Chord Progression
The Minor Blues Cadence
i – iv – V
The three-chord cadence of minor blues and classical alike, lit by a major V.
Key
The chords in A Minor
3 shapes to learn — tap any diagram to hear it on guitar or piano.
How it works
The minor-key answer to I–IV–V. The i and iv are minor, but the V is raised to major — again borrowing the leading tone from harmonic minor — so that it can pull firmly back to the tonic.
Without that raised third, a natural-minor v is too soft to close a phrase; making it major gives minor keys the same decisive cadence that major keys enjoy. It is the harmonic move at the heart of countless classical minor pieces and slow minor blues.
Try the v as a dominant 7th (V7) for even stronger pull — the extra flattened 7th sharpens the resolution.
Songs built on it
A few well-known examples — every one of them the same chords, moving in the same order.
- The Thrill Is Gone— B.B. King
- While My Guitar Gently Weeps— The Beatles
i – iv – V in every key
The same numerals, twelve different sets of letters. Tap a key to explore all its chords.