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Chord progressions for major and minor scale?


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Okay, I'm still new to theory so what are the major and minor chord progressions again (i.e. I II iii IV v vi or however it goes). Thanks!

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In western music, songs have a tonal center, (a key). At the start of a piece of music there is some information about the song, (like the time signature, etc). You will also see a series of sharps or flats. That tells you what key the song is in. The C major scale, (Do Re Mi) has no sharps or flats. So when a song is written in the key of Cmajor, there are no sharps or flats in the key signature.

If you harmonize the Cmajor scale, you get a series of chords that are diatonic to that key. Example: the notes of the Cmajor scale give you C D E F G A B notes, (no sharps or flats). If you harmonize these notes you get the following chords: Cmajor (represented as roman numeral I or one chord - the Tonic). Next is Dminor ( ii - small roman numerals to represent the second and it is minor). So the chords are Cmajor Dminor Eminor Fmajor Gmajor Aminor Bdiminished. They can simply be written as C Dm Em F G Am Bdim or I ii iii IV V vi viidim (vii usually has a little dot, but I can't find it on the keyboard).

You can use any of these chords and be in the key of Cmajor. You can also use the same chords and create a song in the key of Aminor, (hence the diatonic relationship). The Cmajor scale uses the same notes as the Aminor scale. This is where you need a music teacher or a good book to start digging in to theory.

Jack

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