Introduction
Passing chords are literally that, chords that you pass by. They are chords you pass through quickly on your way from one chord to the next in the chord progression. Because they are played quickly (they generally never last more than 1/2 a bar), they are not harmonically important. And because they are not harmonically important, they can be almost any chord you like. Passing chords can make a chord progression more interesting because they speed up the rate at which chords change (called Harmonic Rhythm) and make a chord progression more harmonically interesting.
Passing Chords
Passing chords generally have the following features:
- They last for a very short period of time (1/4 or 1/2 a bar). You never sit on them for long, they are passing chords, you pass by them quickly;
- They are inserted between two harmonically important chords (i.e. chords that are written out on a lead sheet and that occur on beats one or three of a bar);
- They can be diatonic (a chord from the key that you are playing in) or non-diatonic (a chord NOT from the key that you are playing in);
- They can be consonant or dissonant.
A specific type of passing chord is called an approach chord. This is a passing chord that is either 1 (chromatic) or 2 (diatonic) semitones away from the next chord.
Let’s take the following chord progression: | CMaj7 | Dm7 ||
We can insert a passing chord between the CMaj7 and the Dm7. The most widely used passing chords are shown in the below table.
| Passing Chord Name | Chord Progression |
|---|---|
| Original Chord Progression | | CMaj7 | Dm7 || |
| Tritone (of previous chord) | | CMaj7 - G♭7 | Dm7 || |
| Tritone (of next chord) | | CMaj7 - A♭7 | Dm7 || |
| Approach #1 (diatonic) | | CMaj7 - Em7 | Dm7 || |
| Approach #2 (semitone) | | CMaj7 - D♭7 | Dm7 || |
| Approach #3 (semitone) | | CMaj7 - E♭7 | Dm7 || |
| Diminished #1 | | CMaj7 - D♭o7 | Dm7 || |
| Diminished #2 | | CMaj7 - E♭o7 | Dm7 || |
| Dominant-minor | | CMaj7 - D7 | Dm7 || |
| Secondary V | | CMaj7 - A7 | Dm7 || |
| Secondary II, V | | CMaj7 - Em7 A7 | Dm7 || |
Note: That both the chord and the bass-line movement are important when transitioning between chords. You want both to be smooth. I will have more to say about this in future lessons.
Theoretical Convergence
You may have noticed some of the above approach chords are also chord substitutions. For example, the Diatonic Approach Chord of Em7 is also a Median Note substitution of CMaj7. You will also notice that one of the passing chords is a Secondary Dominant (the subject of our next lesson).
At this point it is worth noting that there is more than one way to analyse a chord progression. We will come across many theoretical concepts that try to explain the same chord in different ways. All of them are right in their own way.
Let’s again take the chord progression: | CMaj7 – Em7 | Dm7 ||
To some the Em7 will be a passing chord. To others the Em7 will be a half-bar chord substitution of the CMaj7 chord. Both of these are correct. I’ll say it again. There are many ways of analysing the same chord progression.
It’s important to remember that: first came music, then came theory. A musician writes a particular chord progression that happens to sound good, and then it’s up to the theoretician to figure out why it sounds good. And in order to do this, they come up with various ideas and concepts. Because of this, there are a number of different ways to analyse the same chord progression. We will find this is the case with many of the concepts we cover in the future.
In Practice
Passing chords are never written into the chord progression of a song. By definition, they are not harmonically important, so a lead sheet will never display them. It’s at your discretion when and where you insert a passing chord, and what kind of passing chord you insert.
In the below video, I take the song ‘All of Me’ as an example and insert passing chords. Have a listen to what it sounds like in practice. For those who are interested, I played the following chord progressions:
| Original All of Me Chord Progression | |||||||
| C7 | C7 | E7 | E7 | A7 | A7 | Dm7 | Dm7 |
| E7 | E7 | Am7 | Am7 | D7 | D7 | Dm7 | G7 |
| All of Me Chord Progression with Passing Chords #1 | |||||||
| C7 | C7 - Dm7 | E7 | E7 - B♭7 | A7 | A7 - Eø7 A7 | Dm7 | Dm7 - D#o7 |
| E7 | E7 - Bø7 | Am7 | Am7 - A♭7 | D7 | D7 - A♭7 | Dm7 - Do7 | G7 - D♭7 |
| All of Me Chord Progression with Passing Chords #2 | |||||||
| C7 - C#dim | Dm7 - D#o7 | E7 - CMaj7 | Bø7 - E7 | A7 - A♭7 | A7 - G7 | Dm7 - C#o7 | Dm7 - D#o7 |
| E7 - F7 | G7 - G#7 | Am7 - E7 | A♭7 - E♭7 | D7 - D#o7 | D7 - Eø7 | Dm7 - Do7 | G7 - D♭7 |
Harmonic Side-Slipping
Occasionally you will find a chord progression that has a single chord played for a long time (2+ bars). Playing a single chord for such a long period of time is quite boring, so it’s generally a good idea to insert a passing chord in the middle of the long chord to break up the monotony. One great, simple and widely used technique you can employ is side-slipping. This involves playing the written chord, then quickly playing the chord a semitone away from the original chord (keeping the same chord quality), before returning to the original chord. We will encounter a similar idea but applied to melodic phrases rather than the harmony when we discuss improvisation in a later lesson. See the below notation and video for examples.
Passing Chords
Side-Slipping