Harmonic Cycling

A harmonic etude that is essentially a variant on the ii-V-i progression, but is rather ii-VII-V, with the V chord switching to the minor mode at the beginning of each progression. (It can also be thought of as v-IV-I in the Mixolydian mode).

A piece I composed on the Etude, Day and Age

Cycle for the verses:

D-/C/G
G-/F/C
C-/Bb/F
Turnaround (E7)
A-/G/D

The complete cycle around the circle of fourths:

D-/C/G
G-/F/C
C-/Bb/F
F-/Eb/Bb
Bb-/Ab/Eb
Eb-/Db/Ab
G#-/F#/C#
C#-/B/F#
F#-/E/B
B-/A/E
E-/D/A
A-/G/D

Audio File

The lead sheet:

 

Another cycle involves

switching from the major triad to the minor triad, with all chords in first inversion, and by moving the chord pair by specific intervals, in this case up a minor third, then descending in major seconds. 

 

Etude: Major-Minor First Inversion by meta4s