Tip: Replacing the Tonic Minor Chord with a Minor 7b5
We’re looking again at the often over-looked min7b5 chord. Last time we saw how it can replace a dom 7 chord. This time we’ll see how it replaces a tonic minor chord.
The point of doing this substitution is to give ourselves some fresh-sounding options to play, rather than trudging through the same old sounds.
What is a “tonic minor chord” anyway? It’s a minor chord that’s set up as the central, most important chord — even if only for a short time. A non-tonic minor chord is just like a pitstop: we’re just passing through it on our way to something else. An example will better illustrate.
Play a D minor, E7, then A minor. That A minor is a tonic minor. Even if we follow it with a G7, then, C. That A minor feels like a significant place, in whatever musical journey the song it appears in takes us on. Contrast with this: play a G major, A minor, D minor, G7, C. That A minor doesn’t grab our attention in the same way, does it? Same chord, different context, different function, different *feeling.*
Back to our mission here: replacing the tonic minor with a minor 7b5. Let’s try this:
|-1--1--|-0--0--|-0----| |-3--3--|-3--3--|-1----| |-2--2--|-1--1--|-2----| |-0--0--|-0--0--|-2----| |-------|-2--2--|-0----| |-------|-0--0--|------| |-1--1--|-0--0--|------| |-3--3--|-3--3--|-1----| |-2--2--|-1--1--|-2----| |-0--0--|-0--0--|-2----| |-------|-2--2--|------| |-------|-0--0--|-2----|
The first progression uses the A minor, but the second uses F# min7b5 in place of the A minor. Hear the mysterious edge that F# min7b5 gives?
How would we know that it’s okay to do this kind of substitution? In other words, it *sounds* pretty cool, but are we just plucking chords out of nowhere and settling on one that sounds good?
No. The F# min7b5 shows up in the A melodic minor scale. And the chords themselves have these notes in common: A, C, and E. Remember our maxim regarding chords substitution? If two chords have two or more notes in common, they can often substitute for each other.
Next time: part three of our mini series on the min7b5: using it as the ii in a minor ii V I progression.
Thanks for reading.
Copyright © 2008 Darrin Koltow
This first appeared in the Guitar Noise News – October 15, 2006 newsletter. Reprinted with permission.