Why are chord progressions important

The smaller ones, like i, iv and v represent minor chords, and that small one at the end with the circle next to it represents a diminished chord.

The sequence of chords in minor keys has the same types of chords as majors but in a different order. The bar blues is built on the I, IV and V chords, and everyone from punk bands to jazz composers have used some form of the progression in their music.

This chord progression staple is built on the chords I—V—vi—IV. Depending on the type of music you make, your chord progressions can range from simple, repetitive and predictable to complex and even a bit erratic. Chords fit together in many different ways. You can make sense of them once you understand how the circle of fifths works. Giving yourself the time and freedom to explore putting chords together is the only way to write something that works.

Use the charts above to play some basic progressions, then start building your own based on what sounds good. Theory is great for explaining why music works the way it does, but nothing can substitute the incredible musical intuition of your own ears. This article shows you how to understand chord progressions that stay within one key, but music would be awfully boring if songwriters and composers used only one key per song. Once you understand the basics, try experimenting with key changes and chord variations on your own.

Skip to primary navigation Skip to main content. What are chord progressions? Roman numerals in music Because all the note-to-note relationships in music are permanent, you can use symbols as a time-saving shorthand to understand how chords work in your music. Your chord progression in A minor would look like this: Am—Bdim—C—Dm—Em—F—G The sequence of chords in minor keys has the same types of chords as majors but in a different order.

Popular chord progressions in music Chord progressions like the bar blues can be found all over popular music. How to use chord progressions in your songs: Getting started Depending on the type of music you make, your chord progressions can range from simple, repetitive and predictable to complex and even a bit erratic. It is worth investing in it and moving slowly!! In this case, the cadence usually takes the following form:. These formats did not come by chance, after all these chords in the two examples that we show belong to the major and minor keys of C, respectively.

Check them out in orange :. In addition, we added a flat ninth G7b9 , because this note b9 of G Ab, in this case is the minor sixth of C, which is present in C minor scale on the major scale, the sixth is major!

This alleviated a little the fact that the G7 chord is major and does not belong to the C minor key, as we just said. The difference here in relation to the previous format was to place a major 9th in the tonic. This alteration made the dominant change too it received an augmented 5th , as this enabled an interesting chromaticism between the D and D notes augmented 5th of G and major 9th of C.

So this format is widely used and well accepted. Well, we finished the first part of this study showing the typical chord progression formats that appear most in the songs. Now that you know the typical formats of chord progressions II — V — I, we will continue our approach by showing useful applications. In addition to being pleasing to the ear in any context, the chord progressions can be used to make tonality changes modulations.

Example: Imagine that a song is in A major and, for some reason, you want to change the tonality in the chorus to E major. The most automatic way to do this is to simply play the key of E major in the chorus directly, which would shock the listener probably in a negative way. We would therefore take the F m7 chord to serve as IIm7 of E.

This made this change in tonality much smoother. We were in A major, and the first progression chord II — V — I of E still belonged to the key of A so far, the listener does not know that the tonality will change. The B7 chord is no longer part of the A major key, so here the listener already sees the change. But, although this chord does not belong to the A key, its appearance in the song is not so sudden due to the F m7 that precedes it. Our ear accepts the II, V, I progression very well for its sensation, so our brain adapts quickly by understanding the logic, projecting a II, V, I progression to E instead of rejecting B7 for not belonging to the key of A.

When we play Emaj7, this chord is nothing more than an expected consequence of the progression, and is no longer an out of context chord. In addition to this application, a chord progression can be useful to give more body to a harmony. Consider the song below, which contains only 4 chords and is repeated continuously:.

We can use the last bar to add a chord that serves as a second degree to complete a II — V — I cadence. Thus, we are left with:.