Jazz Piano Tutorial - Modal Interchange and Borrowed Chords

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This Jazz Piano Tutorial is about Modal Interchange or Borrowed Chords.

Modal Interchange is used to add ‘colour’ to your chord progression, or to make your chord progression a bit more interesting

Modal Interchange is a very common devise employed in Jazz and is found in many Jazz Standards

It’s useful to make a similar differentiation between Modulation and Modal Interchange:
- Modulation = Changing key for a long period of time
- Modal Interchange = Changing key (using chords from a different key) for a short period of time while retaining the same ‘tonal centre’ (root note)

What ‘a long period of time’ compared to ‘a short period of time’ means is subjective.

It’s also worth quickly explaining the difference between a relative key and a parallel key:
- Relative key = two keys that have the same notes but a different root note (C Major & A natural minor)
- Parallel key = two keys that have different notes but the same root note (C Major & C natural minor)

In Modal Interchange you ‘borrow’ a chord from a ‘parallel key’
This is why using ‘Modal Interchange’ is also called using ‘Borrowed Chords’.

You can ‘borrow’ a chord from a parallel key or mode, and as long as the chord progression is still leading towards the ultimate tonic chord, it won’t sound like you’ve completely changed key – it won’t be ‘Modulation’.

And if modal interchange is just borrowing a chord from a parallel key, then there’s no reason you need to limit yourself to the modes of the Major Scale or the melodic or harmonic minor. You could also use chords from the modes of the harmonic minor or melodic minor or from the diminished or augmented or wholetone scales.

So you can borrow any chord from any scale, as long as the root note (or ‘tonal centre’) stays the same.

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