Chord Consolidation & Cadences

We've covered many open chords in our lessons now but you might wonder why some chords go together but not all.

Chords that do go together belong to a Musical Key. The Key of a particular song does determine what chords we can use.

The way chords of a specific Key are ordered into a chord progression have a certain sound that we can name and understand by way of Cadences.

Chord functions - I - IV - V

In any Key be it in A or G. The chords in the progression might go in an order like this:

• A: A - D - E

• G: G - C - D

The chords above are totally different from each other in every way, except that in their Key's they function as the 1 - 4 - 5 or I - IV - V and because of this order and their function in the Key they sound similar to our ear which is what a Cadence is.

Cadences - Resolved or Unresolved?

Another way we can actually hear these Cadences and make it more of an instinctive understanding is to look at whether the chords sound Resolved or Unresolved.