The Complete Idiot''s Guide to Music Theory

Key Signature
Chords
C
C

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Chapter 10:
Chord Progressions
129
Key Signature
Chords
D
D
E
E
F
F
G
G
A
A
B
continues

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Part 3:
Tunes
Key Signature
Chords
B
***INSERT FIGURE
10FIG14
C
***INSERT FIGURE 10FIG15
Creating a Progression
Let’s see how you can use these Roman numerals to create a chord progression.
For the time being we won’t pay attention to the underlying harmonic theory;
we’ll just concentrate on the mechanics of creating a progression.
I mentioned earlier the popularity of the G, C, and D chords. In the key of G
Major, these chords happen to fall on the first (G), fourth (C), and fifth (d)
notes of the scale. This makes these the I, IV, and V chords—or, more techni-
cally, the tonic, subdominant, and dominant.
If you’ve ever played any folk songs, you know that one of the more common
chord progressions goes like this:
G / / /
C / / /
G / / /
D / / /
(Naturally, the progression repeats—or ends with a final G chord.)
Because you know that the G = I, C = IV, and D = V, it’s easy to figure out the
Roman numeral notation. It looks like this:
I
IV
I
V
There—you’ve just written your first chord progression!
The benefit of using this type of notation is you can apply the chord progres-
sion to other keys. Let’s say you want to play this I-IV-I-V progression in the
key of C. Referring back to the Scale-Based Chords table earlier in this chapter,
you can translate the progression to these specific chords:
C / / /
F / / /
C / / /
G / / /
This definitely makes things simpler.
It’s All About Getting Home
The goal of most major chord progressions is to get back to the home chord—
the tonic chord, or I. All the other chords in the progression exist as part of a
roadmap to deliver you back to the I chord. The route can be simple (just a
chord or two) or complex (lots and lots of different chords), but ultimately you
want to end up back on I.
130
These examples use 
slash
notation,
where each
slash (/) equals one beat.
Measures are separated
by spaces.
Note
continued

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Chapter 10:
Chord Progressions
131
If you’re playing in a minor key, you want to end up on the home of that key—
which is the vi chord of the relative major scale.
As you’ll learn in the next section, certain chords naturally lead to the I key. In
addition, you can employ multiple-chord progressions to get you back to I—
these are called 
cadences 
and are also discussed later in this chapter.
One Good Chord Leads to Another
Although you can write a song using any combination of chords that sounds
good to your ears—even chords from other keys—in most cases chord progres-
sions are based on a few simple rules. These rules come from a concept called
chord leading
, which says that certain chords naturally lead to other chords.
You can hear chord leading for yourself by playing some chords on the piano.
To keep it simple, we’ll stay in the key of C—so you don’t have to play any of
the black keys.
Start by playing a C Major chord (C-E-G). This is the I chord, which doesn’t
necessarily lead anywhere because, based on chord leading rules, the I chord can
be followed by any chord in the scale.
Now play a G Major chord (G-B-D). This is the V chord in the scale, and it defi-
nitely wants to go somewhere. But where? You could follow it with an F Major
chord (F-A-C), but that isn’t fully satisfying. Neither is D minor (D-F-A) or E
minor (E-G-B) or even A minor (A-C-E). The only chord that sounds fully 
satisfying—the chord that V naturally leads to—is the I chord, C Major.
The rule here is that the V chord naturally leads back to the I chord. Although you
can
write another chord after a V, the best resolution is to follow the V with the I.
Other chords also have related chords that they naturally lead to. Some chords
can even lead to more than one chord. To learn which chords lead where, take a
look at the following table.
Chord Leading Reference