The 4 Minor Chord
In this short masterclass we will talk about a very common harmonic phenomenon – the 4 minor chord. I’m sure you are familiar with the 4 minor in several different harmonic situations so I wanted to put together a set of examples to show how common the 4 minor in functional harmony actually is.
The 4 minor is a chord that occurs naturally in minor keys, such as F minor in the key of C minor. But we can also resolve it to the 1 major, i.e. F minor to C major.
The 4 Minor in Jazz
In jazz, the 4 minor usually appears in the context of a 2-5-1. For example, Fm7-Bb7-Cmaj7. In this situation the 4 minor can resolve to either C major or C minor.
We will take a look at the use of the 4 minor chord in the tunes There Will Never Be Another You, Stella By Starlight, and Just Friends.
We will also talk about the role of the 4 minor in classical and pop music, as well as modal jazz.
Lesson Downloads
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The 4 Minor Chord Lesson Notation File Type: pdf
Related Lessons
We are going to explore tritone substitution and apply the chosen melody over tritone sub 25s in the song “There Will Never Be Another You”.
Before we start to use the chosen melody as a tool for improvising, you must play through all 12 keys with simple voicings in your left hand.
We start by talking about a specific way to view and hear harmony. We simplify a few harmonic concepts that you might have found complicated.
Practice Tips
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The main takeaway from this lesson is to have an awareness of when the 4 minor chord is in play. An awareness of this concept can simplify your understanding of a chord progression while expanding the options you have for improvisation, chord substitution etc.
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You can use the 4 minor as a chord substitution in many instances. For example, in the progression Dm7b5-G7b9-Cm7, Dm7b5 can be replaced by the 4 minor, Fm7. Or in the major 2-5-1 Dm7-G7-Cmaj7, we can use a 4 minor idea to change the progression to Fm7-Bb7-Cmaj7.
- Being aware of the picardy 3rd can also be useful. Ending a minor tune with a major tonic can sometime sound cheesy but in some circumstances it can be perfect.
Hi Tuomo, thanks for these amazing lessons. Watched many times, hopefully will get there in the end.
How come the flat 7 dominant resolves to the root. E.g. b flat dominant to c major? Is it some sort of a diminish relationship.
Then you explained the pop example using kiss by a rose. The f sharp was changed to an A flat. It is beautiful, but can you explain the functional harmony please? Thanks
Hi Elwin, thanks for writing!
Thoughts on your questions:
Yes, flat 7 dominant resolving to tonic indeed has a diminished relationship behind it, please check out the following tutorial, that explains the diminished/minor 3rd relationship between 4 different dominants that can resolve to a tonic:
https://www.pianogroove.com/jazz-piano-lessons/the-minor-3rd-relationship/
About the second question, I assume you mean Fminor is changed to A flat? We can replace the F minor with A flat major, because they are each others’ relative major and minor (both keys have the same key signature, 4 flats). Also if you look at the chord tones, you see that these two chords are very much the same.
I hope this helped,
let me know if you have any further questions,
all the best,
-Tuomo
Thanks Tuomo, awesome.