June 23, 2006
Passing Chords
For a definition of a passing chord, how about: A chord that is clearly out of the key of the surrounding chords and usually harmonically unstable, yet resolves to the following chord. (continued)
Notes: Harmonically unstable generally means containing a tritone, and resolving generally means chromatically approaching a strong tone such as a root, 3rd, or top melody note. The chromatic approach may be upward or downward. Stronger resolution is felt if the tritone either closes to a perfect fourth or opens to a perfect fifth. Often, a passing chord is the result of harmonizing a passing tone using a dim7 or dom7 chord. A passing tone is an out-of-key chromatic tone.
Posted by brad under Music Theory |
