Progression · I–II–iii–IV–V–bv

I–II–iii–IV–V–bv Progression

3 songs from the corpus share this chord-degree set — open one to see and hear the real chords on an interactive fretboard.

Pop R&B/Soul Soul Intermediate Advanced

What I–II–iii–IV–V–bv means

Every song below plays chords built on these scale degrees: I = degree 1, II = degree 2, iii = degree 3 (minor), IV = degree 4, V = degree 5, bv = degree 5 (minor) — relative to whatever key that song is actually in. The degrees are the same; the real chords are different in every key, which is exactly why the same progression can sound totally different from one song to the next.

Hear it in Db major

One real voicing for each degree, in a key real songs in this set are actually written in — tap any diagram to hear it strummed.

3 songs built on I–II–iii–IV–V–bv

Closely related progressions

🎭 Character: iii is the least commonly leaned-on diatonic chord — it shares two notes with both I and V, which makes it sound more like a passing color than a destination. V (the dominant) has the strongest pull back to I of any diatonic chord — its own third is the key's leading tone, the single note that wants most to resolve upward. IV (the subdominant) is what produces a plagal, hymn-like “amen” cadence when it resolves straight to I, skipping V entirely.

🔄 Inversions: An inversion is the same chord with a different note in the bass — first inversion puts the 3rd on the bottom, second inversion the 5th. Try playing any chord above with its 3rd or 5th as the lowest note instead of the root: the chord itself doesn't change, but the bass line moves by step instead of jumping around, which is what makes a progression feel smoother from one chord to the next.

Learn the theory

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