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A diminished passing chord is a diminished seventh chord slipped in between two chords whose roots are a whole step apart. Its root sits a half step below the chord it goes to, so in C you play C△7, C♯°7, Dm7 and the bass climbs C, C♯, D. You hear it all through jazz standards and gospel, and it only lasts a beat or two. The free chart below lists the five most useful spots in all 12 major keys. Free chart Diminished passing chords in 12 keys — A4 PDF Letter PDF One page. Five passing spots in every major key, each with the chord it leads to. No email. On this page What it is  ·  One chord in between  ·  Why it works  ·  Only three diminished chords  ·  Where to use them  ·  Four common mistakes  ·  How to practise it  ·  FAQ What it is A diminished seventh chord is four notes stacked in minor thirds: C♯°7 is C♯, E, G and B♭. You will see it written C♯°7 or C♯dim7. Both mean the same chord....

A borrowed chord is a chord taken from the parallel minor key, the minor key with the same tonic, and used for a moment in a major key. In C major, the favourites are Fm, A♭, B♭ and E♭. They add a darker or more open colour without leaving the key, which is why you hear them everywhere from film scores to rock songs. The free chart below lists them in all 12 major keys. Free chart Borrowed chords in 12 keys — A4 PDF Letter PDF One page. i, ii°, ♭III, iv, ♭VI and ♭VII in every major key. No email. On this page What it is  ·  Major chord, borrowed chord  ·  The four you hear most  ·  Where to use them  ·  Four common mistakes  ·  How to practise it  ·  FAQ What it is C major and C minor share the same home note, C. They are called parallel keys. A borrowed chord is simply a chord from C minor that turns up in a song in C major: you borrow it for a beat or a bar, and then the music carries on in major. ...

A secondary dominant is the V7 of a chord other than the tonic. In C major, A7 leads to Dm7, so A7 is “V7 of ii”, written V7/ii. A note from outside the key gives it away, and that note pulls toward the chord it is aiming at. The free chart below lists all five secondary dominants in every major key. Free chart Secondary dominants in 12 keys — A4 PDF Letter PDF One page. V7/ii, V7/iii, V7/IV, V7/V and V7/vi with the chord each one points to, every major key. No email. On this page What it is  ·  How to spot one  ·  Where it goes  ·  The five in C  ·  In a progression  ·  Four common mistakes  ·  How to practise it  ·  FAQ What it is In C major, G7 is the V7. It leads home to C. Now pretend for a moment that Dm7 is home. What would its V7 be? Count five letters up from D and you get A, so the answer is A7: A, C♯, E, G. Play A7 right before Dm7 and the Dm7 sounds like a little arrival, the wa...

Band Session Note 1.23 is out on the App Store and Google Play with three new tools: score captions for performance videos, a 16-step Drum Pattern Board, and a Song Structure bar that shows the order of a tune as color blocks. Band Session Note is the iPad notation app I make, and the examples on this blog are drawn in it. This post is a short break from the usual lessons: here is what is new and how to use each part. New in 1.23 Score captions (Pro Pack, 10 free uses): your score scrolls over your performance video, then saves as a video. Drum Pattern Board (Drum Pack): tap dots on 16 steps to build a bar of drums and loop it. Song Structure (free): the song order as color blocks; tap one to jump there. Two pages side by side in performance mode (free). Smaller changes (free): rehearsal marks as color boxes, erasing lesson numbers with the eraser, and two sound fixes. On this page Score captions  ·  Drum Pattern Board  ·  Song Structure ...

A tritone substitution swaps a dominant seventh chord for the dominant seventh whose root is a tritone away: D♭7 instead of G7 in the key of C. The two chords share the same 3rd and 7th, so the substitute still pulls home to C, but the bass now slides down by half steps instead of jumping. The free sheet below has the swap in all 12 keys. Free practice sheet Tritone substitution in 12 keys — A4 PDF Letter PDF One page. ii–V–I and the same ii–V–I with the tritone sub, every key, treble clef. No email. On this page Why it works  ·  In a ii–V–I  ·  The six pairs  ·  What it adds to the sound  ·  When to use it  ·  Four common mistakes  ·  How to practise it  ·  FAQ Why it works G7 is G, B, D, F. Its 3rd and 7th, B and F, are a tritone apart, and that tense pair is what wants to resolve to C. These are the guide tones of the chord. Now look at D♭7: D♭, F, A♭, C♭. Its 3rd is F and its 7th is ...

An upper structure triad is a plain major triad played in the right hand over the 3rd and 7th of a dominant chord in the left. You think “D major” and the band hears C13(♯11). Five triads give you five different dominant sounds, from bright to very dark, and each one is a shape you already know. The free sheet below has all five on all 12 dominant chords. Free practice sheet Upper structure triads in 12 keys — A4 PDF Letter PDF One page. Five triads over every dominant seventh chord, treble clef. No email. On this page Build one  ·  The five triads  ·  Which one to use  ·  In a ii–V–I  ·  Where to play them  ·  Four common mistakes  ·  How to practise it  ·  FAQ Build one Start with C7: C, E, G, B♭. Keep only the 3rd and the 7th, E and B♭. Those two notes are what make the chord sound like a dominant chord, the same guide tones we traced through a ii–V–I. They go in your left hand. Now pla...