Pick Your Chords
A major key gives you seven diatonic triads. Choose a key, pick a few of them and put them in an order. Add a bass line and you have a first progression, the floor the next two steps stand on. Follow the interactive lesson below to learn more.
Build a progression
Seven chords belong to every key, and any three of them work together.
What you just learned
- Choose a key
Seven chords belong to a key
C major holds seven chords. Six sound at home, the seventh is the odd one out, so leave it alone for now.
C · Dm · Em · F · G · Am - Choose a key
Start on the home chord
The chord the key is named after is a clear place to start. In C major, that is C.
home in C major = C - Choose three
Combine three chords
Pick three chords and put them in an order. One bar each, and that is already a progression.
C · F · G · C - Choose three
Ending away from home stays open
Most orders do not land on their own. Ending where you started is most common, ending elsewhere is a choice.
end on C, F or Am - Put a bass under it
The bass plays the root
Each chord gets its root in the bass, one octave lower. Your four looping bars now have a floor.
bass C under C E GRead the full answer ↓ - Put a bass under it
The fifth chord leans hardest
In C major the chord on the fifth degree is G. If your progression has a G, you already use its pull.
G B D = V in C
Where to go from here
Every part of the lesson, answered in full
Open any question to read the full answer.
What you end up with
Four bars that loop, in a key you picked, with a bass note under each chord. You can change any of it later, and the next step keeps whatever you leave here.