Progressions & Cadences
Chords in a row tell a story, and the last two chords decide how the sentence ends: a full stop, a soft amen, a comma, or a trick.
Builds on: 4.2 Diatonic Chords & Roman Numerals
Progressions: chords in order
A chord progression is a sequence of chords, usually one per bar, that loops or leads somewhere. A handful of them account for an astonishing share of all music:
- I–IV–V–I — the classic walk: home, away, tension, home. Folk songs, hymns, “La Bamba”, “Twist and Shout”.
- I–V–vi–IV — the “four chords” of a thousand pop songs: “Let It Be”, “No Woman No Cry”, “With or Without You”. Bright, then bittersweet, then lifting.
- ii–V–I — jazz’s favourite three steps: subdominant, dominant, tonic, each a fifth below the last.
- The 12-bar blues — I I I I · IV IV I I · V IV I I. Twelve bars, three chords, a century of songs.
Why V pulls to I
The dominant chord is not tense by decree; it is tense by construction. In C major, G–B–D contains B, the leading tone, a single semitone below the tonic C. The ear hears that half step as unfinished and wants B to rise to C. Add the seventh — G–B–D–F — and you also get the tritone B–F, the most restless interval of all, which resolves inward to C–E. Two magnets, both pointing at the tonic chord. That is the engine of Western harmony, and every cadence is a way of using or withholding it.
Cadences: how a phrase ends
A cadence is the two-chord punctuation at the end of a phrase. Four kinds cover almost everything:
- Authentic (perfect) — V → I. The full stop. The strongest, most final ending; nearly every piece closes with one.
- Plagal — IV → I. The “Amen” cadence of hymns: gentle, no leading tone, a soft landing rather than a slam.
- Half — anything → V. A comma, not a period: the phrase pauses on the dominant and the listener knows more is coming.
- Deceptive — V → vi. The ear expects I and gets its minor relative instead; the music sidesteps the ending and keeps going. Composers use it to extend a phrase or to surprise.
Good harmony moves each note the shortest possible distance: from G–B–D to C–E–G the B slides up to C, the D slides down to C or up to E, and the G stays. Chords that share notes and move by step sound smooth; that is the whole craft of voice leading, and inversions are its main tool.
Play I–IV then V–I: closed. Play I–IV then V–vi: the floor is pulled away. Play I–IV then IV–I: a sigh. Play I–IV then I–V: a question. Same lead-in, four endings — the extra lab lets you switch between them.
The Progression Player below loops any progression you choose or build, one chord per bar on the metronome. Try each preset, then compose your own eight bars and end them with the cadence you want.
🎼 Lab — Progression Player
Loop a preset progression in any key, or build your own from the numeral buttons — up to twelve bars.
- Play I–V–vi–IV and I–IV–V–I back to back; the same chords in a different order tell a different story.
- Build I–IV–V and leave it there: the loop never lands, because it never reaches I.
- Try the 12-bar blues at 120 BPM and count the bars — three chords, twelve bars, one form.
🎼 Lab — Cadence Comparer
Every button plays the same I–IV lead-in and then one of the four cadences. Listen to the last two chords.
- Authentic, then deceptive: the same V, and the ear is fooled by where it goes.
- Half cadence: notice that you are waiting for something — that is the point.