Module 12: Standards and formLesson 3advanced⏱ 90 min + daily cycling through keys

Common progressions in standards

The handful of progression families that account for most of the repertoire (cycle of fifths, ii–V chains, the relative major/minor loop, major-third key shifts, backdoor cadences, turnarounds) analysed by Roman numerals, tabled in every key and voiced through on the guitar.

Why a few families cover hundreds of tunes

Open a fake book at random and the chords look like thirty-two separate decisions. They are not. Songwriters of the standard era worked from a small kit of progressions, and jazz musicians reduced that kit further by treating every ii–V as one object. Learn the eight families in this lesson by numeral, in every key, and most standards become "this family, then that one, in these keys". That is how experienced players learn a tune in one hearing, transpose it on the spot and recognise a substitution the moment the pianist plays it. The previous lesson showed how to analyse a tune into key centres; this one catalogues what you will find.

Every family is given three ways: as numerals, as a table in all keys (generated by the engine, so the spellings are right) and as a voiced example on the guitar, using the drop-2 shapes on strings 5–4–3–2 from Drop-2 voicings on strings 5-4-3-2, voice-led by the nearest-inversion rule from Voice leading through ii–V–I, turnarounds and the cycle.

Family 1: the cycle of fifths

Roots falling by fifths through the diatonic chords: vi7–ii7–V7–Imaj7–IVmaj7–viiø7–III7–vi7. Every move is a descending fifth, which is why it sounds so inevitable, and the III7 (a dominant on the third degree, where the diatonic chord would be iii7) is what turns the sequence back into the minor vi. Fly Me to the Moon runs the complete cycle in its first eight bars; All the Things You Are opens with the first five chords of it; Autumn Leaves is the same cycle starting from the ii (see the next family). Play it with the nearest inversions and notice that only one or two voices move at each change.

\tempo 100
.
\ts 4 4
:1 (0.5 2.4 0.3 1.2){ch "Am7" txt "vi7"} | (3.5 3.4 2.3 3.2){ch "Dm7" txt "ii7"} | (2.5 3.4 0.3 3.2){ch "G7" txt "V7"} | (2.5 2.4 0.3 1.2){ch "Cmaj7" txt "Imaj7"} |
(3.5 3.4 2.3 5.2){ch "Fmaj7" txt "IVmaj7"} | (2.5 3.4 2.3 3.2){ch "Bm7b5" txt "viiø7"} | (2.5 2.4 1.3 3.2){ch "E7" txt "III7"} | (0.5 2.4 0.3 1.2){ch "Am7" txt "vi7"} |

How to practise it: one key per day, through all twelve over a fortnight, with the metronome on 2 and 4 at 100 bpm; then two keys per day; then the whole cycle of keys in one sitting, moving down a fifth each time (C, F, Bb, Eb and so on), which means the last chord of one key is a fifth above the first chord of the next.

Family 2: the relative major/minor loop

Take the cycle, start it from the ii and stop on the vi: ii7–V7–Imaj7–IVmaj7–viiø7–III7–vi7. Heard from the major key it is a cycle; heard from the relative minor it is iv7–bVII7–bIIImaj7–bVImaj7–iiø7–V7–i7, a minor-key progression that visits the relative major on the way. That is the loop Autumn Leaves is built on, and the same chords, in a slightly different order, make up most of Beautiful Love, Alone Together, Black Orpheus and dozens of other minor-key standards. Here it is in G minor, the key most guitarists play Autumn Leaves in, with the chord symbols you will see on the chart.

\tempo 120
.
\ts 4 4
:1 (3.5 5.4 3.3 4.2){ch "Cm7" txt "Bb major: ii7"} | (3.5 3.4 2.3 4.2){ch "F7" txt "V7"} | (1.5 3.4 2.3 3.2){ch "Bbmaj7" txt "Imaj7"} | (1.5 1.4 0.3 3.2){ch "Ebmaj7" txt "IVmaj7"} |
(0.5 1.4 0.3 1.2){ch "Am7b5" txt "G minor: iiø7"} | (3.5 4.4 2.3 3.2){ch "D7" txt "V7"} | (1.5 3.4 0.3 3.2){ch "Gm7" txt "i7"} | (1.5 2.4 0.3 3.2){ch "Gm6"} |

The same loop in every key, first named by the major key (the key of the Imaj7 in bar 3), then by the minor key (the key of the i7 in bar 7). Both tables list the same chords in the same order; only the labels differ, which is the whole point of relative keys.

When you solo on this loop, the first four bars take major-key vocabulary and the last four take the minor ii–V–i vocabulary from Minor-key harmony and the minor ii–V–i; the viiø7 is where you switch.

Family 3: ii–V chains

A ii–V that resolves to its I is a cadence. A ii–V that moves straight on to another ii–V, without resolving, is a chain, and chains are the engine of hundreds of bridges and A sections. There are three common patterns:

• Down a whole step: ii–V–I, then ii–V–I a whole step lower, then again. Tune Up is three of these; the bridge of Cherokee descends through four keys this way.
• Down a half step: ii–V in one key, then ii–V a half step lower, so the second V is the tritone substitute of the first V's target. The A section of Satin Doll does this just before its cadence, and the A section of Confirmation runs a longer chain that falls by whole steps.
• Up a fourth: ii–V–I, then the I becomes a ii (or its related ii appears) and the chain moves to the IV key. Many bridges go to the IV this way.

\tempo 132
.
\ts 4 4
:2 (3.5 3.4 2.3 3.2){ch "Dm7" txt "C: ii7"} (2.5 3.4 0.3 3.2){ch "G7"} | :1 (2.5 2.4 0.3 1.2){ch "Cmaj7"} | :2 (1.5 1.4 0.3 1.2){ch "Cm7" txt "Bb: ii7"} (3.5 3.4 2.3 4.2){ch "F7"} | :1 (1.5 3.4 2.3 3.2){ch "Bbmaj7"} |
:2 (1.5 3.4 1.3 2.2){ch "Bbm7" txt "Ab: ii7"} (1.5 1.4 0.3 2.2){ch "Eb7"} | :1 (3.5 5.4 1.3 4.2){ch "Abmaj7"} |

Chains are read with the slash notation from the secondary-dominants lesson in Module 11: ii7/bVII means "the ii of the key a whole step down". In practice, do not think "ii of bVII"; think "ii–V–I in Bb" and let the key name change.

Family 4: major-third key shifts (the "All the Things" device)

All the Things You Are opens with five chords of the cycle (vi7–ii7–V7–Imaj7–IVmaj7), then leaves the key with a ii–V–I to the key a major third above the tonic (the IIImaj7). The second A does the same thing a fourth lower: it starts on the iii7 of the home key, runs the cycle to the Vmaj7, and then takes a ii–V–I to the VIImaj7. The result is a tune that passes through keys related by thirds, and the device (a diatonic cycle that lands on a major seventh, then a ii–V to a key a major third away) is one you will meet in many other tunes and in every Coltrane-style reharmonisation (the Coltrane-changes lesson in Module 11). The table gives the first eight-bar unit by numerals; the tune itself you learn from the record.

The thing to practise is the pivot: the IVmaj7 chord is followed by a ii7 whose root is a half step above it (in the table, Dbmaj7 to Dm7 when the key is Ab), so the bass moves by half step while the harmony jumps to a key a major third away. Hear that move and you will never be lost in a tune that uses it.

Family 5: the backdoor cadence

iv7–bVII7–Imaj7: a minor chord on the fourth degree and a dominant on the flattened seventh, resolving to the tonic "through the back door" instead of through V7. Both chords are borrowed from the parallel minor (the modal-interchange lesson in Module 11): the iv7 brings in the b3 and b6 of the key, and in the bVII7 the b6 falls by half step to the 5th of the tonic chord while the b7 rises to the root. It usually appears after the IV chord: IVmaj7–iv7–bVII7–Imaj7, as in the A section of Misty, in There Will Never Be Another You (where the IVmaj7 goes straight to the bVII7), and in the sixteen-bar example in Song forms and roadmaps.

\tempo 92
.
\ts 4 4
:1 (3.5 3.4 2.3 5.2){ch "Fmaj7" txt "IVmaj7"} | :2 (3.5 3.4 1.3 4.2){ch "Fm7" txt "iv7"} (1.5 3.4 1.3 3.2){ch "Bb7" txt "bVII7"} | :1 (2.5 2.4 0.3 1.2){ch "Cmaj7" txt "Imaj7"} | (0.5 2.4 0.3 1.2){ch "C6"} |

Family 6: turnarounds

A turnaround is a two-bar (sometimes four-bar) progression at the end of a section that leads back to the top. There are three families, and most of the others are substitutions within them:

1. I–vi–ii–V (Imaj7–vi7–ii7–V7), the diatonic turnaround. Very often the vi7 becomes VI7 (a secondary dominant of ii) and the ii–V stays.
2. iii–VI–ii–V (iii7–VI7–ii7–V7), the "backcycle" turnaround: the iii7 replaces the I (they share three notes) and the VI7 is the dominant of ii. The last two bars of many rhythm-changes A sections use this.
3. I–bIII7–bVI7–bII7, the tritone-substitute turnaround: every dominant of the backcycle version is replaced by its tritone sub (the tritone-substitution lesson in Module 11), so the bass descends chromatically from the tonic to the chord a half step above it.

\tempo 120
.
\ts 4 4
:2 (2.5 2.4 0.3 1.2){ch "Cmaj7" txt "I vi ii V"} (0.5 2.4 0.3 1.2){ch "Am7"} | (3.5 3.4 2.3 3.2){ch "Dm7"} (2.5 3.4 0.3 3.2){ch "G7"} |
(2.5 2.4 0.3 3.2){ch "Em7" txt "iii VI7 ii V"} (0.5 2.4 0.3 2.2){ch "A7"} | (3.5 3.4 2.3 3.2){ch "Dm7"} (2.5 3.4 0.3 3.2){ch "G7"} |
(2.5 2.4 0.3 1.2){ch "Cmaj7" txt "I bIII7 bVI7 bII7"} (1.5 1.4 0.3 2.2){ch "Eb7"} | (3.5 4.4 1.3 4.2){ch "Ab7"} (2.5 3.4 1.3 2.2){ch "Db7"} | :1 (2.5 2.4 0.3 1.2){ch "Cmaj7"} |

Turnarounds are also what you play when the band vamps, when a singer wants an intro, and when someone calls a tag; Playing in a group uses them for all three. Know all three families in every key at a glance.

Family 7: secondary dominants in a diatonic frame

Many A sections are diatonic progressions with one or two chords turned into dominants to push towards the next chord: I–VI7–ii–V, I–III7–vi, I–II7–ii–V (the II7 of Take the "A" Train and Girl from Ipanema), I–I7–IV (the I7 as V7/IV, as in the fourth bar of a blues). The rule, studied in detail in Module 11: a chord a fifth above its target becomes a dominant to point at it. The table shows the five secondary dominants that occur in standards.

Family 8: the blues and its relatives

The twelve-bar blues from The 12-bar blues and the jazz blues is itself a progression family, and its devices migrate into standards: the I7 to IV7 move, the #iv°7 passing chord, the ii–V in bars 9–10 and the turnaround in bars 11–12. Bird blues (Minor blues and bird blues) is a blues made entirely of the ii–V chains of Family 3. When a standard seems to contain a bar of "unexplained" I7 or IV7, it is usually borrowing from the blues.

Putting the families together: reading a tune as families

Take any AABA standard and label its sections by family. A typical result: "A: I–vi–ii–V twice (Family 6), then I7 to IV (Family 7), then backdoor home (Family 5). B: ii–V chain down a whole step (Family 3), then a turnaround into the last A." That description is shorter than the chart, works in every key and tells you what to play. For the next month, do this analysis for every tune you learn by the method in Learning tunes by ear and from memory, and write the family numbers on the index card.

Exercises

1. Cycle in twelve keys. Play the cycle example in C, then transpose it by moving the same drop-2 shapes, one key per day, through all twelve. Name the numerals aloud.
2. The loop both ways. Play the Autumn Leaves loop in G minor, then in the three other minor keys you are likely to be asked for (E minor, A minor, D minor), from the minor-key table.
3. Chains. Play the whole-step chain example, then build a half-step chain (ii–V in C, ii–V in B, ii–V in Bb) with the nearest inversions.
4. Backdoor hunt. Find the backdoor cadence in three standards from the repertoire list by ear (listen for the minor IV chord), and write the bar numbers on their cards.
5. Turnaround substitution. Play eight bars of a blues ending with turnaround 1, then with turnaround 2, then turnaround 3, in F and Bb.
6. Family analysis. Label every section of five standards you know by family number. Any section that resists labelling gets analysed chord by chord; that is where the interesting harmony lives.

Quiz