HitJerker Songwriting: Chord Substitutions

What are chord substitutions?

When you choose a key for your song, you'll have a group of chords that you can use in that key. And all these chords will have a number. The numbers will remain the same in all keys, only the chords that belong to them will change.

For example, in the key of C it will look like this (the capital letters mean it's a major chord, the little "o" means it's diminished):

C - I (major chord)
D - ii (minor chord)
E - iii (minor chord)
F - IV (major chord)
G - V (major chord)
A - vi (minor chord)
B - viio (diminished chord)

(In minor scales it will be i, iio, III, iv, V, VI, VII. For more information on chords and numbers that belong to them visit the "Chords That Sound Good Together" page).

If you don't know what chords are or what notes the different chords are made up of, don't worry, you can learn thousands of chords in minutes - literally!

Chord Substitutions

If you have a chord progression, for example I IV V I, you can use some other chords to substitute some of them and make your music more interesting and expressive. Here is how chord substitutions work:

• The ii chord (second chord, which is minor) is a kind of traveling chord. It usually comes before the V or I chord (which are very strong). It's role is very similar to the IV chord so we can say that the ii chord is the substitute of the IV chord.

• The iii chord is quite a stable sounding chord. It's usually a temporary rest in the song. It sounds more stable than the a ii or IV chord. It's not as stable as the I chord but almost. So you can use it as a substitute for the I chord except when you really need a strong closing chord.

• The vi chord is also quite a stable chord. Similarly to the iii chord, it sounds like a temporary rest in the song. Therefore you can use the vi chord as a substitute for the I chord except when you need a strong chord that makes you feel like the musical phrase is complete.

These are the most common and important chords in popular music. But other chords also have substitutes, so here is a list that will show you the system of chord substitutions:

Basic Chords
▪ I - IV - V - the basic, strongest chords
▪ iii - vi - they substitute the I chord
▪ ii - it substitutes the IV chord

Seventh Chords
▪ Imaj7 - IVmaj7 - they give a color to music
▪ iii7 - vi7 - they have a full sound and substitute the I chord
▪ ii7 - it has a full sound and substitutes the IV chord

Second (or Ninth) Chords
▪ I2 - IV2 - they have a bright sound and substitute the I or IV chord
▪ vi2 - it has a dark sound and substitutes the vi chord
▪ ii2 - it also has a dark sound and substitutes the ii chord

Suspended Chords
▪ Vsus - it creates tension in music and substitutes the V chord (or you can even you it together with the V chord)

Chord Inversions
You can use them as chord substitutes, to make you music more interesting. There are two types:

• First inversion: the middle note of the chord (the third) is played as the bass note (the lowest note).

• Second inversion: the highest note of the chord (the fifth) is played as the bass note (the lowest note).

If you'd like to learn more about chords, I recommend the Getting It Down Cold Music Theory Course.