

Two major chords borrowed from the parallel minor climb by whole steps into the tonic. There is no leading tone, so the arrival sounds broad and triumphant instead of neatly resolved.

After I and V, the ♭VII chord comes from outside the key and cancels the leading tone just heard in V. From there the roots fall by fourths, ♭VII – IV – I, a double plagal slide back home.

The major II brings in the raised fourth degree, a note from outside the key that brightens the second bar. That note then slides down by half steps as the chords move through IV and back to I.

III7 is the dominant of vi. Its raised third is the only note outside the key, and it leans up a half step into the root of vi, so the minor chord arrives with real weight instead of just appearing.

One inner voice ties these four chords together: it rises by half steps through the major III to IV, then falls back through the borrowed iv and reaches its starting note again when the loop restarts.

The bass climbs by step and then by half steps from IV up to vi. The diminished chord fills the gap between V and vi and acts as a leading-tone chord to vi, so the top of the climb feels like a destination.

The bass drops to the flat seventh and keeps sliding by half steps down to the fifth, while the chords above go from I7 to IV to a borrowed iv. It stops under the tonic chord, ready for the closing V – I.

Starts on IV, so it never feels fully settled. III7 pulls into vi, then v7 – I7 is a ii – V aimed straight back at the IV that opens the loop.

Four seventh chords walk straight down the scale from IV to I, every voice moving one step in parallel. No dominant appears, so the arrival on I is a gentle settling, not a cadence.

The harmony rocks up and down three neighboring scale chords and never touches the tonic. With no I and no V the ear can tell the key but is never told to land, so the loop floats.

The bass steps down four notes from the tonic to the dominant. The last chord is major, and its raised third contradicts the flat seventh heard two bars earlier; that clash is the Spanish color.

Pure natural minor with no leading tone. The harmony steps down two whole steps and back up again, so it never cadences; it circles the tonic like a tide going out and coming in.

The axis chords heard from the minor side. Three of the four are major, and the roots rise a fifth twice after the first change, which is why a loop that starts on a minor chord can sound this anthemic.

Two major chords climb by whole steps and land on the minor tonic, which then holds for two bars. All three chords belong to natural minor, so the lift comes purely from the rising bass.

♭VI and iv are both subdominant colors, so the middle of the loop keeps sinking. Then the major V arrives with the leading tone, a half step under the tonic, and pulls the phrase back up to it.

Minor tonic and subdominant, but a major dominant seventh. Its leading tone, a half step below the tonic, pulls home far harder than the natural-minor v would, and the phrase closes with a firm full stop.

Two minor sevenths a fourth apart with two notes in common. With no dominant in sight the mood stays where it is; the only real movement is the bass swinging between two roots.

The minor tonic and the major chord a third below it share two notes. Only one voice moves, up a half step and back, a sigh over a bass that drops and returns.

The bass sinks by half steps from the tonic to the dominant, six notes in a row, with a plain triad over each one. First-inversion chords supply the chromatic steps that the minor scale does not have.

An old ground-bass pattern. It starts by rocking between the minor tonic and its major dominant, opens out through ♭VII to the relative major in the middle, then returns and stops on V to restart.

The roots fall by fifths through all seven chords of the key. The middle bars pass through the relative major and brighten, then the diminished ii and the major V steer back to the minor tonic.

Two minor triads a major third apart with a single note in common. The other voices shift by half steps in opposite directions, which gives the cold, uncanny slide between them.

Minor ninths on i and iv with a soft major seventh on ♭VI between them. The augmented dominant in the last bar keeps the minor third of the key on top of a V7 shell, so the turnaround stays hazy.

It starts minor, but every chord after the first is major, and the roots rise a fifth twice. The major IV at the end carries the raised sixth of Dorian, the note that keeps the loop from sounding sad.

A major tonic and the major chord a whole step below it. The flat seventh replaces the leading tone, so the tonic never gets pushed into; the two chords just rock back and forth with an open, drone-like feel.

From ♭VII the roots fall a fourth to IV and a fourth again to I: two plagal moves in a row. No chord contains the leading tone, so the return home is relaxed and wide instead of tight.

A major triad a whole step above the tonic, floating over a held tonic in the bass. It brings in the raised fourth of Lydian, and with no natural fourth anywhere nothing pulls downward, so the sound hovers.

A major chord sits a half step above the minor tonic and leans on it from close range. Its root, the flat second, is the note that makes the mode Phrygian, and the whole progression is that one half step rocked back and forth.

Every root drops a fifth to the next, from vi all the way to I. Each chord behaves like a soft dominant of the one after it, which is why the line sounds inevitable from start to finish.

The tonic chord barely changes for three bars while one voice walks down by half steps from the root, on through IV and the borrowed iv, until it reaches the fifth. A ii – V at the end turns the phrase around.

Over a held tonic chord the fifth creeps upward by half steps until the chord has become a dominant seventh that tips into IV. The borrowed iv then lets the line sink back down.

VI7 replaces the usual vi, and its raised third pushes up a half step into the root of ii. From there the roots fall in fifths, VI – ii – V – I, until the loop is home.

Four dominant sevenths in a row, each the dominant of the next, with roots falling in fifths. It starts far from the key and works its way back, so the pull toward the tonic grows with every bar.

The diminished chord is a stepping stone: the bass moves up by half steps from I to ii, and the chord itself is a VI7 with a flat ninth and no root, so it leans into ii the same way.

The bass climbs by half steps from the third of the key to the fifth. The diminished chord is the passing step that makes the tonic over its fifth sound like an arrival, just before the real V – I cadence.

Roots fall in fifths through six chords, all the way to the tonic. The first two are a minor ii – V aimed at vi, so the phrase dips into the relative minor before an ordinary ii – V – I brings it home.

Root-and-fifth chords with no thirds, so nothing says major or minor outright. The three roots are the first three notes of the minor pentatonic scale, which is where the bluesy grit comes from.

One minor chord held for four bars while a single voice walks down by half steps from the root to the sixth. The harmony stands still; the creeping line is the whole event.

A minor tonic with a major IV. The third of the IV chord is the raised sixth that separates Dorian from plain minor, and it gives the vamp a lighter, funkier edge than i – iv would have.

Three neighboring seventh chords, up the scale and back. The ii chord is a plain minor seventh here (natural minor would make it half-diminished), and its fifth is the raised sixth that marks the mode as Dorian.

Roots fall by fifths while the seventh of each chord drops a half step to become the third of the next. Those sliding guide tones, twice in a row, are the sound of jazz resolution.

The ii chord has a flattened fifth, and the dominant keeps the same note as its flat ninth. That note, the flat sixth of the key, hangs over both chords and finally falls a half step when the minor tonic arrives.

Two chords per bar, cycling I – vi – ii – V twice. The second time iii stands in for I and a dominant VI7 for vi, so the line keeps moving through the fifths without ever stopping on the tonic.

♭II7 stands in for V7. The two chords contain the same tritone, so the pull toward the tonic is intact, but the bass now slides down by half steps from ii to I.

A ii – V borrowed from the parallel minor that resolves up a whole step into I instead of down a fifth. ♭VII7 has no leading tone, so the tonic is approached from the side and the arrival is soft.

A I – vi – ii – V with each of the last three chords swapped for the one a tritone away. The roots travel in fifths through distant flat-side chords, and the last one drops a half step back to the tonic.

A chain of ii – V pairs steps down from the tonic, each one starting where the last was headed, until it reaches IV in bar five. A backdoor ii – V and two more pairs then work back to the top.

Two ii – V – I shapes back to back: the first lands on the relative major and the second on the minor tonic. The roots fall in fifths the whole way, so the turn from bright to dark sounds seamless.

Three four-bar lines: stay on I, go to IV and come back, then V – IV – I and a V to restart. Every chord is a dominant seventh, even the tonic, so nothing fully settles and the form keeps rolling.

The standard 12 bars with one change: IV appears already in bar two and drops straight back to I. That early move breaks up the long opening stretch of tonic and gives the first line more shape.

A compressed blues: V arrives in the second bar and falls to IV for two bars, then I and V answer in the second line. The last two bars squeeze I – IV – I – V into a quick turnaround.

The 12-bar shape with a minor tonic and subdominant. In bar nine the dominant is delayed by ♭VI7, a seventh chord a half step above it that slides down into V7.

The 12-bar blues with jazz connections added: a ii – V into the IV chord, a diminished passing chord on the way back from it, and a ii – V – I in place of the usual V – IV – I last line.

II7 lifts the harmony with a raised fourth from outside the key, then relaxes into the ordinary ii. In place of the dominant comes ♭II7, a half step above home, so the bass sinks by half steps to the tonic.

Minor ninths on i and iv keep the first two bars soft and open. The half-diminished ii and the dominant with a flat ninth share the flat sixth of the key, which tightens the last two bars before the loop falls back to i.

Every chord is a major seventh, so the color stays constant while the roots wander through flat-side chords borrowed from parallel minor modes. The last one sits a half step above home and melts down into it.

A ii – V – I with every chord extended, so the resolution is cushioned by ninths and a thirteenth. The altered VI7 in the last bar is the dominant of ii and tips the loop back to its start.