Neighbor Chords are a great way to expand and embellish a single chord that is played for an extended length of time…
A commonly-used gospel device is to embellish each of the big three chords (I, IV, and V) with “the ii” of the prevailing chord as follows…
Study-Practice Notes:
- Don’t forget to swing the eighth notes!
- Notice that the notes on the weak and back beats in the left hand are “ghosted”, more felt than heard.
- Use your knowledge of chord theory to work this pattern our for all major triads.
- This device almost always works for the big three chords in a major key (I, IV, and V) and sometimes as an embellishment of Secondary Dominants as well.