Primary Chords

Chord Progressions I - IV - V7 - I

Primary Chords - Harmony and Theory: A Comprehensive Source for All Musicians (Musicians Institute) by Carl Schroeder and Keith Wyatt.

For a comprehensive, concise reference about primary chords, secondary chords & chord progressions, this book is a "MUST HAVE".

Here is part of a review of this book by Patrick D. Goonan ... The review is from: Harmony and Theory: A Comprehensive Source for All Musicians (Essential Concepts (Musicians Institute).

"...I absolutely love this book. It covers essential music theory is a very short space in a well-organized manner. More importantly, it emphasizes the concepts that are most important to a musician who wants to develop their practical skills at chord substitution, improvisation, voicing chords, etc..."

The "Primary" Chords in music are the three most commonly used chords - the I, IV, and V (or V7) chords. These chords are built on the first, fourth, and fifth degrees of a diatonic scale.

DIATONIC SCALE DEGREE NAMES

Tonic
Supertonic
Mediant
Subdominant
Dominant
Submediant
Leading Tone

DIATONIC CHORD NAMES

I chord - Tonic
ii chord - Supertonic
iii chord - Mediant
IV chord - Subdominant
V chord - Dominant
vi chord - Submediant
vii chord - Leading Tone

Here are the Primary Chords in the key of C major:

The following 4 examples use the same I-IV-I-V7-I chord progression; however, the voicing of each one is different. This is because the inversions in the right hand are different - but they are the same progression, I-IV-I-V7-I

Here are the Primary Chords in the key of F major: (F-Bb-C)

The following example is a rhythmic pattern in the key of F major. It uses the I-IV-I-V7-I chords.

The possible uses of the these three chords are endless. Thousands of songs have been written using them:

Amazing Grace
God Bless America
Sweet Home in Alabama
Love Me Tender
Marianne
Michael Row The Boat Ashore

and many, many more.

Here are the same chords in the key of G major: (G-C-D-G)

Amazing Grace

Following is an example of Amazing Grace in the key of G major. It uses mostly the I-IV-V chords in the key of G.

FREE DOWNLOAD: Seventh chords!

Click the icon to download s free PDF of ALL 7th, minor 7th and major 7th CHORDS. You can then save a copy or print a hard copy of the included sheet.

7th chords - chord inversions - sus chords

extended chords - diatonic triads - diatonic 7th chords

primary chords - secondary chords - secondary dominants

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