20220403163400 Variations of ii-V-I

Variations of ii-V-I

Variations of ii-V-I can be created by incorporating one or more of these techniques:

• tritone substitution
• related IIs

Effectively the possible harmonic progressions are:

• IIm -> V -> I
• IIm -> subV -> I
• IIm/subV -> subV -> I
• IIm/subV -> V -> I

Example 1

• Chord progresion: C | Em
• Add in a secondary dom: C | B7 Em
• B7 is the V7 in the key of E, where F#m is the IIm chord
• Add in the related II: C F#m7 | B7 Em

Example 2

• Chord progression: Bb | Ab
• Add secondary dom: Bb | Eb7 Ab
• A minor chord a 5th away from Eb7 is Bbm
• Bb Bbm | Eb7 Ab

Example 3

• F | C7
• F | Db7 C7 (tritone sub)
• F Abm7 | Db7 C7 (Db7 is diatonic to Gb; Abm is the IIm chord)

Example 4

• A | D (I IV)
• A | A7 D (V7/IV; the tritone sub would be Eb7)
• A Bbm | A7 D (Eb7 is key of Ab, IIm is Bbm)