Help With A Chord Sequence

i - _ - _ - II7

Hello. I'm looking for 2 different chords, to go between the tonic and the secondary dominant. I would like the chords to have a somewhat convential relationships, like iv - V7, i - iv, and V7 - i, but I'm not restricted to these. The only chord I do not want after i, is iv, but other than that, feel free to post any suggestions. Thank you.

Here are some of my solutions,

i - V7 - i - II7 (The simplist solution i've found.)

i - V7 - bVI - II7 (A little more interesting. The V7 resolves deceptively and then bVI, acts as a neopolitan chord to II7.)

There is s difference between a sequence and a progression.

You start off in minor, and then you treat it like it's Major. In C minor bVI is AbbM (Abb, Cb, Ebb), not AbM. A regular VI in  c minor (Ab, C, Eb) will act as a secondary neopolitan to a II7 (D, F#, A, C), which has two raised tones btw, the Ab becomes an A and the F becomes an F#). You need to be aware of the raised tones and treat them accordingly. This makes getting to it without the secondary neopolitan somewhat tricky. You can approach it from i, but that is kind of redundant since you was just on the tonic, plus the move from Eb to F# is ugly. You could go with a #vi' (A, C, Eb) but that would require dealing with the dissonance in the Eb and you have the same issue as with the tonic, the Eb jars with the F#.

So, we will have to use the VI (unless I'm missing something) which you can prepare easily with a V, but I would avoid that. I'm assuming you're preparing a dominant with the II7, so we should use something else here. Instead, I would use a iv (F, Ab,C) but you said you don't want this. Or, you could use a III (Eb, G, Bb). i, III, VI isn't the strongest of progressions, but it gets you where you need in the right number of chords. Also there is VII (Bb, D, F) but two superstrong progressions next to each other can be tricky and might be too strong of a movement.

In any case, the two workable solutions I can think of that don't repeat chords and don't open with a i, iv are:

i, III, VI, II7

or

i, VII, VI, II7

I'm sure there are possibilities I'm missing.

i, v6, #viº7, II7

as chords: Cm, Gm/Bb, Cm/A, D7

i, V7/III, III, II7 (Cm, Bb7, Eb, D7) could also work if you take care to avoid consecutive octaves/fifths between the latter two chords

i, v6, #viº7, II7

 

as chords: Cm, Gm/Bb, Cm/A, D7

 

i, V7/III, III, II7 (Cm, Bb7, Eb, D7) could also work if you take care to avoid consecutive octaves/fifths between the latter two chords

That first one amounts to i, v, i, II7, V (assuming the II7 prepares a V) which makes the second chord seem like a passing chord. Really just would sound like i, II7. I figured he was asking how to do it without just jumping right into it. Also, I don't care for the augmented second between the Eb in the #vi'7 and the F# in the II7. Also, the diminished fifth in the #vi'7 isn't prepared or resolved.

The second one I don't like for two reasons, again the augmented second between the second and third chords, Eb - F#, and the fact that the pivot tones aren't being handled properly (going from a Bb to an A natural).

Cm, Gm/Bb, C/A, D7

Cm, C/Bb, F/A, D7

That first one amounts to i, v, i, II7, V (assuming the II7 prepares a V) which makes the second chord seem like a passing chord. Really just would sound like i, II7. I figured he was asking how to do it without just jumping right into it. Also, I don't care for the augmented second between the Eb in the #vi'7 and the F# in the II7. Also, the diminished fifth in the #vi'7 isn't prepared or resolved.

 

The second one I don't like for two reasons, again the augmented second between the second and third chords, Eb - F#, and the fact that the pivot tones aren't being handled properly (going from a Bb to an A natural).

the first one amounts to i - v - iv/v - v/v - v in my estimation (if we assume all chords can be reduced to variants of i, iv and v). after the second chord, the third chord—while containing all the notes of the tonic triad—does not sound like a tonic chord; it sounds like a predominant in the new key. (bear in mind that the relative major equivalent would be C, G/B, Am7, D7...)

you can't really avoid an augmented 2nd in this case since any preparatory triad for the II7 would include the E-flat (#viº, VI, i or III) except for iv, which the OP already said she doesn't want to use, and which also makes the arrival on V somewhat weaker—a common progression such as i - I7 - iv - II7 would only arrive on the dominant rather than in it. the only other exception i can think of offhand which provides a strong arrival on the dominant is i - IIIaug6 - v6/4 - II7. (Cm - Ebaug6 - Gm/D - D7) which is not particularly Fuxian but certainly a quite striking progression in its own right.

the 2nd one just fits the two specified chords into a generic sequence which could theoretically go on forever (i, V/III -> III, V/v -> v, V/VII -> VII, etc etc) but i see your point about pivot tones. it becomes especially awkward when you include the fifths.

Thank you U238, for helping me with my roman numerals, and thank you to everyone for your contributions. Sarastro's first progression and .fseventsd's first progression worked best with my composition, but all the progressions were very helpful to me.

U238

1. c - Eb - Ab - D7 (i - III - VI - II7)

2. c- Bb - Ab - D7 (i - VII - VI - II7)

.fseventsd

1. c - g - a half diminished 7 - D7 (i - v - #vi'7 - II7) 

2. c- Bb7 - Eb - D7 (i - V7/III - III - II7)

3. c - Ebaug - g - D7  (i - IIIaug - v - II7)

Sarastro

1. c - g - a7 - D7 (i - v - #vi7 - II7)

2. c - C - F - D7 (i - I - IV - II7)