[Smt-talk] I-II-IV as a progression

[Dmitri Tymoczko]

> I agree with Dmitri that I-II-IV is probably "indigenous to rock,"  
> and that it often sounds similar to other progressions that move  
> (rootwise) along the pentatonic scale (and accordingly sound  
> "bluesy").
>
> However, I think that the indigenous-ness of I-II-IV to the rock  
> idiom can better be explained by guitar chord shapes and the  
> importance of the guitar in rock composition. Guitar-influenced  
> tonal practice, of course, also dominates many styles of classic and  
> contemporary blues, but has not resulted (as far as I know) in any  
> blues songs featuring I-II-IV (or transposed versions such as bVII-I- 
> bIII).

I'm not sure this is necessarily such a different theory -- perhaps  
rock guys got used to playing parallel ascending-thirds triads on the  
guitar and so started throwing them into functional contexts.  The key  
question is whether bVII-I-bIII precedes I-II-IV.  If so, then our  
stories might be pretty much the same.

BTW, an interesting song in this context is Nirvana's "Lithium," which  
begins with a straightforward tonal progression I-iii-vi-IV and then  
grafts on a little blues riff IV-bVI-bVII, ending with the V.  I doubt  
anyone would bat an eye at the thought that this song fuses  
functionally tonal harmonies with a parallel bluesish progression.   
What I'm wondering is whether I-II-IV might be an early example of the  
same sort of thing.

Another thought is just that I-II-IV is one of the closest  
approximations to I-V7/V-ii7 that uses only triads.  (I.e. we have  
here Rameau's "double emploi" in reverse!)

Or if we really want to be responsible, we could even propose that the  
progression works for any number of different reasons, all of which  
might have contributed to its acceptance by musicians and listeners.

DT

BTW, I wouldn't be totally shocked to find I-II-IV in some kind of New  
Orleans jazz context.  I can almost hear it in my mind's ear, can you?

Dmitri Tymoczko
Associate Professor of Music
310 Woolworth Center
Princeton, NJ 08544-1007
(609) 258-4255 (ph), (609) 258-6793 (fax)
http://music.princeton.edu/~dmitri