Modal

Interchange
1.) What is Modal Interchange?

Modal Interchange is a concept that allows us to borrow chords from other keys that share the same root note as the key a song
is in. I'll give you 3 simple examples and then I'll explain how we get there:
Lovely Day - Bill Withers
C A‹7 FŒ„Š9 A¨Œ„Š7 G‹7

&4 V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V
4
* *

You Are So Beautiful - Joe Cocker

C C^7 C7 F^7 B¨9 C

&4 V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V
4
*

More Than One Way Home - Keb Mo

C A¨ F‹7 G

&4 V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V
4
* *

All the examples were transposed to C-Major.

Now if you are familiar with the diatonic chords of C-Major and look at them, you might notice, that there are a few chords here
and there, that are not part of the chord family of C-Major (marked with an * under the staff).
2.) The theory behind all of that is fairly simple. Our song is in C-Major, but we could also borrow chords from other scales with the
root note C.
Probably the most common way to do this is by using the natural minor scale from the same root note (C-Major / C-Minor).
The roman numerals refer to the interval related to the root note (in this case C)
Here are the diatonic chords of both keys:
C-Major
CŒ„Š7 D‹7 E‹7 FŒ„Š7 G7 A‹7 B‹7(b5) CŒ„Š7
œœœ œœœ œœœ œœœ œœœ
œœ œœœ œœ œ œ œ
& œœ œ œœ œ œ
Imaj7 IIm7 IIIm7 IVmaj7 V7 VIm7 VIIm7b5 Imaj7

C-Minor
C‹7 D‹7(b5) E¨Œ„Š7 F‹7 G‹7 A¨Œ„Š7 B¨7 C‹7
b œœœ bœ
b œœœœ b œœœ b b œœœœ b œœœœ bb œœœœ b œœœ
& b b œœœœ bœ
bœ
Im7 IIm7b5 bIIImaj7 IVm7 Vm7 bVImaj7 bVII7 Im7
If we look at the examples now, we get this (melodies included):

Lovely Day - Bill Withers

C A‹7 FŒ„Š9 A¨Œ„Š7 G‹7

™ œ™
4
&4 Œ ‰ œœœ œœ œœ œ œ
œ
Œ Ó Œ ‰
œœœ œ œ œ
‰ Ó
I VIm7 IVmaj9 bVImaj7 Vm7

C-Minor

You Are So Beautiful - Joe Cocker

C C^7 C7 F^7 B¨9 C
4 ‰ œj
&4 Œ œ œ œ œ œ Œ Ó Ó Œ ‰ j œ Œ Ó
I Imaj7 I7 IVmaj7 bVII7 œ I

This chord could come from C-Minor,

but there's a more elegant way to nd
a chord scale for this situation,
that I'll show you later.
More Than One Way Home - Keb Mo

œ ™ b œ œ œj œ œj œ ™
C A¨ F‹7 G

& 4 œ™ œ œ œ œ œ
4 j œ œ Œ Ó ‰ œj œ œj œ œ Œ
J
I bVI IVm7 V

C-Minor
3.) What we have done so far can also be done another way. Until now we took C-Major and C-Minor to do our Modal Interchange,
but we can also do the same thing from the "relative Minor" of our starting Key C-Major, which in this case is A-Minor.
And from A-Minor we can switch to it's major equivalent starting on the same root: A-Major

A-Minor (relative minor of C-Major)

CŒ„Š7 D‹7 E‹7 FŒ„Š7 G7 A‹7 B‹7(b5) CŒ„Š7
œœœ œœ œœœ œœ
œœœ œœœ œœœ œœ œœ
& œœœ œ œ œ œ œ
œ
Imaj7 IIm7 IIIm7 IVmaj7 V7 VIm7 VIIm7b5 Imaj7

A-Major
C©‹7 DŒ„Š7 E7 F©‹7 G©‹7(b5) AŒ„Š7 B‹7 C©‹7
œœœ
œœ # œœœ # œœœœ
# # œœœœ #
& # # œœœœ # # œœœœ # œœœœ #
# œœ #œ # œ
#Im7 IImaj7 III7 #IVm7 #Vm7 VImaj7 VIIm7 #Im7

Light My Fire - The Doors

A‹ F©‹ A‹ F©‹
4 j Œ Ó j Œ Ó
&4 œ œ œ j œ œ œ œ œ œ j
œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
 4.) So just using the Major / Minor method, we have 3 sets of diantonic chords from 3 different key signatures to choose from.
Our starting point (C-Major), the minor scale from the same root (C-Minor) which is equivalent to the major scal a minor third up
(Eb-Major) and the major scale starting on the same root as the relative minor of C-Major, in this case A-Minor and A-Major on the
same root, which is a minor third lower than our starting key C.

C-Major and Eb-Major (C-Minor)

CŒ„Š7 D‹7 E‹7 FŒ„Š7 G7 A‹7 B‹7(b5) CŒ„Š7 C‹7 D‹7(b5) E¨Œ„Š7 F‹7 G‹7 A¨Œ„Š7 B¨7 C‹7
œœœ œœœ œœœ œœœ b œœœ b œœœ b b œœœœ
& œœœœ œœ
œœ
œœœ
œ
œœ
œœ œ œ œ œ
b b œœœœ b œœœœ bb œœœœ bœ
b œœœ b œœœœ bœ bœ
Imaj7 IIm7 IIIm7 IVmaj7 V7 VIm7 VIIm7b5 Imaj7 Im7 IIm7b5 bIIImaj7 IVm7 Vm7 bVImaj7 bVII7 Im7

A-Minor (relative minor of C-Major) and A-Major

CŒ„Š7 D‹7 E‹7 FŒ„Š7 G7 A‹7 B‹7(b5) CŒ„Š7 C©‹7 DŒ„Š7 E7 F©‹7 G©‹7(b5) AŒ„Š7 B‹7 C©‹7
œœœ œœœ œœ œœœ œœœ œœœ # œœœ #œ # œœœœ # # œœœœ
& œœœ œœœ œœœ
œ œ œœ œ œ # œœœ # # œœœœ # œœœœ #
#œ #œ # œœœ
œ œ œ #œ
Imaj7 IIm7 IIIm7 IVmaj7 V7 VIm7 VIIm7b5 Imaj7 #Im7 IImaj7 III7 #IVm7 #Vm7 VImaj7 VIIm7 #Im7

This gives us a complete set of 21 chords to choose from for our writing of chord changes:

Starting Minor Minor

Key: 3rd up: 3rd down:
Imaj7 Im7 #Im7
IIm7 IIm7b5 IImaj7
IIIm7 bIIImaj7 III7
IVmaj7 IVm7 #IVm7
V7 Vm7 #Vm7
VIm7 bVImaj7 VImaj7
VIIm7b5 bVII7 VIIm7
5.) Now how can we make use of all of this when writing?

My first concept is to spice up simple melodies by tricking the listener into new directions by changing the function a melody note
has in relation to the chord. Simple said: the melody note stays the same, but the chord changes and gives the melody note a new
context / function / meaning / feel. I did something in a song of mine, here's the example:

Gone But Not Forgotten - Trio der Liebe Nico Schliemann

‰™ rœ œ œ œ œ™ ‰™ rœ œ œ œ œ™ ‰™ rœ œ œ œ
E‹9 CŒ„Š7 E‹9 CŒ„Š7
#4 Ó j j
& 4 œ ˙ ˙ œ ˙ ˙
œ 2| 9 3
œ 2| 9 3
œ

/
E„ˆˆ9

‰™
A‹7(13) G‹7(13) B7½ E‹9

œ™ œ œ™
#
Ϫ
& j j ‰ j Ó rœ œ œ œ
œ ˙ œ œ w œ
6| 13 1 6| 13 #2| #9 b2| b9 5

/
E„ˆˆ9

‰™ ‰™
E‹9 CŒ„Š7 A‹7(13)

œ™ r œ œ œ œ œ™
# j j
& œ ˙ ˙ œ ˙ ˙ rœ œ œ œ
9 3
œ 6| 13 1
œ

C9(#11) B‹7(11) B¨9(#11) A‹7(11) F©‹11 F9(#11)

œ™ j ™
#
Ϫ
j
˙ ™™
& œ œ œ ˙ ‰ j j
œ œ œ w
#4| #11 4| 11 #4| #11 4| 11 b3 4| 11 #4| #11
The last example also showed some different Modal Interchanges besides the common Major / Minor changes.
This one used Dorian instead at one point. Also this shows us the was how to apply the scales that fit to the scenario.

We need to look at 2 things for this:

1.) The chord voicing and what tensions (9 / 11 / 13 and their varations) are used

2.) The melody note.

/
E„ˆˆ9
A‹7(13) G‹7(13) B7½ E‹9

œ™ œ œ™
#4 r
Ϫ
& 4 œ œ j j ‰ j
œ œ œ œ ˙ œ œ w
6| 13 1 6| 13 #2| #9 b2| b9 5

The Am7(13) is the IIm7 chord in E-Minor, the Eadd9/G# is the I chord in E-Major,
now the Gm7(13) would be the Im7 chord in G-Minor, but the 13 in the chord symbol
and the melody note E tell us it is not G-Minor (G A Bb C D Eb F) but G-Dorian (G A Bb C D E F).

I call this "the change of least resistance", where you take the scale it would have been and just
alter the note, that needs to be changed.