About Tritones (from Getting Inside Harmony 2)
Hey again. Michael Moyes, Student Advisor for Berkleemusic here. I have been furthering my harmonic knowledge this term and have been spending some time thinking about Tritones and their numerous functions in music of all types.
A tritone is a musical interval of three whole steps, or 6 half steps. The interval is also known as an augmented fourth, a dimished fifth, or the ‘devil’s interval’ due to it’s dissonant sound.
This interval has been and continues to be utilized in music of all styles and can be found in tunes like “Maria” (from West Side Story), “Purple Haze, “and even Rachmaninoff’s famous Prelude in C# minor.
Tritone substitutions in chord progressions use the same concepts used to build tritones, but the focus is on the harmonic level, not melodic. These substitutions can be used in 12 Bar Blues, ii V I progressions, and many more complex changes as well.
Let’s take a standard ii V I progression in the key of C major to show a tritone substitution in action.
The typical progression would be as follows…
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Dmin7
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G7
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CMA7
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The chord substituted in the progression will be the dominant 7th, the G7 chord. Three whole tones above the note G is the note Db, which will be our new root for our dominant 7th chord.
The new progression would be as follows…
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Dmin7
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Db7
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CMA7
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Musicians use tritone substitutions to vary the feel of repeated chord progressions and to facilitate stepwise motion. Re-harmonizing is one of the more interesting advanced topics taught here at berkleemusic and is covered in Getting Inside Harmony 2, which is authored by esteemed Berklee Professor and Assistant Film Scoring Chair Michael Rendish.
Interested students should either complete Getting Inside Harmony 1 or have equivalent experience.
- Listen to a Tritone Example MP3
- Explore Berkleemusic’s online Music Theory courses and certificate programs
Berkleemusic’s online winter term begins January 11, 2010.
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is the reference to Purple Haze having a tritone substitution the first 2 bars of the intro to the song before the riff? If so that is what I have always heard. The notes Bb and octave Bb over the bass guitar doing E to octave E.
Cheers,
Cam
Hi Cam,
The Purple Haze tritone is indeed in the intro and it is between the Bass and Guitar lines. It isn’t a tritone substitution which I illustrated in my audio example; however it is a perfect example of the tritone interval. Sorry it took me so long to respond to your question!
Take care,
Michael
Hi Michael,
Thanks for your reference about tritones.
I cannot help to wonder if this interval can be understood as a #2 note(or chord made with #2,or sth else) in riffs involving genres like nu-metal, hardcore-rock…it’s truely sounds “evil”.
I have no ideal about how the substitution mentioned works for…modulation?or merely rendering a distinguished feeling of harmony?
Sorry for my literal chaos.
Cheers,
Guo Qu
Hi Guo,
I am sorry for the delay in responding. A Tritone would not fall under the category of #2 or #6. I actually tend to think of these as flat 3rds or flat 7ths instead which are minor 3rd and minor/dominant seventh intervals respectively. The Tritone interval is always going to be a #4 or a b5.
You are right about the use of a tritone substitution. Often times they are used to “render a distinguished feeling of harmony”. They are also very effective at creating tension while not screwing up the harmonic structure of a piece. Jazz pianists use them all the time in their solos.
-Michael
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