Progressions, emotions and borrowed chords – free course

Some chord sequences have become archetypes: you hear them in hundreds of songs, film scores and classical pieces. That isn't laziness — each one carries a specific emotion that you can summon on purpose. In this lesson you'll build your palette: the great progressions, what they tell, and then borrowed chords, those touches of colour from the minor mode that send a shiver down the spine.

1. The "pop progression": I – V – vi – IV

C – G – A minor – F. Optimistic, broad, a little nostalgic when the vi arrives. It's the loop behind a thousand choruses. Notice the voice leading in the right hand: you move as little as possible from one chord to the next (E → D → E → F in the lowest voice), which makes the progression smooth.

M:4/4
L:1/4
Q:1/4=80
K:C
%%staves {RH LH}
V:RH clef=treble
V:LH clef=bass
[V:RH] "C"[EGc]4 | "G"[DGB]4 | "Am"[EAc]4 | "F"[FAc]4 |]
[V:LH] C,4 | G,,4 | A,,4 | F,,4 |]

Progression (in C)	Character	Heard in…
I – V – vi – IV (C G Am F)	Bright, anthemic	Pop choruses, anthems
vi – IV – I – V (Am F C G)	Melancholy rising to hope	Ballads, film music
I – vi – IV – V (C Am F G)	Tender, retro, "1950s"	Doo-wop, lullabies
ii – V – I (Dm7 G7 C)	Elegant, conclusive	Jazz, standards
i – VII – VI – V (Am G F E)	Dramatic, Spanish	Flamenco, rock
Circle of fifths	Inevitable, baroque	Vivaldi, Bach, Handel

2. The Andalusian cadence

A minor – G – F – E: a bass stepping down one note at a time, and a final E major chord (with G♯) that sounds like an open door. The G♯ is the leading tone of A minor: it pulls towards A and restarts the loop.

M:4/4
L:1/4
Q:1/4=88
K:Am
%%staves {RH LH}
V:RH clef=treble
V:LH clef=bass
[V:RH] "Am"[Ace]4 | "G"[GBd]4 | "F"[FAc]4 | "E"[E^GB]4 |]
[V:LH] A,,4 | G,,4 | F,,4 | E,,4 |]

3. ii – V – I and the circle of fifths

When chord roots fall by a fifth (or rise by a fourth), you get the feeling of an inevitable descent towards the tonic. ii – V – I is its core: Dm7 → G7 → Cmaj7. Listen to how each voice moves by a single step, or not at all.

M:4/4
L:1/4
Q:1/4=72
K:C
%%staves {RH LH}
V:RH clef=treble
V:LH clef=bass
[V:RH] "Dm7"[FAc]4 | "G7"[FGB]4 | "Cmaj7"[EGB]4 | "Cmaj7"[EGB]4 |]
[V:LH] D,4 | G,,4 | C,4 | C,4 |]

The full cycle in A minor runs A minor – D minor – G – C – F – B diminished – E – A minor: it drives countless baroque pieces and plenty of songs. The bass falls a fifth (or rises a fourth) with every chord.

M:4/4
L:1/4
Q:1/4=96
K:Am
%%staves {RH LH}
V:RH clef=treble
V:LH clef=bass
[V:RH] "Am"[Ace]2 "Dm"[FAd]2 | "G"[GBd]2 "C"[EGc]2 | "F"[FAc]2 "Bdim"[FBd]2 | "E"[E^GB]2 "Am"[EAc]2 |]
[V:LH] A,,2 D,2 | G,,2 C,2 | F,,2 B,,2 | E,,2 A,,2 |]

4. Borrowed chords: a drop of minor in the major

A borrowed chord is taken from the parallel mode (C minor when you're in C major). The three most useful:

iv (F minor): F – A♭ – C. Right after F major, the A sliding down to A♭ brings a poignant nostalgia — very "film score".
♭VI (A♭ major): grand, heroic, an unexpected shaft of light.
♭VII (B♭ major): rock, epic; ♭VI → ♭VII → I is a triumphant ending.

M:4/4
L:1/4
Q:1/4=66
K:C
%%staves {RH LH}
V:RH clef=treble
V:LH clef=bass
[V:RH] "C"[EGc]4 | "F"[FAc]4 | "Fm"[F_Ac]4 | "C"[EGc]4 | "C"[EGc]4 | "Ab"[_E_Ac]4 | "Bb"[DF_B]4 | "C"[EGc]4 |]
[V:LH] C,4 | F,,4 | F,,4 | C,4 | C,4 | _A,,4 | _B,,4 | C,4 |]

Bars 1–4: the minor iv (A → A♭ → G, a falling chromatic line). Bars 5–8: ♭VI – ♭VII – I, the "hero's ending".

Tip: a borrowed chord works best when it's rare. Use it once, at a key moment (just before the final cadence, at the emotional peak), and the effect will be striking. Remember to adapt the melody too: over F minor, the melody must not play A natural!

Common mistakes: stringing together stock progressions with nothing personal on top (melody and rhythm must carry your identity); piling up borrowed chords until the sense of key is lost; forgetting that the progression should serve the emotion of the passage, not the other way round.

Your workshop

Open chord progressions and listen to I–V–vi–IV, vi–IV–I–V and the Andalusian cadence. Write down the emotion of each in one word.
Pick a 4-chord progression and write it in the piano roll: block chords in the right hand (shortest possible voice leading), roots in the left hand.
Repeat the loop 4 times (16 bars) and compose a melody on top, with chord tones on the strong beats.
On the 4th repetition, replace one chord with a borrowed one (iv, ♭VI or ♭VII) and adjust the melody accordingly.
Improvise first over a ballad in C to find melodic ideas before pinning them down.
Self-check: does the borrowed chord arrive at a strong moment, and do you hear it as colour rather than as a wrong note?