Chromatic Harmony

The first thing to bring a note from outside the scale is usually a secondary dominant. The mechanism treats a diatonic chord as a temporary tonic and places its dominant seventh in front of it.

Tools used in this lesson: Chord Progression Analyzer

Major and minor keys sharing a tonic can lend each other chords. This lesson covers the minor subdominant, ♭VI, ♭VII, and the Picardy third that ends a minor piece on a major triad.

Tools used in this lesson: Chord Progression Analyzer

The major triad built a half step above the tonic is standardly used in first inversion. This lesson explains why root position is avoided and why the chord functions as a subdominant, both from the position of the bass.

Tools used in this lesson: Chord Finder / Chord Progression Analyzer

Chords that squeeze the dominant by half step from above and below. This lesson covers the Italian, French, and German varieties and why the interval must be spelled as an augmented 6th rather than a diminished 7th.

Tools used in this lesson: Chord Finder

How to move the key itself partway through a piece. Bridging on a common chord, forcing entry with a dominant seventh, and rereading one sonority through a different spelling - along with what it takes for a modulation to register at all.

Tools used in this lesson: Circle of Fifths / Transpose Tool