Beginners Resources‎ > ‎ Essential Chord Progressions

Strong Progressions 

A strong progression is one that clearly points to one note as the key, or tonic, note. They can be used anywhere, and are great especially for chorus melodies, which usually rely on the strong indication of a key.

1. C Dm G C
2. C Dm7 G C
3. C Fmaj7 G7 C
4. C Am Dm G C
5. C Em Am Dm G7 C

Fragile 

A fragile progression is one in which a specific chord is not clearly indicated as being the only possible tonic chord. Such a progression, on its own, could point toward two or more chords as being possible tonics, and usually require a strong progression after it to make the clear determination.

Fragile progressions can be used anywhere, but work very well in verse melodies. Keep in mind that most multi-chord progressions are a mixture of strong and fragile elements.

1. Dm7 Em7
2. Am G F G Am
3. Em G Am Em Dm F Am
4. C Gm7 Am7 BbMaj7

Deceptive Cadences

1. C F Am G F
2. C Dm G Am
3. C Am Em G Ab

Diminished Chords

1. C F Fdim7 C
2. C Dm Bdim C
3. C C#dim Dm G C

Inverted Chords

1. C C/E F G C
2. C G/B F/A G C
3. C G/B Am F G G/B C
4. C G E/G# Am G/B C

Secondary Dominant Chords

1. C A Dm G C
2. C E A Dm G C
3. C F D G C
4. C D G C

Modal Mixture Chords

1. C F Fm C
2. C C/E Fm G C
3. C Eb F G C
4. C F Ddim G C

Source: http://www.essentialchords.com/