With our new extended version of Substitute, based on short progressions, we’ll inevitably be spending a lot of time on permutations of the I-IV-V chords. They’re fundamental building blocks of music, but they can have quite a ‘primary colour’ sound (as it were), so we often tire of their sound. One of the easiest ways to substitute any chord is to switch between relative majors and minors.
TO BEGIN with, two basic theory facts. Firstly, the I, IV and V chords are the chords built on the first, fourth and fifth notes of a major scale. They’re always major chords, so in the key of G major, those chords are G, C and D. Secondly, for any major chord, scale or key, there’s a relative minor, always a minor 3rd…
