chord progressions

A progression of chords? Are there certain combinations of chords that can define a musical style? Here we begin to look at the more common combinations of chords from a few different perspectives and tonalities and to continue to create a theoretical basis of harmony for the creative artist. Why are these chord combinations called common? Well, mainly in that the elements used to create the various common chordal combinations are purely diatonic, as compared to advanced chord progressions, which are non-diatonic. A simple but important distinction, the labeling of which is based on the pitches employed. Perhaps the best source for chord progressions for each of us will be from the music we love to play and listen to. Certain combinations of sounds, rhythms and form can create definite styles of music. Parts of these stylistic combinations can become the common chord progressions used in the many different styles of American music.

So, what are chord progressions and why are they important? Chord progressions are in one sense simply vehicles that help us to move away and get us back to the tonal center of the music we are creating or experiencing. That in this role they often support melodic ideas thus the melody of song. As an integral part of the process of the creation of artistic tension and its release, chord progressions provide templates which map out various harmonic routes that have been used over the centuries in creating the various styles of American music. And as such, oftentimes become the initial basis of musical composition, as say in blues music. That we can vary any and all aspects of these harmonic formulas to suit our own artistic directions is an essential component of the American musical experience.

Historically, these common chord progressions have evolved as each succeeding generation produced the new innovative players. Players who picked up the existing common threads of a style, added their own ideas and wove new artistic fabrics, to embody the ever evolving complexity and complexion of the society and times in which they lived, as the American dream migrated from the rural country to the urban cities over the last 150 years or so. The key part to the learning here is to hear the harmonic motion and begin to associate it's place in the theoretical scheme of things. We as theorists put a label, number, or color on the chords for identification, so that when we hear it in our listening or come across it in the literature, we have a way to identify and reference it, which can dramatically improve our ability to remember the music. And as we develop an understanding of the theory of chord progressions, we can better hear theoretically and understand what is harmonically "happening" in the music we are listening to. If we hear something we dig, knowledge of the theory can help us figure it out, identify the coolness and if we so choose, add it to our own musical palette.

So, in theory, we create a musical center that we call the tonic. Associated with this tonic is a potential sense of tonal gravity. When we move away from this tonal center we set this tonal gravity in motion, create varying degrees of artistic tension. Moving back to the tonic releases the physical sensation of musical tension. The sequence of chords we use in creating this process of tension / release are called chord progressions. The following menu of choices simply begin to look at common chord progressions, which are distilled from the musical literature of the many styles of American music.

Oh, are there cycles of chords? Of course, we have everything here.

"A poem is never finished, only abandoned."

Paul Valery (1871-1945)