---
title: "A pianist's map of seven ways to get past I-IV-V-vi"
description: "Jazz pianist Michael Keithson shows seven strands of chord ideas that grow out of one key centre."
date: 2026-09-05T12:00:00+02:00
lastmod: 2026-11-03T00:46:22+01:00
url: https://klimek.link/posts/2026-09-05-chord-progression-strands/
author: "Marcin Klimek"
source: https://klimek.link/posts/2026-09-05-chord-progression-strands/
---

# A pianist's map of seven ways to get past I-IV-V-vi

Source: [How to write interesting chord progressions (Michael Keithson, YouTube)](https://youtu.be/l_gV-2jU7zE)

Michael Keithson spent years knowing one thing about chords: put one on every note of the scale and shuffle them around. Then Keithson learned to add what the video calls strands, secondary dominants, modal interchange, tritone substitutions, diminished chords and a few more, all hanging off the same key. This video walks through all seven. Keithson doesn't care much about the order you learn them in, and says plainly that a simple progression is fine.

The diagram from the video is a free PDF.

**TL;DR**

- Strand 1, diatonic chords: chord on each scale note
- Strand 2, secondary dominants: V of non-tonic scale chords; A7 to Dm, "five of two"
- Strand 3, modal interchange: borrow from same-tonic mode, return to key; not a modulation
- Borrows only from Dorian, Phrygian, Aeolian
- Memory aid: major seven on b2, b3, b6; dominant seven on b7
- Strand 4, ii-Vs: ii before a secondary dominant; Gm7 C7 to F, B half diminished E7 to A minor
- Strand 5, tritone substitutions: swap dominant for one a tritone away; G7 becomes Db7
- Strand 6, diminished sevenths: used like secondary dominants; G# diminished leads to A minor
- Strand 7, V alternatives: in C, diminished on F, Ab, B, D act as V; Bb7 or Db7 by lowering one note
- Numbering is for talking, not priority; free PDF has the diagram

Source: https://klimek.link/posts/2026-09-05-chord-progression-strands/