Scale-wise chord progressions

One often sees 6-3 chords moving stepwise up and down, but is it ever common to see root position chords moving stepwise? (all the way up or down a scale??)

However, moving a bass line all the way down a scale whilst changing the surrounding chords by descending thirds and fifths is pretty common, where the bass would contain a lot of passing tones.

Is it just the parallel fifths rule perhaps? root position chords moving up and down certainly would contain parallel fifths.

Is that all it is, perhaps?

Yep, that would be my guess. Only in the 20th Century did composers get away from the parallel fifths rule, and even then not always successfully. A progression of ascending or descending parallel triads in root position ends up sounding pretty amateurish unless treated very skilfully.

When I use them the chords are usually in open position, or 6-3. I don't use these sequences very often, much more often I will use all kinds of sudden chromatic chord changes, or I'll use progressions where the root descends by a third or fifth.

One of my favorites starts in major key and proceeds from the tonic as follows: down by a fith, down by a third, up by a fourth, down by a third, up by a fourth, down by a third, up by a second (we are at the dominant now), tonic. It has the nice property of allowing a tone over each chord to ascend all the way up your major scale. I'm certain this progression or something like it has been used hundreds of times before.

Oh, and one thing I could learn how to use better is chord regressions. I've used them sometimes, like where the root ascends by thirds....this can actually sound really cool. I know chopin used it in a couple of pieces. I think Fantasy in F minor, in fact, uses this regression. And didn't beethoven play a regression of fifths (up by fifths or down by fourths instead of the normal down by fifths and up by fourths) in some of his later sonatas?