The Pachelbel Progression: A Motif of Elegance and Splendor

Few chord patterns are as instantly recognizable as this one: the Pachelbel progression, the eight-chord cycle from Johann Pachelbel’s Canon in D, has been looping under weddings, graduations, and pop hits for more than three hundred years. In C major it runs C-G-Am-Em-F-C-F-C, and its gently falling bass line is the reason it sounds both […]