Common Chord Progressions

[max_power]

In another thread (here: http://www.jazzguitar.be/forum/compi...unes-ear.html), someone was asking about how to figure out chord changes by ear, and I think one of the best ways to do this is to be aware of, and be able to hear, many of the common chord progressions in jazz. So here are a couple of examples of common changes, with a brief explanation of what's going on. In order for this to be helpful in learning to hear changes, listen to a recording of these tunes and follow along with the transcriptions below, and try to internalize the sound of the changes so you can identify them on other tunes.

Here's an example with the tune "Fly Me To The Moon":

Amin7 | Dmin7 | G7 | Cmaj7 |
Fmaj7 | B-7b5 | E7 | Amin7 |

This is very common progression. The first 4 bars are a vi-ii-V-I in C major (chord progressions in jazz have a strong tendency to follow the circle of fifths). The fifth bar goes to an Fmaj7, the IV chord in the key of C major (still following the circle of fifths). Then it goes to a minor ii-V-i in the key of A minor, the relative minor of C major. This progression, and variations of it, are incredibly common. The first 4 bars are the same as the changes to "I Got Rhythm", among many other tunes. If you eliminate the first bar, you've got the first 7 bars of Autumn Leaves.

The next eight bars of the tune are instructive as well:

Dmin7 | G7 | E-7b5 | A7 |
Dmin7 | G7 | Cmaj7 | B-7b5 E7 |

The first two bars look and sound like a ii-V-I in C major, but as you can see in the third bar, instead of resolving to Cmaj7 the chord is instead an E-7b5. This chord fits the progression well enough to your ear: it consists of the notes E G Bb D, which could be a C9 chord without the root. However, in this context the chord serves as the "ii" chord in a ii-V-i in D minor. This is a common way in which tunes modulate from a major key to a minor key one whole step up.

Note that the Dmin7 in the 5th bar above now functions as the "ii" chord in a ii-V-I in C major (notice a pattern yet? ). Bar 8 uses a ii-V in A minor as a turnaround to bring the tune back to the start. Tunes fairly often use either a ii-V progression, or just a V chord, to resolve back to the chord at the beginning of the tune.


Here's another example in the tune "How High The Moon". The first part of the chord progression goes like this:

Gmaj7 | Gmaj7 | Gmin7 | C7 |
Fmaj7 | Fmaj7 | Fmin7 | Bb7 |
Ebmaj7 | ...

It starts in G major, and in the third bar it switches to a Gmin7 chord. Notice that this Gmin7 is now the "ii" chord in a ii-V-I in F major. The fourth and fifth bar are Fmaj7, and in the sixth bar it switches to Fmin7, which is now the "ii" in a ii-V-I in Eb major. This is an extremely common chord progression in jazz that effectively modulates the key down a whole step. It would be a very good idea to listen to this tune and try to get this sound in your head so that you can recognize it in other tunes. For example, the tunes "Tune Up", "Ornithology", and "Solar" all use this modulation.


Feel free to comment, criticize, or add some more chord progressions.

[Aristotle]

There's a handy list on this web site
Music Theory Lesson: The Most Popular Jazz Chord Progressions