Thoughts on playing swing-type passing chords

There were a few threads about this awhile back.

After piddling for a few days, here is what I came up with:

When going from a I chord to a IV chord, stick a Iaug in between them.
When going from a IV chord to a V chord, stick a #IVdim chord in between them.
When going from a V chord to a I chord, stick a V7 chord in between them.
When going from a I chord to a V chord, stick a IIm chord in between them.
When going from a I chord to a IIm chord, stick a #Idim chord between them.

What do you think? Too much crap to remember? I try to play only triads to keep the stuff simple.

All good.
Also a very standard approach is to approach the target chord from a 1/2 step above or below.

All good.
Also a very standard approach is to approach the target chord from a 1/2 step above or below.

+1 on this idea, I was listening to some old crow medicine show the other day and I noticed some of this going on with banjos as well as guitars here and there. Just saying that to illustrate that when people start thinking about progressions, I think jazz always comes to mind, but these swing type chords get thrown in all over the place.

Thats all good OP - good advice there too - approaching the chord via a dominant a 1/2 step above and from a diminished from a half step below is pretty standard stuff.

I am not well-versed on theory...so, what exactly is a true passing chord?
I went here...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passing_chord

and that supported what I thought to some extent.(I didin't have the time to study the article...customer came in.) I was thinking that a true passing chord would be a chord from outside of the scale in which one was playing. Ex: C to C#dim to Dm7. That article seems to support that, but then they mentioned that a diatonic chord built on a third above would/could be termed a passing chord, also.....as Em7 following the Cmaj7 on the way to the IV chord maybe??? That would seem to say that using the iim chord on the way from the I to the V as exampled above would not be a passing chord...but simply another diatonic chord used to establish the song?????
Just wondering....I always enjoy learning from those of you graciously take the tiem to helhp an old man learn a bit more.

(but not really)

In a grand, overarching way ... they're ALL passing chords except for the I and the V (and even the V is suspect). :wink:

I suppose so.....though in that context, 'Keep On Chooglin' by CCR would be one giant passing chord, right? LOL
My apologies for the question....

When going from a I chord to a IV chord, stick a Iaug in between them.

Or just a I7.

When going from a IV chord to a V chord, stick a #IVdim chord in between them.

Or a II7. For a more laid back feel a ii7.

When going from a I chord to a V chord, stick a IIm chord in between them.

Or a II7. Or a #Idim.

When going from a IV to a I, stick #IVdim in there. For a more laid back feel, try the IV-iv-I.

When going from a I chord to a IIm chord, stick a #Idim chord between them.

Or a VI7.

VI7 and #Idim are pretty much interchangeable, as are #IVdim and II7.

What do you think? Too much crap to remember?

I think that until you internalize it, this rule-of-thumb way of thinking is very helpful. As I start learning the sounds of various moves I stop thinking this way and just know it. Up until then I need some guidelines like this to learn the sounds.

What do you think? Too much crap to remember?

It definitely makes sense, what you get is actually bass movement or some other type of small chromatic movement. I see people often don't even name these passing "chords" as in reality they don't function as part of song's harmonic structure.

To dissect a few examples from your list, in the key of C.

When going from a I chord to a IV chord, stick a Iaug in between them.

Going from C E G to F A C with a C E G#. What you are doing here is:

G -> G# -> A
E -> E -> F
C == C == C

Voice leading, chromatic shift with one note constant.

When going from a IV chord to a V chord, stick a #IVdim chord in between them.

So from F A C to G B D with a C Eb Gb (if we stick to triads, although usually you would play a 7th in the dim chord).

C -> Eb -> D
A -> C -> B
F -> Gb -> G

One way to show it, again small movements to get "closer" to the target chord. This one is interesting - partially from "upwards", partially from "downwards".

When going from a I chord to a V chord, stick a IIm chord in between them.

This example would work much better with 7ths... So I show an Am7 and G7:

C -> C -> B
G -> G -> F
E -> E -> D
C -> A -> G

So essentially the Am7 is just a move in the bass, in simple "cowboy" style often going through a B on the A string as well.

---------------------

What I am trying to say here is that if you get to know your "cowboy" chords well, the passing chords will become much easier to see and remember without much "theory". What you can practice is voicing the C major scale on one set of three strings (for example A D G for simplicity) and play the chords ascending while filling in the "lacking" steps to make the movement more gradual.

OK, I hope it is useful for someone :cool: