The Modal Folk Vamp
One minor chord followed by two major ones, circling without ever cadencing. The usual description calls this minor with a surprise major four. Count the chords and you find the opposite: two thirds of the loop is major, and that is where the hope comes from.
- 3 chords
- 1 is minor
- no leading tone anywhere
same family
The progression
i - bVII - IV
Why it works
In A that is Am, G and D. The D major carries an F sharp, the major sixth of A, which is the one note separating Dorian from natural minor. The G is a flattened seventh, a whole step below the tonic rather than a half step, so it does not pull. Harmonic minor would give you a G sharp there, a leading tone that shoves you back home. This loop has nothing that shoves, which is why it can turn indefinitely without leaving anything unresolved.
Hear it in context
The bass walks A, G, D: a whole step down, then a fourth down. Open, walking movement without the falling fifths of functional harmony. Hold an A underneath the whole thing as a drone and the mode is nailed in place from the first bar, which is exactly what folk instruments with open strings do for free.
Make it yours
- Put the major sixth in the melody
If the tune avoids it, the whole thing collapses back into natural minor.
- Let a drone run under it
One held root and the modal centre never wobbles.
- Add sevenths for the electronic version
i7 to IV7 is the same mode with a Rhodes instead of a guitar.
When to reach for it
When minor is right but self-pity is not. For folk, for modal jazz, and for anything that should sound old without sounding sad.
When to leave it alone
When the melody keeps landing on the flattened sixth. Then the song wants natural minor and the major chord will fight it.