[CheshireCat]

I knew of a way, but I'm a little rusty on it and having a hard time remembering.

Any ideas?

Chesh

[georgeo]

four basic chords that i've used:

1) its not very subtle, but the dominant in the key you're modulating into always works. (V chord) (can add a dominant 7th to the chord if you like)

2) the supertonic of the key you're going into (ii chord)

3) the subtonic of the key you're going into (vii° chord)

4) the subdominant of the key you're going into, with a suspended 4th added (IVsus4)


to smooth it out, i play in the progression i'm in and work my way around until i can make a move into the transition chord without throwing on the brakes or anything. some times a parallel major or minor to the transition chord is useful for this.


i'm have a hard time finding out ways to do modulations without making it completely obvious, or sounding corny. any ideas?


David

[R2D2]

Originally Posted by georgeo

3) the subtonic of the key you're going into (vii° chord)

Technically, the vii° chord is the leading tone chord, not the subtonic chord. The sub tonic chord would be a bVII, as is G in the key of Am.

[georgeo]

Originally Posted by R2D2

Technically, the vii° chord is the leading tone chord, not the subtonic chord. The sub tonic chord would be a bVII, as is G in the key of Am.

i hate it when teachers lie to me.

[Nate]

I nearly always use the V chord of the new key when I modulate... but there are many ways to get to said chord. Those ways often depend on how far apart the two keys are. For example, modulation from G to D (or vice-versa) is easier and provides more options for "pivot chords" than does modulation from G to Db or something of that nature.

I like to use the ii chord of the new key right before moving to the V chord of the new key. Often, the ii of the new key will be a functional chord in the old key, so the modulation won't require any altered notes UNTIL the V of the new key. G to D, for example... I'd probably move my way in G towards and Em... then play an A major... then finally shift to D.

I'll be back later with more.

In His love,
Nate

[R2D2]

Originally Posted by georgeo

i hate it when teachers lie to me.

Well, it's possible that my music theory teacher lied to me and I'm wrong. However, I do think it makes a lot of sense for the vii° chord to be the leading tone chord (since it's a half step below the tonic, it's tendency is to want to move to the tonic). The subtonic (bVII), on the other hand, is a whole step below the tonic - just like the supertonic (ii) is a whole step above the tonic.

[Nate]

One of my favorite modulations that we regularly play is the one that we do in "Salvation Belongs To Our God". We modulate up a whole step and slow down just a little bit to give the very last chorus a little bit more "oomph". The way we accomplish the modulation is as follows:

The progression for the chorus is (in G, the original key) G - D/F# - Em - D. That's all well and good; the bass forms a nice little descending scale pattern in the key of G. Whoop de do.

Now the fun part, to modulate to A, we take this same scalar motion in the bass but condense it into a chromatic (as opposed to a diatonic) scale. The progression goes like this: G - D/F# - Em - D then switches to G - D/F# - F - E. This E comes on the third beat of the measure immediately before the chorus progression typically repeats, but since we used the chromatic scale (instead of G diatonic), the last chord is the dominant of A rather than the dominant of G. We just come in on the next measure with the chorus progression in A instead of G. Seamless. Beautiful.

As to how to actually describe/analyze this modulation... I really don't know. F is not a common chord between G and A (in fact, it is not in either key). Also, the chromatic inflection occurs between D/F# and F... not between F and E. Chromatic inflection usually occurs between one chord of the old key and the dominant chord of the new key. If we had gone G - D/F# - Em - E, then we would have accomplished traditional chromatic inflection.... but that's not what we did.

My best explanation (and this is something new from theory III) is that F is a bVI chord of A major. bVI is a major chord that is built on a lowered sixth scale degree of a key. bVI acts as a predominant harmony most of the time. This analysis makes perfect sense in this particular modulation because the F chord acts EXACTLY as a predominant would act.

So... there's my explanation. Couple the descending chromatic bass line with the bVI-V progression in the new key... and you've set yourself up perfectly for a modulation up one whole step.

Here it is, then... I guess:

When modulating up a whole step, try using this progression: I - V6 - bVI of new key - V of new key - I of new key. Bam. Chromatic bass line = Yummy.

In His love,
Nate

[georgeo]

Originally Posted by R2D2

Well, it's possible that my music theory teacher lied to me and I'm wrong. However, I do think it makes a lot of sense for the vii° chord to be the leading tone chord (since it's a half step below the tonic, it's tendency is to want to move to the tonic). The subtonic (bVII), on the other hand, is a whole step below the tonic - just like the supertonic (ii) is a whole step above the tonic.

i'll go with you, that makes sense.

[georgeo]

do any other guitar players find using the dominant to sound blatent and corny?

everytime i use it on guitar, it sounds cheesy, but on piano not so much.
perhaps i should try a different inversion or something.

[Nate]

Originally Posted by georgeo

do any other guitar players find using the dominant to sound blatent and corny?

everytime i use it on guitar, it sounds cheesy, but on piano not so much.
perhaps i should try a different inversion or something.

Like I said earlier, it's pretty difficult to modulate without using the dominant of the new key. In fact, that's about the only way that most theory classes will teach you.

The way to make the dominant not sound so "blatent and corny" is to alter the way you APPROACH it. If you're going along happily in G major and then suddenly hit an E major chord 'cause you want to modulate to A... it's going to sound pretty shocking. However, if you approached the E major from some chords that functioned in BOTH G and A, it might be less shocking. For example, if you had a long extended D chord before moving to the E, it would sound much less shocking because you'd kind of hear the D (in retrospect) as a predominant of the new key.

Another thing to think about is possibly using other out-of-key chords that are less "shocking" as you move towards the new dominant. Chromatically altering the tonic is shocking (and that's what happens when you play E major in the key of G trying to effect a modulation to A)... but chromatically altering a different note is less shocking. The other chromatically altered note in our situation could be C#. Perhaps you could move from G to D to Dmaj7 to E to A. That would be a much more gradual introduction of the chromatic alterations.

Just some things to think about. I'm off to class!

In HIs love,
Nate

[georgeo]

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why i post in here

[Nate]

Originally Posted by KeyboardFreak

Chromatically altering the tonic is shocking (and that's what happens when you play E major in the key of G trying to effect a modulation to A)... but chromatically altering a different note is less shocking.

I just thought of another possibility that might work. You could try using a V of the dominant of the new key before finally moving to the new key. An example progression might look like this (going from G to A): G - Bm - B - E - A... and so on in A. The D# isn't part of the new key, but it serves well to set up the dominant of the new key... and it does so without chromatically altering the original tonic.

In His love,
Nate

[CheshireCat]

KB Freak!!

You are soooooooo on it, man!

Good to have you around here!

Chesh