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Chord Substitutions...again.

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(@ignar-hillstrom)
Illustrious Member
Joined: 21 years ago
Posts: 5349
Topic starter  

The more a non-diatonic chord resembles a diatonic chord the less friction it will create, but strong rules don't seem exist. Apart from the initial dissonance you get when jumping to a severely out-of-key chord you can always steer it to wherever you want and resolve it. It's just a question of how much 'friction' you are willing to use in your first jump. The 'roadmap' you give is not as much a set of rules as it seriously demand the user of it to use his/her own ears and judge whether or not it makes sense. For example, if you go to A-major in the above table then you might chose to get back to the blue chords without using Dm. Might take a little longer but it's up to you to decide what's acceptable and what is just too bizarre.


   
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(@fretsource)
Prominent Member
Joined: 18 years ago
Posts: 973
 

I was looking at this map and was looking at the green bubbles, for example, the A (secondary dominant, i suppose?) and C#dim7 leading to the Dm. I'm thinking the reason C#dim7 is on there is because it shares two notes with the A. If that's the case then can't I use a C#m6 and many other chords as long as it leads back to Dm smoothly?

The C# dim 7 is there, not only because it shares two notes with A, but because its root (C#) is the leading note of D and its fifth (G) forms a tritone with the root. That puts it in a strong dominant relationship with D min. The tritone between its notes C# and G can resolve naturally to D minor's D and F. Using C#m 6 instead, means the G would be G sharp and you'd lose the tritone, which would weaken the dominant relationship to D minor.


   
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(@guitarteacher)
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Joined: 18 years ago
Posts: 46
 

Spot on, Fretsource.

I have always thought of such chords secondary vii chords in the same way the A would be a secondary dominant (V).

If you want to be good, practice. If you want to be great, you must constantly change the way you think.


   
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(@ignar-hillstrom)
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Joined: 21 years ago
Posts: 5349
Topic starter  

No, your conclusion is fine. It just depends on what you want to do. C#dim7-Dm7 would sound more 'fininished' then C#m6-Dm7 but whichever is better depends on what you're doing. You might even, if noone was looking, get away with using both after each other: (Bbm7/5b-C#dim7)-Dm7. By switching C#m6 for Bbm7/5b you get a nice bassline into Dm as well.


   
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