help w/ chord progressions

[GuitarBattler]

Been working pretty hard on my chord progressions and learning a lot! Now I'm finding out that all progressions - even complex ones - need a harmonic goal. This provides a sense that the progression is heading in some direction.

What are some good ways to shorten up a more complex/longer chord progression, or provide harmonic mini-goals throughout the progression?

[BenTunessence]

Hey GuitarBattler!

You may have already learned this if you've been working a lot on progressions, but a lot of chord progressions move based on intervals of 4ths or 5ths (between the roots of the chords in the progression).

For example, if you start on the I chord in your key and move down in 5ths through the chords in that key, you get this progression:

I   IV   vii(dim)   iii   vi   ii   V   I

If you play through the chords of your key in that order, they'll already have a sense of momentum to them.

You can create "wormholes" between chords in this large progression that share two out of three notes.  The (IV) chord and the (ii) chord share two notes, for example, so you can skip from IV to ii (I  IV  ii  V  I)  or replace one for the other (I  ii  V  I), (I  IV  V  I).  It'll still have the same sense of forward momentum since the two chords in the wormhole sort of sound the same.

 

Another idea is to use secondary dominants.  A dominant chord is the V chord of the key, often turned into a dominant 7 chord.  Going from (V7) to (I) definitely has a strong pull.  But you can do this same move to any chord in the key that you want to create a pull toward. 

Let's say you're in the key of G major and want to create some pull toward the (ii) chord, Am.  Well, pretend for a second that Am is the (i) and take the (V7) of A to create that pull.  That would be an E7 chord.  Toss this into your chord progression before Am and it'll create a cool sense of forward momentum.

For example:

(G  C  E7  Am  D  G)

[Tricky]

Cool post BenTunessence.

I've recently been reading / working through a book on Harmony and came across the same concepts.

This is a probably a silly question because I believe I actually understand this concept and can apply it, but I'll ask out of curiosity anyway:

For some reason I have trouble in my mind reconciling the sentence "down in 5ths", which the text I am reading also uses. (I note you also said "intervals of 4ths or 5ths").

Why is movement of I - IV thought of as "down a fifth"? I realise that this interval can be thought of as either a 4th or a 5th, but, in the context of the tonic or I - would you not be thinking "up a 4th"?

Like I said, probably just a stupid question but if there is more to it I'd appreciate any advice.

Thanks!

[JonR]

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GuitarBattler wrote:

Been working pretty hard on my chord progressions and learning a lot! Now I'm finding out that all progressions - even complex ones - need a harmonic goal. This provides a sense that the progression is heading in some direction.

What are some good ways to shorten up a more complex/longer

chord progression

, or provide harmonic mini-goals throughout the progression?

---

Excellent answer from Ben - pretty much everything I would have said! Just a couple of points (well a couple of long ones, actually... )

1. Not all chord sequences need a "goal".  The term "progression" does often imply that, and is a good reason for distinguishing between "sequence" (any old string of chords), and "progression" (a sequence with a sense of forward movement).

Chord "progressions" - with forward momentum and "goals" - are what "tonal" music is all about: music in "keys" (major or minor), as employed in classical music between around 1600 and 1900, in all jazz up to the late 1950s (and some jazz beyond), and in popular music most - but not all - of the time.

But another way of using harmony is commonly termed "modal". This is where chords are ambiguous and fluid, one chord can be held a long time, and changes don't necessarily suggest forward momentum.  (I realise this is not what you're asking about, so I'm not going into detail - just pointing out that alternative systems are available! )

 

2. The sense of forward movement is usually created by half-step moves. This is largely how the "circle of 5ths" progressions mentioned above work. So the root movements (down 5 or up 4) have a certain tendency, but other chord tones do too: in particular 3rds and 7ths.

So when G goes to C, the B note on the G chord rises a half-step to C.  In key of C, B is known as the "leading tone" for this reason.  The note F will also lead down to E, which is why we often add a 7th to the G chord; that way you get two half-step moves in opposite directions - from a dissonant interval (B-F tritone) to a consonant one (C-E major 3rd).

When we introduce secondary dominants (as Ben described), we are introducing new leading tones.So when we use that E chord (instead of Em) to lead to Am in key of G, it works because of the chromatic G# note, leading up to A.  Adding the 7th (D) is not necessary, but helps by adding the tritone tension (G#-D); in this case, D falls to C, which is a less "urgent" move than a half-step would be, but still helps the sense of "resolution" to Am.

If we string together a set of dom7 chords in a circle of 5ths sequence, we get a relentless falling of 3rds to 7ths and 7ths to 3rds (as well as 3rds potentially going up to roots). I'm going to assume you're a guitar player (apologies if not ) with this example:

 E7 A7 D7 G7 C
-4--3--2--1--0------------
-3--2--1--0--1-----------
-4--2--2--0--0-----------
-2--2--0--0--2-----------
----0--------3----------
----------3------------

The descents on the top 2 strings are 7ths going to 3rds and 3rds going to 7ths.

On the final change to C, the 3rd of G (B) goes up to C, which is what "completes" the progression, as a final cadence. If we made it C7, the implication would be that the sequence would continue, presumably to F...

The last 2 chords confirm the key as C major, and the previous dom7s are all secondary dominants. D7 = V/V; A7 = V/ii; E7 = V/vi.  But instead of the E7 and A7 resolving to their usual diatonic targets (Am and Dm) they move to another dom7, which keeps the sequence rolling. 

Strings of dom7s like that are somewhat crude, and introducing m7s between gives a  more subtle and sophisticated sound:

 E7 Am7  D7 Dm7  G7 Cmaj7
-4---3---2---1---1---0------------
-3---1---1---1---0---0--------
-4---2---2---2---0---0--------
-2---2---0---0---0---2--------
-----0---------------3-------
-----------------3---------

(The final Cmaj7 adds a jazzy element - classically an unresolved chord, but modern ears accept it as a tonic quite easily.)

....

An important issue here is that this kind of move is common and conventional in jazz (at least in pre-1960 jazz), but is not popular in rock music. If it's rock songs you're writing, the above kinds of move will probably sound "cheesy" - unless you're writing a deliberately sentimental ballad.

Rock tends to work with triads, and gets its "forward motion kicks" from other kinds of moves, typically ones from a reverse circle of 5ths: 4 down or 5 up.  Such as:

 C   G   D   A   E
-3---3->-2->-0---0-
-5->-3---3->-2->-0-
-5->-4->-2---2->-1-
-5---5---0---2---2-
-3---5-------0---2-
-----3-----------0-

That's the sequence of "Hey Joe", but can also be found (in full) in "Here Comes the Sun" and "Take Me to the River".   In groups of 3 or 4 chords, those moves are common in countless rock songs.

The arrows show the descending moves: from root down to 3rd of next chord, and from 3rd down to 5th of next chord.  These moves are what provide the sense of forward resolution, despite the fact that the root movement contradicts that.

Assuming we finish on that last chord, E is the key. A is IV, and D can be seen as either "IV/IV" (secondary subdominant) or a bVII chord borrowed from E minor (which is the source of C and G as well).  Naturally C and G can also be seen as IV of the following chord, in this case.

 

 

 

 

 

[BenTunessence]

Awesome post, JonR!

GuitarBattler, another idea for creating momentum in chord progressions is to play with this idea of leading tones.  Like JonR talked about, typically leading tones involve the 3rd and 7th of one chord resolving into notes of the next chord, both by moving a half-step.  But you can come up with other uses of "leading tones" to create some interesting chord changes. 

Take a look at the notes in your first chord.  Take one of those notes and move it a half-step up or down.  What chords can you create from this new note?  This works best when you can have a couple of half-step movements from the first chord to the next.  And even better if they're moving in opposite directions!

For example, start with a D major chord: D  F#  A

Let's move the A up a half step to Bb.  What chord can we make that has a Bb in it?  Well, how about Bb major?  This has the notes:  Bb  D  F.  There's our two half-step movements.  D stays the same.  F# moves down to F natural.  A moves up to Bb.  (Check out Tenacious D's "Wonderboy" for this chord change in action)