The Complete Idiot''s Guide to Music Theory

Part 3:
Tunes
136
I-ii-IV-V
This progression has a constant upward movement, resolved with a perfect
cadence on the repeat back to I. In the key of C, it looks like this:
C / / /
Dm / / /
F / / /
G / / /
I-ii-IV
This is a variation on the previous progression, with a soft plagal cadence at the end
(the IV going directly to the I, no V involved). In the key of C, it looks like this:
C / / /
Dm / / /
F / / /
As with all progressions that end with a plagal cadence (IV-I), this progression
has a rolling feel, and sounds as if it could go on and on and on, like a giant circle.
I-vi-ii-V
This was a very popular progression in the 1950s, the basis of a lot of doo-wop
and jazz songs. It’s also the chord progression behind the song “I’ve Got Rhythm,”
and sometimes is referred to (especially in jazz circles) as the 
“
I’ve Got Rhythm”
progression.
In the key of C, it looks like this:
C / / /
Am / / /
Dm / / /
G / / /
I-vi-IV-V
This is a variation on the “I’ve Got Rhythm” progression, with a stronger lead
to the V chord (IV instead of ii). It looks like this, in the key of C:
C / / /
Am / / /
F / / /
G / / /
This progression was also popular in the doo-wop era and in the early days of
rock-and-roll. The defining factor of this progression is the descending bass line;
it drops in thirds until it moves up a step for the dominant chord, like this: C-A-
F-G. You’ve heard this progression (and that descending bass line) hundreds of
times; it’s a very serviceable progression.
I-vi-ii-V7-ii
This is another variation on the “I’ve Got Rhythm” progression, with an extra ii
chord squeezed in between the final V and the return to I, and with the V chord
played as a dominant seventh. In the key of C, it looks like this:
C / / /
Am / / /
Dm / / /
G7 / Dm /
By adding the ii chord between the V7 and the I, almost in passing, it takes the
edge off the perfect cadence and makes the progression a little smoother.

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Chapter 10:
Chord Progressions
137
IV-I-IV-V
As this progression shows, you don’t have to start your chord progression on
the tonic. In the key of C, it looks like this:
F / / /
C / / /
F / / /
G / / /
This progression has a bit of a rolling nature to it, but also a bit of an unre-
solved nature. You can keep repeating this progression (leading from the V back
to the IV), or end the song by leading the progression home to a I chord.
ii-V-I
This progression is quite popular in jazz, often played with seventh chords
throughout. So you might actually play a ii7-V7-I progression, like this (in the
key of C):
Dm7 / / /
G7 / / /
CM7 / / /
Sometimes jazz tunes cycle through this progression in a variety of keys, often
using the circle of fifths to 
modulate
through the keys. (That’s the term you use
any time you change key.)
Circle of Fifths Progression
There’s one more chord progression that’s fairly common, and it’s based on the
circle of fifths you learned about back in Chapter 9. Put simply, it’s a progression
where each chord is a fifth above the next chord; each chord functions as the
dominant chord for the succeeding chord. The progression circles back around
on itself, always coming back to the tonic chord, like this: I-IV-vii°-iii-vi-ii-V-I.
The IV-I-IV-V progression is
also frequently played at
the end of a phrase in
many jazz tunes. Used in
this manner, it’s called a
turnaround.
(See Chapter
16 to learn more.)
Note
The circle of fifths progression presented here is a simple one you can use without
getting into nonscale chords. But there’s also another, longer, circle of fifths pro-
gression, based on chromatic chords, that you might want to play around with.
It’s a little too complex to write out in Roman numeral notation, but it works by
having each chord function as the precise subdominant of the next chord—that is,
the chords move in perfect fifths around the chromatic scale. Even more fun, each
chord is turned into a dominant seventh chord, to make the dominant-tonic rela-
tionship more explicit. Here’s how it works, in the key of C:
C / / /
C7 / / /
F / / /
F7 / / /
B
/ / /
B
7 / / /
E
/ / /
E
7 / / /
A
/ / /
A
7 / / /
D
/ / /
D
7 / / /
G
/ / /
G
7 / / /
B / / /
B7 / / /
E / / /
E7 / / /
A / / /
A7 / / /
D / / /
D7 / / /
G / / /
G7 / / /
C
You can jump on and off this progression at any point in the cycle. Kind of neat
how it circles around, isn’t it?
Note

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