Tritone Substitution - Reharmonization - II-V Substitution -- Free Theory PDF Printable

 LearnMusicTheory.net  Reharmonization = Changing chords in a progression, by adding, removing, or substituting chords.

II-V Substitution Substitution = Replacing chords in a progression; II-V and tritone substitution are 2 of many types. II-V Substitution = Replacing a dominant 7th (V7) chord with a II-V progression, or vice versa

G7

C

# ! "! #

Dmin7 G7

# #

V7 

...Becomes...

$ $ " $$ $ ## II7 

I

C

V7 

I

Tritone Substitution Tritone = Interval of 3 whole steps; ex: G to C# (or G to Db ) ) = G to A + A to B + B to C# Tritone substitution = replacing a dominant seventh chord w/one a tritone away from the original

G7  (5th omitted)

% ! "! %

7th

D¨7  (Tritone away from G)

F and B § (=C  (=Cb )  ) are common tones!

%  & " & %

3rd

3rd 7th Notice: the original 3rd (B) becomes the new 7th (Cb ),  ), and the original 7th (F) becomes the new 3rd (F). not just 3rd/7th, but all notes (even altered notes) in the 1st chord become notes in the 2nd. For instance, C# is the #11 of G and the root of D b (see below). The only note that doesn't translate is the unaltered 11th (4th). Db with all alterations

13 7th Root § 13 b 5th 11  # §9 #9 3rd

 & $  & $  ) $  & $  & $ $ % $ $  ) $  & $ ' $  & $ ' $  & $ ' $ ( $ " $ & $ ' $ ( $ $ ( $ '$ &$ '$ $ $ &$ '$ ($ $ b  § #  § # b b  § Root b9

13 7th Root 9 13 5th 11  # 3rd Root b9  §9 #9 G showing all alterations

Root 7th 13 13 5th 11  3rd 9 9 G showing all alterations

Any ALT scale will use the same notes as the lydian dominant scale a tritone away (compare the chart above). G altered scale (G7alt) Db lydian dominant scale (D b7 #11)

$ $  & $  & $ ( $  & $  & $  & $ " $  &$ ($ $ " $ $ =  & $  & $ b # # b § #  § 9

9 3rd 11  13 7th

9 3rd

11  5th 13 7th

Tritone substitution is often used to create chromatic bass lines, like this:

Dmin7 G7

$ $ ! " ! $$ $ ## II7 

V7 

Dmin7 D¨7 C

C

I

...Becomes...

$ $  & " $$  & $ '## II7  SubV7  I

This page is a VERY brief intro. See also The Jazz Theory Book by Mark Levine  or jazzology by Rawlins and Bahha . Copyright © 2010 by Mark Feezell. All Rights Reserved. Reserved.