After writing about Approach Chords the other day, I received a request for more of these types of chords.
Recall the definition of approach chords – In music, an approach chord is a chord one half-step higher or lower than the goal (aka – place you’re going to), and especially helpful in turnarounds and chord progressions that move in fourths.
So here’s another idea for you…
On the tone a half step “LOWER” than the chord you want to go to (aka – “the target”), play a minor7 #5.
So if my target chord is Ebminor7, which is Eb on left /// Gb + Bb + Db on right, I could play D minor 7 #5 right before it: D on left /// C + F + A#
Dmin7 #5
Eb minor 7
Or you could invert the Dmin7 #5 to put F on top:
…which leads nicely to an Eb minor 9 (which allows you to keep the F from the previous chord on top):
And for more spice, you could turn the Dmin7 #5 into a D7 #9#5 with the addition of one note (F#) on the bottom:
So there you have it — a few more ideas to get your creativity juices flowing. What else can you come up with?
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