Progression · i–iv–V–bVI

i–iv–V–bVI Progression

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

Blues Contemporary R&B Intermediate Advanced

What i–iv–V–bVI means

Every song below plays chords built on these scale degrees: i = degree 1 (minor), iv = degree 4 (minor), V = degree 5, bVI = degree 6 — 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–iv–V–bVI

Closely related progressions

🎭 Character: bVI is borrowed from the parallel minor — it drops a darker, more dramatic color into an otherwise major-key progression. 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.

🔄 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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