Chord Prog.

Not too sure what a bII is or if it would work.  If that is a flattened II.  From what I remember in a major chord progression the II is a ii (minor).  I'm guessing it would sound different being so close to the I.  It will be interesting to see what the theory-goers here say.

It depends how you're playing it I guess Crash.

I thought it sounded alright as a chord per beat

I-IV-V-bII | ii-V-I (I)

Is this anywhere near how you are playing it?  ;D

I guess it sorta works as a stop time kinda thing where you sing a verse everytime you play it through once(maybe a long rambling type verse ?) whatta ya think?

In that sense I give it a thumbs up.

I would do the bII as a diminished. From there it could go anywhere, and it's one of the techniques I use to do key changes. The ii-V-I then comes in from the new key.

A :-)

AHA!  I knew there was a reason for diminished chords!  Still, I play them about as frequently as I clean under the refridgerator.  That's cool they can act as a shifting point in keys.  I think that would be a pretty good post by itself:  how to use dim chords to switch keys.  Wanna give it a shot?

I was trying to use a chromatic movement.  Derp, right it's sort of like a pause in the middle of a statement.  I never thought of using the diminished chord.  

Since you're looking for a chromatic effect, you might also try an augmented chord (bII+).  The third and fifth will remain the same as you resolve to the ii, giving it a bit more coherence to the main key... you'll go from

b2-4-6 to
2-4-6

while the diminished progression takes you from

b2-bb4-b6 to
2-4-6

In the first case (augmented), only one note is outside the key; in the second case, all three are.  You do get only a single chromatic movement in the first, versus two in the second.  The chromatic effect is still there, but not quite as strong, but you remain more 'in key'.

In the end, it's all up to your ears.

Tom

I love this forum.