Ragtime progression

Quality 0.50 · 2 views · Updated 2 months ago

Chord progression typical of ragtime

title: "Ragtime progression" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["ragtime", "major-key-chord-progressions"] description: "Chord progression typical of ragtime" topic_path: "general/ragtime" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ragtime_progression" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Chord progression typical of ragtime ::

\relative c' { \clef treble \time 4/4 \key c \major 1_\markup { \concat { \translate #'(-3.5 . 0) { "C: III" \raise #1 \small "7" \hspace #5 "VI" \raise #1 \small "7" \hspace #5.5 "II" \raise #1 \small "7" \hspace #5.5 "V" \raise #1 \small "7" \hspace #6 "I" } } } \bar "||" \bar "||" } } |width=370|caption=The ragtime progression (E7-A7-D7-G7-C) often appears in the bridge of jazz standards. The III7-VI7-II7-V7 (or V7/V/V/V–V7/V/V–V7/V–V7) leads back to C major (I) but is itself indefinite in key.}}[[File:Ragtime progression voice leading.png|thumb|350px|Ragtime progression's origin in [[voice leading]]: II itself is the product of a 5–6 replacement over IV in IV–V–I. "Such a replacement originates purely in voice-leading, but" the chord above IV (in C, FAD) is a first-inversion II chord. ]]

The ragtime progression is a chord progression characterized by a chain of secondary dominants following the circle of fifths, named for its popularity in the ragtime genre, despite being much older. Also typical of parlour music, its use originated in classical music and later spread to American folk music. Growing, "by a process of gradual accretion. First the dominant chord acquired its own dominant...This then acquired its dominant, which in turn acquired yet another dominant, giving":

It can be represented in Roman numeral analysis as :{|class="wikitable" style="text-align:center; width:350px;" |width=20%| (V7/V/V/V) |width=20%| V7/V/V |width=20%| V7/V |width=20%| V7 |width=20%| I |} or :{|class="wikitable" style="text-align:center; width:350px;" |width=20%| (III7) |width=20%| VI7 |width=20%| II7 |width=20%| V7 |width=20%| I |}

In C major this is

:{|class="wikitable" style="text-align:center; width:350px;" |width=20%| (E7) |width=20%| A7 |width=20%| D7 |width=20%| G7 |width=20%| C |}

Most commonly found in its four-chord version (including the chord in parentheses). This may be perceived as a, "harder, bouncier sounding progression," than the diatonic vi–ii–V7–I (in C: Am–Dm–G7–C). The three-chord version (II–V–I) is "related to the cadential progression IV–V–I...in which the V is tonicized and stabilized by means of II with a raised third."

The progression is an example of centripetal harmony, harmony which leads to the tonic and an example of the circle progression, a progression along the circle of fourths. Though creating or featuring chromaticism, the bass (if the roots of the chords), and often the melody, are pentatonic. (major pentatonic on C: C, D, E, G, A) Contrastingly, Averill argues that the progression was used because of the potential it offered for chromatic pitch areas.

Variations include the addition of minor seventh chords before the dominant seventh chords, creating overlapping temporary ii–V–I relationships through ii–V–I substitution: :{|class="wikitable" style="text-align:center; width:400px;" |width=20%| Bm7E7 |width=20%| Em7A7 |width=20%| Am7D7 |width=20%| Dm7G7 |width=20%| C |}

since Bm7–E7–A is a ii–V–I progression, as is Em7–A7–D and so on.

Examples of the use of the ragtime progression include the chorus of Howard & Emerson's "Hello! Ma Baby" (1899), the traditional "Keep On Truckin' Mama," Robert Johnson's "They're Red Hot" (1936), Arlo Guthrie's "Alice's Restaurant" (1967), Bruce Channel's "Hey! Baby" (1962), Gus Cannon' "Walk Right In" (1929), James P. Johnson's "Charleston" (1923), Ray Henderson's "Five Foot Two, Eyes of Blue" (1925), Rev. Gary Davis's "Salty Dog," Bernie and Pinkard's "Sweet Georgia Brown" (1925), the "Cujus animam" (mm.9-18) in Rossini's Stabat Mater, the beginning of Liszt's Liebesträume (1850), Bob Carleton's "Ja-Da" (1918), and Sonny Rollins's "Doxy" (1954).

Sources

References

  1. Boyd, Bill (1997). ''Jazz Chord Progressions'', p.56. {{ISBN. 0-7935-7038-7.
  2. [[Oswald Jonas. Jonas, Oswald]] (1982) ''Introduction to the Theory of Heinrich Schenker'' (1934: ''Das Wesen des musikalischen Kunstwerks: Eine Einführung in Die Lehre Heinrich Schenkers''), p.116. Trans. John Rothgeb. {{ISBN. 0-582-28227-6.
  3. Fahey, John (1970). ''Charley Patton'', p.45. London: Studio Vista. Cited in van der Merwe (1989).
  4. [[Peter van der Merwe (musicologist). van der Merwe, Peter]] (2005). ''Roots of the Classical'', p.496. {{ISBN. 978-0-19-816647-4.
  5. van der Merwe, Peter (1989). ''Origins of the Popular Style: The Antecedents of Twentieth-Century Popular Music'', p.321. Oxford: Clarendon Press. {{ISBN. 0-19-316121-4.
  6. Van der Merwe (2005), p.299.
  7. Warnock, Matthew. "Turnarounds: How to Turn One Chord into Four". jazzguitar.be.
  8. Levine, Mark. (1996). "The jazz theory book". [[O'Reilly Media]].
  9. Averill, Gage (2003). ''Four Parts, No Waiting'', p.162. {{ISBN. 978-0-19-511672-4.
  10. Weissman, Dick (2005). ''Blues: The Basics'', p.50. {{ISBN. 978-0-415-97067-9.
  11. Scott, Richard J. (2003). ''Chord Progressions for Songwriters'', p.428. {{ISBN. 978-0-595-26384-4.
  12. Davis, Kenneth (2006). ''The Piano Professor Easy Piano Study'', p.105. {{ISBN. 978-1-4303-0334-3. Same quote but gives the progression in E instead of C.
  13. Averill, Gage (2003). ''Four Parts, No Waiting: A Social History of American Barbershop Harmony'', p.162. {{ISBN. 978-0-19-511672-4.
  14. Boyd (1997), p.60.
  15. Scott (2003), p.429
  16. Grossman, Stefan (1998). ''Rev. Gary Davis/Blues Guitar'', p.71. {{ISBN. 978-0-8256-0152-1.
  17. Weissman, Dick (2001). ''Songwriting: The Words, the Music and the Money'', p.59. {{ISBN. 9780634011603. and Weissman, Dick (1085). ''Basic Chord Progressions: Handy Guide'', p.28. {{ISBN. 9780882844008.
  18. (1960). "Jazz on record: a critical guide to the first 50 years, 1917-1967". Hanover Books.

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::

ragtimemajor-key-chord-progressions