Help understanding some borrowed chords in a gospel tune I recorded

[Hasbro]

Hello all, new poster here.

I have been attempting a bunch of classic gospel tunes. To better my ear, I am trying to hear/understand scale degree in the melody notes and what chords provide the right harmony.

Most of these songs have chords that all fall neatly into a singe "key",

But many are really interesting and have some chords that get outside the diatonic key.

The following link is to "Tis So Sweet", please pardon the poor quality of my phone recording:



The Verse chords (some are slash chords /...) ignoring melody are:
G, D/A, G, C/G, C, C, G, G, G/B, A, A7, D
G, D/A, G, C/G, C, C, G, G, G/B, Emin, Amin, G, D/F#, G

Can somebody chime in on how this works? My thought is that the song could go either key D major in places or G major most everywhere else because of the strong C major, so you get the Amaj&A7/Amin....But that A minor provides such an interesting color to it.

Im especially interested in understanding voice leading, would be cool to know maybe how the A major can work in the top half of the verse, and the A minor can work in the bottom half.

So my limited understading has me wondering 1) modal mixture? 2) borrowed chords? 3) voice leading to get off the diatonic notes?

[TJE]

Well I'm not qualified but the A major chord is the five chord in the key of D major. It's functioning as what's called a secondary dominate. I'll stop there. When you see this most of the time as in this case the A major is followed immediately by D major. If it was followed by C it wouldn't sound right. Now those that really know can answer you! Lol😀

[JonPR]

Originally Posted by Hasbro

G, D/A, G, C/G, C, C, G, G, G/B, A, G7, D
G, D/A, G, C/G, C, C, G, G, G/B, Emin, Amin, G, D/F#, G

I think you're playing an A7 between the A and D, not G7 - right?

Anyway, your key is definitely G major (not D), and TJE is right, the A is a secondary dominant, "V/V" (dominant of the dominant, D). You have it leading "correctly" to the D.

Originally Posted by Hasbro

So my limited understading has me wondering 1) modal mixture? 2) borrowed chords? 3) voice leading to get off the diatonic notes?

The last one. (You could call it a "borrowed chord" too, but that term tends to refer to mode mixture, not secondary functional chords like this one.)
The A contains C#, which is the leading tone to D.
However, a lot of the time in jazz (or any music which uses 7th chords ) the C# will lead down to C, 7th of D. That's fine, especially if there happens to be a D in the chord before the A, so then you get a nice chromatic line down. (and the C of D7 will go on down to B on the G chord).

[Bill Yellow]

Yep - nothing strange going on here.

It's quite a common thing - most hymn tunes do it - and it's called modulation. The first line is in the home key (G), the 2nd line ends up modulating into the Dominant (signalled by A7, the Dominant 7th of D). The 3rd line then has to get us back into the Tonic again (which is established by that C chord that in effect neutralises the C# that had put us in the D scale). Safely back in our original Tonic, the 4th line will stay put for the safety and security of all on board.

[Hasbro]

Originally Posted by JonPR

I think you're playing an A7 between the A and D, not G7 - right?

Anyway, your key is definitely G major (not D), and TJE is right, the A is a secondary dominant, "V/V" (dominant of the dominant, D). You have it leading "correctly" to the D.
The last one. (You could call it a "borrowed chord" too, but that term tends to refer to mode mixture, not secondary functional chords like this one.)
The A contains C#, which is the leading tone to D.
However, a lot of the time in jazz (or any music which uses 7th chords ) the C# will lead down to C, 7th of D. That's fine, especially if there happens to be a D in the chord before the A, so then you get a nice chromatic line down. (and the C of D7 will go on down to B on the G chord).

Thanks for pointing out the A7 correction, was not a G7. I've edited original post.

So I've maybe had a small light bulb moment thanks to your post...I'm using Voice leading to emphasize the D major, which although is diatonic, doesn't have as strong a natural resolution as arriving at G would unless I preceded it with the A & A7. Because of the A major, it feels like I've "arrived/resolved" when hitting the D major, does that sound correct?

My thought is that voice leading can be thought of for different uses - to emphasize an existing diatonic chord that isn't the tonic, bring in a borrowed chord into a progression for repeated use, or to smooth a transition to a modal mixture...would you folks agree?

Also, am I right to assume this is most often accomplished using diminished and dominant chords that point to the 1) borrowed chord 2)parallel-mode or 3) new emphasis on an existing diatonic chord... or what other rules of thumb could be suggested?

[Hasbro]

Another example video here of a similar phenomenon (I at least think



correct me if I'm wrong:
This is in the key of C, but in the verse there is a jump to D major ahead of the G Major, which gives a special effect to that G Major. But, right away, the G major walks into a G7, pointing you right back to key of C. My thought is this is in keeping with the prior video above with the secondary dominant thing going on.

BUT, the second verse has something different happen - now you throw in the phrase Emin, A7, Dmin, G, G, C (this creates a climax on Dmin and G, that settles down back at C). Here, how does the A7 point to Dmin in terms of voice leading?

Thanks gents!

[JonPR]

Originally Posted by Hasbro

Thanks for pointing out the A7 correction, was not a G7. I've edited original post.

So I've maybe had a small light bulb moment thanks to your post...I'm using Voice leading to emphasize the D major, which although is diatonic, doesn't have as strong a natural resolution as arriving at G would unless I preceded it with the A & A7. Because of the A major, it feels like I've "arrived/resolved" when hitting the D major, does that sound correct?

Kind of. It's generally called "tonicising" the V chord - making it sound (briefly) like a new key.
It was actually common in classical music to modulate to the dominant, but that would usually be in a whole middle section, and you would feel the V had become its own I in that case.
You get a very simple and direct illustration of that practice in some vintage jazz and country classics. Eg, Hank Williams Hey Good Lookin', where he uses V/V to get to V in both the A section ("how's about cookin'..."), and more traditionally in the bridge ("if you wanna have fun..."). The Stones used V/V for a similar "country" effect in Honky Tonk Women - "she tried to take me upstairs..." - it's a brilliant evocation of being "kicked upstairs" to the V chord!

Originally Posted by Hasbro

My thought is that voice leading can be thought of for different uses - to emphasize an existing diatonic chord that isn't the tonic, bring in a borrowed chord into a progression for repeated use, or to smooth a transition to a modal mixture...would you folks agree?

Also, am I right to assume this is most often accomplished using diminished and dominant chords that point to the 1) borrowed chord 2)parallel-mode or 3) new emphasis on an existing diatonic chord... or what other rules of thumb could be suggested?

You've got it, basically. There are five possible secondary dominants in a key. In key of G, you can have all these:

A = V/V - goes to D
B = V/vi - goes to Em
E = V/ii - goes to Am
F# - V/iii - goes to Bm
G7 - V/IV - goes to C

With the first 4, the major 3rd is the chromatic note, creating the leading tone up to the root of the target chord. These chords can have 7ths added of course, but they are "dominant" in function without that (V in relation to the next chord). (Their 7ths are all diatonic to the key.)
With the last chord, its major 3rd is already diatonic, so it needs the flattened 7th as a chromatic note, to lead down to E on C. Otherwise it's just the I chord, of course.

As you rightly guess, you can use dim7 chords in place of any of those, and (strictly speaking) it would be a dim7 a half-step below the target chord. So, C#dim7 to lead to D; etc. That's because the dim7 is acting as the vii of the following chord - ie it's a "secondary leading tone chord". You can call the chord Edim7, Gdim7 or A#dim7 if you like (and put any of those notes in the bass), but its true identity is C#dim7

The other thing you can do (getting seriously jazzy/bluesy here) is use tritone subs for any of those dominants. You can do this with the primary dominant too, of course. I.e.:

Eb7 - goes to D
F7 - goes to Em
Bb7 - goes to Am
C7 - goes to Bm
Db7 - goes to C
Ab7 - goes to G

It's more usual to include the 7ths in these chords, if only because the 7th is the standard jazz chord form. And most of the 7ths are chromatic too, which aids the voice-leading.

These are all "functional harmony" tricks. Conventional "major-minor key" theory stuff (going way back to classical music, although classical music uses the term "augmented 6th" for what jazz calls a "tritone sub").

When we talk about "mode mixture" or "borrowed chords" we're usually talking about chords which behave differently. They often do employ chromatic voice-leading, but their real purpose is to blur the modal identity of the tune. Eg, typically in rock music, we borrow chords from the parallel minor to make it darker, more dramatic or powerful. (If we stick with the diatonic major key, that's just too bright. too simple. If we use secondary chords, as above, that just sounds too jazzy, too cheesy.)

So in G major (in the typical rock song) you might find any of these chords (all borrowed from G minor):

F = bVII
Bb = bIII
Eb = bVI
Cm = iv

The first 3 have already cropped up in the "tritone sub" list, but they rarely work as tritone subs. Eg the F chord will probably move to C or G - hardly ever to Em. Also, you never (or hardly ever) see these chords with 7ths added - partly because the triad is the default rock form.
The three borrowed majors have a familiar "toughening" effect on the major key, while the minor iv chord adds an element of mystery (it's popular with the more sophisticated type of pop/rock songwriters, such as the Beatles or Radiohead).

[JonPR]

Originally Posted by Hasbro

Another example video here of a similar phenomenon (I at least think



correct me if I'm wrong:
This is in the key of C, but in the verse there is a jump to D major ahead of the G Major, which gives a special effect to that G Major. But, right away, the G major walks into a G7, pointing you right back to key of C. My thought is this is in keeping with the prior video above with the secondary dominant thing going on.

BUT, the second verse has something different happen - now you throw in the phrase Emin, A7, Dmin, G, G, C (this creates a climax on Dmin and G, that settles down back at C). Here, how does the A7 point to Dmin in terms of voice leading?

Thanks gents!

Same thing - secondary dominant. You're in key of C, and A7 is "V/ii".

You get an additional effect with the Em chord, because that works as a "pivot". Em-A7 is a ii-V in D major - so, we hear the Em first as iii of C, but then its pairing with A7 suggests maybe it's ii of what's about to follow...

That effect is often used to actually change key. You hear it in the instrumental section of My Girl (Temptations, Otis Redding), which is in C, and you get Dm-G followed by Em-A. At first the Em could just be the diatonic iii chord - but then (as if by clever sleight of hand) it's revealed as a pair with A, as Dm-G moved up a whole step. And that's confirmed as the song emerges from the bridge in D major (and stays there).

[SantaCruzOMGuy]

Originally Posted by JonPR

Same thing - secondary dominant. You're in key of C, and A7 is "V/ii".

You get an additional effect with the Em chord, because that works as a "pivot". Em-A7 is a ii-V in D major - so, we hear the Em first as iii of C, but then its pairing with A7 suggests maybe it's ii of what's about to follow...

That effect is often used to actually change key. You hear it in the instrumental section of My Girl (Temptations, Otis Redding), which is in C, and you get Dm-G followed by Em-A. At first the Em could just be the diatonic iii chord - but then (as if by clever sleight of hand) it's revealed as a pair with A, as Dm-G moved up a whole step. And that's confirmed as the song emerges from the bridge in D major (and stays there).

Fantastic help here, Its going to take a few days for me to absorb the information gained, thanks so much!

[Hasbro]

Along the same lines as earlier post, I recorded another Gospel standard, Great is Thy Faithfulness.

Verse:
C, G, Dmin7 --> G/B --> F--> C, F, C, Dsus2--> C2 --> Amin6 --> G
G-->Amin7-->G/B--> C..., C/G --> G pause, F, G, C ; C/G, Amin7sus4add#5, G, C

Chorus:
G, G/B, F-->C ; (seems to get dramatic here) Amaj, A2, A7, Dmin
G, C, G, C/G, Dmaj, G

chorus ends identical to verse line two above:
G-->Amin7-->G/B--> C, C/G, G, F, G, C ; C/G, Amin7sus4add#5, G, C



I've put arrows (-->) where its very quick changes almost walking to the chord at the end to help simplify .

What is happening in this chorus? Here is different because C's relative minor A goes major, suspends third, becomes dominant, but then leads to D minor (back to diatonic key C) and seems to hang there. (first of all, can a dominant 7 lead to a minor?).
It feels like it was back home after the Dmin, but so quickly the secondary dominant Dmaj prepares you to feel like we've "landed" on the G major.
Then is that sense of being in key of G major torn back down to key of C by walking through those shared diatonic chords (of keys G and C major) Amin7,G/B, C --> and now you can get back to F major in key of C?



Thanks!