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What's the Deal with These I-VII-VI-V and iv-V-VII Chords and Stuff - Musical Coffee Mug

What’s the Deal with These i-VII-VI-V and iv-V-VII Chords and Stuff? (Part 4)

/ The Craft of Songwriting / By / Music
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Estimated reading time 3 minutes

Table of Contents

Introduction

Do your eyes cross when you try to figure out Roman Numeral analysis? Roman numerals are broadly used to analyze chords in songs. However, you’ll use some Roman numerals to specifically describe harmonies in minor keys. Read more to find out the answer to, “What’s the deal with these i-VII-VI-V and iv-V-VII chords and stuff?”

This post uses musical terms. For definitions, see the Glossary at the end of the article.

For other posts in the series:

Can Someone Explain Roman Numeral Analysis in Layman's Terms for Me - Lego Roman - Tonic vs. Root in Music Theory - What’s the Deal with These i-VII-VI-V and iv-V-VII Chords and Stuff

What’s the Deal with These i-VII-VI-V and iv-V-VII Chords and Stuff: Typical Chords Used in Minor Keys

Mobile users: for best results reading the music, tilt your screen 90o to the right.

Whats the Deal with These I-VII-VI-V and iv-V-VII Chords and Stuff - Diatonic Triads Key of A Minor

Natural Minor Triads:

“What’s the deal with these i-VII-VI-V and iv-V-VII chords and stuff?” The Roman numerals in the previous sentence indicate minor key harmonies.

Minor keys can be tricky because you can use more than one type of minor scale. For example, you have these A minor scales:

  • Natural minor: A B C D E F G A
  • Harmonic minor: A B C D E F G# A
  • Melodic minor: A B C D E F# G# A

Listen to the chords in the example above to hear how the natural minor sounds.

The chords used in minor keys will often be pretty simple.

  • You’ll use chords from the natural minor, which has the same chords as the relative major key, but in a different order.
  • However, in a lot of songs the third (G in the key of A minor) of the v triad will be raised (G#). See the chord chart below.
  • Also, the sixth scale degree will often be raised in the melody.
  • For example, in A minor, the F will be raised to F# when singing the notes E F# G# A.
  • This keeps your melody from sounding like something from the movie Aladdin.

Beyond this you don’t usually see much impact from the melodic and harmonic minor scales.

  • For example, the Elizabethan song Greensleeves gives you a fairly typical minor chord progression (see the video below).
  • It uses a i VII VI V progression.
  • However, later it substitutes the III chord for the i chord.

Basic Chords in A Harmonic Minor

Whats the Deal with These I-VII-VI-V and iv-V-VII Chords and Stuff - A Minor Chord Chart

Greensleeves

What’s the Deal with These i-VII-VI-V and iv-V-VII Chords and Stuff: Exotic Chord Options

Whats the Deal with These I-VII-VI-V and iv-V-VII Chords and Stuff - A Minor Harmonics Minor Chords

Harmonic Minor Triads:

Whats the Deal with These I-VII-VI-V and iv-V-VII Chords and Stuff - A Minor Melodic Minor Chords

Melodic Minor Triads:

“What’s the deal with these i-VII-VI-V and iv-V-VII chords and stuff?” The chords in the minor mode can be more flexible than the chords in the major mode.

Why? Because the impact of the harmonic and melodic minor scales can be much greater than what we talked about in the section above.

  • For example, in A minor, the F# and G# can be used in any chord that contains the natural versions of those notes.
  • This will transform the chords so that they sound radically different.
  • Listen to the soundtracks for the harmonic and melodic minor keys above. 
  • You’ll hear a big difference between them and the natural minor.

The impact of the harmonic minor scale on the chords:

  • The G# transforms the III chord from a major to an augmented chord.
  • It changes the v triad from minor to major and turns the VII chord from major to diminished.

The impact of the melodic minor scale on the chords:

  • In addition to having all the chords altered by the G#, the melodic minor transforms any chord that contains an F.
  • The F# alters the ii(b5) chord from a diminished to a minor triad.
  • It switches the iv chord from minor to major and converts the VI triad from major to diminished.
  • Things can get even crazier when you start adding in seventh chords.

Having said this, you won’t find these chords outside of classical, jazz, or jazz influenced pop too often.

What's the Deal with These I-VII-VI-V and iv-V-VII Chords and Stuff - Hand, Keyboards, and Sheet Music

Summary of “What’s the Deal with These i-VII-VI-V and iv-V-VII Chords and Stuff?”

Here’s some final thoughts on “What’s the Deal with These i-VII-VI-V and iv-V-VII Chords and Stuff?”

  1. Mostly, songs in minor keys will use the natural minor scale with the addition of the major V triad.
  2. They’ll also use the raised sixth scale degree to keep the melody sounding smooth.
  3. However, minor keys have the potential to use more complex chords because of the impact of the harmonic and melodic minor scales.
  4. How simple or complex your chord progressions become will be entirely up to you.

Have fun writing!

Related posts:

© 2023 Geoffrey Keith

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