Minor chord substitutions

Filed in Free Lessons on November 02, 2009



There are a lot of very clever things you can do with chord substitutions.  There are numerous cool chords that are very complex and sophisticated.

But you don't have to get very complicated to greatly improve your sound.  Most pianists would see a big improvement if they simply learned how to use minor chords.  That is what I am going to cover today.

The three minor chords that you need to know are the ii, iii, and vi.  These chords are diatonic, meaning that they naturally fit into the key.  In other words, in every major key, if you build triads starting on each note in the scale using the notes that belong to the key, these three chords will always be minor.

In general, you can say that a ii chord substitutes for a V and a iii chord substitutes for a I chord.  A vi chord often can substitute for a I chord or a IV chord.

When you use these chords, always add the minor 7th to them.  For example, when I say ii, I really mean ii7.  These chords sound much better as 7th chords than just simple triads.

So how can you apply these substitutions?  Let's take the common I - V - I cadence and give some possibilities.

I                            V                                 I
I                             ii                                 I
I                             ii                                 iii
iii                           ii                                 I
iii                           V                                 I

With me so far?  In a typical I - V - I progression, some of these will sound good and others will not.  You will learn initially by trial and error but it eventually gets intuitive to pick progressions that sound good.

Let's take it to another level.  Now, we are going to divide the length of these chords and do multiple substitutions.  For example, let's say you have four beats of a I chord.

You could play two beats of I and two beats of iii like this:

I               iii

Or how about these?

iii            vi
I              vi

You could even do this:

I     iii     vi (play the I chord for one beat, the iii chord for one beat and the vi chord for two beats)

With a V chord, you could play this:

ii        V

This works wonderfully because it creates a ii - V - I progression.  I instinctively change almost every V - I progression I play into a ii - V - I progression using this substitution.

Now, let's put it together.  Here is our I - V - I progression again with some more interesting options:

I                            V                                 I
I                            ii              V                  I
I            iii              ii              V                  I
iii         vi               ii              V                   I
I     iii         vi         ii              V                   I

Now why does this work?  It works because of the chord progressions being formed.  Note how the chords move either in steps or down by a fifth.  Those are natural movements and they sound great.

By the way, that is why you see iii - vi above but never vi - iii.  The movement from vi to iii is down a fourth rather than a fifth.

Once you understand that it is the chord movement that makes it work, you will find that you can pretty much substitute any chord for any chord.  For example, you can make these work too:

I                            V                                 I
I      ii       iii            ii              V                 I
I               iii           vi        ii           V          I

Don't be confused.  At this level, I am not thinking about chord substitutions any more.  I am thinking about chord progression substitutions.  I will discuss this more later.

Pick up any song and find a I - V - I progression (you probably will not have to look past the first few measures).  Then try substituting some of these chord progressions.  Don't worry if the melody note fits into the chord you are trying to play.  Just play the chord and the melody note together and you will be surprised at how good it sounds.

Don't forget to add the minor 7th to every minor chord. 

In a day or two, I am going to post a video demonstrating this with "Just as I Am".  I will see you then.


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Floyd Rogers
11/3/2009 9:12:53 AM

Greg, you lost me toward the end. It appears that you substitute a ii for a I when you change I into I-ii-iii.

How is that possible?

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