Is there a Musical formula for getting the chord progression in a minor key?

Question

I know the formula for getting a major scales I,ii,iii,IV,V,vi,vii* chords but am still trying to figure out the minor cadences.

Answer 1

Looks like no one's jumping to answer this. I wasn't going to, because my head hurts, but here goes;

I think what you're asking for is the pattern for minor keys? Cadences don't really have much to do with this.

i, ii*, III, iv or IV, V, VI, VII

iv can be major or minor depending on which sorts of accidentals you are using. You may know that in any minor scale, you can raise the 6th and 7th (melodic), or just the 7th (harmonic). If you have a raised 6th, you'll get a major chord for IV.

Lets take a minor for example, iv is d-f-a. Now in a minor, you can have F-sharp and/or G-sharp. If you have F-sharp, IV becomes d-f sharp-a, making this a major chord.

In standard voice leading procedures, V is always major. Always. You will always have a raised 7th (or leading tone) and this should always resolve to the tonic. 'a' minor again, V is e-g sharp-b. G-sharp is our raised 7th. This will resolve to a (the tonic).

Side note; if you know the major 'formula' for progressions, you know the minor. If you play any major scale starting on the 6th scale degree, you have the natural minor scale (that is, no accidentals). Lets look at C major. C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C. If we start on scale degree 6... A-B-C-D-E-F-G-A. Voila! Natural minor scale. This applies to any key.

Now, looking at the Major scale formula, you see that vi is minor. Therefore, if we start on vi, we get vi,vii*,I,ii,(iii),IV,V. If you look at the pattern I wrote out for the minor scale, this corresponds (with the exception of IV/V, because of accidental issues).

Coo?

Answer 2

The chords in a minor key are:

i, ii, III aug, IV, V, VI dim, VII dim

Chords can be found starting on the root (minor), the 2nd (diminished or minor), the b3rd (major or augmented), the 4th (minor or major), the 5th (minor or major), the b6th (major), the 6th (diminished), the b7th (major), and the 7th(diminished) of the key you're in.