use different chords on diatonic scale

M

migueltokyo

New member
Hi


I m trying to study harmony but I have some question about it:

I hear some songs which for example if they are in C major so should follow the diatonic scale, ( C dm Em F G Am Bdim)

But in the song in some part the add this chords: Eb(III b) , Ab (VI b), Bb (VII b), or Bm (VIIm) and they make the song sound refreshing and cool and they back to diatonic scale again so is like they add tension to the song on that parts, also sometimes they use 7th but I already know that 7th make more tension,

so what I d like to know is If I study more harmony (advance one) I gonna understand when i can use that chords cause when i composing a song and I try to add this chords but doesnt sound right so maybe I have to learn more harmony to know in which Degrees on the scale I should change to then and in which Degree back,

what do you think?


I left here some samples song where they use these kind of chords:





thanks
 
Yes.
You will need two books:
Jazzology: The Encyclopedia of Jazz Theory for All Musicians

and

The Real Book: 6th Edition

Get both of those things and everything you need to know about harmony will be at your fingertips. Or don't.
 
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Quite often they are 'borrowed' chords from another key. (A lot of the chords you mention are 'borrowed' from the enharmonic minor, C minor)

Another common example of this is secondary dominants.

If you extend all the chords to their diatonic 7ths:
C maj7 - Dm 7- Em 7- F maj7 - G 7 - Am 7- Bdim 7.
You'll see that there is only one major chord that uses a dominant seventh (not a major seventh). In this example it's G7- and G7 resolves back to C very neatly as a perfect cadence. (V - I)

One very common thing to do is to substitute the minor chords in the scale for major dominant seven chords, then resolve them to the chord a fifth below.
For example the chord sequence C - E7 - Am - G instead of C - Em - Am - G.
or C - A7 - Dm - F instead of C - Am - Dm - F
 
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ok thanks

Actually I reading the Book : Harmony for Computer musicians but maybe later I should learn some jazz harmony
 
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