The Chromatic 25 Progression
Welcome to the last part of this course on Advanced Harmonic Concepts. We will now take a step away from the related dominants and we will explore the chromatic 25 progression.
There are two different kinds of chromatic 25s, descending 25s, and ascending 25s. In this course, we are going to focus on the descending 25, as that is more common to be used in tonal jazz
The Descending Chromatic 25
The descending chromatic 25 can appear in several situations, one of the most common of which is replacing a descending diminished chord. We will extend this basic progression with the chromatic 25 progression and discuss how we are substituting the chords.
Apply to “There Will Never Be Another You”
We can apply the descending 25 progression to the tune “There Will Never Be Another You”. This is most commonly applied in the last 4 bars of the B Section, let’s see how this sounds. A little disclaimer; these choices might not work with the melody of the tune, and in general, you should use them with caution.
Course Summary
By using only one melody, we managed to find a lot of material to use, and it has hopefully opened our mind and our ears to the different keys and harmonic relationships.
The contents of this course are just one perspective of the harmony, and there are numerous other ways to the same result, which is a better understanding and hearing of music.
Related Lessons
‘Somewhere Over The Rainbow’ has also been played by many great jazz musicians over the years. In this lesson we create a solo ballad arrangement.
We have voiced minor 251 progressions with our left hand and so now it’s time to spread the notes across 2 hands to get bigger chords with more impact!
In a minor 251, the 5 chord will be an altered dominant chord. In this lesson we apply altered dominant chords to the major 251 progression.
Practice Tips
-
Take the harmonic concepts from related tunes Bye Bye Blackbird and Jeepers Creepers through all the keys.
-
First, with the original harmony, and then with the chromatic 25s.
-
When you learn new tunes and apply this idea to them, you will find out how everything is connected.
Thank you, Tuomo for a clear and elegant presentation in this course. Some time ago I needed to understand ii-V chromatic descending sequence and came across this very lesson,the last in your course. I only scanned the previous lessons in the course, a mistake, of course. I spent some serious time today with the whole course, practicing as you suggested the melody over various keys and in different version. I need to spend some equally serious time with the connection to the tritone relationship to the ii-V chords and aim to do it in the next few days. I also found it very helpful to play ii-V (with or without resolving to I) randomly, not systematically (descending or ascending) to firm up the base for this course. But that’s just me.
Thank you again, this is a fascinating course. Smole
And there is an embedded pearl in this lesson: how to use your example in Over the Rainbow that I have been working with the last few days. This provides a serious enrichment for the Over the…Thanks for that, too. Smole
Tuomo,
I just finished your course, and I found it very useful. Clear, concise, with very helpful examples. At your prompting in the tritone component, I reviewed Hayden’s tritone course. Thanks to that and your great examples of how to apply tritones, I think I finally understand the concept. Thanks again!
Hi Scott and Smole,
Thank you so much for your kind words, I’m very happy you found the course useful and helpful!
Keep up the good work,
Let me know if I can help with anything!
All the best,
-Tuomo
I enjoyed this course very much! It was very helpful.