Borrowing Chords from the Minor Scale-1

m.mermikides@surrey.ac.uk

In a major key, often chords are borrowd from the 'parallel' minor key. So in the key of C
(top stave) triads from the key of C minor may be used (bottom 2 staves)

'UK' I ii iii IV V vi viiº

'US' I IIm IIIm IV V VIm VIIº
˙˙
Dm Em F G Am Bdim
˙˙
C
˙˙ ˙˙ ˙˙ ˙˙ ˙ ˙
& ˙˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙
˙

i iiº III iv v VI VII

Im IIº ¨III IVm Vm ¨VI ¨VII
˙
E¨ Fm Gm A¨ B¨
b˙
Cm Ddim
& b˙˙ b˙˙ b˙ b˙˙˙ b˙˙˙ b ˙˙ b˙˙
˙ ˙ b ˙˙

Common uses

The 'subdominant minor' IVm, iv the bVI bVII I

iv I bVI bVII I
Fm C A¨ B¨ C
˙˙ ˙˙ bœ œ
bœœ n˙˙˙
& ˙˙
b ˙ b œœ
˙
minor key major key minor key major key

The 'Beatles' chord 'Epic'

2

Borrowing Chords from the Minor Scale-2

I ii7 iii7 IV^7 V7 iv7 viØ

I^7 IIm7 IIIm7 IV^7 V7 VIm7 VIIm7(¨5)
Cmaj7
˙˙ ˙˙
G7 ˙˙
Am7 ˙
˙˙
Bm7b5
˙˙
Em7 Fmaj7
˙˙ ˙˙
Dm7
& ˙˙˙ ˙˙ ˙˙ ˙˙ ˙˙ ˙
˙

i7 iiøØ7 III^7 iv7 v7 VI^7 VII7

Im IIm7(¨5) ¨III^7 IVm7 Vm7 ¨VI^7 ¨VII7
Cm7 Dm7b5 E¨maj7 Fm7
b˙
Gm7
˙ b˙˙
A¨maj7 bB¨7
˙˙
& bb˙˙˙ b˙˙˙ b˙˙˙ b ˙˙˙ b˙˙˙ b ˙˙ b˙˙
˙ ˙ b˙

Common 7th chord uses

The 'subdominant minor7' The bIIImaj7 and bVImaj7

IVm7, iv7

iv7 Imaj7 Imaj7 bIIImaj7 bVImaj7 V7 Imaj7

Fm7 Cmaj7 Cmaj7 E¨maj7 A¨maj7 G7 Cmaj7

b˙˙ n˙˙ bœœ bœœœ œœ nœœœ bw

w
& ˙˙
b ˙ œ bœ œ w
˙ œ bœ œ w
minor key major key major key
minor key major key
Minor to major ii-V

iiøØ7 V7 I^7

Dm7b5 G7 Cmaj7

& bœœœœ œœœ

œ
˙˙
˙˙
minor key major key