Howard Morgen All About Chord Progressions 1 [PDF]

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ALL ABOUT CHORD PROGRESSIONS I Root Movement, Cycle-Based Patterns, Secondary Dominants, and Circled-Based Chromatic Patterns

by Jim Ferguson and Howard Morge Most forms of music, from complex Wagnerian opera to the lightest pop, have chord progression-one chord moving to another-at their core. If you've ever arranged a piece for sol guitar, transcribed a song off of a record, sat in with a band playing an unfamiliar tune, analyzed a difficult composition, or written an original work, then you've undoubtedly encountered chord patterns and have an idea of how tricky they can be and how valuable an understanding of them is. Statistically, any given harmony can move to an almost bewildering array of chords. For instance, even if you limit chord quality to four different general types-major, minor dominant, and diminished-and consider only root position (where the root of the cho is the lowest sounding note), any given chord can progress to one of 44 others (the ~_ remaining notes of the chromatic scale multiplied by four). But that's only the tip of the iceberg. Once you add inversions and other qualities to the equation, things become g -metrically more complex.

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The bottom line for why a composer, songwriter, or improviser uses a particular set of chor is that they sound good. One of the beauties of music is that practically any given chord c follow another one, which can make a piece interesting by adding an element of unpn dictability. However, certain progressions, sequences, series, or patterns-whatever Y' choose to call them- ..are pleasing because they sound familiar and are acceptable to the ear This is because they tend to occur over and over again. These common patterns can vary . length from as short as two consecutive chords to sequences lasting for an entire piece ( common 12-bar blues, for instance). Music theory is not a set of formulas for writing music, but instead it is a collection of musi cal practices observed to have been used over a long time frame and therefore considered be common practice. In practical terms, theory is a system for analyzing, studying, and co ifying musical techniques, which gives you an understanding of what has gone on in the p so that you can then use and manipulate these techniques for your own purposes. Central to music theory is harmony-the chord realm, encompassing harmonic sa-~: voice leading, inversion, progression, modulation, and other subjects. This chapter ~;;;.: ed to chord progression in terms of root movement, common chord sequences dete:=-:J: by the succession of root (tonic) notes. Keep in mind that although root movemen; ~ . sents only part of the harmonic landscape, knowledge of chord patterns is invaluable serious guitarist, regardless of style. Although melodies, voicings, inversions, and the location of harmonic sequences vary ~ song to song, progressions remain essentially the same. Rather than a seemingly long s of unrelated chords. a relatively complex song is often merely a series of short, logical terns that often temporarily pass through a variety of keys. Understanding the routes chords tend to move in and how those connections form larger patterns can help you

87 everything from improvisation to songwrtting to serious composition, learning new reperoire, accompanying other musicians, and understanding more advanced material such as substitution. A complete, in-depth study of progressions, encompassing everything from the classical commonpractice period to modern classical techniques to jazz to rock, is beyond the scope of this book. Progressions that are dependent upon specific voice-leading, modulation, voicing, substitution, and inversion can't be considered here in detail. But although this chaper is primarily limited to diatonic progressions and chromatic root movement within a single key center, it covers a wide range of useful patterns and chord movement tendencies . ~

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oman Numeral Symbolization: denttfytng progressions with symbols, such as C, F, G7, and so on, limits their discussion o only one key at a time. However, symbolizing sequences with Roman numerals not only nables you to transpose examples from key to key with great ease, but it also allows you to ee the exact function of each chord within a given pattern and to quickly recognize similar equences in other keys. (Although symbolization is not standardized and a variety of sysems are in use, they usually have many similarities and can be quickly deciphered). hords derived from notes of a given major or minor scale can be described as diatonic. Harmonized scales, where chords are constructed upon each scale degree using only notes estdent in-the scale, constitute the basic harmonies of a given key. The following example hows a C major scale harmonized. with diatonic root-position triads; observe that these hords are constructed of consecutive third intervals found within in the major scale, a charcteristic of conventional harmonic practice. The Roman numeral beneath each chord Indlates its position within the particular key, and the designation following certain numerals . dicates the quality of each chord. A Roman numeral by itself indicates a major chord, an " indicates a minor chord, and "dim" indicates a diminished chord; in subsequent examles, "7" by itself indicates a dominant 7th chord, "maj7" represents a major 7th chord, "aug" epresents an augmented chord, and "mn5" stands for a half-diminished chord. (Various ombtnations of these symbols are also employed.) ajor Scale Triads:

c

Dm

Em

F

a! ,

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I

TIm

v

~

Illm

G

Am

Bdim

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I

V

VIm

VlIdim

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I

IV

i ,

~... A

~

D

~ J

J

C7

J

J

J

A_

~. A.

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Jazz and other forms of music use diatonic 7th chords. Here is the C major scale harmonized in diatonic 7th chords with their coinciding symbols:

Diatonic Seventh Chords:

Cmaj7

Dm7

Em?

Fmaj?

G7

Am?

.g

Imaj7

(J

11m?

I

I

I

IIIm7

IVmaj?

V?

VIm?

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