Chord Progression Help.

[verstft]

Can somebody help me understand this chord progression please?

Gm D F C

Seemed simple at first but I don't see a diatonic explanation.
Can somebody give me a simple explanation please?

Cheers.

 

[Mushroo]

Simple explanation: it's not a diatonic progression.

The songwriter has included a D chord from outside the key to make for a more interesting song.

There's some cool stuff you can do as the bassist, like for example play the D and C chords in 1st inversion, for a descending chromatic bass line: G, F#, F, E

Are you going to tell us which song??

 

[BassChuck]

Keys are only a collection of notes. Use them if you want, mix and match, make your own. Keys can and will change during a song, or even during a phrase.
If you find yourself not understanding something because it doesn't fit a rule or convention... you may need a different rule or convention.
Remember 'Music Theory' is only a report of what has happened in the past. The future is yours. Use the past if it suits your needs.

 

[verstft]

Simple explanation: it's not a diatonic progression.

The songwriter has included a D chord from outside the key to make for a more interesting song.

There's some cool stuff you can do as the bassist, like for example play the D and C chords in 1st inversion, for a descending chromatic bass line: G, F#, F, E

Are you going to tell us which song??

Not a song. Just playing a little piano to teach myself music theory and basic harmony.

You are correct about the movement. I'm playing Gm D/F# F C/E descending chromatically.

Was just curious if there is some kind of logic behind the use of the Major V instead of Minor

 

[Mushroo]

Not a song. Just playing a little piano to teach myself music theory and basic harmony.

You are correct about the movement. I'm playing Gm D/F# F C/E descending chromatically.

Was just curious if there is some kind of logic behind the use of the Major V instead of Minor

In minor key songs, it's very common to play the major V chord instead of the minor v chord. This creates a strong resolution back to the i chord. (In your key of G minor, the F# or 3rd of the D chord, is the natural 7th or "leading tone.")

E natural (the 3rd of your C chord) and F# (the 3rd of your D chord) aren't that strange to encounter in G minor. See also "harmonic minor" and "melodic minor."

However, your progression is cool because D doesn't resolve directly to the Gmin right away. F - C - G is a strong "circle of 5ths" root motion leading back to the Gmin.

A famous song with a D - F - C - G progression (although it's in G major, not G minor) is "You've Got To Hide Your Love Away" by the Beatles.

 

[ba55i5t]

Key of F major - 2 5 1 4

 

[Mushroo]

Key of F major - 2 5 1 4

ii - V - I - IV in F major would be Gmin - C - F - Bb.

There's no diatonic D major chord in F Major, because the F# doesn't fit the key signature of 1 flat.

 

[ba55i5t]

ii - V - I - IV in F major would be Gmin - C - F - Bb.

There's no diatonic D major chord in F Major, because the F# doesn't fit the key signature of 1 flat.

You're absolutely right. I was thinking key of G and mixing it.

That being said, F still seems like the most logical key with D putting a chromatic tension to walk down, which has already been said.

 

[Whousedtoplay]

I'm playing Gm D/F# F C/E descending chromatically.

I used to like that kind of bass movements.

A slightly modified your chord progression.

Gm7add2 - D7/F# - Bb7/F - C7add2/E...
and maybe continue as

Cm7/Eb - Gm add2/D - Baug9/C# (or Baug add2/C#, or just A7b5/C#, etc.)
(the bass moves in quarters) - D7/C-D7/D- D7/Bb -D7/A
and back to Gm7add2.

 

[MalcolmAmos]

Chords do two things. We get tied up with the movement (the progression) and some time forget about the other thing chords do -- harmonize the melody. If the chord has some of the active melody notes in it's makeup we get harmony. That's a good thing.

Perhaps the songwriter needed a harmonizing chord/note at this specific point in the song. It all boils down to if it sounds good it is good.

Turns out the OP was just noodling - but, if it sounds good it is good.

 

[thewildest]

Can somebody help me understand this chord progression please?

Gm D F C
.

Another twist to this, beyond previous suggestions: If it was F D Gm C it would be (arguably) more diatonic. C would be F's scale V chord so it would help "conclude" on F; same with D, it would be Gm's 5th. For this to work better, I would add minor 7th on both V cords, resulting on F, D7, Gm, C7, and as suggested, improvise on F major....

....or going Fripp and killing it doing an insane sound travelling through C# octatonic scale.

 

[Whousedtoplay]

Another twist to this

I have another idea.
Let's transpose the Verse chords of Hotel California starting with
Gm - D - F - C as in OP's comment. (And we can continue with Eb - Bb, etc...)

The OP's simple chord progression is in Gm - as i.
Next, we take D - as V - from G harmonic minor.
F as bVII, and C - as (IV) from G Dorian.
Or, we can announce it as - Modal Interchange - and borrow those D and C major chords from G major.

To sum up.
For those who want to try soloing over that chord progression, play Hotel California Verse.

 

[SteveCS]

The chords are all diatonic to Gm key. Remember that in the minor key, all notes from natural, melodic and harmonic scales are diatonic, therefore all harmonisations are also diatonic. That includes the D major chord, where F# is the leading tone of the key, and the C major chord where E is the Major 6th from the melodic minor scale.

 

[Whousedtoplay]

therefore all harmonisations are also diatonic.

I like your word, "harmonizations" in lieu of my term, "interchangeable" that created a big quarrel with a highly-knowledgeable TB member.

 

[Groove Master]

A quick look without any melody or rhythms, I hear it as a Pop chord progression in G minor: I-V7-bVII-IV

 

[Whousedtoplay]

A quick look without any melody or rhythms, I hear it as a Pop chord progression in G minor: I-V7-bVII-IV

Even an easy Pop chord progression deserves a simple explanation.

 

[Groove Master]

Even an easy Pop chord progression deserves a simple explanation.

Well it is not that easy in reality . It is a way to blues a G major key with the Bb over the G minor and the C(7). Also this implies a G Dorian mode and the G minor melodic if we want to go more deeply. But hey this is just the way I look at it

 

[Whousedtoplay]

It is a way to blues a G major key with the Bb over the G minor and the C(7).

That is a refreshing new way to explain something that was explained before using the old harmony terms/ descriptions.

 

[Groove Master]

That is a refreshing new way to explain something that was explained before using the old harmony terms/ descriptions.

Blues harmony is a whole world by itself