Borrowed chords occur when chords from
the parallel major or minor key are used and substituted for the
normal chords of the prevailing key. In the key
of C-Major, we have the normal pattern of major, minor, and
diminished chords built on each scale degree.
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| The chords in the key of C-Major |
These are the chords that normally
occur in the key of C-Major. The following shows the chords that
occur in the key of C-minor. C-minor is the parallel key of C-Major.
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| The chords in the key of C-minor |
This minor scale also has its own
pattern of chords built upon each scale degree. To create a borrowed
chord, we take one of the chords from the parallel key and use it in
the original key. For example, in the key of C-Major, the chord built
on the fourth scale degree is normally an F-Major chord, but in the
parallel minor key it is an F-minor chord, and if we instead use this
F-minor chord, “borrowed” from the parallel minor key, in place
of the normal F-Major chord, we then have a borrowed chord. This
mixing of chords from parallel keys is also called mode mixture.
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| A chord progression containing a borrowed chord |
The following shows some more examples
of borrowed chords.
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| Examples of chord progressions containing borrowed chords |
