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| Photo by Shayan Bemanian on Unsplash |
In the previous article we learnt another beautiful concept of passing chord(diminished passing chord) we saw how they are formed including their formulas and also how we can apply them into our own playing or song. So, if perhaps you haven't seen that and you are interested in learning that as well, simply Click_here You can also click 'pages' on the top-bar and select from all available articles from the drop-down.
(Demo)
Now, let us take a look at yet another simple and interesting concept of passing chord.
In this Article, We would learn the basic meaning of Chromatic Mediant, how they are formed and as always we'll also learn how to use them as passing chords.
WHAT IS A CHROMATIC MEDIANT?
One interesting problem-solving strategy i always like to adopt to make things simple is to break them down into small pieces and sort them one after the other (you can put your opinion on this in the comment section🙂). So, in accordance with that philosophy, And also for better understanding of this concept, I'll would divide them into two and explain them individually before bringing them together. so it'll quickly and instantly make sense.. so i'll divide them into.. "chromatic" and "Mediant"Chromatic:- This basically means "out of key" it is the opposite of "diatonic" it involves picking notes outside a diatonic scale or out of the key you are playing.. for example in a C major scale | C|D|E|F|G|A|B.. this is a C major diatonic scale. Whatever we play outside this scale on this key is said to be chromatic.
Mediant:- 'This is one of the 7 Theoretical names given to a diatonic scale(we learnt about this theoretical names as a sub-topic on a previous article if you are interested in that article Click_here) it is specifically the '3rd' on a diatonic major scale. Mediant is the origin of the popular '3rd interval'(minor 3rd{m3},major 3rd{M3}) Therefore, two or more chord that are a 3rd apart. e.g on Key 'C' Cmaj and Emin..
Now a chromatic mediant is simply non-diatonic mediants or altered mediants(mediant on a different key) In this context, chromatic mediant can also be described as two or more chords a 3rd apart but from different diatonic keys. in the key of C for example; Cmaj and A♭maj or Cmaj and Amaj.. This chord are all related by the chromatic mediant rule (a 3rd apart/3or4 notes apart and from different keys)
How Can I Find Or Form The Chromatic Mediants Of A Chord ?
There are two simple simple steps you can follow to easily find you chromatic mediant..step 1:Count A 3rd Interval ;- To form or find your chromatic mediant, simply count 3rd intervals doesn't matter if its a minor 3rd or a major 3rd..just count 3 0r 4 notes from the root.
step 2:Pick any non-diatonic chord :- Now after counting and discovering what note is in that '3rd' interval, you simply just have to form any non diatonic chords that fits. you experiment using you ears. R♭emember, your chord should not be in the same diatonic key with the root chord for example am on key C 'C' is my root then i count 4 notes(Major 3rd) ahead to E in the key of C from the C-major diatonic scale it is normally 'Em' but since we are using a purely chromatic approach, we would make it Emaj here is our Chord C E G(CM)=>E A𝄬 B(EM).. we can see the Alter note there is 'A𝄬'.. it is not in the C-major diatonic scale so its describe as 'chromatic'.. Using this two steps you can find up to 6 chromatic mediant chord for example here is a list of all chromatic mediant for key C and key F# they are all either a minor(m) or a major(M) 3rd away
(try to find for all keys)
CM - EMAJ(M3) F#M- BMAJ(M3)
- EbMAJ(m3) - AMAJ(m3)
- Ebmin(m3) - Amin(m3)
- AMAJ(m3) -DMAJ(M3)
- AbMAJ(M3) -Dmin(M3)
- Abmin(M3) -EbMAJ(m3)
(M3=MAJOR THIRD interval)
( m3=MINOR THIRD interval)
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| Photo by Cathryn Lavery on Unsplash |
chromatic mediant relative of 'C'
Application
So, we have discovered how to find our chromatic mediant relatives for each chord, what next?.. Well now lets look at some nice ways to use this concept to form passing/bridge chords in our playing. There are two interesting and simple methods i think you can use the chromatic mediant relatives as passing chords to a destination chord. Here are the two cool ways to use it ;1 - Major third chromatic mediant Passing (M3CMP)
2 - Minor third chromatic mediant passing(m3CMP)
(Came up with this names for better memory retension)
Major Third Chromatic Mediant Passing(M3CMP)
This is the type of chromatic mediant passing where we use the immediate chromatic mediant relative chord, that is a major third away or in distance from the destination chord, Therefore serving as a bridge to reach the destination chord.
For Example ;- in a 1(doh)~6(lah)~4(fah) progression, we can approach each of the chords in this progression from a major third interval away. for a more practical example in the key of C that progression(using 7th chords) would be ;
C E G B(CM7)=>A C E G(Am7)=>F A C E(FM7).. so those are the respective chords for a 1~6~4 in the key of C.. Now lets get the chromatic mediant bridge(M3) to the Am7. To do this, You simply count a major third interval(4 notes) from your destination chord, then you ensure that whatever chord it falls is non-diatonic. So if it turns out diatonic, you have to just alter it(e.g if its minor and diatonic, then simply make it major!) so i counted 4 notes backwards from 'A' and it turns out to be FM7 but that chord has all its note in the CM/Am Diatonic scale so to make it work as chromatically, since we are trying to do a "chromatic" mediant passing, we simply alter it by making it a minor chord.. so there we have it chromatic mediant passing chord to get to the Am7 is Fm7!. Now we can use the same method to get to the 4(FM7) 4notes(M3) and alter it if you need to.. so we would now have a progression like this;
Before ; C E G B(CM7)=>A C E G(Am7)=>F A C E(FM7)
(see videos for more better understanding)
(Quick Demonstration)
(breakdown with chord names display)
(Another application of M3CMP. on the same progression)
Minor Third Chromatic Mediant Passing(m3CMP)
This is the 'minor 3rd' version of the other one we just saw. It is also the type of chromatic mediant passing where we use the immediate chromatic mediant-relative chord that is a minor third intervals(3notes away) from the destination chord.. which we use as a bridge to approach the destination chord,
For Example ;- Using the same 1(doh)~6(lah)~4(fah) progression, we can approach each of the chords in this progression using any non-diatonic chord a minor third away. Let us also take a look at a more practical example.. in the key of C, that progression(using 7th chords) would be ;
C E G B(CM7)=>A C E G(Am7)=>F A C E(FM7)..
so those are the respective chords for a 1~6~4 in the key of C.. Now lets get their chromatic mediant bridge to the 6(Am7). To do this, You simply count a minor third interval(3notes) from your destination chord, then you simply ensure that whatever chord it falls on, is non-diatonic(not in key)so if it turns out diatonic, you simply just have to alter it(e.g if its minor and diatonic, make then make it major!) so i counted 3 notes backwards from 'A' and it turns out to be FcM7 which is also non-diatonic. So there we have it.. The chromatic mediant passing chord to get to the Am7 is F♯m7!. Now we can use the same method to get to the 3(F#M7) 3notes(m3) and alter it if you need to.. so we would now have a progression like this;
Before ; C E G B(CM7)=>A C E G(Am7)=>F A C E(FM7)
(see videos for more better understanding)
(quick demonstration)
(with chord names displayed)
(Arpeggiated progression without/with passing chord)
I hope this article has helped your musical advancement..🙂 Please feel free to leave your questions, your thoughts and your suggestions i will do my very best to attend to them all.
Thanks and Good luck.
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