Understanding Tritones & Chord Substitutions

August 8, 2014
By Willie
Piano Tips
Tritones definitely add spice to your playing. But, many people are confused whe
n it comes to using them. In this article, I am going to explain:
The Tritone
What is Resolution?
Dominant Motion (Resolution)
ii-V-I s
Using Tritones in ii-V-I s
The Tritone
The tritone is an interval. An interval is a distance between two points. We mea
sure distance on the piano in intervals. A tritone is the distance between the r
oot and the #4. So, C to F# is a tritone.
Years ago you could get banned from the church for even playing a tritone due to
its very harsh or dissonant sound. It used to be called the devil s interval .
Ironically, the tritone is the key ingredient in a Dominant 7th chord. The notes
of a G7 chord are G-B-D-F. The B F is a tritone.
Now, I say that this is ironic because Dominant chords provide a lot of motion i
n music. Certain chords like a minor or Major chord may or may not evoke a feeli
ng of I need to move to another chord! You might end on a Major or minor and the e
ar would be perfectly happy if you stay there. Whereas, a dominant chord wants t
o resolve to another chord.
What Is Resolution?
Well, let s think about resolution in the real world for a minute. When there is a c
onflict, a resolution needs to be made. That resolution might lead to a typical re
sponse or a deceptive response.
If you are caught littering, the typical response might be a fine. The deceptive or
typical response might mean that you have to walk around picking up trash for the
day. We are accustomed to typical responses in our everyday life. You say somet
hing mean and someone gets mad at you. But what about when that person confronts
you gently and asks Why were you so mean to me? That (unfortunately) is more of a
n atypical response.
O.K., back to music. Just like in real life we have typical and atypical responses
or resolutions , we also have these types of resolutions in music.
Certain chords want to naturally move to other certain chords. The dominant 7th
chord is a prime example of this.
Dominant Motion (Resolution)
The typical resolution for a dominant 7th chord is to resolve down a 5th (up a 4
th) to a Major or minor chord.
Some examples:
G7 resolves to C Major or minor

D7 resolves to G Major or minor

F7 resolves to Bb Major or minor, and so on
You might be asking

What about the Blues chords? They don t resolve as they should.'

In the Blues, the dominant 7th chords do not resolve as they

the reasons that the Blues has such a unique sound.

should . It is one of

When a dominant 7th chord does not resolve as it normally should (down a 5th) we
call this deceptive resolution. There is an exception to this rule that I ll get
to later.
ii-V-I s
It is easy to see dominant motion in action using the ii-V-I progression. This p
rogression is very common in jazz and popular music. Example 1 & 2 show a basic
ii-V-I example in the key of C.
Ex. 1
tritone resolution example
with the analysis

written in

Ex. 2
tritone resolution example
So, our dominant motion is when the V7 chord resolves to the I chord (in this ca
se a Major 7 chord).
Ex. 3
tritone resolution example
Using Tritones in ii-V-I s
To use a tritone in a ii-V-I, first start by finding the tritone of the V7 chord s
root. Yikes! That s a mouthful. Let me break it down for you:
What is
What is
What is
To find
(Db).
I think

the V7 chord? [It is G7]

the root of G7? [It is G]
a tritone (higher or lower it s the same note) of G? [The tritone is Db]
the tritone easier, first find the 5th (D), then go down a 1/2 step
it is easier to think of it this way rather than sharping the 4th.

O.K., so we now know that the tritone of G is D flat. See example 4.

Ex. 4
tritone resolution example
Next, replace the root of the G7 with the Db. DO NOT move the notes of the right
hand, keep them the same. See example 5.
Ex. 5
tritone resolution example
Let s pick this apart. First, do you notice how the analysis has changed from V7 t
o sub V7/I? This is because the V7 chord is no longer functioning as a regular pl
ain ol' V7 chord. It is now a sub V7. This is just another way of saying that it is
a tritone resolution. You would call this a Sub Five Seven Of One. We call the /
of,
not slash.

Now, if we put the chord symbols back in we get example 6.

Ex. 6
tritone resolution example
You ll notice that the regular or plain ol'
#9 and b13. This is one hip-sounding chord!

G7 chord has now become a Db7 chord with a

In my series on Piano Chords, I cover these sub V7 chords and how to create them
in more detail. I also show you how you can switch between the Dominant 7th and
its tritone to create some interesting chords. Learn more about tri-tones and p
iano chords.
Here is an example.
Ex. 7
tritone resolution example
You ll notice that I have changed the G7 chord to a G7#9b13 chord. This is the sam
e chord that I just created on Db when I changed the root of the plain ol' G7 chor
d to Db. Now, look at what happens when I change this altered G7 chord root to a
Db:
Ex. 8
tritone resolution example
Do you see how now the altered
esting huh? This is a nice way
sounding, I mean the tensions
or b13.
reharmonization, substitution,
/#sthash.uKyNYjbd.dpuf

G7 chord sound creates a plain ol' Db7 chord. Inter

of creating an altered sounding chord. By altered
are not just 9 or 13, but altered to be a b9, #9
tritone