PROGRESSION · i–♭VI–♭VII
The Epic Minor Climb
A minor tonic followed by two major chords climbing back toward it. The default sound of modern film trailers. Also called the trailer progression, or the Aeolian climb.
In A minor
Am – F – G — heroic, rising, cinematic, around 90 BPM.
Why it works
The two major triads on ♭VI and ♭VII are both diatonic to natural minor, but placing them consecutively creates a stepwise ascent in the bass and a bright pair of chords in a dark key. The ear reads the rising root motion as building, and because ♭VII sits a whole step below the tonic — not a semitone — the return home feels like arrival rather than a snap resolution.
Where you'll hear it
Anything that needs to swell. Stack it under a rising melody and it does most of the emotional work by itself; it is overused in scoring for exactly that reason.
i–♭VI–♭VII in every key
The same progression transposed. The roman numerals never change — that is the whole point of writing progressions this way.
| Key | i | bVI | bVII |
|---|---|---|---|
| C | Cm | Ab | Bb |
| Db | Dbm | A | B |
| D | Dm | Bb | C |
| Eb | Ebm | B | Db |
| E | Em | C | D |
| F | Fm | Db | Eb |
| F# | F#m | D | E |
| G | Gm | Eb | F |
| Ab | Abm | E | Gb |
| A | Am | F | G |
| Bb | Bbm | Gb | Ab |
| B | Bm | G | A |
Related progressions
Drill the chords behind i–♭VI–♭VII
Build every chord in this progression from its symbol, against the clock.
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