Harmonic Vibe Dictionary

Borrowed color

Major-key chords that briefly import color from the parallel minor or related modes. Often: nostalgia, shadow, ache, earthiness, grandeur.

Move	Example	Guide
Minor iv		Feels like nostalgic, theatrical ache Use it for verses and bridges that need a Broadway-pop sigh without leaving the key
Minor iv⁶		Feels like love lost, torch-song / old-Hollywood ache Use it for slow verses and bridges with old-Hollywood tenderness
Minor-iv pop version		Feels like pop ache resolving home Use it for chorus tags and final lifts that need a quick ache before home
Borrowed ♭III		Feels like wistful major detour, classic-rock color Use it for classic-rock verses and scene-change bridges
♭VI borrowed chord		Feels like tragic-romantic shadow over major Use it for dramatic bridges and scene changes
♭VII / Mixolydian borrow		Feels like rock door opens, gospel lift Use it for anthemic choruses, folk-rock, and open communal endings
♭VI–♭VII–I		Feels like heroic ascent, anime power-up, plumber game level ending Use it for big choruses, finales, and heroic scene changes
Neapolitan color		Feels like dramatic dark flash before resolution Use it for film-score turns, turnarounds, and dramatic pre-cadence flashes
Modal interchange chain		Feels like rock/psychedelic modal sweep Use it for bridges, psychedelic sections, and scene-change modulations

Chromatic motion

One voice moves by half-step while the harmony morphs around it. Often: melting, sneaking, slipping, yearning.

Move	Example	Guide
Augmented secondary dominant		Feels like theatrical shimmer, pre-chorus ache Use it for raising stakes before a chorus or bridge into relative minor
Tonic augmented line		Feels like melting staircase, floor shifting Use it for verses and pre-choruses that need unstable lift
Tonic transformation chain		Feels like vintage blooming pressure into IV Use it for old-pop verses and pre-chorus builds
Line cliché in major		Feels like old-pop glide into IV Use it for verses, turnarounds, and classic pop transitions
Diminished passing chord		Feels like trapdoor elegance, secret hallway Use it for turnarounds and jazz-leaning verses
Diminished approach chord		Feels like noir hinge into ii Use it for transitional moments that need a darker half-step color
Chromatic planing		Feels like psychedelic cinematic drift Use it for psychedelic bridges and scene-change modulations
Common-tone mediant		Feels like magical color shift with stable C Use it for magical interludes and dream-sequence bridges

Dominant pull

Chords that point strongly toward a target. Often: intention, direction, drama, sophistication.

Move	Example	Guide
Secondary dominant to vi		Feels like spotlight on relative minor Use it for steering a major verse toward the relative minor
ii–V–I		Feels like jazz sentence, polished inevitability Use it for turnarounds, bridges, and sophisticated endings
Classic I-vi-ii-V turnaround		Feels like familiar, graceful return to the top Use it for classic phrase endings, standards, and pop verses that need a clean return
Rhythm-changes turnaround		Feels like jazzy snap, familiar swing Use it for jazz standards, rhythm-changes language, and quick phrase turnbacks
iii-vi-ii-V turnaround		Feels like smooth circle-of-fifths glide Use it for standards and jazz-pop phrases that want smooth circular motion
Chain-dominant turnaround		Feels like brassy, theatrical, old-school push Use it for ragtime, blues, gospel tags, and emphatic turnbacks
Altered ii–V–I		Feels like sharper jazz tension, elegant bite Use it for jazz turnarounds and dramatic bridge resolutions
Neo-soul ii–V–I		Feels like warm, expensive, lush resolution Use it for neo-soul choruses and plush endings
Tritone substitution		Feels like slick wrong-door resolution Use it for jazz turnarounds and sophisticated surprise resolutions
Backdoor cadence		Feels like smoky side-door resolution Use it for endings and turnarounds that need soulful side-door arrival
Jazz backdoor		Feels like velvet side-door resolution Use it for lush endings and neo-soul choruses
Sus resolution		Feels like anticipation, worship/pop-rock lift Use it for pre-chorus launches, worship lifts, and open-hearted endings
Pedal dominant build		Feels like big pre-chorus/chorus launch Use it for pre-chorus builds and anthemic chorus launches
Blues-gospel turnaround		Feels like churchy blues pull back home Use it for blues endings, gospel turnbacks, and chorus tags that need a bigger shove

Bass motion

The bass line creates a bodily sense of climbing, falling, marching, or pushing.

Move	Example	Guide
Slash-chord bass climb		Feels like smooth pop descent, emotional glide Use it for verses and choruses that need smooth emotional motion
Major tonic walkdown		Feels like plainspoken fall, singer-songwriter ache Use it for verses and pre-choruses that need a gentle falling line into IV
Canon bass descent		Feels like inevitable, earnest, bittersweet lift Use it for anthemic verses and choruses with a familiar long-form descent
Diatonic stepwise ascent		Feels like steady lift, simple climb toward release Use it for pre-chorus and bridge builds that need a clear upward ramp
Pre-chorus escalator		Feels like gathering momentum, chorus incoming Use it for pre-chorus builds
Withholding the tonic		Feels like suspense, delayed arrival Use it for pre-choruses that delay the payoff
Gospel shove		Feels like churchy lift, communal upward push Use it for big communal choruses and bridge lifts
Pedal point		Feels like suspended gravity over fixed bass Use it for intros and bridges that need tension without bass movement
Deceptive lift		Feels like yearning instead of arrival Use it for pre-choruses and choruses that avoid immediate resolution

Pop loops

Familiar, repeatable progressions where the emotional center depends on where the phrase starts. The same chords can feel bright, vulnerable, suspended, or anthemic depending on rotation or melody.

Move	Example	Guide
Sad-bright pop loop		Feels like hopeful melancholy, universal uplift Use it for verses and choruses across mainstream pop
Primary-chord pop cadence		Feels like plainspoken lift and release Use it for choruses, tags, and folk-pop phrases that need clear home arrival
Three-chord rock loop		Feels like communal rock lift, open-ended Use it for rock, folk, and worship choruses with open-ended circular lift
Plagal lift pop loop		Feels like open-hearted lift that turns vulnerable Use it for verses and pre-choruses that need plagal openness plus forward pull
Plagal turnaround loop		Feels like open lift, tonic reset, forward push Use it for folk-pop verses, turnarounds, and choruses that want simple forward motion
Confessional rotation		Feels like earnest, vulnerable, diary-entry pop Use it for confessional verses and intimate choruses
Yearning rotation		Feels like suspended lift, chorus not quite landing Use it for verses and pre-choruses with suspended yearning
Doo-wop / sincere pop		Feels like old-school vulnerable sweetness Use it for sincere choruses and vintage-styled verses
Royal road		Feels like bittersweet soaring Use it for emotional choruses and bittersweet bridges
Extended royal road		Feels like full emotional arc Use it for long choruses and finales with earned major arrival
Add9 color loop		Feels like modern pop shimmer Use it for acoustic pop verses and bright choruses
Relative-major rotation		Feels like same loop, relative-major center Use it for rotations that reframe minor loops from relative major

Cadences

Punctuation marks in harmony: arrival, delay, side-door resolution, or closure.

Move	Example	Guide
Plagal cadence		Feels like amen, warm acceptance Use it for endings and gospel-leaning chorus closures
Deceptive cadence		Feels like not yet, emotional delay Use it for turnarounds and moments that delay resolution
Authentic cadence		Feels like period at the end of the sentence Use it for endings and definitive turnarounds

Where does this move take you? Reframe, tonicize, modulate.

Move	Example	Guide
Relative-minor handoff		Feels like spotlight turns from major home to vulnerable minor home Use it for handing off to vi when the next section should breathe from relative minor
iii pivot to vi		Feels like major home quietly turns inward Use it for soft handoffs from major verses into relative-minor sections
Chorus lift to IV		Feels like opens the window; chorus feels wider than home Use it for choruses that open on IV instead of landing on I
Chorus lift to vi		Feels like uplift turns into vulnerability at the chorus Use it for choruses that land on vi instead of I
Chorus lift to ii		Feels like searching, pre-dominant emotional space Use it for pre-choruses and choruses that hand off to ii
V/IV to IV		Feels like warm push into brighter territory Use it for warming a section toward IV before a chorus or bridge
V/V to V		Feels like anticipation before eventual return home Use it for building toward V before a cadence or chorus launch
vi-to-IV pivot		Feels like from introspective minor to broad pop warmth Use it for pivots from vi into an IV-centered chorus or section
Relative shift		Feels like same notes, more intimate center Use it for handing off between I and vi within the same key
Parallel mode shift		Feels like sudden shadow Use it for shifting to parallel minor or major for dramatic bridge color
Tonicize iii		Feels like major home tilts inward without fully darkening Use it for sections that want a quieter mediant landing instead of the relative-minor pull of vi
Secondary dominant to major VI		Feels like bright chromatic side door Use it for chromatic-mediant bridges and setup bars that need a surprising bright lift
Diminished pivot		Feels like trapdoor to a new room Use it for turnarounds that reroute to ii as the new center
Stay-home cadence		Feels like arrival, the sentence ends here Use it for endings and moments that resolve clearly to I
Minor ii–V into relative minor		Feels like jazz doorway into vulnerable minor Use it for bridges and turnarounds that need a clear door into relative minor
Relative-minor modulation		Feels like major surface gives way to a settled minor home Use it for moving from a major home into the relative minor as the new room
Parallel-minor modulation		Feels like same tonic name, newly settled in shadow Use it for bridges and final sections that need the same tonic to become darker and more settled
Pivot-chord modulation		Feels like smooth scene change, almost invisible Use it for modulating to the dominant key through a shared pivot chord
Secondary-dominant modulation		Feels like intentional lift, we are going somewhere Use it for modulating to the dominant key through a secondary-dominant chain
ii–V key-door		Feels like polished arrival into a new key Use it for arriving in the new key through ii–V–I
Common-tone modulation		Feels like magical teleport, cinematic color shift Use it for modulating by half step through a held common tone
Chromatic mediant modulation		Feels like movie-trailer scene cut Use it for jumping by third into chromatic-mediant harmonic territory
Truck-driver lift		Feels like adrenaline boost Use it for gear-shift lift up into final chorus