en List of chord progressions

The following is a list of commonly used chord progressions in music.

Code
Major	Major
Minor	Minor
Atonal	Atonal
Bitonal	Bitonal in
Ind.	Indeterminate
PD	Phrygian dominant
Mix.	Mixolydian

Name

Image

Sound

# of chords

Quality

50s progression

4

Major

IV-V-I-VI

IV-V-I-VI progression in C major

IV-V-I-VI chord progression in C major

4

Major

I–V–vi–IV

I–V–vi–IV chord progression in C

4

Major

I–IV–♭VII–IV

I–IV–♭VII–IV.

3

Mix.

ii–V–I progression

3

Major

ii–V–I with tritone substitution
(♭II7 instead of V7)

3

Major

ii-V-I with ♭III⁺ as dominant
substitute

3

Mix.

vii^o⁷/V–V–I

(common in ragtime)

3

Major

Andalusian cadence

iv–III–♭II–I

4

PD

Backdoor progression
(front door is V7)

3

Major

Bird changes

20

Major

Chromatic descending
5–6 sequence

4

Mix.

Circle progression

4

Major

Coltrane changes

Coltrane changes in C: I–V/♭VI ♭VI–V/III III–V I.

6

Major

Eight-bar blues

I–V–IV–IV–I–V–I–V

3

Major

Folia

4

Minor

Irregular resolution

(Type I: Two common tones, two note moves by half step motion)

2

Major

Montgomery–Ward
bridge

4

Major

Omnibus progression

Omnibus progression.

?

Major

Pachelbel's Canon

I–V–vi–iii–IV–I–IV–V

5

Major

Passamezzo antico

4

Minor

Passamezzo moderno

I–IV–I–V–I–IV–I–V–I

3

Major

I–V–vi–IV progression

I–V–vi–IV

4

Major

Ragtime progression

III⁷–VI⁷–II⁷–V⁷

5

Major

Rhythm changes

15

Major

Romanesca

3

Major

Sixteen-bar blues

3

Major

Stomp progression

6

Major

Twelve-bar blues

3

Major

I−vi−ii−V

4

Major

♭VII–V7 cadence

2–3

Mix.

V–IV–I turnaround

3

Major

I–♭VII–♭VI–♭VII

3

Minor

IV^△7–V⁷–iii⁷–vi

IV^△7–V⁷–iii⁷–vi in C

4

Major

♭VI-♭VII-I

3

Major

List of chord progressions

Further reading

See also