It is very closely related to using altered dominants, but the fact that you think another chord will also give you some new melodic ideas. You can use tritone substitution to make your chord progressions or solos more interesting by changing the chords and getting some colorful notes in there. There is a whole lot more info on the web site to help you with this itsa bit of head strain, but with a little. Certain chords like a minor or major chord may or may not evoke a feeling of i need to move to another chord. That may sound a bit confusing, but well be demonstrating the use of tritone substitution slowly with a variety of examples. Ironically, the tritone is the key ingredient in a dominant 7th chord. Tritone substitution is a reharmonisation technique that can be used to add harmonic interest and variety to a chord progression. The tritone substitution is a dominant, or secondary dominant 7th chord whose root is a. The use of a chord three whole steps away to replace or follow the original chord. In blues and jazz turnarounds, its common practice to use harmonic substitutions for any of the chords. The basic idea is that the dominant chord dominates the key, really allows us the most tension before we. An introduction to chord substitutions for piano players.
In music theory, chord substitution is the technique of using a chord in place of another in a progression of chords, or a chord progression. Jun 08, 2018 this feature is not available right now. Because the db is a tritone, or 3 tones away from the g. You should already be familiar with the concept of tritone substitution. This free printable pdf method explains how to solo over the v7 chord of a ii v i chord progression using the tritone substitution. A tritone substitution is a great way to make a typical iii7v sound more interesting. A substitute dominant or tritone substitution is a special type of chord whose function is closely related to that of the secondary dominant. The tritone substitution chord is an essential harmonic device to know and love as it is such a phenomenal sound and is key to understanding so much jazz chromatic harmonic resolution. Just creating a chord of the same quality as the previous one a tritone up does not a tritone substitution make.
You should already be familiar with the regular dominant voicings that we have covered in the lesson on rootless voicings. If you want to download the examples for later study i have them here as a pdf. Tritone substitution is a good way to add some new ideas to your ii v i. The rules behind tritone substitution say that you can replace this g dominant7 with the dominant chord that is 3 whole steps away or a tritone away. Tritone substitutions theory garrets guitar lessons. The next note in the chord, the middle note, is up a tritone. Substitute dominant or tritone sub chords hub guitar. The tritone substitution is one of the most common chord and improvisation devices in jazz. The presence of this tritone interval means that the bii chord has the same function as the v chord. In fact, you can omit any note except for the 3rd and 7th guide tones of the chord and still retain the general sound or feel of the original chord. You can get the pdf and the guitarpro files for these examples through my. The reason that this substitution works is that dominant 7 chords with a bass note a tritone apart share the same 3rd and 7th.
Download this free pdf containing rootless 251 progressions in all 12 keys. How to use a tritone substitution in your progressions the. Tritone chord substitution introduction 101 youtube. This technique can add some great color to your jazz solos. Tritone substitutions are also knows as substitute dominants or sub 5s so be aware that these 3 terms refer to the same thing. Mar 24, 2017 an important technique that jazz musicians use to create harmonic movement is tritone substitution. These chords are interchangeable because the tritone interval pitches are identical in each. A more conspicuous chord substitution is where a v7 chord in a ii v i is replaced by a dominant 7th chord whose root is a tritone below. Chord substitutions sound scary, because we hear people talk about things like ah yes, the quintessential tritone substitution with the dominant seventh over a flat fifth blah blah blah. First and foremost, the tritone is an important part of our harmonic system, which consists of three main functions.
In other words, when we play simultaneously two notes that have three tones of distance between them, we are playing a tritone. This is the idea that in a given progression, you can substitute one chord for another, coolerhipperexotic sounding chord all while keeping the progression flowing. Can tritone substitutions really revolutionize your playing. In the previous lesson on shell chords, we learned that you dont always have to play every single note in a chord. Dm7 g7 cmaj7 can have the g7 chord replaced to a db7, so the progression would become. Tritone substitution jazz chord how to play jazz guitar. Now, i say that this is ironic because dominant chords provide a lot of motion in music. However, you cant really make a tritone substition for a chord that doesnt have a tritone in it to begin with.
As said in the article harmonic function, the dominant chord has tension sonority. Jul 25, 2019 the term substitution in this particular case means and refers to the fact that we will be substituting out whatever note or chord we are seeing, for the tritone interval away from our given note. Chord substitution is the use of a chord related or foreign to replace another chord. This technique is based on the fact that the third and seventh degrees of a dominant chord are enharmonically the same as the seventh and third degrees of the dominant chord a tritone away. This is something we do with dominant chords, but it can be extended to entire ii vs. Iiv substitution by cycles of hybrid chords g7 c7 7 d7 g7 c7 ab7db7gb7b7 c7 eb7ab7d7db7c7 60 iiv substitution by cycles of hybrid chords different quality d7 g7 c7 d7 g7 c7 bb7ab7d7db7c7 eb7eb7ab7co.
Remember, dominant chords that are a tritone apart share the same tritone. Tritone substitution is a very cool jazz chord substitution. The reason that this substitution works is that dominant 7 chords with a. A substitution is just replacing one thing with another thing. In this guitar lesson i will show you how to use a tritone chord substitution.
One of the most popular jazz chord substitution is the tritone substitution. A tritone substitution usually takes the place of a dominant v7 chord. The most common type of substitute chord is tritone substitution. Tritone bridge tritone bridge is a term used to describe using tritone substitutions throughout the bridge of a rhythm tune. In this lesson, im going to talk about tritone substitution, what it is, and 3 different types you should be aware of. One of the most common techniques in jazz reharmonization is the use of substitute chords, through a technique known as tritone substitution. Diatonic chord substitution theory and harmony lesson. Of these, the dominant is the one which wants to resolve itself the most. Tritone is the interval of three whole tones between two notes. Tritone substitution jazz chord how to play jazz guitar lesson ja028 in this guitar lesson i will show you how to use a tritone chord substitution.
The general chord substitution rule holds that chords that share two or more notes in common can be readily substituted for each other money chords. Jun, 2012 generally speaking, i think chord substitutions are best left to the chordal instruments but the second part of your question relates well in as much as you can often use a tritone substitution for a dominant chord, often causing a halfstep resolution as opposed to resolving by a 5th. First, and way before we get into the theory, i want you to get your fingers used to playing the tritone and a fourth chord. Simply put, chord substitution is the use of one chord in place of another chord and using them is one way to give your music interest and a change in sound. By using tritone chord substitution, you often get a beautiful chromatic bass line in the song and especially in turn arounds. Any dominant extension of the d7 chord would add tasty altered harmonies to the ab7 too. Tritone substitution is a popular term that gets thrown a lot in music, especially jazz music when it comes to reharmonizing the chords and harmony in jazz standards and often times big band arrangements the term tritone, refers to the interval tritone, which indicates that we will be dealing with a 4 and a half step difference as the tritone is a half step larger than a perfect fourth. Ive also subbed the last d7 chord for its tritone cousin, which is ab7. This jazz guitar method about walking bass lines and chords is available as a pdf files containing 35 exercises with tabs, analysis and audio files. Tritone substitution improvisation the tritone relationship. Thats it for the theory side of tritone chord substitutions. If we look at a dominant seventh chord we have the root, the major third, the fifth and the minor seventh. On each long dominant chord play the bebop scale ending.
In other words, tritone substitution involves replacing v 7 with. This type of substitution is the classical neapolitan sixth for dummies. It is very closely related to using altered dominants, but the fact that you think another. There is a whole lot more info on the web site to help. And true, the chord is typically found in jazz genres, but like all chords you can find a use for it in pretty much any style of music. Tritone substitution is a good way to add some new ideas to your ii v i lines. Mark watkins received his degrees from brigham young university and indiana university and has studied with eugene rousseau, daniel deffayet, ray smith, and yushi ishiwata and jazz with david baker. Tritone substitution tutorial what is tritone substitution. The answer is simple, when you have a dominant chord that resolves to a tonic chord v i you can substitute another dominant chord a tritone b5th from the root of the original dominant chord. If we use a tritone sub, the resulting chord would be a gb7 chord. An important technique that jazz musicians use to create harmonic movement is tritone substitution. What exactly is a tritone substitution anyways and when do you use it.
May 15, 2017 explanation of the tritone jazz chord substitution that adds so much colour to the sound by way of musical examples charlie parker, clifford brown. This package contains a guitar method available as a pdf with tabs. A tritone is an interval of three whole tones between two notes. Whats the tritone chord substitution guitar lesson. In this lesson, were going to explore an important tritone relationship for altered dominant chord voicings. Chord substitution is to replace a chord by another one to add more harmonic interest to a piece. Certain chords like a minor or major chord may or may not evoke a. Stevie wonder amazing tritone substitution tutorial.
A tritone substitution is the substitution of one dominant seventh chord possibly altered or extended with another that is three whole steps a tritone from the original chord. What are some chord substitutions for a iivv blues progression. Listen to pianists and guitarists on jazz recordings and find your own favorite back cycling tricks. This substitution is made by replacing a dominant chord with a new dominant chord whose root is a diminished fifth interval above the original chordos root. The substitution of one chord for another, that is a tritone away from the one being substituted. The following chord substitutions work in a variety of. Tritone substitution is when a dominant 7 chord is substituted for the dominant 7th. A variation of the tritone substitution is also to use it as a secondary dominant. Many chord substitutions are available suspended, diminished 7 th, etc. One of the most common chord substitutions in jazz is the tritone substitution. The amount of information we can learn form studying this exotic harmonic switch so beloved of pro jazz players is myriad. Because they share the same tritone, they are possible substitutes for one another.
Before watching this you should have done the previous lessons in this series without a solid understanding of functioning dominants and altered harmony this is going to mess with your head. Simply because the augmented fourth is synonymous with the tritone, this substitution is called a tritone substitution. Also in jazz harmony, the tritone is both part of the dominant chord and its substitute dominant also known as the sub v chord. Once again, the other chord substitutions are yours to discover. Tritone substitution is a really great hack jens larsen. The goal of chord substitution is to create a more interesting and contrasting harmony. What youre thinking of is really only done with dominant chords. The fact is that it is the flat 5 contained within the 7th chord that works the magic take this g7 chord for example.
Explanation of the tritone jazz chord substitution that adds so much colour to the sound by way of musical examples charlie parker, clifford brown. The basic idea is that the dominant chord dominates the key, really allows us the most tension before we resolve the chord. To understand tritone substitution, you have to think first why an ordinary v i creates the satisfying effect of bringing a chord arrangement back to its root. Figure 63 shows a iivi progression in the key of c, immediately followed by the same progression, with a db7 chord. The jazz world has been using the tritone substitution for decades. This is an awesome way to start spicing up your songcover and understand why some of those random dominant 7 chords pop up. The tritone chord substitution is one of the most commonly used chord substitutions in jazz. Jun 16, 2017 a tritone substitution occurs whenever a chord is being substituted or replaced by another chord with a root a tritone interval away. The following chord substitutions work in a variety of musical situations and will not clash with what the other musicians are playing. The related lessons below will also give you more specific guidance. The tritone substitution is a dominant, or secondary dominant 7th chord whose root is a tritone 3 whole steps away from the original chord. Flatfive substitution tritone another kind of chord substitution which is often used in pop and jazz music is know as flatfive substitution.
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