Originally Posted by Charlann Shepherd
I'm bumping this up because I have the same question as Matt. Are there certain chord progressions that are more common in certain genres?

Charlann


Hi Charlann,

I'm with Mike - "just make it sound good".

However, if you want to start with the chords that occur more often in a given key, you can choose the chords that are "closely related" (chords built on the degrees of the Major diatonic scales).

In the key of "C", they would be:
Tonic: C
Relative Minor of Tonic: Am
Subdominant: F
Relative minor of subdominant: Dm
Dominant: G
Relative minor of dominant: Em
And also the chord built on the "leading tone": B diminished (can think of this as G7 for now).

In other words; in the key of "C" the most common chords would be: C, F, G, Am, Dm, Em, and B diminished (think G7).

Key of "F" would be: F, Bb, C, Dm, Gm, Am, and E diminished (think C7)

Key of "G" would be: G, C, D, Em, Am, Bm, and F# diminished (think D7)

Etc...

If you choose one of the three "keys" above and play around with the closest related chords to that key, you'll get a feel for common chords within a certain key. Experiment with just those chords for an exercise.

I hope I explained it in an understandable way. This should get you started. Next week we'll cover "modulation". Don't be late for your lesson! laugh

Best, John
cool