Substitution (music)

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In the field of music, substitution is understood to mean the replacement of one chord by another. Substitutions are mostly used in the variation of chord connections (e.g. II - V - I).

In the case of keyboard instruments, the silent change of fingers on a key in the area of ​​fingering is also known as substitution. One speaks of substitution fingering.

The tritone and minor third substitution are discussed below .

Tritone substitution

With tritone substitution, a dominant seventh chord (hereinafter referred to as dom7) is replaced by another, the root of which is one tritone higher or lower in the interval. For example, a Cdom7 is substituted with an F # dom7. The substitution chord is basically alternated (F # dom7 alt.) Used in order to align its option tones (9th, 11th, 13th degree) with those of the starting chord. The tritone substitution is used to build up tension or to ensure chromatic continuity. For example with a II-VI connection: Dmin7 - Gdom7 - Cmaj7 → Dmin7 - Dbdom7 old. - Cmaj7. In terms of music theory, this substitution is explained as follows: The dom7 chord gets its unstable sound from the tritone between the 3rd and 7th degree. If you now substitute the 3rd (7th) level of the starting chord with the 7th (3rd) level of the substitution chord, a new root note results for the substitution chord. Examples include a. found in most of Antonio Carlos "Tom" Jobim's jazz standards .

Minor third substitution

The same scheme is used here as for the tritone substitution. The only difference is that the minor third is used instead of the tritone. Here the minor third between the 5th and 7th degree of the starting chord is substituted with the minor third between the third and fifth degree. So z. B. from a Bbdom7 to a Dbdom7 (see Over the Rainbow in Eb).

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