Serbs Chord substitutions article

...and your question is?

I'm sure if you can frame the question Noteboat will be happy to answer.

I'll make a question:

What are the Napels, Double Dim, hard dim, and french #IV substitutions? How are they derived? Who uses them - classical dudes, or jazz dudes, or Green Day? :D

Haha,

good question:

Ok green day doesn't use (power chords mainly) them but Keane uses the sus2 thing every other chord for example! Sting, Jobim, Doobie Brothers and many others use the altered S frequently. So my question would be: Why is it that people alwayse overlook the possibilities of altered subdominants? It is a shame because they are so freakin' beautiful!!!

Niliov

I was trying to write an article, not a treatise :)

I have a thing against labeling sus2 chords. They're inversions of sus4 chords (C-D-G = G-C-D)... so I didn't address them. Play 'em if you'd like.

I agree that altered subdominants can be beautiful chords. I didn't touch on plagal cadences though. Just as dominants can be altered in a V-I/V-i authentic cadence, subdominants can be altered in a plagal IV-I/iv-i to add tension.

Napels substitution: using a Neapolitan sixth to substitute for ii or IV. Neaopolitan sixths are actually bII7 chords - they're called sixths because they're usually voiced with the root on top, so they look like sixths

Double-dim: diminished chord with a diminished third (1-bb3-b5) Same substitution principle as the tritone sub - a chord like C7 (1-3-5-b7) has tension because of the conflict between 3 and b7; pull three notes out from there and you've got Bb-C-E, which can be written enharmonically as A#-C-E, and that's 1-bb3-b5.

Hard dim: altering a major triad by lowering the 5th, 1-3-b5. Now you've got the same relationship between 1 and 5 as you do between 3 and b7 in a dominant chord, so it's got a dominant function. Works just like altered dominants - it's the upper part of a dominant with a raised fifth (C7+ = C-E-G#-Bb; E hard dim = E-G#-Bb).

French #IV: one of the augmented sixth chords, the French is a hard dim with an added seventh: 1-3-b5-b7. Use it as an altered dominant, as V it leads nicely to I/i, IV, or VI/vi.

Is this a test?

Hey it's my free day so I'm responding to everything at the moment, hehe:

French #IV is by my knowledge not the chord you are describing, lets skip the numbers because they are getting confusing. I think you are spelling the chord as follows:
(in the key of C) F#, A#, C, E but I think it should be: F#, Ab, C, Ebb or simpler: F#, Ab, C, D.

The chord you are spelling is interesting also I have never seen it before, at least not in the function #IV . I can see this chord (although I do not like the sound) moving to I6/4 (major) but in no way to i6/4 (minor) as there is no real leadtone for the minor third of the I!!

Napels is by no means a bII, that goes directly into all four part harmony rules because then you'd have to double the third, when writing four part harmony!!!! I think it is derived from the IV with a delayed fifth (delayed by the b6). The chord progression using this chord used to be:

Fm#5 Fm G7 C

Now there is a nice movement in the chords going (notes): Db, C, B, C

Later the unaltered IV chord was skipped so:

Fm#5 G7 C
thus creating the Naopolitan cadence!

I think labeleling the Napels chord with IV or (S) makes more sense since now we ARE in fact doubling the root!!

Niliov

Almost forgetting the sus2 thing.

If you look at the sus2 thing as an inversion of sus4 you are not looking at the function but juat at the notes in teh chords!!! Sus means suspended and indicated that we have to wait until the normal third comes (or maybe it doesn't we'll find out!!). So in other words the sus4 chord has a note going down and the sus2 chord one going up!

ex.:

Gsus4 G Csus4 C

compare:

Gsus2 G Csus2 C

Different sound altogether and you see that Gsus2 is not an inversion of Dsus4, the latter would resolve to a D chord not a G chord!

Niliov

Almost forgetting the sus2 thing.

If you look at the sus2 thing as an inversion of sus4 you are not looking at the function but juat at the notes in teh chords!!!

I think you are spelling the chord as follows:
(in the key of C) F#, A#, C, E but I think it should be: F#, Ab, C, Ebb or simpler: F#, Ab, C, D.

Warn us before you switch gears that fast, I almost got whiplash. :D

Are you pulling my leg?

Look, Tom's article is written for the general guitar population, not as a doctoral thesis.

If you'd like to write a clear, concise, easy to understand article send it our way. We'd be happy to read it and perhaps publish it.

...otherwise it looks like you are trolling.

Is this a test?

You Pass!