A214 - Harmony - Guideline Progressions

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Useful
Avoid
  • I - V - I (forms a perfect cadence)
  • I - IV - I (forms a plagal cadence)
  • I - V or V - I
  • I - IV or IV - I
  • To harmonise the 4th degree of the scale: if the melody moves upwards use IV and if the
    melody moves downwards by step, use V7
  • V7 - I
  • Ic - V - I: 'doh - te - doh' or 'me - ray -doh'
  • Ib - IV or Vb - I gives a bass line rising by one step
  • ii(b) - Ic - V - I or ii(b) - V - I gives an effective approach to a perfect cadence
  • I - IV - vii - iii - vi - ii - V - I and vice versa: Circle of Fifths = strong progression
  • V - vi (or any other than V or I) is an interrupted cadence
  • I - vi drives the music away from I
  • vi - ii or ii - vi is a good progression from the Circle of Fifths
  • VI - iii - IV is where iii is most safe or iii - VI
  • I - iii - IV: doh - te - lah
  • I - viib - Ib: non-cadential 'me-ray-doh' or 'doh - ray - me'
  • When the tonic note sounds three times, it often good to harmonize it with I - IV - I
  • IV - V as it is a weak progression
  • I - ii or ii - I should be avoided in root position, inversions are okay
  • Be wary of progressions between chords whose roots are consecutive in the scale
  • vib sounds like chord I 'gone wrong' and should be avoided unless there's no possibility of ambiguity with chord I
  • iii is too close to V and I and is largely useless

Last updated: 28 April, 2004