2.4 Other Secondary Chords

So far, all of the secondary chords we’ve talked about have been V chords (i.e., they are secondary dominants). V chords, with their strong pull to I, work well for establishing a new temporary home base. However, in certain circumstances, other chords can play this role as well. In this section we will talk about a few other important secondary chords.

vii° of

In Hooktheory I, when we learned about the seven basic chords, we put off discussing the vii° chord because it is uncommon in popular music. The following graph using data from the Hooktheory Theorytab library shows the breakdown of how often the basic chords occur:

This emphasizes just how infrequent vii° chords are. The vii° chord is very dissonant and can sound jarring on its own. However, while vii° rarely shows up as a basic chord in popular music, it can be used effectively as a secondary chord. Because secondary chords usually contain notes outside the scale, they often sound out of place and surprising to begin with, and the dissonance of vii° can help emphasize this desired effect. After the surprise, secondary chords also have a natural destination (their target chord) to go to afterward in order to bring the music back to more familiar territory.

vii° chords act as a good substitute for V⁷ because they have a similar, albeit weaker pull to the I chord. An easy way to understand why this is the case is to compare the scale degrees in a vii° to the scale degrees in a V⁷

Scale degrees of vii° and V⁷

vii° chords contain scale degrees 7, 2, and 4, while V⁷ chords have scale degrees 5, 7, 2, and 4, a difference of only a single note! Because of this, vii°/X (“seven of” some chord) can also work quite well as a secondary chord because it can play a similar function. “Who Says” by John Mayer is an example of a song using vii° as a secondary chord. Here he is using vii°/vi to get to vi:

“Who Says” by John Mayer

A good trick to remember is that vii°/X chords always have a bass note that is a half-step below the target. vii°/vi is just like a V⁷/vi chord, which we learned has scale degrees 3, 5#, 7, and 2 but with the bass removed. vii°/vi thus contains scale degrees 5#, 7, and 2, with the 5# in the bass sliding up nicely to the target vi chord.

The sound of the vii°/X chord can be very off-putting if not prepared and resolved correctly, but Mayer does a great job. He first transitions from a I to a IV chord and then uses the descending pattern we studied in Hooktheory I to connect IV with ii using a I⁶ chord. However, instead of using a ii chord, he uses V⁷/V. As expected, V⁷/V resolves to V and Mayer now wants to get to the vi. He could directly go to vi without problems, but instead he hits a quick vii°/vi to add a little more drama. Because the bass of a “seven of” chord is always one half-step below the bass of the target chord, it is itching to resolve up to 6. You should also notice that the chord directly preceding vii°/vi is V. The bridge in the bass from 5 → 5# → 6 that this creates is typical of how vii°/vi shows up in progressions.

Another example that uses a secondary vii° in this way is the song “Flaming Moe’s” from The Simpsons (this is from the episode in which Moe’s bar becomes famous for his Flaming Moe. The song is a parody of the theme from the 1980s television series Cheers):

“Flaming Moe’s” from The Simpsons by Jeff Martin

Here we see a vii°/V used to connect IV and V and then immediately afterward a vii°/vi to connect V with vi. Both usages connect the bass of two neighboring basic chords with an intermediate chord that is out of the key. While this is the most common usage, “seven of” doesn’t always bridge two chords like this. In the previous examples, this stepwise motion in the bass toward the targets made the diminished quality of the chord fit in better and not stick out as much. In “Thnks fr th Mmrs” by Fall Out Boy, however, we see an example of a vii°/vi arriving at vi from a IV:

“Thnks fr th Mmrs” by Fall Out Boy

Because the vii°/vi wasn’t coming from the V, we are less prepared and it stands out more; with chords, context is very important.

In the next section we will talk about one final secondary chord, the IV/IV.

IV/IV

In Hooktheory I, we learned that one of the features that distinguishes popular music from classical music is the more prominent use of IV as a cadence chord. IV → I to end a progression does show up in classical music, but it’s not nearly as common as we have seen in pop. Because of this, unlike in classical music, the iIV chord can also act as a secondary chord to establish a temporary home base.

Secondary chords that function as the “four of” almost exclusively use IV as the target (i.e., they are acting as the “four of four”). In the key of C major, F is the IV chord. The IV chord in F major is a B♭, so IV/IV in C major is B♭. As with all the other secondary chords we’ve learned, IV/IV typically resolves to its target, the IV in this case. Let’s listen to a few examples. “Bridge over Troubled Water” by Simon & Garfunkel uses IV/IV in this way:

“Bridge over Troubled Water” by Simon & Garfunkel

The quick double cadence from IV/IV → IV → I heard here is common. “Photograph” by Nickleback is another song that double cadences using IV/IV:

“Photograph” by Nickleback

IV/IV doesn’t have to occur at the end of progressions leading back to I like this, however. In the previous section on secondary vii° chords, we analyzed the Simpsons parody of the Cheers theme song. Now consider the actual theme from Cheers:

“Where Everybody Knows Your Name” from Cheers by Gary Portnoy

“Where Everybody Knows Your Name” uses IV/IV in the middle of a progression. It still resolves to IV but uses that as a stepping stone to a strong V → I.

In the beginning of this chapter, we learned that V/V is equivalent to the II chord (D major chords in the key of C). However, we use V/V not II to emphasize how the chord functions. Likewise, IV/IV in the key of C major is a B♭ that in some contexts might be called a ♭VII chord. In Chapter 6 we will be discussing modes and their use in popular music. It turns out that ♭VII (or IV/IV) has a strong relationship with what is known as the mixolydian mode. In that chapter, we’ll go into more detail about the differences. For now, let’s summarize what we’ve learned about secondary chords.