The Complete Idiot''s Guide to Music Theory

208 Par t 5:Embellishing

As you can see in the following table, some of the same substitution rules work

with minor as well as major; especially the “up a third” and “down a third” dia-

tonic substitutions.

Minor Chord Substitutions

Substitution Example (for the A minor Chord)

Major chord a third above

Major chord a third below

Major 7 chord a third below

Diminished chord with same root

The last substitution falls into the “more of a good thing” category. That is, if a

minor chord sounds good, let’s flat another note and it’ll sound even more minor.

Some folks like the use of a diminished chord in this fashion; others don’t. Let

your ears be the judge.

Dominant Seventh Substitutions

Okay, now you know how to substitute both major and minor chords; but what

about dominant seventh chords? They’re not really major and they’re not really

minor—what kind of chords can substitute for that?

The answer requires some harmonic creativity. You cando a diatonic substitution

(using the diminished chords a third above or below the dominant seventh), but

there are more interesting possibilities, as you can see in the following table:

Dominant Seventh Chord Substitutions

Substitution Example (for the G7 chord)

Major chord a second below

Diminished chord a third below