A chromatic chord—a chord whose root lies outside the harmonic scale for the key of the song—introduces harmonic variety that attracts your brain’s attention.

Chase charts of the following classic songs, all selected from the GSSL, will show you how great songwriters make use of chromatic chords:

• “Hey Jude”

• “Carefree Highway”

• “Wild Horses”

• “September Song”

• “Crazy”

• “Trouble In Mind”

• “Sundown”

• “I Heard It Through the Grapevine”

• “Bridge Over Troubled Water”

In some of the examples, the first chord in a chromatic progression is the tonic chord (Table 49).

TABLE 49 Songs with Chromatic Progressions Where the First Chord Is the Tonic

Chromatic Progression	Song Title
I – ♭VII – I	“Trouble In Mind”
I – ♭VII – IV	“Hey Jude” “Carefree Highway” “Wild Horses”
I – ♭VII – V7	“Sittin’ on the Dock of the Bay”
I – ♭II – I	“It Was a Very Good Year”
I – ♭VI – I	“September Song”
I – ♭II – II	“Georgia On My Mind”

In others, the first chord in a chromatic progression is not the tonic chord (Table 50).

TABLE 50 Songs with Chromatic Progressions Where the First Chord Is Not the Tonic

Chromatic Progression	Song Title
II – ♭II – I	“Girl From Ipanema”
III7 – ♭II – IIm	“Georgia On My Mind”
IV – ♭VII – IV	“Bridge Over Troubled Water”
IV – ♭VII – I	“Trouble In Mind” “Sundown”

6.11.2

“HEY JUDE”: NAAA-NA-NA NA-NA-NA-NA FOR SEVERAL MINUTES

If you’re going to use a chromatic chord (or more than one chromatic chord) in a song, it’s vital to firmly establish tonality first. Otherwise your poor brain will have a tough time trying to figure out what key the song’s in.

Also, for the same reason (hanging on to tonality), it’s a good idea to return to the harmonic scale very soon after borrowing a chromatic chord.

The first part of “Hey Jude” uses conventional harmony that firmly establishes tonality, so the Chase chart below omits it. However, the last part, the “na-na-na-na” part, which goes on for several minutes moves outside of the harmonic scale and grabs the ♭VII chord (F major in the example below, Figure 92).

FIGURE 92 Chase Chart of “Hey Jude,” Last Part (Words and Music by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, 1968)

The chromatic chord lasts only one slow bar (the second bar) of each four-bar “na-na-na-na” chorus. But, from a harmonic perspective, it’s that chromatic chord that grabs the listener’s ear.

In a Chase chart involving a chromatic chord, you might wonder where exactly to put the chromatic chord (the chord F major in the above example). It goes outside the harmonic circle, but there’s no hard and fast rule as to exactly where. For visual clarity, the best place is right between the chord at which the progression exits the key (the exit chord is G major in the above example) and the chord at which the progression returns to the key (the return chord is C major in the above example).

6.11.3

“CAREFREE HIGHWAY”: SLIPPIN’ AWAY ON A CHROMATIC CHORD

The Chase chart below (Figure 93) reveals that Lightfoot uses conventional chords and chord progressions in the verse of “Carefree Highway,” firmly establishing tonality.

In the chorus, however, he reaches outside the harmonic scale for the same ♭VII chord that McCartney uses in “Hey Jude.” The chromatic chord, C major in this example, sticks right out and grabs the ear.

FIGURE 93 Chase Chart of “Carefree Highway” (Words and Music by Gordon Lightfoot, 1974)

Wisely, Lightfoot brings in the chromatic chord for only one bar in each phrase in which it appears. Tonality remains firm.

6.11.4

“WILD HORSES”: UNUSUAL USE OF MINORS

You will recognize this as the song Sadie and Ellie Sue pipe through the sound system over at the Dodge City Horse Store.

Even though the song is solidly in the major mode, the vocal of the verse begins on a minor chord.

As the Chase chart below reveals (Figure 94), the chord progressions in both the verse and the chorus eschew the tonic of the relative minor (Em) while incorporating the other two minor chords. This gives the progression a truly distinctive sound.

FIGURE 94 Chase Chart of “Wild Horses” (Words and Music by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, 1970)

As if that weren’t enough, in the chorus, the progression grabs the same ♭VII chromatic chord used in “Hey Jude” and “Carefree Highway.” In this case, being in the key of G, the chromatic chord is F major (on the words “drag me”). An elegant, attention-getting touch.

As with the other two songs, the progression visits the chromatic chord only briefly, then returns to the chords of the harmonic scale.

6.11.5

“SEPTEMBER SONG”: HOW TO USE MORE THAN ONE CHROMATIC CHORD

In his poignant, brilliant “September Song,” Kurt Weill uses many chords, 12 in all, of which two are chromatic chords (Figure 95).

He also uses four variants of the tonic: C, CM7, Cm, and Cm6.

By using two minor-chord variants of the tonic (Cm6 and Cm), “September Song” flirts with modulation to the parallel key of C minor. The wistful, sad lyric matches the harmonic progression perfectly.

One of the two chromatic chords may be found in the first section, very near the beginning of the song. This harmonic direction has the potential to threaten tonality.

However, the progression then quickly moves to a V7 – I perfect cadence (G7 – C), ensuring the ear knows the true harmonic centre, despite the presence of the chromatic chord (A♭).

FIGURE 95 Chase Chart of “September Song” (Words by Maxwell Anderson, Music by Kurt Weill, 1938)

The second chromatic chord appears in the second section, only briefly, near the end of the song. In both cases, the chord following the chromatic chord is the tonic C major.

One other interesting point about the “September Song” chord progression: the second part of the song uses only second and third progressions—no fifths.

In the olden days (first half of the 20th Century), many songs had a so-called “verse” followed by a “refrain.” These terms had different meanings from what everybody now thinks of as “verse” and “refrain”. The old-style verse was a long introduction or narrative, a story with its own melody. It was typically sung only once. Then came the refrain.

Over time, singers and audiences tended to neglect the verse and get straight to the refrain. Often, singers would not even bother singing the verse. Eventually, the old-style verse got dropped and the so-called refrain became what everyone considered the whole song.

“September Song,” written so long ago, has a particularly affecting old-style verse that you don’t hear too often. Listen to the Frank Sinatra recording of “September Song.” He does both verse and refrain, and tears your heart out.

6.11.6

“CRAZY”: WHEN THE TEMPO’S THIS SLOW, YOU NOTICE EVERY CHORD

The chromatic chord in this song makes its appearance in the instrumental turnaround after the second phrase. You’d hardly notice the C♯º chord if the tempo weren’t so slow.

But, as the Chase chart below shows (Figure 96), the chord does catch the ear as the middle part of a chromatic second progression, C – C♯º – Dm7.

FIGURE 96 Chase Chart of “Crazy” (Words and Music by Willie Nelson, 1961)

Like many country songs (“Walking After Midnight,” for example), the second part of “Crazy” starts on the IV chord, (F major in this example) for the sake of contrast.

The Chase chart above shows that second and fifth progressions predominate for most of this song.

The last part of the song has a long run of seconds: FM7 – Em7 – Dm7 – CM7 – Dm7.

That Stupid Midnight Plane to Houston

Willie Nelson claims his original title for “Crazy” was “Stupid.”

Jim Weatherly’s original title for “Midnight Train to Georgia” was “Midnight Plane to Houston”!

6.11.7

“TROUBLE IN MIND”: MORE SECONDARY DOMINANTS

Like “September Song,” the blues classic “Trouble In Mind” moves to a chromatic chord from the tonic, right off the top. But then it moves directly back to the tonic (Figure 97).

A few bars later, the same chromatic chord pokes up again, but only as a transient chord.

FIGURE 97 Chase Chart of “Trouble In Mind” (Words and Music by Richard Jones, 1926)

“Trouble in Mind,” like so many blues tunes, gets its harmonic drive from its almost exclusive use of tritone-unstable seventh chords, including a run of secondary dominant sevenths: E7 – A7 – D7.

Even the chromatic chord is a seventh (F7).

6.11.8

“SUNDOWN”: SLIPPIN’ AWAY ON THE “CAREFREE HIGHWAY” IN REVERSE

In “Carefree Highway,” Lightfoot uses this chromatic progression:

I – ♭VII – IV

In “Sundown,” as the Chase chart below reveals (Figure 98), he reverses the direction of the same chromatic progression:

IV – ♭VII – I

The particular ♭VII chord in this case is the chord D major.

FIGURE 98 Chase Chart of “Sundown” (Words and Music by Gordon Lightfoot, 1974)

As with “Carefree Highway,” the chromatic chord (found, again, in the chorus) is the essential attention-getting harmony in “Sundown.”

6.11.9

“I HEARD IT THROUGH THE GRAPEVINE”: FOUR-CHORD INGENUITY

The Chase chart below (Figure 99) maps two possible interpretations of the chord progression for this song:

1. The song is in a major key (C major in this example), but uses the tonic of the parallel minor key (Cm) as a variant chord. All three of the other chords are normal for the major key, except that the chord F is replaced with F7, a common variant.

2. The song is in a minor key (C minor), but uses a seventh variant containing a major third (F7) in place of the default minor subdominant chord (Fm, which has a minor third). In this interpretation, the progression also uses a chromatic chord (Am).

FIGURE 99 Chase Chart of “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” (Words and Music by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong, 1967)

From a melodic standpoint, the minor third interval relationship with the tonic means the song is clearly in a minor mode. So the second of the above two interpretations is technically more correct, even though the first interpretation is harmonically simpler in that it does not have a chromatic chord.

Either way you care to interpret this chord progression, it’s ingenious and ear-grabbing. No fancy extended chords. Just two ordinary seventh chords and two ordinary minor chords.

6.11.10

“BRIDGE OVER TROUBLED WATER”: HARMONIC HEAVEN AND HELL

The verse of this Paul Simon classic has a lot of plagal “amen” (IV – I) cadences, perhaps in keeping with Simon’s direction to play it “like a spiritual.”

The chorus, on the other hand, has lots of diabolus in musica tritone harmony in the form of sevenths, ninths, and diminished chords (Figure 100).

FIGURE 100 Chase Chart of “Bridge Over Troubled Water” (Words and Music by Paul Simon, 1970)

For the most part, the harmony’s pretty conventional: lots of descending fifths and a smattering of seconds and thirds.

However, the verse and chorus each borrow one chord from outside the key.

• In the verse, it’s good ol’ versatile ♭VII (the chord B♭ on the word “tears”).

• In the chorus, it’s a rootless diminished chord (E♭º on the word “over”).

The song owes its harmonic richness in part to the large number of chords (13 in all), uncommon in a song that does not modulate.

Speaking of modulation, here comes a short course.

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TABLE OF
CONTENTS

PART I

The Big Picture Introduction

   1. W-5 of Music
   2. Pop Music
      Industry

PART II
Essential
Building Blocks
of Music
   3. Tones/Overtones
   4. Scales/Intervals
   5. Keys/Modes

PART III
How to Create
Emotionally
Powerful Music
and Lyrics
   6. Chords/
      Progressions