Degrees and progressions: order, not a bag of chords

Open Progressions. The tool has no setting in the address, so on the screen pick I-IV-V-I and the key of C. Listen to C, F and G. Stop just before the last C. If the ear waits, you are hearing what a progression does: V asks to return to I.

Two routes, the same family

I gives a rest, IV moves away, V builds tension, and the return to I closes it. The words are handles for the ear. Key and a single grip are in The key: what “the song is in G” means. Here the order is what counts.

In the same key of C pick I-V-vi-IV. After V comes Am, and F does not go straight back to C. The same roles, a different route. The details of that loop in two keys are in the next lesson on I-V-vi-IV.

progression	what you listen for
I-IV-V-I	tension on V and a quick return to I
I-V-vi-IV	after V, minor vi; the return only at the start of the loop

The picker holds 16 typical progressions. That is a shelf, not a ranking. I-IV-V is the core of folk, country and blues. I-V-vi-IV is common in pop. Not every progression starts and ends on I. I-IV-V-I is the model for the first try.

Two cards, a different order

Hej bystra woda stays on C, F and G, so I, IV and V in C. It does not repeat I-IV-V-I mechanically in every bar.

Pieski małe dwa starts C Am, then F G, so I-vi-IV-V. Later Dm comes in as well. The same family, a different order, a different course.