Dominant7 and Tritone Substitution

Dominant7 and Tritone Substitution The reason why dominant7 chords create the feeling of wanting to resolve results from the inherent structure of the chord, specifically the tritone that exists between the third and the seventh of the chord. As an example, let’s look...

Linear Bass Motion

Linear Bass Motion Linear bass motion (or rather bass lines with strong melodic quality/voice leading) in general feel very attractive to the ear. Their power is actually strong enough to make even the strangest chord progressions on top of that plausible to our ear....

Movement of Inner Voices

Movement of Inner Voices Most of the time, when arranging chords, you should try to move the “inner voices” (=all voices except for bass line and potential top melody line) by the shortest possible distance from chord to chord, using inversions of chords but also...

Alternative Bass Notes of a Chord

Alternative Bass Notes of a Chord Altering the bass note of a chord to a note different than the root note can create quite new harmonic impressions than the original chord. If you change the bass note to a different chord tone like the third or fifth of the chord,...

Reharmonisation Fundamentals

Reharmonisation Fundamentals Reharmonisation of a melody is a very attractive way for musical development and is constantly used in film music to shape a theme according to the mood that is needed. The possibilities are almost endless and you could reharmonize by just...