Chord Progressions .....................................................................................
One way to easily build tension and release in your music is to follow some of
the simple rules already laid out for you hundreds of years ago by people like
Christiaan Huygens and Nicola Vicentino. According to them — and the thou-
sands of musicians who followed — certain sequences of chords, called chord
progressions, sound nicer than others. Over time, a consensus about the
“rules” of chord progressions has come about.In the following sections, capital Roman numerals indicate major chords, and
lowercase Roman numerals stand for minor chords. The numeral itself stands
for the note on the major scale the chord is built on. For example, in C major,
the I would be a C major chord, the ii would be D minor, the iii would be E
minor, and so on. The ”symbol indicates a diminished chord, and the + symbol
is used for augmented chords.“Rules” for major chord progressions .............................................
I chords can appear anywhere in a progression.
ii chords lead to I, V, or vii”chords.iii chords lead to I, ii, IV, or vi chords.
IV chords lead to I, ii, iii, V, or vii”chords.V chords lead to I or vi chords.
vi chords lead to I, ii, iii, IV, or V chords.vii”chords lead to I or iii chords.“Rules” for minor chord progressions .............................................
i chords can appear anywhere in a progression.ii”or ii chords lead to i, iii, V, v, vii”, or VII chords.
III or III+ chords lead to i, iv, IV, VI, #vi”, vii”, or VI chords.iv or IV chords lead to i, V, v, vii”, or VII chords.
V or v chords lead to i, VI, or #vi”chords.VI or #vi”chords lead to i, III, III+, iv, IV, V, v, vii”, or VII chords.
vii”or VII chords lead to the i chord.Chapter 10: Composing with Chords 113