Three Chords and Substitution

1. Major vs Minor

The six prime chords are in the order of “maj, min, min, maj, maj, min”.

It looks unbalanced but when sorted by chord types, you’ll find some beauty of form in it.

Look at the distance between Rt notes…… Well, keyboards will visualize that better.

Can you see that the major family and the minor family form the same scrum?

• The captain for major key is I. 5th above/below stands V and IV.
• The captain for minor key is VI_m. 5th above/below stands III_m and II_m.

Each captain accompanies two mates equidistant, forming twin teams 3vs3. By watching this way, you can see the mechanism of chord progressions a bit more clearly.

Roughly speaking, the major group constitutes major key while the minor group constitutes minor key.

Relative Correspondence

Since major prime chords and minor prime chords have the identical formation, you can make a pair of major/minor chord progressions.

IVI

VI_mIII_mVI_m

6-3-6 progression is the counterpart of 1-5-1. Though different in their absolute positions and chord types, they’re identical in terms of the “story” of progression—The captain comes first, then the upper mate, and the captain again.

Or 1-4-5-1 is contrasted with 6-2-3-6.

IIVVI

VI_mII_mIII_mVI_m

Here we can see a symmetric scheme between the major family and the minor family.

Circle of Fifths

This symmetry is reflected on the circle of fifths as well. Prime chords are assembled in a certain block and if you have a closer look, you’ll find that the pairs are positioned in the same lanes.

2. Three-Chord Progression

In the world of music, there’s a word “three-chord song”, which refers to a piece created using only three chords. The three chords chosen to use are typically the “major family” or the “minor family”.

Major Three-chord Songs

One genre famous for its simple chord progressions is punk rock. It is said to have gained popularity as an antithesis to the complex and technical tendencies of 1970s hard rock.

“I Fought the Law” by The Clash is a good example where you can play the whole song with just three chords; each part is made of simple progressions like 1-4-5, 1-4-1, 1-5-1 and 4-4-1-1.
Actually, this song was originally not a punk song, but a cover of a song by The Crickets, a rock and roll band. In genres such as rock and roll and blues, those that preceded rock, composing with three chords is also common.

Another genre known for its three-chord composition is country music.

“Daddy Sang Bass” is a good example. This song can truly be played with just three chords! (
Since the song is very easy to play, The Daddy can afford to smile at his family while playing☺️)

Such songs are entirely free from minor chords, and there’s no hint of a dark atmosphere in the music. They embody a purely major key mood.

Minor Three-chord Songs

On the other hand, the minor family does not have a strong genre foundation like rock ‘n’ roll or country, and examples that use only these three chords are somewhat rare.

“Praise The Lord (Da Shine)” by A$AP Rocky is the case—It’s made up with just one chord progression, VIm-IIm-IIIm.
In hip-hop and electronic dance music, minor keys are generally preferred, so the 6-2-3-6 progression becomes one of the basic choices.

Donna Summer’s “Hot Stuff” has a chorus part composed of 2-3-6 progression. As seen in this example, it’s also common not to start a section with the captains, I or the VI_m, and this is an important pattern as well.
In this song, the verse alternates between VI_m and V. This is where the minor captain and the major uppermate join hands, so this song is not a complete three-chord song.

Anyway, with major and minor families, you can create typical songs in major or minor keys. As you continue to learn more advanced chords, sometimes remember that, three chords are enough to write a great song.

3. Chord Substitution

Thus, while the six prime chords are one team, inside it are two parties.

The pairs of chords connected with dashed lines in the image above have similarity in its status within a party, though the party they belong are the opposite to each other.

I and VI_m, IV and II_m, V and III_m are like twins, sharing the same sort of musical ability. So when you try to rearrange chord progressions, exchanging the one for the other is a very basic strategy to start with.

IIVVI

If you find this 1-4-5-1 progression too bright, replace I at the beginning with VI_m, for example.

VI_mIVVI

Now the taste of major key and minor key are blended together, resulting in a more attractive chord progression. Imagine it like; the ratio of appearance between the “captains”, I and VI_m, is a decisive factor for major/minor key recognition.

And in music theory, replacing a chord with another is termed Substitution.

4. Reharmonize

There are cases where you rearrange chord progressions after other elements like melodies or beats are finished; like when you make variation between 1st verse / 2nd verse, when you cover a song etc. To Change chords while keeping other elements is called Reharmonize.

On reharmonization, if not done well, chords may crash with melodies, creating strong dissonance. Exchanging between the paired ones is the most basic way of reharmonization, with relatively lower possibility of causing that sort of musical crash…

II_mVIVIV

Here’s a song with a simple chord progression. I try substituting every chord with its “twin”.

IVIII_mVI_mIII_mII_m

Done! With minor chords getting predominant, the mood of the song becomes a bit mellow but it sounds quite natural. As natural as you may not recognize that chords are totally exchanged😎

Then how about exchanging chords just arbitrarily?

VIVVIVIII_m

This is it. The harmony between melodies and chords lost, which some listeners may feel uncomfortable with. When compared, you can see how each “twins” are alike in their characters.

True that exchanging the twins does not always bring about such successful results, but understanding these symmetry and similarity will help you arrange chord progressions.

Intimacy

Note that the strength of this “kinship” varies among the twins—Just like us humankind.

• IV & II_m are the most intimate
• I & VI_m are medium
• V & III_m are not so much

This means that exchanging IV with II_m will succeed at a very high rate, while exchanging V with III_m occasionally fails (feels strange to your ears). An eminent theorist in U.S. call this variance Intimacy¹.

IIIm → I Progression

Above all, beware that III_m→I progression is uncommon in popular music.

III_m→VI_m and V→I are extremely fundamental progression in most Western music. In contrast, III_m→I is prohibited (or not recommended at least) in Classical theory. In jazz theory also it explained negatively like “rarely found”². So when you use this progression, you should check if it is really the best choice possible.

In the next article I’m gonna explain more about such “kinship” of chords. You should try substituting chords and listen to the similarities and differences between the paired chords before going to the next article.

Summary

• You can comprehend the relationship of prime chords by categorizing them into “3 chords x 2 groups”.
• There’s a symmetric correspondence between 3 major chords and 3 minor chords.
• Interchanging the paired chords is the basic way of rearranging chord progressions.
• Changing chord progressions without changing other elements is called Reharmonization.

Continue

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