Using a Minor-IV Chord In a Major Progression

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For any major key there are seven chords that naturally exist. For example, if your song is in the key of C major, the likelihood is that you’ll be using chords selected mainly from the following:

C  Dm  Em  F  G  Am  Bdim

There’s a pattern of major-minor-diminished chords that’s the same no matter what major key you choose. In other words, for major-key songs, all chords built on the first (tonic) note of the key will be major; all chords built on the second note will be minor; and so on:

1. Major
2. Minor
3. Minor
4. Major
5. Major
6. Minor
7. Diminished

Any chord you choose to use that doesn’t come from that naturally-occuring list of chords is called an altered chord. And you likely use them all the time, especially the flat-VII, flat-III, and major-II.

One very nice altered chord to consider is the minor-IV chord in place of using the typical major-IV. To describe the difference, a major chord consists of an outer interval of a perfect 5th, with a major 3rd as the bottom interval:

A minor triad has that same outer interval of a perfect 5th, but the bottom 3rd is minor:

Using a Minor-IV In Your Chord Progressions

A minor-IV chord can often be used anywhere you’d normally use a major-IV, but you’ll notice that especially in pop music, it’s common to start with a major-IV, and then switch to the minor-IV before moving on. For example, take this progression:

C  Am  F  C (LISTEN) (Sound files open in a new tab or window. Close that window to return here.)

Simply changing the F to Fm adds a whole new mood to the progression: LISTEN

Another option is to keep the F, shorten the length of time it’s played, and then insert Fm: LISTEN

If you want to experiment with minor-IV chords, try the following progressions:

C  G  F  Fm  C (LISTEN)

C  D  F  Am  C/G  F  Fm  C (LISTEN)

C  Am  Dm  Fm  C/E  Fm  C (LISTEN)

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Written by Gary Ewer. Follow on Twitter.

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