Substitutions & Passing Chords cont...
3] The third chord substitution we will talk about is the Di-tone.
Also known as the Major 3rd. Everyone have been screaming about how to use the tri-tone, but the di-tone is just as powerful as the tri-tone. It is a key element in that gospel/urban sound. It helps you get from one chord to the other in a really phat way. It sounds so good that you can walk it up as much as you want and it still sounds good.
General Usage:
The di-tone on your left hand is usually coupled with a form of quartal chord [quartal chord lead] on your right hand. I like to associate them in clumps for better understanding, because there are other ways to use the di-tone. Here are some general rules to using this di-tone:
1. The di-tone mimics the bass line:
What this means is that if your bass line is C, then your di-tone will usually be C and E.
2. The di-tone is usually coupled with a quartal chord in the right hand
C + E /// Bb + D# + G# (Quartal chord)
Also known as the Major 3rd. Everyone have been screaming about how to use the tri-tone, but the di-tone is just as powerful as the tri-tone. It is a key element in that gospel/urban sound. It helps you get from one chord to the other in a really phat way. It sounds so good that you can walk it up as much as you want and it still sounds good.
General Usage:
The di-tone on your left hand is usually coupled with a form of quartal chord [quartal chord lead] on your right hand. I like to associate them in clumps for better understanding, because there are other ways to use the di-tone. Here are some general rules to using this di-tone:
1. The di-tone mimics the bass line:
What this means is that if your bass line is C, then your di-tone will usually be C and E.
2. The di-tone is usually coupled with a quartal chord in the right hand
C + E /// Bb + D# + G# (Quartal chord)
As a Passing Tone
Remember to think about the bass note. The bass note is exactly what it sounds like: It is the actual sound and movement of the bass guitar. So if you hear the bass guitar on a song go from C to D to E, then your di-tones will be C + E, D + Gb, and E + Ab. Your right hand chord will be Bb quartal lead – C quartal lead – D quartal lead. But be careful! Make sure that when you hear the bass that you use the bass notes that are acting as passing tones. So you have a responsibility to learn and interpret the song to see if it’s a foundation bass note, or a passing tone. So what you can do is move the di-tone /*quartal lead combination in whole notes to get to your destination. So if your starting point is C and your destination point is F, then you can use the di-tone / quartal lead combination that goes from C to F, but on F you play the foundation chord.
Note: The reason why I describe this as a di-tone / quartal lead combination, is because what you can do with the quartal chord is play around with the *quartal lead chords. I also call it a quartal lead because it is not the actual quartal chord that goes with the tone, but the leading chord that will take you there. Get it?
This is why I describe the chord in clumps, because each clump has its own distinct way of use, even though they are used in combination.
Replacing the 1 Chord
You hear this done in jazz music an awful lot. Instead of playing a regular C major chord, you can play:
C + E /// A + D + G (C Quartal chord)
Remember to think about the bass note. The bass note is exactly what it sounds like: It is the actual sound and movement of the bass guitar. So if you hear the bass guitar on a song go from C to D to E, then your di-tones will be C + E, D + Gb, and E + Ab. Your right hand chord will be Bb quartal lead – C quartal lead – D quartal lead. But be careful! Make sure that when you hear the bass that you use the bass notes that are acting as passing tones. So you have a responsibility to learn and interpret the song to see if it’s a foundation bass note, or a passing tone. So what you can do is move the di-tone /*quartal lead combination in whole notes to get to your destination. So if your starting point is C and your destination point is F, then you can use the di-tone / quartal lead combination that goes from C to F, but on F you play the foundation chord.
Note: The reason why I describe this as a di-tone / quartal lead combination, is because what you can do with the quartal chord is play around with the *quartal lead chords. I also call it a quartal lead because it is not the actual quartal chord that goes with the tone, but the leading chord that will take you there. Get it?
This is why I describe the chord in clumps, because each clump has its own distinct way of use, even though they are used in combination.
Replacing the 1 Chord
You hear this done in jazz music an awful lot. Instead of playing a regular C major chord, you can play:
C + E /// A + D + G (C Quartal chord)
You can even move these chord combinations in whole or half steps, up and down, to get to your destination, and it sounds really jazzy.
* A quartal chord as a chord in fourth degrees, or a triad chord combination with intervals of four notes e.g. l – r – s. From the first note to the next note are four tones.
The di-tone is usually used to substitute for your diminished 3rd chord. Let’s say you have this progression:
t r fe / l de m - m d r / se d r s - l m s / s t d m
* A quartal chord as a chord in fourth degrees, or a triad chord combination with intervals of four notes e.g. l – r – s. From the first note to the next note are four tones.
The di-tone is usually used to substitute for your diminished 3rd chord. Let’s say you have this progression:
t r fe / l de m - m d r / se d r s - l m s / s t d m
You can substitute the 3rd diminished chord representation with your di-tone, or use your di-tone to play passing chords to your destination:
m se / r s d
m se / r s d
m se / r s d = fe to / m l r = se d / fe t m
fThis on its own creates instant ‘phatness’.
4] The fourth chord substitution we will talk about is the Tri-tone.
TRI-TONES!!! The big girls of gospel music! Aha! Everybody is talking about tri-tones.
The question is, Can tri-tone substitutions really revolutionize your play?
The answer is YES!
I know you’re thinking… “Whoa! Big words. This is going to be complex.” Let me assure you that this concept is very easy to understand. Maybe you’ve heard of it. Perhaps you’ve seen these words thrown around forums.
Well, I’m finally going to demystify tri-tone substitutions for you.
As you know, a tri-tone is made up of the 1 and b5 interval.
C major:
C D E F G A B C
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
In C major, that will be C + Gb (G is the 5th… so simply lower it to Gb).
4] The fourth chord substitution we will talk about is the Tri-tone.
TRI-TONES!!! The big girls of gospel music! Aha! Everybody is talking about tri-tones.
The question is, Can tri-tone substitutions really revolutionize your play?
The answer is YES!
I know you’re thinking… “Whoa! Big words. This is going to be complex.” Let me assure you that this concept is very easy to understand. Maybe you’ve heard of it. Perhaps you’ve seen these words thrown around forums.
Well, I’m finally going to demystify tri-tone substitutions for you.
As you know, a tri-tone is made up of the 1 and b5 interval.
C major:
C D E F G A B C
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
In C major, that will be C + Gb (G is the 5th… so simply lower it to Gb).
It’s also known as a diminished 5th interval. (Diminish literally means to “make smaller”).
But here’s the thing with tri-tones. Unlike other chords, you really only have to learn 6 of them. Yes!
12 is the magic number in music. There are 12 major chords, 12 minor chords, 12 diminished chords…
12 of everything! But with tri-tones, they are symmetric. In other words, they are the same if you take the bottom note and move it to the top. It doesn’t matter.
Take that “C + Gb”, flip it, and you’ll get “Gb + C” (it’s still a tri-tone).
On the other hand, if you take a perfect fifth like “C + G” and flip it, you won’t get the same 5th but instead, you’ll get a 4th (“G + C”). That’s because they aren’t symmetric.
Tri-tones are basically equal when you transpose them. And get this…
They cut the octave perfectly in half.
Yes, believe it or not, the “b5 (flatted fifth) marks the MIDDLE POINT of the octave. So if you go from C to Gb and then from Gb to C, you would have encompassed an octave.
Octave = 12 half steps
Tri-tone = 6 half steps (or 3 whole steps, thus the name “tri”)
Because of all this, there are really only 6 of them. Gb + C is basically the same as C + Gb (at least for the purposes in which we’ll use them). That means, all you have to do is learn these (and I’m going to use informal spellings just to keep things simple):
C + Gb
Db + G
D + Ab
Eb + A
E + Bb
F + B
…And you’ll automatically know that the “flipped” versions are:
Gb + C
G + Db
Ab + D
A + Eb
Bb + E
B + F
So the key is to master not only these tri-tones played as chords (or dyads) but to master, for example, what a tri-tone up from C is. In other words, you should be able to know that the other “tri-tone” side of D is Ab. Or the other side of G is Db. Or the other side of E is Bb, and vice versa.
Once you understand this, tri-tone substitution is easy. It basically says that you can substitute the chord a tri-tone away for the chord you’re currently on. It works best with dominant chords but you can mess around with it on major and minor seventh chords as well.
But basically, let’s see how this works in a 2 – 5 – 1 chord progression. Normally, in a 2 – 5 – 1, the 5th tone is a dominant chord.
2 (minor 7) - 5 (dominant 7) - 1 (major 7)
In C major, this plays out as:
D minor 7 - G dominant 7 - C major 7
D minor 7 = D + F + A + C
G dominant 7 = G + B + D + F
C major 7 = C + E + G + B
See the “G dominant 7”? The rules behind “tri-tone substitution” say that you can replace this G dominant 7 with the dominant chord that is 3 whole steps away (or a “tri-tone” away).
That is the golden rule!
Tri-tone Substitution: This is the use of a chord, 3 whole steps away to replace (or follow) the original chord.
I use the word “follow” because, in my experience, you can usually play your original chord and then follow-up with the dominant chord a tri-tone away. And other times, you can substitute the original chord altogether.
And like I said, if you know your tri-tone relationships very well, it won’t take long to know that you can use Db dominant 7 in the place of G dominant 7 (G7 for short).
D minor 7 >>> Db dominant 7 >>> C major 7
D minor7 = D + F + A + C
Db dominant7 = Db + F + Ab + Cb
C major7 = C + E + G + B
*Cb is basically the same as playing “B” — just spelled differently. This puts your musical knowledge to work doesn’t it?
Why does the Db7 work so well as a substitute for the G7 chord?
Well, let’s look at their notes:
(Yes, I know that “B” should say “Cb” but I’m trying to make a point here).
G dominant 7 Db dominant 7
But here’s the thing with tri-tones. Unlike other chords, you really only have to learn 6 of them. Yes!
12 is the magic number in music. There are 12 major chords, 12 minor chords, 12 diminished chords…
12 of everything! But with tri-tones, they are symmetric. In other words, they are the same if you take the bottom note and move it to the top. It doesn’t matter.
Take that “C + Gb”, flip it, and you’ll get “Gb + C” (it’s still a tri-tone).
On the other hand, if you take a perfect fifth like “C + G” and flip it, you won’t get the same 5th but instead, you’ll get a 4th (“G + C”). That’s because they aren’t symmetric.
Tri-tones are basically equal when you transpose them. And get this…
They cut the octave perfectly in half.
Yes, believe it or not, the “b5 (flatted fifth) marks the MIDDLE POINT of the octave. So if you go from C to Gb and then from Gb to C, you would have encompassed an octave.
Octave = 12 half steps
Tri-tone = 6 half steps (or 3 whole steps, thus the name “tri”)
Because of all this, there are really only 6 of them. Gb + C is basically the same as C + Gb (at least for the purposes in which we’ll use them). That means, all you have to do is learn these (and I’m going to use informal spellings just to keep things simple):
C + Gb
Db + G
D + Ab
Eb + A
E + Bb
F + B
…And you’ll automatically know that the “flipped” versions are:
Gb + C
G + Db
Ab + D
A + Eb
Bb + E
B + F
So the key is to master not only these tri-tones played as chords (or dyads) but to master, for example, what a tri-tone up from C is. In other words, you should be able to know that the other “tri-tone” side of D is Ab. Or the other side of G is Db. Or the other side of E is Bb, and vice versa.
Once you understand this, tri-tone substitution is easy. It basically says that you can substitute the chord a tri-tone away for the chord you’re currently on. It works best with dominant chords but you can mess around with it on major and minor seventh chords as well.
But basically, let’s see how this works in a 2 – 5 – 1 chord progression. Normally, in a 2 – 5 – 1, the 5th tone is a dominant chord.
2 (minor 7) - 5 (dominant 7) - 1 (major 7)
In C major, this plays out as:
D minor 7 - G dominant 7 - C major 7
D minor 7 = D + F + A + C
G dominant 7 = G + B + D + F
C major 7 = C + E + G + B
See the “G dominant 7”? The rules behind “tri-tone substitution” say that you can replace this G dominant 7 with the dominant chord that is 3 whole steps away (or a “tri-tone” away).
That is the golden rule!
Tri-tone Substitution: This is the use of a chord, 3 whole steps away to replace (or follow) the original chord.
I use the word “follow” because, in my experience, you can usually play your original chord and then follow-up with the dominant chord a tri-tone away. And other times, you can substitute the original chord altogether.
And like I said, if you know your tri-tone relationships very well, it won’t take long to know that you can use Db dominant 7 in the place of G dominant 7 (G7 for short).
D minor 7 >>> Db dominant 7 >>> C major 7
D minor7 = D + F + A + C
Db dominant7 = Db + F + Ab + Cb
C major7 = C + E + G + B
*Cb is basically the same as playing “B” — just spelled differently. This puts your musical knowledge to work doesn’t it?
Why does the Db7 work so well as a substitute for the G7 chord?
Well, let’s look at their notes:
(Yes, I know that “B” should say “Cb” but I’m trying to make a point here).
G dominant 7 Db dominant 7
Regardless of what you call them, do you see the two common notes that these two chords share? In fact the notes they share (B + F) form a tri-tone, themselves! There are just tri-tones everywhere!
Exercise: Come up with tri-tone substitutions for every 2 – 5 – 1 chord progression.
More Substitutions & passing chords:
*Flat 7th substitutes
*Major 7th on steroids
*7th chord voicing substitutes
Exercise: Come up with tri-tone substitutions for every 2 – 5 – 1 chord progression.
More Substitutions & passing chords:
*Flat 7th substitutes
*Major 7th on steroids
*7th chord voicing substitutes