Chord Progressions: An introduction with some theory & examples.

Chord Progressions

Chord Progressions are a succession of chords in a section of music. They are the foundation of harmony in Western music.

The Major Scale

Chords progressions use the chords that can be built from a scales notes. The Major scale is the most used scale in Western music. In the key of C, it’s 7 notes are C, D, E, F, G, A and B. The table below shows each of the Major scales notes in the key of C.

Building the chords of the Major scale

To help us understand chord progressions it helps if we know how to build the chords that are used to make these progressions.

Triads are 3 note chords. As such all triads are chords. However, all chords are not triads as we can have 2, 4, 5, 6 etc note chords. The major scale has 7 triads as one can be built on each of its 7 notes. The major scale has 3 types of triads. These are the major, minor and diminished triads.

Major chords are built by adding the intervals of a major 3rd and perfect 5th above the root note. Intervals are the distance between pitches. The root note is the starting note of the chord. The major 3rd interval is 4 semitones above the root note. In the key of C starting on the 1st note of the C major scale this is the distance from C to E. The perfect 5th interval is 7 semitones above the root note. This is the distance from C to G. We have now built a C major chord.

If we built chords on the F and G notes of the C major scale, we would build the F major and G major chords.

Minor chords are built by adding the intervals of a minor 3rd and perfect 5th above the root note. The minor 3rd interval is 3 semitones above the root note. In the key of C starting on the 2nd note of the Major scale this is the distance from D to F. The perfect 5th interval is 7 semitones above the root note. This is the distance from D to A. We have now built a D minor chord.

If we built chords on the E and A notes of the C major scale we would build the E minor and A minor chords.

Diminished chords are built by adding the intervals of a minor 3rd and diminished 5th above the root note. The minor 3rd interval is 3 semitones above the root note. In the key of C starting on the 7th note of the Major scale this is the distance from B to D. The diminished 5th interval is 6 semitones above the root note. This is the distance from B to F. We have now built a B diminished triad which is often known as the B minor flat 5th chord.

After building our triads we can see that each one has a root note, 3rd note and 5th note. We can also see that the formula for constructing triads is:

Major triad = Root + major 3rd + perfect 5th.

Minor triad = Root + minor 3rd + perfect 5th.

Diminished triad = Root + minor 3rd + diminished 5th.

The table below shows each note of the C major scale across the bottom of the table. The left-hand column shows all the intervals of the C major scale.

To build the G major triad we would use the above formula. We would select the root of G from the table. We would then follow the column upwards from the G note and select the Major 3rd note (B) and the Perfect 5th (D).

Having built the triads of the C major scale we can see that the major scale has 3 major chords, 3 minor chords and a minor chord with a flat fifth. We will leave the minor chord with the flat fifth for now as this is rarely used compared to its other chords.

The triads usually have some notes doubled to form 4, 5 or 6 note chords.

Its major chords are known as its primary chords and are its most important chords. In the key of C major these chords are C major, F major and G major (usually shortened to C, F and G).

Its minor chords are known as its secondary chords. In the key of C major these are D minor, E minor and A minor (usually shortened to Dm, Em and Am).

The table below shows the basic chords of the C major scale.

Scale degree names

The major scales notes are also named using Scale degree names. The table below shows the Scale degree name for each note of the C major scale. We can use these names to talk about the notes of a scale in general.

The major scales chords can also be named using Scale degree names. The table below shows the Scale degree name for each chord of the C major scale.

We can use these names to talk about chord progressions in general. The major scales 3 primary chords are the Tonic, Subdominant and Dominant chords. Its 3 secondary chords are the Supertonic, Mediant and Submediant chords.

Roman Numerals

As well as using symbols such as C, Am, G etc to represent chord progressions we can also use Roman Numerals. This makes it easier to see the functions of a chord progression’s chords, to transpose chord progressions to other keys and to see and recognize similar chord progressions in other keys.

Roman numerals represent the chord whose root note is that scale degree. For example, “V” represents the chord built on the fifth degree of a scale. (i.e., the Dominant chord).

Major chords are represented with upper case roman numerals and minor chords with lower case roman numerals.

The table below shows how Roman Numerals represent the chords of the C major scale.

How to start a chord progression:

Chord progressions usually, but not always, start on the Tonic chord of the scale, known as the home chord. In the key of C major this would be the C major chord.

Chord progression examples.

All these examples all start on the Tonic chord (I). In a later article I’ll show some examples of chord progressions that start on chords other than the tonic.

The first progression only uses the Tonic chord. Although not strictly a chord progression on its own as it does not progress to a new chord it is still useful.

The next 5 sets of examples all use 2 chords, are 4 bars long with 1 chord per bar.

Tonic(I) and Dominant (V) progressions.

Tonic (I) and Subdominant (IV) progressions.

Tonic (I) and Supertonic (ii) progressions.

Tonic (I) and Mediant (iii) progressions.

Tonic (I) and Submediant (vi) progressions.

Try using the chord progressions in this article to form longer sections of music such as verse’s or chorus’s for potential songs.

Try using Roman Numerals to play them in different keys.

What we covered in this article.

• What chord progressions are.
• What the major scale is (in the key of C major).
• How we can build the basic chords (triads) of the major scale.
• Understand what intervals are in music.
• List the basic chords (triads) of the C major scale.
• Understand what the scale degree names are for both the 7 notes and 7 triads of the C major scale.
• Understand how using Roman Numerals to symbolize the chords of the major scale can help us see the bigger picture.
• What is the most popular chord to use to start a chord progression on.
• Some examples of chord progressions along with their roman numeral representations.