When we look at the chords that makeup each chord family we find that they have a lot in common; they share a lot of notes. This allows us to make some really nice substitutions without sacrificing the chord’s purpose in the progression. The technique is very simple. All you have to do is swap out one chord for another of the same family.

In this video, I use a melody in the key of G to apply chord substitution. The chord progression starts on the one chord as expected, but sometimes you want to do something unexpected in the beginning. Because I, iii, and vi come from the same family, the one chord (I = G) can trade places with the six chord (vi = Em) or the three chord (iii = Bm).

When making chord substitutions keep an eye or should I say ear on the melody. Since G major (G+B+D) and E minor7 (E+G+B+D) share most of the same notes, including the melody note “do” = G (that I’m singing over the chord), vi (Em) or vi7 (Em7) works nicely as a substitute. If we take a close look at the chord, we are still playing a G major, just with “E” on the bottom. This changes the mood, but the direction remains the same.

In the video I also join two melodies, one in the key of G and the other in the key of D, by common-chord modulation. Just as you can find chords with common notes, you can find keys with common chords. Both the key of G and D share some of the same chords. To change keys you simply use a common chord to pivot to the new key. I show how easily this can be done. #musicproduction #songwriting #musictheory

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