Harmonic analysis
Read in C major, the key of the tune. Taken on its own, with nothing around it, this excerpt is just as easy to hear in E♭ major — a few bars are often not enough to fix a tonic, and that ambiguity is a real property of the music rather than a gap in the analysis.
| Chord | Roman numeral | Function | What it is doing | Confidence |
|---|
| Cmaj7 | I | Tonic | Cmaj7 is the tonic of C. It is where the progression is at rest. | High |
| Bb7 | V7/bIII | Dominant | Bb7 is functioning as V7/bIII: a secondary dominant. It is the dominant of Eb, not of the home key, so it borrows the pull of a V-I and points it at bIII instead. Also readable as bVII7. | High |
| Ebmaj7 | bIII | Modal interchange | Ebmaj7 is bIII, borrowed from the parallel minor. | Low |
| Ab7b9 | subV7/V | Dominant | Ab7b9 is a tritone substitute — subV7/V. It carries the same tritone as D7, the real dominant of G, but resolves down a semitone instead of down a fifth. | Low |
| Dbmaj7 | bII | Modal interchange | Dbmaj7 is bII — the Neapolitan. Borrowed harmony a semitone above the tonic, usually on its way to the dominant. | Low |
| G7 | V7 | Dominant | G7 is the dominant of C. Its third and seventh form a tritone, and that tritone is what makes the tonic feel due. | High |
| Cmaj7 | I | Tonic | Cmaj7 is the tonic of C. It is where the progression is at rest. | High |
| Bb7#11 | bVII7 | Modal interchange | Bb7#11 is bVII7 — the backdoor dominant. It comes from the parallel minor and resolves up a whole tone to the tonic instead of down a fifth. Also readable as V7/bIII / subV7/vi. | Medium |
What the analyzer found in it
modal interchangeEbmaj7, Dbmaj7, Bb7#11
Modal interchange: Ebmaj7, Dbmaj7, Bb7#11 come from the parallel mode of C, not from the key itself.
High, medium and low next to each numeral are judgements about musical context, not probabilities. A low rating marks a bar that can honestly be read more than one way. How the ratings are decided →
The complete analysis of Very Early — every chord of the whole form, with its Roman numeral and its ii–V–Is marked on the chart — is in JamShed with the Practice Pass, ready to print. Open it in JamShed →
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Project 03 · Harmony
Project 07 · Jazz guitar
Project 05 · Harmony
