More Harmony and Chord theory stuff

Mike Neer · From: NJ

Rather than continue to post on the previous Harmony and Chord Theory thread , I thought I'd just post this on a new one.

I drew up a little chart/roadmap outlining all the diatonic chords of the key of C Major, with the addition of the Secondary Dominants and Tritone Substitutes. The premise of this particular chart is dealing with a I-vi-ii-V7 turnaround in numerous ways. Now, it is a limited group of examples that I've outlined, but in further posting I may get a little more adventurous with the examples. You can use the chart to help define your own choices (that's what I made it for). If you have any questions on how to interpret it, feel free to post them here and I'll answer the best I can.

For a quick explanation, you have the Tonic (C), Submediant (Am), Supertonic (Dm) and Dominant (G7) in the circle. Just outside of the circle in white lettering are: Mediant (Em), Subdominant (F), and Leading Tone (Bdim). The chords in red in a straight line with the diatonic chords are the Secondary Dominant chords. The way they are used is usually as a bridge to get from one diatonic chord to another, as they introduce a sense of urgency for resolution. Sometimes a secondary dominant will substitute for a diatonic chord, often in the case of a II7, III7 or VI7, particularly in turnarounds. The 3rd group of chords are Tritone substitutions, grouped accordingly with the chord they are a sub for (e.g., Bb7 is the bV7/iii--however, it is a direct substitution for the V/vi, or E7)*. So, essentially, you could replace E7 with Bb7 as you find your way to Am, or even better yet, A7 (for the sake of our turnaround.
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* To help you understand what the symbols V/vi, etc. mean, it reads "the 5 of 6", meaning the secondary dom of Am, or E7, easily figured by going up a fifth from Am.

Click on link below for larger image

Connecting Diatonic Chords using Secondary Dominants and Tritone Substitutes

I always have difficulty understanding what some folks write in trying to describe musical situations and theory. I apologize in advance if what I'm saying confuses you. I've tried to present it as clearly as I can, but for some reason it may not click. If you don't get it, give me a chance to help you get it.

--Mike
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Mike Neer · From: NJ

Here is a plain chart outlining just the basic changes. This could be used to navigate through a lot of different harmonic situations.

You may want to look back at the other thread to refresh on some of the basic types of relationship between the diatonic chords. For instance, the Tonic chord could very easily be substituted by the Mediant (iii) or Submediant (vi). A I-vi-ii-V7 turnaround could very easily begin on the Mediant (Em), but also using the dominant version of the chord. You could very easily use E7#9 - Eb7 - AbMaj7 - Db7b5, all the while preserving a melody note of G up on top. Notice how I've used different chord qualities? This was how I was able to preserve the G in the melody, by making Ab a major 7 chord instead of a dom 7. Anyway, you really have to play around with this stuff and find something that sounds good. It's tough on non-pedal steel, but it is possible!

Diatonic Chords, Secondary Dominants and Tritone Substitutes
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Mike Harris · From: Texas, USA

Very cool, and deserving of many and longer looks.

I appreciate the use of the lower case roman numerals for the minor and dim. chords--I find that much clearer than using all upper case.

Mike Neer · From: NJ

I thought I'd take a minute or 2 here to introduce another very hip element to the process of connecting diatonic chords using non-diatonic chords. One thing that has to be understood is that when you have a pattern like I-vi-ii-V, you have to take into consideration the length of that phrase. Obviously, the more chords you add to it, the shorter the duration for each chord. Here's an example (the chord symbol and the dashes all equal a 1/4 note):

/C ---/Am ---/Dm ---/G7 ---/

/C - E7 -/Am - A7 -/Dm - Ab7 - /G7 - Db7 -/

OK, now that that is out of the way, the other thing we can do to make the use of secondary dominant chords and tritone substitutions even more exciting is by introducing the relevant ii7 chord before them. Let's say you want to go from C to Am. Well, you can use the sec dom to Am (/C - E7 - /Am), or you can use its tritone substitution (/C - Bb7 - /Am). Notice how common these sounds are--you use them all the time and now you know why. OK, so let's try it with a ii7 in front of the sec dom (/C - Bm7 E7/Am) or with the tritone sub (/C - Fm7 Bb7/Am). Another point I should make is that if you're playing a ii7-V7 to a minor chord, it's sometimes preferrable to play a half-diminished, or minor7b5 chord. In this case, you could play Bø - E7 to Am. It's a matter of preference and the style you're playing. In more contemporary music, you might find the min7 chord instead. Experiment and see which you like best.

It's all getting very Bebop-ish now, isn't it (this is what Bebop is all about), but it doesn't only pertain to Jazz--these sounds are used everywhere, particularly in those beautiful string arrangements you hear, which is really a nice goal for a steel guitarist to aim for.

See how we've reached outside of the diatonic harmony to help things sound more grounded? I think that's exactly what happens when you start using these sounds, but--and this is a big but--you can't be the only person playing the song whose hip to it, otherwise it could be a train wreck.

All for now.
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Del Bonn · From: Missouri, USA

A plethora of Thanks to you,, Mike, for all this important information, so well laid out forus. It is more than I can assimilate quickly, so I plan to spend hours of study on both your post sites.

I have been playing the Hawaiian/Steel guitar intermittantly for about 6 years. However, without formal or agressive personal study, I did not progress far beyond the Cycle of 7ths, major & minor
(Sunny Side f the Street comes to mind), a few augs and dims, and my favorite 9ths. Now you have given me much to expand upon. I still use the original chromatic Eddie Alkire tuning with its extensive chord options, but am currently limited by Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (sob). Nevertheless, I will push forward to learn M'Appari tut amor....if I can find suitable piano music and figure-out all the chords. I'm contemplating the Key of Bb. Do you have an opinion or help to offer me.

Once, again, my sincere gratitude for your sharing.

Del Bonn · From: Missouri, USA

Sorry, hand splints cause typing errors.... Correction: I have been playing intermittantly for about 65 years.

Mark Roeder · From: Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA

Mike, do you have a song that exemplifies the added chords. I assume that the choice of chord helps push the melody along?
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Mike Neer · From: NJ

Mark, these are just substitutions for the I-vi-ii-V turnaround, or turnbacks that you normally find at the end of a chorus, whether it's Georgia On My Mind or Sleepwalk or any number of other tunes.

I know it's a bit confusing to following the image, but I tried to color code the paths of a few different choices. Inside the circle you'll see the I vi ii V. If you follow the lines or arrows of a certain color, you'll see changes based on substitutions; for instance, the light blue lines connect C with Eb7, Ab7, Db7, back to C. Now, just to make this perfectly clear: these chords do not have to be dominant 7th chords. Let's say we want to hold a common note for all 4 chords--G would be a good choice. Here's how that would work:

C (G is the 5th), Eb7 (G is the 3rd), AbMaj7 (G is the 7th), and Db7b5 (G is the b5).

Obviously, the more chords in your path, the shorter the duration. Here's another example:

/C - E7 - / A7 - - - /D7 - - -/G7 - - -/

/C - B7 -/E7 - A7 -/D7 - - -/G7 - - -/

I've bolded the E7 chord. What if we did a tritone sub there?
/C - B7 -/Bb7 - A7 -/D7 - - -/G7 - - -/

Notice the descending chromatic bass line?

Take a look at the first chord, C. It's tritone sub would be F#. If we incorporate the secondary dominant process as well, we will have this:

/F#7 - B7 -/E7 - A7 -/D7 - - -/G7 - - -/

We can just keep going on and on with this. It can be as simple or complex as you want it to be.

It's really nice to just play arpeggios of these chords as an exercise, keeping the chord tones as close as possible and mixing them up a bit, maybe something like this:

Mark Roeder · From: Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA

Thanks Mike, I thought I heard a bit of Sleepwalk in that. I hear what you mean.
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