Common Diatonic Chord Progressions
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In our article on Forming Chords from Scales we saw how to form chords from the major scale. These chords make a family of chords that are often used together in chord progressions in a key.
Now let’s start to apply some of this theory and look at some commonly used diatonic chord progressions. Diatonic mean “of the scale” and so in a chord progression that is diatonic, all the chords will be formed from the one scale, in this case the major scale.
When looking at each of these chord progressions, we will view the chords in terms of their roman numeral scale degree rather than the letter name of each chord. This is useful to be able to transpose a chord progression to any key. For example the progressions:
|| I | IV | V | I ||
in C major would be
|| C | F | G | C ||
While in G major would be
|| G | C | D | G ||
So the I chord is using the chord built form the 1st note of the major scale, the IV chord uses the chord built from the 4th note of the major scale and so on.
Both of these would sound the same in a relative sense and one would simply be higher or lower than the other.
Additionally these progressions can be used at different harmonic tempos, meaning each chord may be held for a different number of beats in different songs. For example, a progression such as:
I – IV – V – I
in C major may have each chord held for 2 bars, such as:
||: C | | F | | G | | C | :||
or one bar:
||: C | F | G | C :||
or even half a bar such as:
||: C F | G C :||
It is common practice in this roman numeral notation to capitalise the roman numeral if the chord is major (I IV and V) and present it in lower case if it is minor (ii iii and vi). In the case of the half diminished chord on the 7th degree is is notated as viiø.
So here are some of the most common diatonic chord progression:
I – V – iv – IV
In the key of G major, this would be:
||: G | D | Em | C :||
Here is an example of how it sounds as a solo guitar:
This is certainly the most common chord progression in popular music. Some songs that use this progression are “Someone Like You” by Adele “Forever Young” by Alpaville and “No Woman, No Cry” by Bob Marley. You can see a much larger list at the wikipedia page on the progression.
You can also use this chord progression starting at a different chord:
IV – I – V – vi
This sounds like:
Another example of this progression:
Some examples of this progression are the song “Whatever it Takes” by Imagine Dragons and “We are Never Ever Getting Back Together” by Taylor Swift.
Another common progression is:
I – V – IV – V
You can find this progression in Run to Paradise by the Choir Boys (in the key of A using the chords A E D E) and in the song Under Pressure by Queen (key of D: D A G A).
Here is an audio example of the progression to get an idea of what it sounds like:
The next progression is:
I – vi – IV – V
This progression can be found in the songs Stand by Me by Ben e King (A F#m D E) and Crocodile Rock by Elton John (G Em C D).
To get an idea of what this sounds like heres some audio:
In diatonic chord progressions like this, if you want to solo over the progression or embellish it with additional notes, one approach is to use the notes from the scale that the chords are formed from, in this case the major scale. When I embellish the progressions with additional notes in the audio examples, I am typically using the major scale to do this with some extra chromatic notes occasionally to add a bit of colour.
Another common progression is:
I – vi – ii – V
This is commonly used as a turn around at the end of longer progressions before repeating to the start of the progression again.
Heres an example of its sound:
And another progression:
I – IV – vi – V
This is contained in the songs Say by John Mayer (Bb Eb Gm F) and Where the Streets Have No Name by U2 (D G Bm A).
Heres what the progression sounds like:
Finally the progression :
ii – V – I
Is very common in jazz. Many jazz standards use chord progressions that are comprised of numerous ii V I progressions in different keys.
It sounds like:
Common Diatonic Progressions in a Minor Key
When forming chord progressions in a minor key, the scale used is often the
A note on the roman numeral notation used here. The 3rd, 6th and 7th degrees of the natural minor scale are notated in roman numerals as ♭III ♭VI and ♭VII
Similarly in the case of the major scale, the convention is to use capitals if the chord formed is a major chord and lower case if the chord formed is minor. Additionally you can see the use of the flat symbol. This is due to the third being a minor third in the natural minor scale as opposed to the major third adopted in the major scale. This is also the case for the the ♭VI and the ♭VII. These notes are a minor 6th and minor 7th in the natural minor scale rather than the major 6th and major 7th in the major scale. Another way to view this is all the notes of the natural minor scale that have a ♭ in the roman numeral are one semitone lower than the corresponding note of the major scale, as follows:
A commonly used minor chord progression using these chords is:
i – ♭VII – ♭VI – ♭VII
This progression is found in the songs Rolling in the Deep by Adele (in the key of Cm: Cm Bb Ab Bb) and the song Somebody that I Used to Know by Gotye (Dm C Bb C).
Heres an example of how this progression sounds:
Similarly to the major scale progressions above, when I embellish the minor progressions with additional notes in the examples, these notes largely come from the natural minor scale that the chords are formed from.
Another minor progression in which only the last chord differs from the above progression is:
i – ♭VII – ♭VI – v
This is contained in Love Song by The Cure (Am G F Em7).
Heres an example of the progression:
Another diatonic minor progression is:
i – ♭VI – ♭III – ♭VII
This is used in the song Zombie by the Cranberries (Em C G D) and is also the same as the common major progression: I – V – vi – VI if you were to start that progression on the vi chord.
Heres an example of the progression:
And another minor progression is:
i – ♭III – ♭VI – iv
This is found in the song A Forest by the Cure (Am C F Dm) and heres how the progression sounds:
In all of these examples it’s useful to also explore using the 7th chords formed from the scale for the various chords in the progressions.
So for the progression ii V I in C major, using basic triads you would get:
||: D minor | G | C | :||
but you can also use the 7th chords built form the C major scale to get:
||: Dm7 | G7 | CMaj7 | :||
It is useful to experiment with the above progressions to see how the 7th chords sound compared with the basic triads.
In the audio examples of the progression, I am moving between using the basic triad and the 7th chord formed from the scale at different points.
I hope this has illustrated how common it is to use progressions formed from a single scale and has given you some chord progressions to experiment with.
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