Piano Improvisation with Rosa

Now that you know how different types of chords are based on different scale tones, let’s examine some of the more common chord progressions you are likely to be soloing over.

These are chord progressions that are used in many popular sogs as well as in many jazz standards.

I  — IV

This is a soft 2 chord progression as the IV chord is not quite as tension filled as a V chord might be at the end of a phrase.

You can play these 2 chords over and over as they don’t have a natural ending point.

Common tones of I & IV:  Root for I;  5th for IV

C & F:  C

Leading tones:  I — 3rd

IV — Root

Leading tone for  C  is  E

Leading tone for F is  F

I  –  V7

this is a harder edged 2 chord progression, common in rock music, that alternates between the tonic and the dominant.

V7 chord is sometimes played as siple V chords with no 7th.

Common tone:  G   (5th for I; R for V)

Leading tone:  C  &  E for I

B  F  for V

I  IV  V7

There are many different variations for the I IV V7 progression.

You can leave out the IV, insert an extra I between the IV and the V7 and even tack on another I – V7 at the end.

You can’t get any more popular than the I IV V7 progression — sometimes with the V7 played as simple V chord.

this progressioni s used in tens of thousands of songs.

3 chord rock and roll

This progression is not limited to rock;

Many folk, country, jazz, rap and even classical and show tunes are based on these 3 chords.

I  IV  V  IV

This progression is a variation of I IV V that adds a ‘soft’ trnstion back to the I chord (using the IV instead of the V).  IT’s a nice rollign progression, not too heavy, without a strong ending feeling.

there are no common tones between IV and V

I  ii  IV  V7  I

This is a constant upward movement resolved with ta standard V7-I cadence.

There are no common tones between the I and the ii chords.

There are no leading tones between the ii and IV chords.

I  ii  IV  I

This is a variation of previous progresion with a soft transition at the end; IV back to I with no V involved.

This progression has a rolling feel and sounds as if it could go and and on in a giant circle

I  vi  ii V7

This is a popular progression in the 1950s, the basis of a lot of doo wop and jazz songs.

IN jazz circles, this is called I’ve Got Rhythm progression.

I  vi  IV  V7

This is a variation of I’ve Got rhythm with a stronger lead to the V chord.

This progression is popular in the doo-wop era and in the early days of rock and roll.

The defining factor of this progression is the descending bass line.

You probably heard of this progession hundreds of times.

there are no leading tones between the I and the vi chords.

I  vi  IV  V7  ii V7 I

This is another variation on I’ve Got rhythm progression with an extra ii chord squeezed in between the final V and the return to I.

Note there are no common tones between ii and I chords.

No leading tones between I and vi chords, nor between the V7 and the ii chords.

I  IV  vi  IV

This progression is anothe rolling one.

Thanks to the absence of the V chord, it’s good for repeating over and over again.

It features lots of common and leading tones.

I  V  vi  IV

This progression is another rolling one, good for repeating again and again.

IT’s unusual in that the V chord is in the middle of the progression, not at the end.

There are no common tones between the V and the vi chords.

IV  I  IV  V

This set of chord changes demonstrates, you don’t have to start your chord progression on the tonic.

This progression has a bit of a rolling nature to it, and it also sounds somewhat unresolved.

ii7 V7 I

This progression is quite popular in jazz, most often played with 7th chords.

Sometimes jazz tunes cycle this progression in a variety of keys, often using the Circle of 5ths to modulate through the key.

A modulation is a change of key.

Circle of  5ths progresses through a series of keys; each a perfect 5th above the last.

For eg. starting in C modulates from C to G to D to A to E to B to F# to C# to G# to D# to A# to F and then back to C.

I  IV   bVII  V7

C  F  Bb  G7

This progression might seem odd at first, although it’s more common than it appears.

What’s odd is that the VII chord is not based on the true 7th of the scale instead it is based on the flatted 7th.

So in key of C, b7 chord is Bb major.

It’s popular progression in many jazz tines.

The Blues progression

this is not solely to blues music,you  also find this in many jazz and popular tunes

Blues progression is a 12 measuer progression. 12 bar blues.

It looks like this: I  IV  I  V7 IV   I

Sometimes all the chords are played as dom 7 so that the progression looks like:

I7  IV7  I7  V7  IV7  I7

C  F  C  G7 F  C

One chord Jams

This is not really a chord progression as the chord never changes.

This is the type of song based on a single chord.

When you are improvising thru a series of chord changes, it is imp to make your solo sound like an uninterrupted melodic line, not like a series of disjointed phrases based on individual chords.

What you don’t want to do is introduce unnatural jumps into yoru solo line just cuz there is a chord change.

How NOt to deal with a chord change

You are changing from C chord to F chord.

If playing a simple arp based solo — you might be tempted to go from  C  E  G   C to F A C F pattern.

There is not a great transition, there is no rhyme or reason for that first pattern to move to the 2nd, other than the chord change. In fact, this type of approach overly emphasizes the chord change by not creating a natural bridge between the changes. Avoid this type of approach.

A chord based solo line that doesn’t flow naturally across the chord change — wrong!

a  Using Common Tones

A better approach — identify those notes that are the same from one chord to another — common tones. By emphasizing common tones between chords, you can better connect the notes you play for one chord to those notes you play for the next.

Think of common tones as connecting tones for your chord based solos.

A common tone is a note that is contained in both of 2 adjacent chords.

There are several different ways to use common tones to bridge a chord change:

• repeat the common tone at the end of one chord and the beginning of the next
• hold the common tone from the end of one chord to the beginning of the next
• play a pattern centering on the common tone over the first chord, and then repeat that or a similar pattern over the 2nd chord
• create a melodic line over the first chord that is leading to the common tone, and then start the melodic line over the next chord with this common tone.

For eg

C                             F

C E G    C  –   |    C  .   A C    –    |

b  Using leading tones

To get from one chord to another is to use the leading tones in the first chord to lead into the key tones of the next chord.

Just about any time you move from one chord to another, there ae one or more tones that lead from that first chord to the next. You can use those leading tones to create a melodic flow across a chord change.

I – IV  (C to F ) progression.

Between tehse 2 chords, the leading tone is the 3rd of the chord I — E — which leads up a half step to the root of the IV chord, F.  You can use the E-F movement ot create a melodic line that moves across the chord change.

C                                    F

C E G   G .     E |     F.    A F  –    |

Building a melody across a chord change using the leading note int he first chord.

c.  Playing a natural melodic line

These are not the only ways to bridge chord changes.

There’s no musical law that says you absolutely, positively have to play a common tone or a leading tone when you’re moving from one chord to another.

It’s okay to move from the 5th of a C chord to the 3rd of an F chord (which are neither common or leading tones), as long as the transition sounds natural.  The key is to make your solo line flow from one chord to the next in a melodic way without any unexpected and unnatural jumps

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