Tonic Re-Harm Trick (Modern Harmonic Substitutions for a Major Tonic Chord)

Tonic Re-Harm Trick (Modern Harmonic Substitutions for a Major Tonic Chord)

In this short harmonic study I want to illustrate a very cool chordal substitution trick that I like to apply over the "Tonic" of a ii-V-I progression.

This is very effective on intros and outros and especially on a chordal cadenza when finishing a tune.

It consists of a minor 3rd sequence of two chords; a min7 and a 7sus4 a half-step apart from each other.

If we are finishing a harmonic ii-V-I passage after playing the V chord we can go to a min7 harmony a half-step higher than our "ii" chord. In the key of C Major that will be an Ebmin7 harmony. From there we move a half-step higher and make the new chord an E7sus4. Then we move the Ebmin7 and the E7sus4 a minor 3rd higher and we end up with a new sequence of a F#min7 to a G7sus4. Last, we move the same sequence one more time with a minor 3rd higher and finish on an Amin7 and Bb7sus4. The final resolution is achieved by sounding the original Cmaj7 chord right after the Bb7sus4, which is also known as a "backdoor" resolution/progression.

The voice-leading works from many different angles, but what keeps this together so nicely is that each 7sus4 chord wants to resolve to its tonic. However, instead of getting the true tonic resolution we use the relative minor instead.

Ex: The E7sus4 wants to move to Amaj7, but instead we get to F#min7 which is the relative minor of A. Then, the G7sus4 wants to resolve to Cmaj7 but instead we get an Amin7 (which is the relative minor of C). At the same time the min7 to 7sus4 unit is cycling through a diminished framework which also has a great gravitational pull.

Try it out and see what you come up with.

Materials Included:

Tonic Re-Harm Trick study (PDF file - TAB and Standard Notation).

"HD Video" of All Phrase (at tempo and slowed down).

For more info please e-mail: hristo@hristovitchev.com