Secondary Dominants?! Yes, they are essential in understanding what some of the chords you see in other songs are and how you can spice up a song you’re arranging/writing. I have a whole blog discussing the importance of the dominant chord (Importance of Dominant Blog) and secondary dominants are the dominants of the other chords in the key (like the ii (2), iii (3), IV (4), V (5), vi (6)), temporarily making that one feel like “home”. So how do we find them? Three ways:
1) Look on my “Theory” PDF.
– Look at the “Theory” PDF and go to the key on the far right (whether one of the chords in the key is major or minor) and go to it’s fifth column (says “V (5)” at the top) then there’s your Dominant chord of that chord!
2) Use Barre Chords.
If the chord we’re looking for it’s dominant’s root is on the 6th string – the dominant can be found on the 5th string two frets higher.
If the chord we’re looking for it’s dominant’s root is on the 5th string – the dominant can be found on the 6th string on the same fret.
3) Use our Chords as Numbers:
Dominant of our ii (2) chord is our vi (6) as a dominant.
Dominant of our iii (3) chord is our viii (7) as a dominant.
Dominant of our IV (4) chord is our I (1) as a dominant.
Dominant of our V (5) chord is our ii (2) as a dominant.
Dominant of our vi (6) chord is our iii (3) as a dominant.
I go through a few ways in how we can use these and more in the video and also link below to related lessons in which I talk about a few of the concepts (Chords as Numbers?! For example) more in depth! Dig!
-Related Lessons-
0:18 – Transposing (Chords as Numbers)?! | UGT 5/8
0:47 – Playing Open Chords | BO 4/10
1:35 – 6th String Barre Chords | BO 9/10
1:35 – 5th String Barre Chords | BO 10/10
2:00 – Barred 7th Chords
2:00 – Open 7th Chords
PDF’s
Theory, Open Chords, 7th Chords, CAGED Full, Advanced Chord Progressions, Rhythms & Chord Progressions
