Progression · I–i–bIII–IV–bVI–bVII

I–i–bIII–IV–bVI–bVII Progression

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

Pop Soul Intermediate Advanced

What I–i–bIII–IV–bVI–bVII means

Every song below plays chords built on these scale degrees: I = degree 1, i = degree 1 (minor), bIII = degree 3, IV = degree 4, bVI = degree 6, bVII = degree 7 — 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 D minor

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.

2 songs built on I–i–bIII–IV–bVI–bVII

Closely related progressions

🎭 Character: bVI is borrowed from the parallel minor — it drops a darker, more dramatic color into an otherwise major-key progression. bIII is borrowed from the parallel minor — it's a common source of the big, anthemic lift heard in a lot of rock choruses. bVII is borrowed from the parallel minor (or heard as a Mixolydian bVII) — it's the chord most responsible for a rock or folk-rock color instead of a classical, strictly-major one.

🔄 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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Build a progression in any key and hear it played back on a live fretboard, or drop in a track and see which one it's actually using.

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