tritone subs

So, why do so many players love a good tritone sub? Well, in the medium tempos it creates a more seamless, half step motion to the tonic than the Five chord. In a ballad, it is often the "hushed" breath between lovers. In brighter tempos, approaching the tonic from above, the tritone sub becomes the inimitable and ever popular half step lead in, nearly essential for all of the American styles and a key component of creating the magic called swing.

Often known affectionately among players simply as the "tritone sub", this harmonic motion is a cool and way easy way to open up our lines of convergence and add excitement to our music. Named for the interval from the chord which originates the substitution, the tritone sub is almost exclusively a jazz color, although it does find it's way into the various genres of blues and pop music. For the players of jazz standards, where the Two / Five / One chord progression is so commonly employed in the cadential motion, the tritone sub becomes an invaluable asset in creating variety and excitement when realizing this important cadential motion found within hundreds of tunes.

To begin our theoretical examination of the tritone sub, compare the pitches of the following chords. Here we use the pitches of two very common dominant chord voicings for guitar. Example 1.

Wow, two pitches are identical. So, no wonder that the tritone relationships between the roots G and Db can produce chords so similar. Is there some magic here in that the identical pitches are the third and seventh of each of the chords? The coolness is that when a player hears or sees a G 7 in the music, chances are they will go a certain way with their lines. Maybe G Mixolydian or F Lydian if they are thinking diatonically, maybe a blues idea if the mood is upon them. By thinking tritone sub, a whole nother part of our musical palettes open up. How? Well, not everybody thinks this way but the parent scale for Db 7 is Gb major right? So use the pitches of Gb to create a melodic idea towards C major or minor? Exactly. Other possibilities for Db 7? B Lydian, which is a half step below our target root of C. As opposed to Db, which is by half step from above. Ah, the wonders of tonal convergence for the creative artist.

The truth of the matter is the pitches are often the same. The aural difference is when we form certain pitches into groups. And by doing so, we potentially have the sound and color of these groups to tell our stories, shape our solos, disguise the tonal direction, maybe even defy tonal gravity a bit or find the elusive swing thing. No matter how we shake it down, the tritone sub is truly a golden addition to the jazz and blues artist's palette.

To begin our aural examination of the tritone substitution, here is an example of the Two / Five / One cadential motion in C major. Example 1.

Common enough eh? The initial theory of the tritone sub is based on substituting for the dominant chord, which in the above idea is G 7. All we are doing here is replacing one dominant type chord, with another, whose root is a tritone interval away from the root of the written chord. Thus, the following evolution of the above Two / Five / One motion emerges. Example 2.

Stylistically, the tritone sub is oftentimes a bridge into the jazz world for the emerging artist. The sleeker motion of the popular Two / Five cadential motion, as compared to Four / Five / One is additionally sleeked as we substitute Db 7 for G 7, evolving the ii / V 7 into ii / b II 7, creating a more chromatic aspect to the convergence and resolution. Same principles for the minor tonality? Pretty much, using the tritone sub usually implies half step motion to the tonic. Example 2a.

Notice how we used a tonic type chord from Db going to the minor tonality in bar 11 above? But that is a different chord type than the chord we are substituting for. Did we break some kind of rule of thumb? Well, yes, in that when players apply a tritone sub, it usually is with dominant harmony. But can we create a tritone sub on any of the three basic chord types? Pretty much. As usual, we each define which chord goes where in simply creating our own sounds.

Thus, do we need and want a dramatic, more definite resolution of tension, or a softer, perhaps gentler cadential motion? Is the tempo and style of the music such that the dominant color is a bit cumbersome in setting up the cadences, allowing for and necessitating that the tritone sub morph into a tonic color? Do we ever combine the tonic and dominant chord types on the tension side of the cadential motion? Of course, we do it all here. In this next idea, we simply create a tonic chord type tritone sub for the Two chord. Thinking C major, the D min 7 becomes Ab maj 7, which then moves down by half step to V 7, before resolving to the tonic C major. Example 2b.

Ah, the oh so subtle flat Six color emerges, ( C to Ab ), potentially so important on the modern players palette of colors. In the minor tonality also? Very much and perhaps more so due to it's diatonic creation within the minor tonality. Example 2c.

So, can we now tritone sub Db for G in the above idea? Lets hear and see. Example 2d.

Can we evolve the Ab maj 7 chord into a Two chord type, the root of which is a tritone interval from the diatonic Two chord root, which in this case is D minor 7? Lets try and see. Example 2e.

In the idea above, have we simply created a tritone sub for the whole diatonic Two / Five cell? Yes we have, dig the sound? So, the basic idea is to substitute by chord type, a tritone away from the root of the written chord, and adjust chord quality and color tones to taste? Yep. In theory the ideas are rather simplistic, implementing these ideas into one's sound is potentially a lot trickier. Enjoy Duke Ellington's "Satin Doll" and hear this above motion in action.

Are there other projections of this tritone substitute? Can we apply the tritone sub concept to the diatonic Three / Six / Two / Five chord progression? Example 3.

Coolness emerges in the bass line where the perfect 4th / 5th motion gives way to the far more sleeker chromatic motion.

So, using the tritone sub is basically about replacing the dominant chord with a similar chord type a tritone away? Pretty much. Where else might we employ this motion? How about in a jazzy blues environment, we do it all in the blues right? One common placement of the tritone sub within the blues is in the motion between One and Four in the 12 bar blues form. Example 4.

In the above idea we are subbing out for C 7, the Gb 7 being of the same chord type whose root is a tritone away. Do we always have to use the same colortones when subbing out for a particular dominant chord? Nope. In the following idea, compare how the G 7 becomes Db 9 / 13 as we converge towards the tonic C major. Example 5.

Can we use sub color tones in the minor tonality as well? You bet. Example 6.

So, is any possible combination of color tones available to the creative artist within the realm of the tritone substitute? Are we limited only by our own imaginations? Can anything come from and go anywhere?

Other coolness with using the tritone substitute? Well, melodically we can enhance the diatonic pitches of our key center with pitches associated with the substitute chord. So, in using Db 7 for G 7 in a resolving motion towards C, what is the parent scale of Db 7? Or, what key is the Db 7 the dominant chord of? Or, Db is the 5th scale degree of what major scale? Or, if the pitch Db is the 5th, what's One? Right, Gb major. So we can use pitches of Gb to create melodic tension in a resolving motion towards C major? Yep. Example 7.

So we borrowed a bit of Gb major to spice up our motion in C major? Yep. Simply used the pitches of Db Mixolydian to create an idea heading towards C major. Can we use the pitches of any of the tritone sub possibilities to create our melodic ideas? Sure why not? Is this tritone sub cool or what! So is this part of why jazz players tend to have a working knowledge of each of the 12 major and minor tonal centers? That with this pitch resource we can add bits of one key in another, all the while retaining our sense of tonal center and direction in the music while finding our own unique ways of taking care of business? Could very well be.

One rather rare and unique use of the tritone substitution principles involves creating a cycle of chords which converge towards a tonal center starting from a tritone away from the tonic. Although not often written in, advanced players might cycle lines into their improvisations based on the following changes. As sometimes an extension of the blues idea in example 4 above, we can create a cycle of non-resolving Two / Five pairings and descend towards our destination, which in the following idea becomes the Four chord as found in a 12 bar blues. Example 8.

Interesting eh? Our cycle starts off in the above idea with substituting a F# 7 for C 7 chord and pairing it with it's diatonic Two chord, C# minor 7, then simply cycling down by whole steps towards our destination F, the subdominant of C major / minor blues. Interesting how the cycle organically gets back to C 7 before moving to the subdominant eh? Here is the above idea using more of the melodic possibilities created by this cyclical motion. Example 8a.

Did we melodically simply move one idea down by whole step? Yes we did. Starting to get a bit hairy pitch wise eh? In the last idea we simply created a melodic idea from the parent scale of C# minor 7 / F# 7 and cycled the same idea down in whole steps and resolved to F 7. Not an all to easy task but not all that difficult either for the player who has the 12 major scales under their fingers. Can we use ideas like this even though the chord changes might just be basic blues changes? Yes we can, but our lines had better be convincing eh? Again one of the golden rules of improvisation emerges from the above ideas. Can I sing the line I want to play... Speaking of getting hairy, can we use the tritone substitute for all of the Two / Five cycles in the above idea? Example 8b.

Got your chromatic helmet handy? A chromatic extravaganza if there ever was eh? Is this what many jazz players love to do, to look for cool ways to "jazz up" the written changes by simply exploring new avenues of tonal convergence?

In traditional harmony, the tritone sub is akin to the "German 6th chord", the 6th implying that the chord is used in first inversion and there is an augmented 6th interval between the root and one of the upper voices. Although not a "true" tritone sub as in many of the examples above, we can resolve the "German 6th" chord to a second inversion tonic chord, thus fulfilling the basic tritone substitute function. Thinking Two / Five / One in C major. Example 9.

So, the German 6th chord is sort of a "wanna be" tritone sub? Well pretty much. It usually moves to the dominant before resolving to the tonic. Other augmented 6th chords? So, what is the theory of where this tritone substitute is organically created from within equal temper?

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"I don't know anything about music. In my line you don't have to." Elvis Presley (1935-1977)