Nathaniel School of Music

Passing Chords Made Easy: Transform Your Piano Progressions Step by Step

A passing chord places a chromatic bass note a semitone below a target diatonic chord, and in G major you can build it three ways: a major slash chord with its third in the bass (such as D/F# to G), a secondary dominant seventh (such as E7 to A minor), or a secondary diminished seventh (such as G#dim7 to A minor).

Video lesson by Jason Zac · Intermediate · 22 min

Can't see the video? Watch it on YouTube.

Key points

What this lesson teaches

In this lesson Jason Zac shows how to use three kinds of passing chords to make any chord of a key feel like a temporary home: slash chords, secondary dominants and secondary diminished chords. It suits pianists who already know basic triads and want to add colour and stronger movement to simple diatonic progressions such as I–V–vi–IV. The examples use G major, which shares its key signature (one sharp, F#) with E natural minor, so the same ideas work for both.

The main strategy: a chromatic note before the target

The diatonic triads of G major are G, A minor, B minor, C, D, E minor and F# diminished. Only G major and E minor feel like resting points. A minor works as a pre-dominant, D as the dominant, and F# diminished is very unstable. To make a chord like A minor or B minor sound like a new home, you approach it with a passing chord whose bass note sits a semitone below the target chord's root.

1. Slash chords: one note resolving

Build a major chord with its third in the bass, choosing it so that the bass note is a semitone below the target. Ask: what is the note a half step below the target, and which major chord has that note as its third?

F# diminished is skipped, because it is already unstable and naturally resolves back to the tonic. The right-hand triad can be in any inversion; the bass note is what does the work. Notice that G/B makes the tonic itself unstable and pulls smoothly to C, the IV chord. Each of these slash chords will also resolve to a major chord on the same root, but here they are practised diatonically.

2. Secondary dominants: two notes resolving

A dominant is a V going to I. For each target, find its fifth and play a dominant seventh chord on that note. For example, D7 (D F# A C) to G gives two resolutions: F# rises to G and C falls to B.

You can combine both ideas, for example D7/F#, for an even stronger pull, but secondary dominants also work with the root in the bass.

3. Secondary diminished chords: several notes resolving

Replace the dominant seventh with a diminished seventh chord built on the note a semitone below the target. A diminished seventh is stacked entirely in minor thirds, so it has many notes pulling towards the target triad.

Here is the hidden link: take A#dim7 (A# C# E G) and drop the G to F#. You get F#7, the secondary dominant of B minor. A secondary diminished chord is a dominant seventh in disguise.

How to practise

  1. Play each passing chord into its target slowly and listen for the semitone pull in the bass.
  2. Sing the resolving note, both high and low, to train your ear.
  3. Work through all six targets with slash chords, then secondary dominants, then diminished sevenths.
  4. Mix the order freely and hum a melody over the chords to start composing.
  5. Try the same approach with major or minor versions of each target chord.

Questions about this lesson

What chord resolves to A minor in G major as a passing chord?

You can use the slash chord E/G#, the secondary dominant E7, or the secondary diminished chord G#dim7. All three put G# in a strong position, a semitone below A.

How do I find the right slash chord for any target?

Go a semitone below the target chord's root, then find the major chord that has that note as its third and put it in the bass. For example, C# is below D, and A major has C# as its third, so A/C# leads to D.

What is the difference between a secondary dominant and a secondary diminished chord?

A secondary dominant is a dominant seventh on the fifth of the target, while a secondary diminished is a diminished seventh built a semitone below the target. Lowering one note of the diminished seventh gives you the secondary dominant, so they are closely related.

Why not resolve to the F# diminished chord in G major?

The diminished chord is already unstable and naturally wants to resolve back to the tonic, so it does not work as a new home.

Practise it

Related lessons