Borrowed Chords - Ukulele Song Writing (Patreon)

Today we are going to talk about borrowed chords. A borrowed chord is a chord that we take from another key or a mode and interject into our key. You have no doubt learned at least one song that uses them, but maybe you didn't notice... or maybe you did! Maybe you were playing a song in the key of C and saw an E7 or a Fm and said... what is that doing there? I have been wanting to do this video for a long time and I am excited that I am finally able to get it done. We are going to examine everything through the lens of C major, a key that is both easy to play and easy to understand, a key that is the most familiar for all ukulele players and a key that has no barre chords. We will start by reviewing the key and then we are going to look at 12 different borrowed chords and give an example for each one. The two easiest places to borrow chords from are the parallel minor, note not the relative minor, the parallel minor. Meaning if we are in C major the parallel minor would be C minor (relative minor is A minor and all the chords would be exactly the same. The other place is secondary dominants, were we turn the three minor chords and the one diminished chord in the key of C into 7 chords. 

For this lesson we are going to take those 12 different borrowed chords and put them into a chord progression so you can see and hear them in context, but don't think that is the only way you can use those borrowed chords. Experiment with other chord progressions, try chord progressions with multiple borrowed chords, have fun and see if you can create a progression that you have never seen before but also remember one of the most important things you can do is trust your ears! Also at the bottom of the PDF file there are blank strum pattern charts for you to create your own chord progressions. 

If you enjoy what we are doing here check out 10 Thumbs challenges on facebook, we are currently doing a challenge on song writing and composition

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Will Improve

• Song writing
• Understanding of chord progressions
• Ability to create unique chord progressions
• Ability to analyze your favorite songs
• Understanding of parallel minors
• Understanding of secondary dominants

Related Lessons

• Writing chord progressions 
• Writing Lyrics 
• Spice Up your Chord Progressions