A Friendly Little I-VI-ii-V Sequence
It's always good to run into a friendly face - or in this case, a friendly chord progression. What, in most cases, makes the experience so "friendly" is the familiarity involved.
The I-vi-ii-V chord progression and its modifications is, in one form or another, arguably the most familiar 4-chord harmonic progression found in all popular styles of music.
Its familiarity includes the A-sections of standards such as "I Got Rhythm" and "Blue Moon", for example, as well as parts of countless tunes, intros and vamps across all genres.
So, what makes this friendly chord progression so popular? Must be the sunglasses.
The I-vi-ii-V chord progression and its modifications is, in one form or another, arguably the most familiar 4-chord harmonic progression found in all popular styles of music.
Its familiarity includes the A-sections of standards such as "I Got Rhythm" and "Blue Moon", for example, as well as parts of countless tunes, intros and vamps across all genres.
So, what makes this friendly chord progression so popular? Must be the sunglasses.
The I-vi-ii-V chord progression, in its native form, is a diatonic progression - meaning that all four chords involved are derived from the same Major key and scale. In the key of C Major, for example, that would translate to: C Maj (I) - A min (vi) - D min (ii) - G Maj (V) - as triads.
If we examine the above sequence starting on the second chord (A min), we see that the root of each succeeding chord resolves up a Perfect 4th or down a Perfect 5th - a very natural sounding Cycle of 5ths - resolving back to C Maj (A-D-G-C).
So now that we have our basic, vanilla version I-vi-ii-V, what can we do to throw a little flavor into the mix.
First of all, we need to add the 7th to each chord, which would look like:
C Maj7 (I) - A min7 (vi) - D min7 (ii) - G7 (V) - as 4-note 7th chords.
Then, we take the A min7 and make it an A7. We do this by raising the minor 3rd of Amin7 - C - up a half-step to C#, turning a minor 7th chord into a dominant 7th. This bold, daring move actually takes a note from outside of the C Major scale (non-diatonic), and creates an all-important tritone (C# - G), the 3rd and b7th of A7. At this point, our I-vi-ii-V chord sequence becomes a I-VI-ii-V progression. Notice the lower case roman numerals for minor, with upper case indicating Major and /or Dominant chords.
Next, we'll add the secret sauce by abandoning the Major scale system completely on each of the Dominant 7th chords (A7 and G7) in favor of material from the Melodic Minor system.
In bar #2 of the example below, the A7 is populated by material from the Bb Melodic Minor scale. Many folks would prefer to call this the A Altered scale, and they wouldn't be wrong. Since the A Altered Scale is actually the 7th mode of Bb Melodic Minor, I prefer to think of it in terms of the scale system of which it is a part. Whatever one decides to call it, we now have an A7alt chord expressed by the notes of Bb Melodic Minor.
The line in bar #2 reads:
F(b13) C(#9) A(Root) F(b13) Db(C# 3) F(b13) G(b7)
Similarly in bar #4, G7 becomes G7alt, with material drawn exclusively from Ab Melodic Minor.
Ab(b9) F(b7) Eb(b13) B(3) Ab(b9) Bb(#9) Eb(b13) F(b7)
At this point, its official title becomes I Maj7 - VI7alt - ii7 - G7alt, but it'll still answer to I-VI-ii-V.
If we examine the above sequence starting on the second chord (A min), we see that the root of each succeeding chord resolves up a Perfect 4th or down a Perfect 5th - a very natural sounding Cycle of 5ths - resolving back to C Maj (A-D-G-C).
So now that we have our basic, vanilla version I-vi-ii-V, what can we do to throw a little flavor into the mix.
First of all, we need to add the 7th to each chord, which would look like:
C Maj7 (I) - A min7 (vi) - D min7 (ii) - G7 (V) - as 4-note 7th chords.
Then, we take the A min7 and make it an A7. We do this by raising the minor 3rd of Amin7 - C - up a half-step to C#, turning a minor 7th chord into a dominant 7th. This bold, daring move actually takes a note from outside of the C Major scale (non-diatonic), and creates an all-important tritone (C# - G), the 3rd and b7th of A7. At this point, our I-vi-ii-V chord sequence becomes a I-VI-ii-V progression. Notice the lower case roman numerals for minor, with upper case indicating Major and /or Dominant chords.
Next, we'll add the secret sauce by abandoning the Major scale system completely on each of the Dominant 7th chords (A7 and G7) in favor of material from the Melodic Minor system.
In bar #2 of the example below, the A7 is populated by material from the Bb Melodic Minor scale. Many folks would prefer to call this the A Altered scale, and they wouldn't be wrong. Since the A Altered Scale is actually the 7th mode of Bb Melodic Minor, I prefer to think of it in terms of the scale system of which it is a part. Whatever one decides to call it, we now have an A7alt chord expressed by the notes of Bb Melodic Minor.
The line in bar #2 reads:
F(b13) C(#9) A(Root) F(b13) Db(C# 3) F(b13) G(b7)
Similarly in bar #4, G7 becomes G7alt, with material drawn exclusively from Ab Melodic Minor.
Ab(b9) F(b7) Eb(b13) B(3) Ab(b9) Bb(#9) Eb(b13) F(b7)
At this point, its official title becomes I Maj7 - VI7alt - ii7 - G7alt, but it'll still answer to I-VI-ii-V.
Listen
The Free B., downloadable pdf contains this friendly 4-bar sequence in all 12 keys. Check 'em out and make them all your friends!
B. Stern
B. Stern
Related:
* Major/ minor: A Diminished/ Blues Scale Hex-0-Tonic *
* Vamp Like a Champ! - ii-V-iii-VI Arpeggiated Sequence *
* Hey! You've Got an ACE up Your Sleeve! *
* Major/ minor: A Diminished/ Blues Scale Hex-0-Tonic *
* Vamp Like a Champ! - ii-V-iii-VI Arpeggiated Sequence *
* Hey! You've Got an ACE up Your Sleeve! *
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