chordslol

Genre

Classical chord progressions

European art music tradition with functional harmony

What makes it sound like this

Harmonic fingerprints.

  • Functional harmony
  • Voice leading
  • Modulation
  • Cadences

Where it lives

Common keys.

The tonal centres classical keeps coming back to — usually because they sit well on the instruments the style was built on. Each key page carries its full diatonic chord set, and links its relative minor for the darker corners of the genre.

Go deeper

Progression pages filed under classical.

Each one is realized in all fifteen keys of its mode, with audio and the songs that use it.

i-♭VII-♭VI-V (Andalusian)

i — ♭VII — ♭VI — V

Flamenco / Phrygian descent; minor with major V.

I-V-vi-iii-IV-I-IV-V (Pachelbel)

I — V — vi — iii — IV — I — IV — V

8-bar baroque cycle; basis of countless pop songs.