In the previous lesson I introduced some basic principles of neoclassical harmony. If your eyes glaze over when you read about theory, take heart- you are not alone! But while this topic may not make for exciting reading, the sounds generated by these ideas are very exciting, and so is the impact they can have on your playing. I received a letter from a reader who asked, “I have found quite frequently that when I sit down and try to write a chord progression, it either sounds like another song or it just sounds kind of dull. Do you have any advice that can give a chord progression a little "spice"? Studying and applying these harmonic concepts may be just the answer.

As I stated earlier, the strongest chord change is from the V chord to the I (or i) chord. If you are in the key of A minor, for example, and you play an E major chord, you will want to hear it resolve to the A minor chord. This is because of the leading tone, discussed in the last column. The G sharp in the E major chord wants to go up a half step to A. This is why the V chord is called the dominant chord. This same “dominant force” can be applied to other chords in a progression. If you use the major chord a fifth above any chord, it is called a “secondary dominant”. Let’s stay in the key of A minor for this example. E major is the dominant V chord. But in the key of E, B major is the dominant chord. So if we precede the E chord with a B major chord, we are making the E chord feel like the tonic, or root. It sounds as if we changed keys! This is called “tonicizing the dominant”. The B chord plays the role of secondary dominant.

This may all sound a little foreign at first, but once you hear it in action you will probably recognize the sound created by the secondary dominant. The next lesson will feature a demonstration using tab and audio files. I am sincerely hoping that once you hear the example, you will be inspired not just to learn the lick but to understand the theory behind it!

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See you next time,

Sarah