CHORD PROGRESSIONS

What are they and how will they

help you?

Chord Progression
v
Harmonic Progression
Any two or more chords heard in
succession can be called a harmonic
progression
Successions of chords that have become
a regular, standard part of our harmonic
vocabulary can be called chord
progressions

How can chord progressions help?

By knowing them you can:

Choose chords to harmonise chorales
Understand baroque counterpoint
Choose chords for middle eights (of 32
bar pop songs)
Compose and analyse music
Understand your performance pieces
better

Functional Harmony
Chord progressions within functional
harmony serves a purpose - usually to
establish and maintain a key

3 main groups of chords

Tonic Group: I (sometimes VI). Chord I has the
tonic in its root and is normally the only chord
considered stable enough for a whole piece to
end on.
Dominant Group: V, V7 & VII (normally used as
VIIb). All 3 chords contain note 7; the leading
note so called as it wants to lead back/rise up
to the upper tonic and tonic group of chords.
Subdominant Group: IV, II & II7. Again these
chords have a close relationship with each other.

Chords I and V
Chords I & V (or V7) are the two chords best able to
establish and maintain key, and much music
(particularly C18th) makes extensive use of them.
Composers often move from I to V7 (and their
inversions) and back again.
Think of these chords as Home & Away I invites a
journey away & V signals a need to return home.
The progression V-I is the strongest of all
progressions.
It forms a perfect cadence and is the most widely
used type of cadence in functional harmony.

Approaching a Perfect Cadence

Many phrases that end with a perfect
cadence use the following progression:
A chord from the subdominant group
A chord from the dominant group
(usually V or V7)
Chord I from the tonic group.

The Cadential 6/4

A perfect cadence can also be approached from a chord
Ic.
This is a common approach.
It is similar to a chord V as it shares the same bass note.
It is often used as an approach chord in between the
subdominant group and the actual perfect cadence e.g
IV-Ic-V7-I
When the progression produces intervals of a 6th falling
to a 5th, and a 4th falling to a 3rd it is known as a 6/4 5/3
movement and is the essence of the IC-V progression.
When Ic is used in this cadential progression it is often
called the cadential 6/4.

Interrupted Cadences
Interrupted cadences are sometimes used as a
delaying tactic.
To create an interrupted cadence you can replace
chord I in a perfect cadence with any other chord.
Chord VI is the most common chord to use, but any
chord that creates an effective surprise is possible.
In a minor key, chord VI is major which makes the
effect more arresting.
Chord VI cannot replace I at the start or end of a
piece as it does not help to establish the key.

Imperfect Cadences
An imperfect cadence is formed by ending the
phrase on a chord V.
It is commonly approached from a chord I, but
other progressions may be II-V, IIb-V & II7b-V.
I-V does not have to restrict itself to cadences
and can be used almost anywhere.
Chord V in an imperfect cadence is often
preceded by a cadential 6/4, particularly in
music from the classical period.

Plagal Cadences
A plagal cadence is formed by using chords IV-I.
It is sometimes referred to as the amen
cadence as it was common to sing amen to this
cadence years ago in church hymns.
IV is widely used before & after chord I
A plagal cadence can end a section or piece
because its final chord is I, but it is used far less
frequently than a perfect cadence (it has a
weaker effect).

SUMMARY
Perfect & Imperfect cadences are the most
frequently used.
PERFECT:
V(7)-I
IMPERFECT:
any chordV (often IIb(7)V
INTERRUPTED:
V(7)any chord except I
(often V(7)VI)
PLAGAL:
IV-I