Note that the three major chords in the key of D major (G, D and A) are matched (in terms of their root notes) by the three minor chords in the key of D minor (Gm, Dm and Am). Hopefully we can anticipate something when one or more of these minor chords are borrowed and used in ‘key of D major’ context. Their root notes are diatonic to the D major scale so in the process of recalssifing them, we will make use of lower case Roman numerals to indicate their minor quality, but they will be ‘natural’ and not ‘flat’.
So we progress and arrive at a sixth example. This one is yet another major key progression but, as just alluded to, this example will go on and borrow one of the three minor chords from the parallel minor key.
It’s a bouncy little ditty, for sure. Give it some drums and bass and a decent mix and it could get any number of people up out of their seats and dancing.
But … it screams at me, demanding it be made to tell a different story.
It is just too darn upbeat and chirpy.
Too sickly sweet.
Some mild peril, a slight sombre moment, is called for to improve the taste and texture.
What do we do?
There are two consecutive bars of F major (the IV) leading back to the tonic chord C major. This next trick has been done a million and one times so why don’t we do it too? We swap the second F major in bar four for a borrowed F minor. Note that the two chords together, F then Fm, are labeled IV then iv.
Give this one a listen.
As soon as you hear it (the minor iv) you’ll know it.
Here:
There it is.
Just one borrowed chord – yet what a classic.
Going from the diatonic major IV chord to the borrowed minor iv chord. This appears in many, many songs and you will have heard it hundreds of times, perhaps without knowing or understanding what the trick was.
A certain Mr N. Gallagher knows it very well – having half-inched it from the works of Lennon & McCartney no doubt.
It is often employed right before the progression ventures back to the tonic chord and that is what we have just heard.
Learn this progression, transpose it, mess around with it, try it in your own musical creations whenever you identify a major IV chord, look and listen for the trick in songs you have already learned to play, chart those out in chord / Roman numeral formats, record and upload something for us all to enjoy.
Note that it is written as an 8-bar progression that appears to end on the dominant V chord. Because it loops the dominant chord at the end does provide the resolution back to bar 1 in the repeat. Plus, once the entire progression completes, there is a final, additional bar of the tonic to finish. If that additional bar was absent it would sound somewhat strange and unresolved.
I don’t know about you but I find that soothing and serene.
Pleasant.
Relaxing.
From bar 2 there is a satisfying descending movement in the root notes from F# down to E down to D down to C# down to B.
But can we bring a little zesty tang to add to this taste?
We do what we do.
We look at the parallel minor key, A minor in this instance.
We eye up the goods displayed in the shop window then we smash and grab.
Let’s take a peek, see what might be in store.
First, let’s remove the C#m in bar 6 and replace it with a C major – which will be notated as bIII.
Then, in bar 7, we will employ the minor iv trick again. This time it fits in and functions slightly differently to Example 6. Notably it does not follow the diatonic major IV so we do not get the major-to-minor that is so common with the minor iv. Also, it does not lead directly back to the tonic chord. Instead, it simply replaces the Bm chord at bar 7 and it pushes us back up to the dominant E major chord. This gives a strong resolution to finish the overall progression with.
The whole progression remains pleasingly sweet and mellow, though is now subtly altered.
Notice how that descending bass line formed in the root notes has been shifted with a significant impact.
Instead of starting on the F# and falling, falling, falling to ever lower notes, once the sequence reaches C# it bounces back up, giving a little energy and vitality to lead upwards again to the E chord that resolves to the tonic.
We had 5 descending chords before the dominant:
F# - E - D - C# - B - E
We now have 4 descending chords that do a 180 degrees turn to climb back up to the dominant:
F# - E - D - C# - D - E
This is spooky, when I watched the insightful Amy Shafer yesterday ended up taking another spur which popped up.
He’s talking about music STUFF using a Lennon and McCartney song. Fascinating. I’ll post a link if that’s okay to post in here . Good video and well worth watching. But as I said, it’s a little gibberish ATM.
In Penny Lane there are examples of borrowed chords - though not the minor iv just seen in this example. Along with that, the big deal of that song is the constant and brilliant modulation - changing keys - between verse and chorus throughout. And the chord choices
that enable it. Don’t worry if you don’t quite understand the entire breakdown and analysis. It does remind me that some months ago I had mapped out a new topic on secondary dominant chords and modulation that I didn’t get round to writing. One for the future I hope.
So far we have only looked at and heard progressions where the original diatonic progressions were altered by substituting one or more diatonic chords for borrowed chords.
Of course, there is no necessity whatever to think that the starting point needs to be a diatonic progression. Borrowing chords is not simply about replacing a diatonic chord with a non-diatonic chord from the parallel minor key. Borrowed chords can be used in a progression from the outset, deliberately chosen to be there, not simply seen as add-ons.
The fact that borrowed chords can slot in and sit alongside diatonic chords means we have an expanded palette to call upon when composing chord progressions. We can consider that instead of just six main diatonic chords (again excluding diminished for our purpose here) we have twelve chords. From the parallel minor key we gain an additional three major and three minor chords to use as we wish. The only caveat is that the borrowed chords need to be short moments of fleeting otherness that act as diversions from the diatonic sound. There are some borrowed chords that get used much more frequently than others. That is not to say all cannot or will not work. Context is king. Plus, if it sounds good it is good.
Now that we are all more comfortable and familiar with this whole notion of borrowing chords, we can hopefully move away from only replacing chords originally found in a diatonic progression and step-up to the challenge of composing progressions that contain borrowed chords from the outset.
Example 8. A progression in the key of F major in 6/8.
We are presented here with an extension to the notion under which borrowed chords are being used and a quiz element too.
First, we need to listen to the progression.
Challenge 1.
Can you detect the borrowed chord(s) just by listening?
Can you hear when it / they occur in the progression?
For bonus points and kudos, can you figure out what the borrowed chord(s) is / are?
That will likely require guitar in hand and some ear work to know the actual progression.
Do you think you heard where something unexpected, something out-of-key took your ear?
If yes, where was it?
How would you describe the ‘shift’ that happened?
Let’s find out and understand what is going on.
How was that?
A fairly simple, routine exercise now that a greater depth of understanding has been gained?
Was it a mental workout or did you pick up your guitar and try to play along, to work out the chords by ear?
Once again, here is the full range of files for this example. There is only one of each as we started out using borrowed chords, we did not create a diatonic progression and then substitute / swap.
Wait a moment – we may be thinking to ourselves. That is all well and good. But everything we have seen has been built around major key progressions borrowing a chord (or two) from a parallel minor key. What if the actual progressions itself is in a minor key? After all – some of us are drawn to the minor key like galactic matter is drawn to a black hole.
Well.
It’s simples.
If a progression is in a minor key, chords can be borrowed from the parallel major key. On the Circle of Fifths, rather than looking anticlockwise for an adjacent cluster of six chords, we look clockwise and find the root note of the parallel major on the outer wheel.
One small note.
In general, it is generally commented that placing borrowed chords in to a minor key is perhaps a bit less common than the other way round. And of the six (seven if we do include diminished) potential chords to borrow from a parallel major, there are some which do get used more often.
In the first we will again revert to the technique of starting with a diatonic progression and replacing one or more chords with something borrowed. This will use the time-honoured device of borrowing a major V from a parallel major key to provide a strong resolution to the tonic.
This is very, very, very, very, very common in minor key progressions.
Very, very, very common.
So common that it barely stands out as something that is actually non-diatonic.
Then, later on, a further example, will be a progression written from the outset with borrowed chords within its fundamental structure. One in which we are introduced to a concept with its own name. We meet a resolution with a Picardy third.
Sounds nice - can’t wait!
Keeping it simple, we will use the F# major, playing it as a dominant 7th (F#7).
Just one borrowed one, one difference. Let’s hear how it changes things.
Do you feel that propulsion from the V7 chord back to the tonic i chord both in starting the next round of the progression and in ending the overall progression?
