Fretwise

Chapter 9

Chord Progressions & Keys

How chords move, why some progressions feel finished and others feel like they want to keep going, and how to write progressions in any key.

Chord progressions aren’t random — they follow patterns. Tonic, subdominant, dominant: three jobs, infinite ways to assign them. Understand these three functions and you can hear where any song is about to go, and write progressions that feel inevitable.

In this chapter we’ll cover Roman-numeral analysis, the I-IV-V system, the most common progressions in pop/rock/blues/jazz, secondary dominants, modulation between keys, and how to use the Circle of Fifths to find chords that sound great together.

Lessons in this chapter

  1. 1 The three chord functions Every chord in a key has one of three jobs — tonic, subdominant, or dominant. Understanding these jobs lets you read music like a pro.
  2. 2 Common progressions you must know A handful of patterns that drive most of pop, rock, jazz, blues, and folk. Once you know them, you'll hear them everywhere.
  3. 3 Roman numeral analysis The notation pros use to talk about chords in any key. Learn this and you can transpose anything on the fly.
  4. 4 The Circle of Fifths The single most useful map in music theory. Learn it once and key signatures, modulations, and progressions become obvious.
  5. 5 Modulation — changing keys mid-song Three reliable techniques for moving from one key to another, plus how to hear when a modulation is happening.