Diatonic Chord Progressions and Patterns - Harmonic Minor

Here you find the diatonic chord progressions of harmonic minor in the key of Cm and Gm. These 2 keys represent all patterns which start either on the E or A string. Even harmonic minor is mostly used in way of having the focus on the minor pattern of the key it really also makes sense to learn those patterns related to the diatonic chord progressions.

To understand harmonic minor it's really important to understand it's historical importance. The origin of all chord progressions is the classical cadence :

In any major key you have the classic cadence leading from tonica ( I ) to subdominant ( IV ) to dominant ( V ). The dominant is either a major or a major 7 chord which creates a strong tension which leads back to the tonica ( I ). In minor keys I IV V are all minor chords which can work as a nice progression but to get a stronger resolution to the I somebody came up with the idea to have a " classic " dominant on the V in a minor progression. Now the minor key does not cover this alteration of the progression and when a V7 ( dominant ) chord is played in a minor progression the scale which normally would be phrygian on the V has to be altered by one note. This leads us to harmonic minor with the typical 1 1/2 tone step. Harmonic Minor is mostly played on the V7 chord but can also be used in other ways or even in a diatonic chord progressions setting. But the traditional way is to use Harmonic Minor when I V7 chord.