Shared chords
Here’s another way to make a smooth, logical and musical transition. Let’s use the example of changing from C major to D major once again.
If you program out the notes of both these scales and inspect them, you should see that the two have similarities and differences. C major has a C and F
C# F#. while D major has and On the other hand, the two scales do share a few notes: D, E, G, A and B.
The idea behind a shared chord (sometimes called a ‘pivot chord’) is to use notes belonging to both the scales – the original and the destination – to form a chord to transition between the two. This chord will act as the last chord in C major, but it’s also an acceptable one in D major, so it works for a smooth transition.
So, for our remaining notes – D, E, G, A and B – what chords would qualify as the pivot chord? Two obvious triads are G major (G-B-D) and E minor (E-G-B) – these provide a better transition between the two keys.
Once you’ve got a chord worked out for the transition, there’s nothing stopping you extending it and inverting it, as demonstrated on the previous two pages. Using the same available notes, E minor could be extended to E-G-B-D, while G major could be extended to G-D-B-A, for example – and any of these can be inverted as you see fit, depending on the exact transition between the previous and next chords.
In the video, we demonstrate this with G major, eventually resting on a combo that falls between the A minor chord before and the C major after.