Revision as of 11:53, 20 January 2015

This page contains common chord progressions you could expect to find in various pieces.

As you may expect, slight discrepancies in ordering, as well as using 7th chords or extended chords in place of a triad can blow up the number of permutations possible to an extremely large number. For brevity, I'm trying to avoid writing any extensions, unless they are necessary for the progression. For example, since V7 is a common extension of the V chord, I would not list every progression that uses V twice, once with V and once with V7.

I am also focusing on harmony, not rhythm. For example, a simple I - IV - V - I progression could be written:

• I - I - IV - V - I
• I - IV - IV - V - I
• I - IV - V - V - I

which shows the duration of each chord. However, this leads to infinite possibilities, yet the harmonic movement is the same. Thus, only chord changes are shown, and you can apply whatever rhythm/duration you like.

Also, the ordering of chords in terms of starting and stopping can get large as well. When repeating any of these progressions, the harmony follows the same pattern of I - IV - V - I:

• I - IV - V
• IV - V - I
• I - IV - V - I

If the progression can be slightly altered (such as leaving off the final I chord to create a half cadence), this will be noted on that line, as follows:

• I - IV - V - I (leave off final I chord for a half cadence)

Finally, I try to write out common substitute chords as separate progressions (vii° in place of V, vi in place of IV, etc.); however, I'm not trying to list out every possible permutation of substitutes, just the more common ones. Example:

• I - IV - V - I
• I - vi - V - I
• I - ii - V - I
• I - IV - vii° - I

Diatonic

Circle Progression

Major Key

• I - IV - vii° - iii - vi - ii - V - I

Minor Key

• i - iv - VII - III - VI - ii° - v - i

Harmonic Minor Key

• i - iv - vii° - III+ - VI - ii° - V - i

3 Chord Progressions

Major Key

• I - IV - V
• I - V - IV

4 Chord Progressions

• I - V - vi - IV
• I - IV - ii - V
• I - ii - V - IV

Non-Diatonic

Borrowed Chords

Major Key

IV - ♭III - I I - ♭VII - ♭VI - ♭VII I - ♭VII - IV - ♭VII