Chords progressions

I’m tired of searching chords progressions when composing music. So here’s my personal dictionary, with official name, and/or sort by subjective emotions and/or music genre.

How to use ?

Each sequence will be written in degrees follow by an example in C major (or Am depending the mode).

Classic

Perfect

I V I
C G C

Modal

I Vm I
C Gm C

Broken

I V7 VI
C G7 Am

Perfect minor

Im V7 Im
Cm G7 Cm

Plagal

I IV I
C F C

Plagal half minor

I IVm I
C Fm C

Plagal half minor with major relative substitute

In C, Ab is the major relative of Fm.

I bVIM I
C Ab C

Plagal minor

Im IVm Im
Am Dm Am

Picard third

Im V7 IM
Am E7 A

Bach

The last chords is a combination of perfect and plagal minor. The diminished chord can be replace by any of his transposition (as the diminished is what we call a “transposition limited chords”)

I bVI°
C Ab°

Complete

I IV V7 I
C F G7 C

Complete minor

Im IVm V7 Im
Am Dm E7 Am

Complete minor with relative major dominant

Im IVm bVII7 Im
Am Dm G7 Am

Avoided

We can avoid the I by substituting it with any chords that include the top note of a melody. E.G

I V7 [bII7M, bVIM, IVm6].sample
C G7 [Db7M, Ab, Fm6].sample

Avoided minor

Im V7 bVI7
Am E7 F7

Jazz

II-V-I (complete with substitution)

We can substitute any IV by a II. It results in the very popular II-V-I

I II V7 I
C Dm G7 C

Minor II-V-I (Complete minor with substitution)

Scale to complete : Harmonic Minor

Im IIm7b5 V7 Im
Am Bm7b5 G7 Am

Anatole

I VI II V7 (I)
C Am Dm G7 (C)

Anatole with substitution

Any II can be substituted with a IV

I VI IV V7 (I)
C Am F G7 (C)

Christophe

I I7 IV IVm
C C7 F Fm

Christophe with diminished

I I7 IV #IV°
C C7 F F#°

Modal minor

Im Vm(7) Im
Am Em(7) Am

Modal

Chords nature can be change with any hi-lo : m7, m6, m9, m11 and any combination.

Im7 IIm7
Am7 Bm7

Reggae

War

As I called it : it’s the chord progression of Bob Marley - War. Used in so much reggae…

Im bVII
Cm Bb

Happy war

Just because the I is now major.

I bVII
C Bb

Funk

War dominant

We can “dominantize” every I chord

I7 bVII7 I7
C7 Bb7 C7

Pop

Tonic sus4

I V7 Isus4 I
C G7 Csus4 C

Dominant sus4

I V7sus4 V7 I
C G7sus4 G7 C

Circle of fifth

Im IVm VII7 III VI IIm7b5 V7 Im
Am Dm  G7   C   F  Bm7b5  E7 Am

Pop

Im VII VI VII
Am G   F  G

Message in the bottle

Im VI VII IVm
Am F  G   Dm

Magic chords

Im VI III VII
Am F  C   G

Rock

Celtic

I bVII IV I
C Bb F C

Andalusian

Im VII(7) VI V7
Am G(7)   F  E7

Brazilian

Nordestine

I II7 I
C D7 C

Napolitana sixth

Im IIb7M Im
Am Bb7M Am

Neo soul

2 of us

VI7M V7 Im
F7M  E7 Am

Caldwell

VI7M V7 Im  IV7
F7M  E7 Am D7