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Contents:
• Harmonic Conjugations (How To)
• Theoretical Explanation
• Progression vs Regression

Harmonic Conjugations (How To)

This was a technique I learned in my music theory class and “harmonic conjugations” was the name given to us, but nothing comes up on a google search so it may actually be called something else... or it may not even exist at all.

Harmonic Conjugations are a very simple way to understand how and why chord progressions work and most importantly will help you to create your own chord progressions.

The name “harmonic conjugation” sounds complicated but it is actually very simple to do. It refers to chord movements that make the chord progression sound like it is moving forward (this will be explained in the theory section below).

There are three types of chord changes that make the progression sound like it is moving forward, they are:
Up a 4th
Down a 3rd
Up a 2nd

These refer to the intervals between the chords. For example in the key of C major, playing a C major chord followed by a D minor is an example of moving up a 2nd. From C major to A minor is an example of moving down a 3rd. From C major to F major is moving up a 4th. These three movements will produce a chord progression that sounds like it’s “progressing” forward.

A very important note is that the harmonic conjugations are applied to the scale degrees in the key, not the actual number of whole/half steps between them. For example, in the key of C major, F to B is technically an augmented 4th but it is simply considered a 4th in the key because there is no Bb in the key of C major. In the same way that a C to D is considered moving up a 2nd and E to F is also considered moving up a 2nd, even though C to D is a major 2nd and E to F is a minor 2nd. They are both still considered to be the same movement, which is "up a 2nd".

Let’s work through one example of creating a chord progression before moving on. Again we’ll use the key of C major.

Starting on C, we can use any one of the three harmonic conjugations above to choose the next chord. I’ll chose to move down a 3rd, so we go from C to Am. Now we are on Am and again, we can use any one of the three harmonic conjugations to choose another chord. Now I’ll choose to go up a 4th, so we go from Am to Dm. From Dm, I’ll go up a 2nd to Em. Lastly, from Dm I’ll go down a 3rd back to C.

So our finished progression looks like this:
C Am Dm Em C

Try it and see if it sounds like it is progressing forward... It should and now we’ll get into “why” it should.

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Theoretical Explanation

The theory behind it is these chord movements create notes that will move forward or ascend in the scale. To illustrate, I’ll use some examples in the key of C major.

Up a 2nd: For C major to D minor, each of the notes in the C major chord move up to the next note in the scale for the D minor chord.

C major = C E G
D minor = D F A

C --> D (moves up)
E --> F (moves up)
G --> A (moves up)

Up a 4th: For C major to F major, there are two notes in the C major chord that move up to the next note in the scale for the F major chord. The C note is in both chords, so there is no movement from the C note.

F major = F A C

C --> C (same)
E --> F (moves up)
G --> A (moves up)

Down a 3rd: For C major to A minor, only one of the notes moves up to the next note in the scale and the other two remain the same.

A minor = A C E

C --> C (same)
E --> E (same)
G --> A (moves up)

As mentioned above you can see how all three of these movements have notes that progress forward in the scale... That is why they sound like they are moving forwards. The I IV V I progression works so well, because it uses these conjugations and the progression always sounds like it is moving forward.

I to IV is up a 4th
IV to V is up a 2nd
V to I is up a 4th.

Any progression you make using these three movements will sound similar to the I IV V I progression in that it will sound like it is moving forward or “progressing”... This gives a new meaning to the term “chord progression”.

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Progressions vs. Regressions

Any chord progression that uses the harmonic conjugations will sound like it is moving forward, and as you may have expected doing these three movements in reverse will give a sense of moving backwards or “regressing”... Of course you will likely never hear this called a “chord regression”, but it’s a good way to think of it.

The following three movements will give the chord progression a feeling of moving backwards:
Down a 4th
Up a 3rd
Down a 2nd

Notice, these are just simply the reverse of the movements given above for moving forwards.

Here’s an example using this method:
I V ii IV I

The order here is down a 4th (I-V), down a 4th (V-ii), up a 3rd (ii IV), down a 4th, (IV I). This backwards movement has a very different sound than the forward movement in a progression like I IV V. You can play with these techniques to make certain parts in your song “progress” and others “regress”.

A very common example that uses both methods is:
I IV V IV I

You can probably hear how the first two chord changes (I - IV and IV - V) sound like they are moving forward and building up and the last two (V - IV and IV - I) sound like they are moving backwards and backtracking to where it started.

ALL chord progressions that don't use "outside" chords (chords whose root notes are in the major/minor scale) will follow one of these two methods. You can get to any other chord in the key using up/down 2nd, up/down 3rd, or up/down 4th. So once you know how each of these movements will affect the progression you can better decide which one ot use to give the sound you are trying to achieve.



* Next Lesson: 7th Chords