Borrowed Chords and Secondary Dominants: The Secret Ingredients of Chord Progressions

In the last post we discussed the concept of chord progressions and how the individual chords in the sequence are related to each other. Today I want to talk about chords in a progression that fall outside the standard key signature of the piece, particularly borrowed chords and secondary dominants.

A borrowed chord, is a chord in a progression that is taken from the parallel key (the minor or major scale with the same tonic). An example of a parallel key would be (Cmin) in relation to (Cmaj). Both scales in their respective keys start with (C), hence (C) is the tonic of both keys, making them parallel in structure. A piece of music using borrowed chords uses this parallel structure to provide variety and a different "feel" to the song. For example, the song "Happy Together" by the Turtles uses borrowed chords to change the song from major to minor between the chorus and the verse. Listen to the song below and see if you can hear the spots in which chords are taken out of the original key:

The next concept I want to talk about is that of secondary dominants. As we know from a previous post, the dominant of key is the fifth triad above the tonic. So if we are in the key of C major, the dominant triad is G major. As discussed in last weeks post there is a very strong relationship between the dominant and the tonic, so much so that many cadences (chord progressions that bring about the end of a musical phrase) are centered around them. So we know what the "dominant" is, but what does the "secondary"part mean? Let's look at an example of a chord progression that uses a secondary dominant to see if we can find out. 

I apologize for the poor quality of the picture, but this is a perfect example of a secondary dominant chord used in the key of C Major. Here we see that the piece starts on the tonic (C), then goes to the subdominant or the Four Chord (F). After the four chord however, something happens that gives us a D Major chord before going to the dominant (G) and resolving with the tonic (C). What is going on? 

This is what is known as a secondary dominant. As defined it is the use of the dominant "of the dominant" of the set key. So if the set key in this case is (C major) the dominant is (G major) and the dominant of that is (D Major). If you have a piano this relationship can be seen my going up two fifth intervals from C. (C --> G --> D). In the key of G major the dominant is D Major (because in G major the F is sharp) and this gives us a chord that is taken outside of its original key but is related to the dominant of the key the piece is played in. 

Secondary dominants can be used in different ways throughout music, and it does not always have to be the dominant of the dominant. You can have a secondary dominant that is based off the (ii) chord in a piece, such as what is used in "Tears of Heaven" by Eric Clapton, or one that is taken from the (Vi) chord as in "Yesterday" by the Beatles. Here is an example of a chord progression that implements secondary dominance:   

In a couple days I will post a follow-up post that has a couple more examples of borrowed chords and secondary dominants, as this was meant to be an introduction to the concept. If you have any comments or questions then please post below, but other than that thank you for reading!

-Sincerely, ZS

The Basic Elements of Triads

Today I'm going to start talking about chords, how to identify them, and give some examples of them in musical context.

What is a Chord? A chord is (simply put) any harmonic set of three or more notes. Harmonic. This word means that the notes interact with each other musically through the use of intervals. Now, these intervals can be major, minor, 3rd's, 4th's, etc, almost anything as long as there is more than one interval identified in the chord. Right now, we're going to discuss the simplest form of a chord: A triad.

Triads are the most frequently encountered chords because they are composed of three distinct notes, known as the Root, 3rd, and 5th. The triad gets its name by the root note of the chord. Let's look at an example.


Shown to the left is a C Major Triad. We know it's a triad because there are three notes, and more specifically because these notes are a 3rd apart. In every triad, the interval between consecutive notes will always be a 3rd.





So we know that the interval between (C) and (E) is a M3, and (E) to (G) is a m3. This combination, or a M3 on the bottom of the chord and a m3 on the top of the chord, is what defines a Major Triad.

Since we're going to get to know all four types of triads in this post, I going to list them and describe their qualities (interval wise), and then we'll go over each of them individually. Now don't get overwhelmed with this information, I'll explain each one in more detail when we get to it.

Major Triad: C

(m3)
(M3)

Minor Triad: Cm

(M3)
(m3)

Augmented Triad: C aug

(M3)
(M3)

Diminished Triad: C dim

(m3)
(m3)

Minor Triads

To the left is an example of a Cm triad. Notice that the relationship between the notes is are thirds, and the bottom interval is a Minor 3rd, while the top is a Major 3rd. The chords are going to sound "minor", or sad you'll notice in popular music. 

Augmented Triads

To the right is an example of a C augmented Triad. An augmented triad is characterized by having a Major 3rd on the bottom, and another Major 3rd on the top half of the chord. Notice that the relationship of the 5th with the root of the chord also changes as the 5th is raised up a semitone, creating an augmented 5th (Hence where the interval gets its name)

Diminished Triads

To the left is an example of a C diminished triad. Diminished triads are characterized by two minor 3rd's on top of each other. Again, because the 5th has now been lowered to create the m3rd need, the 5th interval has become diminished. 

So let's work through a couple more examples to really understand how to construct triads;

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

What is the triad above?

(D augmented)

Why?

(Because the relationship between (D) to (F#) is a Major third, and the relationship between (F#) and (A#) is also a Major third)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

What is the triad above?

(Remember the Root of the chord gives its' name)

(B diminished)

Why?

((B) to (D) is a m3rd, and (D) to (F) is a m3rd)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

What is the triad above?

(Gm)

Why?

((G) to (Bb) is a m3rd, and (Bb) to (D) is a M3rd)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So, to recap: Triads are three note chords composed off thirds. Depending on the quality of these chords, the triad can be major. minor, augmented, or diminished. And remember, the name of the triad (Note wise) is always given by the root of the chord (The bottom note for now). 

In a couple days I will post an example of some triads in my choral music, and then next week we will talk about triads in inversion, an then move on to more complicated chords. 

Thanks for reading, and if you have any more questions, feel free to comment below. 

Sincerely, ZS