Borrowed Chords and Modal Mixture

Borrow chords from the parallel minor (or major) to add unexpected colour while staying in your key.

Listen to this lesson

Synthesized voice, not a studio recording

Speed

Ready to read aloud · 1/11

What you will learn

What modal mixture is and why it works.
The most common borrowed chords in major (iv, bVI, bVII, bIII).
How a single borrowed chord can pivot the mood of an entire chorus.
How to spot mixture in songs you already know.

The concept

Every major key has a parallel minor key with the same root but a different set of notes. C major and C minor share the note C but differ in three pitches. Modal mixture is the trick of pulling one or two chords from C minor while a song is otherwise in C major.

The most common borrowed chords in a major key are the minor iv, the flat VI, and the flat VII. Each adds a touch of darkness without leaving the home note behind. The result is bittersweet, nostalgic, or dramatic depending on where you place it.

On the guitar

In C major play C, F, then Fm, then C. That Fm is borrowed from C minor and instantly changes the colour of the cadence.

Try the progression C, A flat, B flat, C. The A flat and B flat are b VI and b VII borrowed from C minor.

Exercises

01
Take a I IV V progression and replace IV with iv. Hear the difference.
02
Add a bVII before the V in any major key and analyse the new pull.
03
Write a four bar progression that uses one borrowed chord per bar.

Common mistakes

Borrowing so much that the key disappears. Modal mixture is a seasoning, not a meal.
Forgetting the bass line. A borrowed chord usually wants its bass note approached by step.

Listen, play, create

Listen: Creep by Radiohead pivots between major and parallel minor textures via a famous borrowed chord.
Play: cycle I IV iv I and improvise a melody that lands on the minor third of iv.
Create: write a verse that uses bVI and bVII as a hook.