The 'II - V7 - I' Chord Progression

We previously discussed about chords formation, prediction and progression and we also discussed on how to play on any key and how to know what key you are on when you have sharps(#'s) in any song. I hope you internalized and practiced that and committed each "family of chords" to memory.

Now that you know "the founders", today I would like to introduce you to the "branch" chords. These are chords that don't occur near as often as the primary chords, but much more often than "finishing" chords.

The most likely branch-chord to show up in any key is the II chord. In other words, after the I, IV, and V chords, the II chord is the next most likely to be used. It might show up in one of several forms -- it might be a major chord, it might be a minor chord, it might be a 7th chord -- but however it the most likely chord to occur after I, IV, or V. Ex: So in the key of C, that means that some form of the D chord is the 4th most likely chord to occur. Maybe D7, maybe Dm7, maybe just D, but whatever the form, it is like the branch that likes to grow first.

And when it does occur, you can then predict with uncanny accuracy which chord will come after it -- the V chord. And after that, the I chord. So if you were a betting person, your odds would go sky high at that point for that succession of chords to occur. In musical terms, this progression is known as the II - V -- I chord progression. And it happens over and over and over and over again in countless songs.

Here's the II, V, I progression in all keys:
Key of C: D G C
Key of F: G C F
Key of G: A D G
Key of D: E A D
Key of E: F# B E
Key of A: B E A
Key of Gb: Ab Db Gb
Key of Db: Eb Ab Db
Key of Eb: F Bb Eb
Key of Ab: Bb Eb Ab
Key of B: C# F# B
Key of Bb: C F Bb

So let's try to get it down . If it happens so much, it's worth your time to master it both intellectually and hand-wise (in other words, understand it and be able to play it).
/