Chord Progressions and Harmonic Motion
Move beyond static chord shapes and learn how harmony actually creates emotional momentum. Discover how smooth voice leading, unexpected cadences, and borrowed chords can give your music intentional forward drive.
Like Duolingo, but for Chord Progressions and Harmonic Motion. Tomo turns the whole topic into a game you play five minutes a day, until it actually sticks.
A short one: 12 levels across 2 sections, about 24 minutes end to end, roughly 5 days at five minutes a day. It moves through Guiding the Ear with Voice and Cadence and Expanding Color and Harmonic Pace. It assumes you already know the basics.
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Key ideas in Chord Progressions and Harmonic Motion
- Good voice leading preserves melodic smoothness by shifting voices by steps.
- Moving block shapes causes disruptive parallel leaps across all voices.
- Retaining shared pitches grounds harmony and cushions chord shifts.
- Moving every voice unnecessarily breaks the acoustic thread between chords.
- The 3rd and 7th form guide tones that define chord identity and motion.
- Roots and 5ths offer tonal stability but contribute little forward pull.
- A half-step shift creates maximum harmonic tension and release.
- Semitone pull like the leading tone to tonic drives musical resolution.
- Inversions place the 3rd or 5th in the bass to step between root notes.
- Inverted chords smooth the bass contour without altering the underlying key.
- A deceptive cadence diverts a V chord into a vi chord instead of resolving to I
- Landing on the submediant vi prolongs harmonic momentum by denying tonic closure
- The surprise works because vi shares two common tones with the expected I tonic
- Plagal cadences move IV to I without using scale degree seven as a leading tone
- The IV to I movement creates a gentler, hymn-like resting point than a V to I resolution
- The tonic pitch is held as a shared common tone between IV and I
You've tried the other tabs
Thirty open tabs. Four facts you actually kept.
You watched. You nodded. By Sunday it was gone.
One answer, then back to scrolling.
Eight weeks. You meant to finish. You didn't.
Tomo gives Chord Progressions and Harmonic Motion the Duolingo treatment: levels, streaks, and quick quizzes that test what you just learned. That game loop is what the tabs above never had, so it's the one you actually finish.
Here's what playing it feels like
A real question from this course. Take your best guess.
What happens when you shift entire block shapes up and down the keyboard?
Get it right to open this lesson and 11 more in the app.
How to learn Chord Progressions and Harmonic Motion, step by step
Go in order. 12 short levels across 2 sections, about 24 minutes in all, five minutes a day.
- 1
Guiding the Ear with Voice and Cadence
- Voice Leading: Smoothing Transitions Between Chords
- Cadences and Delaying the Resolution
- 2
Expanding Color and Harmonic Pace
- Modal Interchange and Borrowed Colors
- Harmonic Rhythm and Section Contrast
2 sections · 4 units · 12 levels. Built to play, not to enroll.
Questions about Chord Progressions and Harmonic Motion
How do I learn Chord Progressions and Harmonic Motion?
Go in order: start with Guiding the Ear with Voice and Cadence, then Expanding Color and Harmonic Pace. On Tomo that's 12 short levels, about 24 minutes in all, played five minutes a day. Start free and play the first level in under a minute.
Is there a Duolingo-style app for Chord Progressions and Harmonic Motion?
Yes. Tomo works like Duolingo: short daily lessons, streaks and quick quizzes. Chord Progressions and Harmonic Motion is one of its free courses, and you can type any other topic to get a course of your own.
Is the Chord Progressions and Harmonic Motion course free?
Yes. Chord Progressions and Harmonic Motion is playable on Tomo's free plan, which doesn't expire. No credit card, no waitlist. Download the app and start your first lesson.
How long does it take to learn Chord Progressions and Harmonic Motion?
12 levels across 2 sections, about 24 minutes of play in total. It's built for five minutes a day, so you finish it a little at a time instead of all at once.
Do I need any background to start Chord Progressions and Harmonic Motion?
No. It's pitched at an intermediate level, so it starts where you are and builds up. If you can tap a phone, you can start.
Tomo is in ChatGPT
Tomo is also a ChatGPT plugin: the same playable courses, built and played inside your chat.
Add Tomo to ChatGPT- What to ask
- “Make me a Tomo course on black holes.” “Turn this chat into a Tomo course.”
- What you get
- Quick questions with instant feedback, hearts and stars, ready to play in about a minute.
- Where it goes
- No sign-up to start. Connect your Tomo account and your streak carries on in the app.
You pick the voice
Chord Progressions and Harmonic Motion is taught in the Bestie style: your friend who just gets it. Want a different feel? In the app you can spin up the same topic in any of Tomo's teaching styles. Same facts, totally different vibe.
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Start Chord Progressions and Harmonic Motion today.
Download Tomo, search Chord Progressions and Harmonic Motion, and play your first lesson in under a minute.