Hi everyone!

I have a couple (ok, alot) of questions about what the heck the term "Chord progression" means and what the significance of it is. I have a mass of jumbled thoughts that have come up this week (lesson isnt till sunday for me to talk with my teacher, doh!). Im really looking for any information to put me in the right direction: web sites with decent tutorials, Personal insight or knowledge, anything.

So what is a chord progression? Ive heard it coined as moving from one chord to another in a way that "sounds good", say for instance from I -> IV -> I chord. Ok, so why does that "sound good". Who determined that? What is the formula, if any, for determining a chord progression in a given key or a given starting note in that key?

I know that the one chord of a given key is going to be the same as say the IV or the V chord of another key. . .ok, why? Does the sequence of notes mean different things when played as a I chord vs. a V chord? Am I reading to much into this?

Im sure chord progressions play a huge role in how a song is constructed and probably gives some clues and insight into the composers thoughts and possibly how to play it, is this true? If so, what should I look for?

Wow thats a wall of mish-mashed thoughts...any help is greatly appreciated!

Aj

so called 'sound good' usually refer to something resonant or feeling of resolution.

if you listen to a simple song, at the end of it you always feel that it's ending and cannot continue, and that's it. why do you feel that way? if you see underline progression at the end phrase, it's likely to be a V-I chord progression. it is the most 'resolved' sound (from V to I) and thus it gives you a feeling of 'ending'. but if you change the ending harmony to V-IV, then you don't feel that song is ended but have to continue. this or that sort of aural perception means a certain chord progression have to be formed in a composition (tonal music) in order to give listeners certain feel.

that's the simplest explanation i can give you.

If music is not to be static, then it must "move". A melody is not "melodic" if it consists of only one pitch. Therefore it "moves" through several pitches and becomes what we would call a "melody" - and not just any random set of pitches, but pitches that are organized to convey some kind of "meaning" via melodic progression. An harmonic progression is the same way. One chord "progresses" to the next chord in an organized way to convey tension and resolution, and to establish (or destroy) tonality. All else being equal, the relationship between chords are used to express "meaning" (like tension/resolution, etc.). Thus, each chord in a progression will have a "function".

For more on this (may answer some of your other questions as well):
http://www.music-university.com/chordfunction.htm