Funk Chords & Chord Progressions

i7 · IV7

The dark, funky minor groove of Superstition. Built on Eb Dorian with Ebm7 and Ab7 creating that iconic clavinet riff. The minor i7 with major IV7 is the essence of funk.

iv7 · VII7 · v7 · i7

The minor-key groove of 80s Japanese city pop. Gm7-C7-Am7-Dm7 creates that sophisticated, urban nightlife feel. This jazzy progression captures the bittersweet, nostalgic quality that defines the genre.

ii7 · V7 · Imaj7 · vi7

The jazz turnaround that city pop borrowed wholesale. Dm7-G7-Cmaj7 resolves, then vi7 swings it straight back around, which is how these records stay glossy for four minutes without ever quite sounding like they have landed.

Imaj7 · II7 · ii7 · V7

The open-window sound of 80s summer city pop. The II7 comes from outside the key and lifts the whole phrase before the ii-V pulls it home, which is what gives these songs their sunlit quality with an edge of wistfulness underneath.

ii7 · V7

Disco often refuses to resolve at all. Two seventh chords trade back and forth — a ii-V that never reaches the I — so the groove can run indefinitely without the harmony ever telling you the song is over. Chic's 'Good Times' is the canonical example, and one of the most sampled bars in recorded music.