Harmonic Trick: ii-V

One of the things I enjoy doing when arranging a song is to change the underlying chords instead of the melody.  This allows everyone to still hear the melody they are familiar with while adding something a little different.

The ii-V sub

To use this substitution, look for songs with long stretches of V chord.  In the key of G major, this would be the D chord.  If this roman numeral stuff looks strange to you, please review my prior blog posting on the Nashville numbering system.

Suppose you have a progression like this in the key of G:

D D  D D G 

(each letter is a measure)

Try this instead:

D D Am D G

Here, you are substituting Aminor (ii) for the D chord.

OR, If you really want to make it sound jazzy:

Am D Am D G

You can do this even if you only have two measures of V as well:

D D G G

Can become:

Am D7 G G 

Songs to Try this On

John Hardy (It has that long six bars of D on the end)
Dixie Hoedown
I also did this in bar four of my arrangement of “Just A Closer Walk With
Thee.”

Why does this work?

It works because V chords represent a place of tension that has to be resolved.  V chords usually go back to the I chord to resolve.  The ii minor chord is the same way; it’s unresolved.  They call this FUNCTIONAL HARMONY, where each type of chord has certain places it likes to move.

For further clarification, you can also see that these two chords contain
almost the same notes…Using D7 here because that’s what most music plays the V as.

D7 is D F# A C
Am is A C E

The D in the D7 is getting moved up to E. They look almost the same
(keep this in mind!).

I hope this trick gives you a new sound to play with.  Remember, always use your ears.  These tricks may theoretically work, but aren’t always appropriate for the song or genre of music.  There is a bit of subjectivity involved when it comes to these things.  

Feel free to contact me for some one-on-one lessons for more harmonic tips/tricks or to improve your playing skills!