COOK BOOK:

EXPLORING THE SUBDOMINANTS

We know form working through the first harmonic functions page that every key has 8 subdominant chords

We're going to take a set progression and try replacing a subdominant chord with all the others

We're going to explore all the other subdominants in the key of C

There are 100's of ways to impliment these subdominant chords in the key of C

But this excercise demonstrates how they can all work in a restricted context

Ok,

Here's the progression:

It goes:

I - IV - I - IV

ii - IV - ii - IV

I - IV - I - I

We're going to use our chart from the colours pages

One at a time, Let's swap the D minor in our progression for each of the other green chords

We've already used Fmaj and Dmin, that leaves 6 other green chords to explore:

1. D major

2. B minor

3. B major

4. Ab minor

5. Ab major

6. F minor

Each choice results in a rough idea which could be further developed into a song

1. The First one

Let's start with changing D min for D major

I also kept the 9th (E) at the top of the chord

Let's listen:

2. Let's keep moving to the right

This takes us from D major to B minor

B minor doesnt have a functional name in the key of C

But we could call it 'the relative minor of the major II'

Here it is in our progression

I've once again kept the E note on top, this time being the 11th of B minor

This created a lovely whole tone interval at the top of Bm11 (D and E, the 3rd and 4th of B min)

Which I decided to hold through into the F major (D and E, being the 6th and 7th of F maj)

3. B major (my favorite)

which on our chart is Cb (because its in the key of Gb) But is also just a B major

I played the same shape for B min but simply raised the 3rd

This gives us a Badd11 with the E on top

Let's hear it:

Our whole tone interval at the top in the previous one has now become a semitone

and then when we go to F major it goes back to being a whole tone

This movement really melts my heart

4. Ab minor

I've taken a new approach to voicing this one

rarther than holding the open E string, i'm going for a a semitone clash between Bb and the open B string

This is the m3rd and 9th of Ab minor

This shape moves really nicly to a regular F^7 shape

We've also got a slightly different rhythmic vibe going on that felt natural here

5. Ab major

This is quite a classic chord in C because it's chord VI in the key of C minor

I'm just using a straight ^7 voicing for it

Which moves nicely into this ^9 voicing for F major

I loved holding those two notes (G and C) between Ab^7 and F^9

6. Last but not least

The minor iv, this has been used again and again across history for its emotional potency

Let's hear it in our tune:

I used the same F^7 voicing but simply dropped the 3rd

Keeping the E natural on top giving a minor^7 sound

TABS/NOTATION COMING SOON