Just Friends Chord Progression & Harmonic Analysis

Chord progression

Analyzed excerpt

Section: A · Bars 1–8

Cmaj7 | Cmaj7 | Cm7 | F7 | Gmaj7 | Gmaj7 | Bbm7 | Eb7

This is a short excerpt quoted for analysis, not the full chart, and this composition is very likely still in copyright. Published versions and recordings disagree with each other about the rest of the tune, and often about these bars too.

The books behind this page

Every one of these tunes is assembled out of the same handful of harmonic resources. Jazz Harmony is those resources, explained in the order in which they build on each other.

Start here Project 03 · Harmony

Harmonic analysis

Key

G major

Tonal center

G

Confidence

Medium

Chords analysed

8

Chord	Roman numeral	Function	What it is doing	Confidence
Cmaj7	IV	Predominant	Cmaj7 is the IV chord of G: subdominant. It moves away from the tonic without creating the pull of a dominant.	High
Cmaj7	IV	Predominant	Cmaj7 is the IV chord of G: subdominant. It moves away from the tonic without creating the pull of a dominant.	High
Cm7	iv	Predominant	Cm7 is a minor iv in a major key, borrowed from the parallel minor. Its b6 pulls down into the third of the tonic — one of the most recognisable sounds in the repertoire. Also readable as ii/bIII.	Medium
F7	bVII7	Dominant	F7 is the backdoor dominant of G. It approaches G from a whole tone below rather than from the fifth above — the b7 and b3 of the parallel minor resolving inward.	High
Gmaj7	I	Tonic	Gmaj7 is the tonic of G. It is where the progression is at rest.	High
Gmaj7	I	Tonic	Gmaj7 is the tonic of G. It is where the progression is at rest.	High
Bbm7	biii	Other	Bbm7 does not take a functional role in G. It sits on bIII and is best heard as colour, or as a sign that the tonal center has moved.	Low
Eb7	subV7/V	Dominant	Eb7 is a tritone substitute — subV7/V. It carries the same tritone as A7, the real dominant of D, but resolves down a semitone instead of down a fifth.	Low

What the analyzer found in it

iv - bVII7 - ICm7 - F7 - Gmaj7

A backdoor cadence in G: iv and bVII7 borrowed from the parallel minor, arriving at the tonic from below.

High, medium and low next to each numeral are judgements about musical context, not probabilities. A low rating marks a bar that can honestly be read more than one way. How the ratings are decided →

Why this example matters

Numbered against G major, the excerpt is IV – iv – bVII7 – I – biii – subV7/V. Inside those 8 chords there is a tritone substitute, a backdoor resolution and a chord borrowed from the parallel mode. Take the roots away and keep the third and seventh. In F7 that is A and D#. Those two notes decide where the progression is going, and hearing them move is worth more than naming the chords. Blues for Alice, All Blues and So What use the same device, which is the argument for learning it once properly rather than three times by accident.

How the rest of Just Friends goes

The tune opens on the subdominant rather than the tonic, which delays the establishment of the key and is the first thing that marks it out. From there the harmony proceeds through a sequence of ii-V pairs that keep resolving to places other than home, and the tonic is not properly confirmed until well into the form. It is a favourite of bebop players precisely because those repeated arrivals-that-are-not-home give a soloist somewhere to go without ever closing the piece off.

Just Friends on record

John Klenner wrote it in 1931 with lyricist Sam Lewis. Charlie Parker recorded it in 1949 on the first of his sessions with strings, and that performance — the melody stated over a lush arrangement, then a solo that ignores the setting entirely — is one of the most discussed in his catalogue, both by admirers and by those who thought the strings a mistake.

Analyze this progression

Open these chords in the analyzer and change them. Move one chord, substitute a dominant, take the ii away — the reading updates and tells you what you just did.

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Just Friends — Chord Progression & Harmonic Analysis

Chord progression

The books behind this page

Jazz Harmony

Harmonic Narrative

Jazz Guitar Comping

Harmonic analysis

What the analyzer found in it

Why this example matters

How the rest of Just Friends goes

Just Friends on record

Analyze this progression

Related

Tritone substitution

Backdoor progression

Modal interchange

Blues for Alice

All Blues

So What

Jazz chord progressions