how can I easily do progressions?
Answers
In jazz terms, one of the simplest chord progressions to memorize is the Circle of Fourths (or, the Circle of Fifths if you’re going the other direction).
What that means is, counting four up from the previous chord (this mostly applies to piano, in guitar the root note difference could be five frets, could be four frets, could be more depending on the chord) - and then counting four up again, and four up again, and so on.
So:
C, F, Bb, Eb, Ab, Db, F#, B, E, A, D, G, C
These can either be minor or major - really depends on your choice.
Pick however many out of the sequence as you’d like (C, F, Bb, Eb) for example (or G, D, A) - as they’re suited for the key signature (for example, F# major in a C major key signature sounds a bit off) and then use a cadence to end it. Then repeat the sequence (this is a chord progression.)
You can use four-chord progressions, five-chord progressions, two-chord progressions, or however many you’d like.
Cadences
Cadences have to do with the placement in the key signature and scale, so for C major, V(5) is where the root note is the fifth in the C major scale (in this case, G), whereas I(1) is…C. And likewise for the various key signatures - count it off in your head if you’re unsure - the major scale runs C(2) D(2) E(1) F(2) G(2) A(2) B(1) C - the numbers indicate how many frets or keys there are between this note and the next one (including itself). If you’re in a different key, count the same, but the starting note is different - that is, for example, Db(2) Eb(2) F(1) Gb(2) Ab(2) Bb(2) C(1) Db.
For minor scales, this is the count:
C(2)D(1) Eb(2) F(2) G(1) Ab(2) Bb(2) C
Cadences include (skipping a lot of musical theory for how it sounds - you might know these under different names, too):
V - I (perfect cadence, used to establish the start and end of a song or chord progression - you’ll see a lot of progressions that start and end with I(1), for example C-F-G-C in C major (1–4–5–1))
IV- I (plagal cadence, slightly less fully resolved - used a lot in hymn writing, it’s also known as the “Amen” cadence because of how many hymns end with it set on those words)
anything-V (imperfect cadence, song feels unfinished, yearning, incomplete, suspended, these kinds of things)
V-VI (even worse yearning)
Remember that chords are usually very simple in terms of triads (again, this refers to keyboard/piano, not guitar, although you can cross-apply pretty easily).
I’d simply advise - once you know some basic chord progressions - to experiment with them so you’ll find your go-to (I tend to default to C minor, C-Ebmaj/Bb-Bbmaj7/Ab-Gm-C descending, for instance). What I’ve