I’ve always been nuts about simple chord progressions, especially those that are hypnotic and circular in their basic nature. If I’m tuned DAD on my dulcimer, this is one of the top circular progressions that I know of:
With an ascending bass line:
D | A | Bm | G |
---|---|---|---|
0 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
2 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
With a descending bass:
D | A | Bm | G |
---|---|---|---|
7 | 6+ | 5 | 3 |
5 | 4 | 5 | 1 |
4 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
With chords in root position:
D | A | Bm | G |
---|---|---|---|
0 | 4 | 5 | 3 |
5 | 4 | 5 | 1 |
4 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
Here is another chord loop, though this one has only three chords, because you come back to the second chord one more time:
A | D | G | D |
---|---|---|---|
1 | 2 | 3 | 2 |
0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
And here is the same progression a couple of times through, moving along with different inversions, and substituting Em or G6 for G:
A | D/F# | Em | D | A/E | D/F# | G6 | D/A |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
4 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
4 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
In the charts above, If there is a slash after a chord symbol, and a note after the slash, the note after the slash refers to the lowest note or bass note. These are called “slash chords” and they are a GREAT way to show a bass-line and a chord progression at the same time. No slash just means that the chord is in Root Position with its Root in the bass.
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