Advanced Chord Progressions: 12 Moves Explained, With Examples in C

"Advanced" does not mean more chords. Every progression on this page does a job you already know (lead to a chord, end a section, change key) by a route you have not taken yet: a chord borrowed from outside the key, or a familiar function in an unfamiliar disguise. All twelve are written in C so you can play each one on a keyboard in under a minute.

The secret behind every one of them is the same, so it comes first: advanced harmony is voice leading. Each move works because one or two notes slide by a semitone into the next chord. Find those notes, make them audible, and the progression sounds intentional. Bury them in a block chord and it sounds like a wrong note. If the Roman numerals are new to you, 20 chord progressions to steal explains them in two paragraphs and covers the common progressions; this guide is about the twelve that need explaining.

Dominant tricks: four ways to lead somewhere

A dominant seventh chord contains a tritone (in G7, the B and the F), and a tritone wants to resolve: B up to C, F down to E. The first four moves all play with that pull, either by pointing it at a different chord or by reaching the same resolution from another direction.

1. Secondary dominants (V/V, V/ii, V/vi)

A secondary dominant is the V7 of a chord that is not the tonic. In C, A minor is the vi chord; its own dominant is E7. Play C - E7 - Am and the G♯ in E7 pulls up to A exactly the way B pulls up to C in G7 - C. For one beat, A minor sounds like a destination.

Every diatonic chord except the diminished one can have its own dominant. In C: D7 leads to G (V/V), E7 to Am (V/vi), A7 to Dm (V/ii), B7 to Em (V/iii) and C7 to F (V/IV). The giveaway is whatever falls outside the key: F♯ in D7, G♯ in E7, C♯ in A7, D♯ and F♯ in B7, B♭ in C7.

2. The dominant chain (III7 - VI7 - II7 - V7 - I)

Stack secondary dominants and each one resolves to the next dominant instead of to a chord in the key: E7 - A7 - D7 - G7 - C. The roots fall in fifths, the strongest root motion in tonal music, and the ear cannot settle until the very last chord. It is known as the ragtime progression, after the genre that made it popular (it is older), and it is the bridge of "rhythm changes", the jazz form built on Gershwin's "I Got Rhythm", which runs III7 - VI7 - II7 - V7 at two bars per chord.

The voice leading is what makes it sound smooth rather than busy. In a chain of dominant sevenths, the 3rd of each chord falls a semitone to become the 7th of the next, and the 7th falls a semitone to become the next 3rd. From E7 to A7: G♯ falls to G, D falls to C♯. Play only those two notes through the whole chain and you will hear two lines sliding down chromatically. Those are the guide tones, and they are what a good comping part outlines.

The deck has this one as I - V/vi - vi - V/IV - IV - V/V - V - I (Chain of Secondary Dominants) and as Rhythm Changes Bridge (Swing/Jazz).

3. Tritone substitution

G7 and D♭7 share the same tritone. G7 has B and F; D♭7 has F (its 3rd) and C♭, which is the same key as B (its 7th). Same tritone, same pull, so D♭7 can replace G7 in any cadence: Dm7 - D♭7 - Cmaj7. What changes is the bass, which now falls by semitone, D - D♭ - C.

That chromatic bass is the sound. In jazz it is everywhere; in a pop ballad or an R&B track it is the single chord that makes the arrangement sound expensive. The substitute also brings new colour: the D♭ and A♭ of D♭7 are the ♭5 and ♭9 of the G7 it replaces, which is why tritone subs and altered dominants sound related.

4. The backdoor ii - V (iv7 - ♭VII7 - I)

Fm7 - B♭7 - Cmaj7 reaches C from the other side. Both chords are borrowed from C minor, and B♭7 resolves without the leading tone: there is no B pulling up to C, so the arrival is softer, more of a sigh than a full stop. The A♭ in B♭7 falls to G and the F falls to E, two semitone moves that make the resolution feel inevitable even though the chord is "wrong".

Jazz players use it as an alternative turnaround; soul and gospel players use B♭7 alone, or B♭/C, for the same soft landing. The deck card is Backdoor Progression (♭VII7 - I).

Borrowed and chromatic colour

The next three moves are about colour rather than direction. They take chords from the parallel minor, or from no key at all, and the effect is emotional before it is functional.

5. The minor plagal cadence (IV - iv - I)

F - Fm - C. Only one note changes between the first two chords: A becomes A♭, and then A♭ falls to G, the 5th of C. That single semitone is the whole effect: a moment of sadness, then home. Radiohead's "Creep" is built on the same idea, G - B - C - Cm, and the Beatles used the borrowed iv in the verse of "In My Life".

It is the most useful move on this page for songwriters, because it works on any instrument, in any genre, and it ends a song with feeling instead of with a full stop. The deck card is IV - iv - I (Minor Plagal Cadence).

6. ♭VI - ♭VII - I

A♭ - B♭ - C: two major chords borrowed from C minor, climbing in whole steps to C major. Where the minor plagal cadence is bittersweet, this one is triumphant, the sound of a level completed: it is nicknamed the "Mario cadence" after Koji Kondo's level-complete fanfare in Super Mario Bros. Rock uses it as a chorus ending, film and game music as an arrival.

It belongs to a whole family of borrowed chords (♭III, ♭VI, ♭VII, iv), which modal interchange: borrow chords like a pro covers in depth. The deck card is Modal Interchange Cadence.

7. Chromatic mediants

Two chords are chromatic mediants when their roots are a third apart and they share only one note. C major and E major share E; C major and A♭ major share C. Move between them and the common note holds while the others shift by semitone: from C to E, the E stays, C falls to B and G rises to G♯.

No key contains both chords, so the effect is not a cadence but a change of light. The music theorist Frank Lehman has shown how Hollywood scores use it to signal wonder, and names John Williams as its most prolific user. C - E - A♭ - C goes all the way round: three major chords a major third apart, dividing the octave into three equal steps. Keep that shape in mind, it comes back at number 12.

Classical pre-dominants: drama before the cadence

In classical harmony the chord just before the dominant (the pre-dominant) is where composers spend their boldest colour. These three replace an ordinary iv or ii with something darker.

8. The Neapolitan sixth (♭II6)

In C minor: Cm - D♭/F - Cm/G - G7 - Cm. The Neapolitan is a major chord on the flattened second degree (D♭ major), usually in first inversion so that F is in the bass, the same bass note as the Fm it replaces. The D♭ on top then falls, D♭ to C to B, into the leading tone of G7. That descending line is what makes it sound tragic. Beethoven uses it in the third bar of the "Moonlight" Sonata: a D major chord in first inversion, in C♯ minor, just before the dominant.

For a producer, the shortcut is simple: in any minor loop, replace the iv chord with a major chord a semitone above the tonic, over the same bass note. The deck has it as Neapolitan Chord for Dramatic Effect (Opera/Classical), and its modal cousin, the ♭II - I (Phrygian Cadence/Neapolitan), which skips the dominant entirely.

9. Augmented sixth chords (Italian, French, German)

All three are built on the flattened sixth degree in the bass (A♭ in C) with the sharpened fourth degree above it (F♯). The interval from A♭ up to F♯ is an augmented sixth, and it opens outward onto an octave: A♭ falls to G, F♯ rises to G. Both notes land on the dominant from a semitone away, which is where the chord's tension comes from.

• Italian: A♭ - C - F♯, then G.
• French: A♭ - C - D - F♯, then G. The D adds a whole-tone colour.
• German: A♭ - C - E♭ - F♯, usually through C/G (or Cm/G) before G, which avoids parallel fifths.

Here is the useful part: the German sixth sounds exactly like A♭7, because F♯ and G♭ are the same key. And A♭7 is the tritone substitute of D7, which is V/V. So a German sixth is a tritone substitution of a secondary dominant, spelled the classical way. Jazz and classical harmony arrive at the same sound from opposite ends. To try it without the theory, play A♭7 - G - C in C major.

10. The omnibus progression

G7 - Bm/F♯ - G7/F - E7 - Am. The bass falls by semitone (G, F♯, F, E) while the top voice rises by semitone (F, F♯, G, G♯) and the two middle notes, B and D, never move. You can name the chords (three dominant sevenths with a B minor triad in between), but nobody hears chords: they hear the outer voices pulling apart, as if the floor were moving.

Its classic job is to stretch a dominant: Wagner uses it throughout Tristan und Isolde and as Kundry's music in Parsifal, Tchaikovsky in The Nutcracker. In a track it works as a two-bar fill before a section that starts on the vi chord, because it lands on E7 and resolves to A minor. The deck card is Omnibus Progression, rated Expert, and it earns it: voice it exactly as written, or it falls apart.

Colour and speed

11. Extended voicings over a familiar progression

Cmaj9 - Am11 - Dm9 - G13 is one of the most common turnarounds there is (I - vi - ii - V) with the extensions added. The function does not change; the colour does. It is a staple of neo-soul and R&B keys parts.

Three voicing rules keep it from turning to mud. The root goes in the bass alone. The 5th is the first note to drop, because it adds nothing. The extensions go on top, where they are heard. In practice: Cmaj9 as C in the bass, then E, B, D; Am11 as A, then G, C, D; Dm9 as D, then F, C, E; G13 as G, then F, B, E. Play those four shapes in a row and notice how little the right hand moves.

The deck has Lush Extended Chords (R&B: m9, Maj9, Dom11, Dom13), Maj13 and Min11. The R&B page shows the constraints they pair with.

12. Coltrane changes

Over a ii - V - I in C, John Coltrane's substitution reads Dm7 - E♭7 - A♭maj7 - B7 - Emaj7 - G7 - Cmaj7. Three tonal centres a major third apart (C, A♭ and E), each approached by its own dominant. It is the chromatic mediant cycle of number 7, with a dominant in front of every stop, at speed. In "Giant Steps" the three keys are B, G and E♭, and the tune moves through them at high speed, which is what makes it so hard to improvise over.

You do not have to play it that fast. Slowed down to one chord per bar on a pad, Coltrane changes become a modulation map: a ready-made route through three keys for an ambient piece or a film cue that needs to travel. The deck card is Coltrane Changes (Giant Steps).

Which move for which job

• Drama before a chorus: Neapolitan sixth (8) or an augmented sixth (9).
• An ending that hurts a little: minor plagal cadence (5).
• A triumphant arrival: ♭VI - ♭VII - I (6).
• Momentum in a bridge: the dominant chain (2).
• A jazzier turnaround: tritone substitution (3) or backdoor (4).
• Wonder, scale, a change of scene: chromatic mediants (7).
• Stretching a dominant before the vi chord: omnibus (10).
• Neo-soul or R&B colour: extended voicings (11).
• A route through three keys: Coltrane changes (12).

How to practise these in 20 minutes

1. Pick one move, not three. Advanced harmony learned in bulk stays theory.
2. Put it into a progression you already have. The loop from your last unfinished track is perfect: you know it, so you will hear exactly what the new chord changes.
3. Find the semitone. Play the two chords slowly and find the note that moves by a half step (G♯ in E7, A♭ in Fm, D♭ in the Neapolitan). Put that note in the top voice.
4. Write eight bars of melody that uses the new note. The chromatic note is the point of the chord; a melody that avoids it wastes it.
5. Bounce it and stop. Tomorrow, another move. In two weeks you will have all twelve in your hands rather than on this page.