The Making of a Diatonic Chord Progression
Learn how to string diatonic chords together to make meaningful progressions that go where you want them to.
Assuming that you know what diatonic chords are now you want to know “which of these chords sound good together?” It’s rare that you’ll hear a diatonic chord progression that’s completely unique unto itself. From the good old Doo Wop era to Motown, from James Brown, Michael Jackson, Hall & Oates to Neon Trees as well as the songs you just heard on the radio today, the chord progressions you’ll hear will be similar if not exactly the same. That’s because in western music we’re actually pretty limited in the sounds we can use given that there are only twelve possible notes. Most of the time when writing a song we’re only using the notes from a particular key which narrows down the note count to eight. (This post is about the diatonic chord progressions, so in this scenario we’ll stick to eight notes per key.)
Chord Functions
• Tonic
• Subdominant
• Dominant
The chords:
I – ii – iii – IV – V – vi – vii
(Upper case numerals are major chords and lower case chords are minor)
Here are some explanations for each function:
Tonic – The chords that fall into this category will have a feeling of resolution. A song will, in most cases, start as well as end on this function although it’s not a rule.
Subdominant – These chords imply movement and are kind of middle ground chords. Almost any chord sounds good after a subdominant chord and a listener’s ear will generally expect them to give way to more chords. It’s also common for a subdominant chord to resolve back to a tonic chord. The widely known ‘amen’, cadence commonly heard in church hymns is IV – I. This resolution back to the tonic is also heard in many other musics for it’s smooth sound (the dominant – tonic resolution, explained below, can sound a bit more obligatory or classical).
Dominant – Dominant chords have the strongest tendency to resolve to a tonic chord, and most of the time do. Although resolution is the typical expected destination for a dominant chord it doesn’t have to always be the case.
Now that you have an idea of how to use the chords put together a few progressions and see how they sound. There are many tried and true variations of chords which have stood the test of time. Below are a few.
I -IV
The I – IV is a really basic progression but provides a lot of space and possibilities for different melodies to play or sing over the top. It’s a gentle progression because both chords are major and there’s no dominant chord present. It’s called a ‘Plagal Cadence’ and is a popular resolution amongst religious and gospel music.
I – IV – V – I
The tonic – subdominant – dominant – tonic movement is as standard as it gets. If you write a song using only this progression it may sound a bit folky but, as always, use your ear and let it guide you. The IV – V – I combination is a common turnaround at the end of a song or verse.
I – V – IV
I – vi – IV – V
I – V – vi – IV