Variations of the 2-5-1 Progression (Advanced)

Here's a lesson for some of the more advanced musicians on the page.  

Just to make sure we are all on the same page, let me explain a progression.  A progression is basically a series of chords.  Anything more than one chord is technically a progression.  Going from one tone of the scale to another constitutes a progression.  If we are going from the 1st tone of the scale, to the 4th tone, to the 5th tone, and back to the 1st tone, this would be a 1-4-5-1 progression.  A group of chords produces a progression; a group of progressions produce a song.

In this lesson, I will show you a few variations of a 2-5-1 progression.  2-5-1 progressions are widely used in MANY songs and in all different genres. The 2-5-1 is usually used in music to end a verse of a song (and come back to the 1), or to end a song.
 
For this lesson, we will use Eb major scale (Or Cm - Relative Minor of Ebmaj).  The tones of the Eb major scale are as follows Eb - F - G - Ab - Bb- C - D.  

Seeing these tones written out, we know that a 2-5-1 progression in this scale is a (F - Bb - Eb).  A 2-5-1 progression would usually go from a minor chord (on the 2), a major type chord on the 5, and a major chord on the 1.  In the most basic of forms, a 2-5-1 structure might look like this:

The chord in the box is played with the right hand.  The note under the box is the bass note, played with the left hand.  Read and play the Chord from bottom up.

Here in this structure, we start by using a min7 chord on the 2, a major triad inversion on the 5, and a major triad on the 1.  This 2-5-1 progression is very simple, yet very effective.... However, we don't always like simple, right? We want something a little bit more complex, a tad more jazzy, and a wee more clever.... RIGHT!?!?!? Of course we do, so let's add some 9ths to the mix and make things more interesting.

This progression uses a Fmin9 on the 2nd tone (F) and a Ebmaj9 on the 1st tone (Eb).  We also added a nice chord on the Bb, which is hard to formulate the chord name, but would be something like a Bb9add13.  This gives a more advanced sound, with some four note right hand chords.  Alternating between both the standard 2-5-1 and this jazzier 2-5-1 adds a more varied approach to your playing.

Those two variations must be learned before going further into this lesson.

Okay, well, those are cool, but I'm a little beyond that.... Got something a little more unique??

Why of course I do!!! I won't get into too much explaining about how I came up with these chords, or why they are what they are.  I am simply posting a few more just to give you a little variation and your playing, and to show you that the possibilities truly are endless.  ENJOY!!!!

Example 1:

Here we add a 5 finger minor chord and some left hand chord structuring. The top box represents the right hand, bottom box represents the left hand.

Example 2:

In this example, we added a chord with some tones that are outside of the scale.  Use this one sparingly!!

 Example 3:

Here is a 2-5-1 variation that has a two chord part on the 5th tone.

Example 4:

This chord structure adds some melody by adding a few single notes in.

Example 5:

This example is best used with a damper pedal.  Hold the damper and hit the bass note, and hit the corresponding chord while still holding down the damper.