Harmonic analysis
Read in D major, the key of the tune. Taken on its own, with nothing around it, this excerpt is just as easy to hear in G minor — 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 |
|---|
| Dmaj7 | I | Tonic | Dmaj7 is the tonic of D. It is where the progression is at rest. | High |
| Bbdim7 | bvi°7 | Other | Bbdim7 does not take a functional role in D. It sits on bVI and is best heard as colour, or as a sign that the tonal center has moved. | Low |
| Am7 | ii/IV | Predominant | Am7 is the ii of a secondary ii-V. Together with D7 it prepares G, so the pair tonicizes IV without leaving the key. | High |
| D7 | I7 | Tonic | D7 is the tonic, but built as a dominant seventh — the sound that defines the blues. The tonic keeps a b7 and stays at home anyway. Also readable as V7/IV. | Medium |
| Gmaj7 | IV | Predominant | Gmaj7 is the IV chord of D: subdominant. It moves away from the tonic without creating the pull of a dominant. | High |
| Gm6 | iv | Predominant | Gm6 is a minor iv in a major key, borrowed from the parallel minor. Its b6 pulls down into the third of the tonic — one of the most recognisable sounds in the repertoire. | Medium |
What the analyzer found in it
ii/IV - I7 - IVAm7 - D7 - Gmaj7
A complete ii-V-I in G. Predominant, dominant, tonic: the sentence jazz harmony is built out of.
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 Wave — 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
