Approach chord
Type of musical chord
In music, an approach chord (also chromatic approach chord and dominant approach chord) is a chord one half-step higher or lower than the goal, especially in the context of turnarounds and cycle-of-fourths progressions, for example the two bar 50s progression:
|G / Em / |Am / D7 / ||may be filled in with approach chords:
|G F9 Em A♭m |Am D♯7 D7 G♭7 ||F9 being the half-step to Em, A♭m being the half-step to Am, D♯7 being the half-step to D7, and G♭7 being the half-step to G. G being I, Em being vi, Am being ii, and D7 being V7 (see ii-V-I turnaround and circle progression).
An approach chord may also be the chord immediately preceding the target chord such as the subdominant (FMaj7) preceding the tonic (CMaj7) creating a strong cadence through the contrast of no more than two common tones: FACE, CEGB.
Approach chords may thus be a semitone or a fifth or fourth from their target.
Approach chords create the harmonic space of the modes in jazz rather than secondary dominants.
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Approach chord”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- I-vi-ii-V turnaround in G.png by Hyacinth at English Wikipedia, Public domain
- Approach chords in G.png by Created by Hyacinth (talk) 07:09, 12 December 2010 using Sibelius 5., CC BY-SA 3.0
- Turnaround in F.png by Created by Hyacinth (talk) 07:17, 12 December 2010 using Sibelius 5., Public domain
- Approach chords in F.png by User:Hyacinth, CC BY-SA 3.0
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