Cadences

Minor ii-V Progression

The ii-V of a minor key: a half-diminished ii chord moving to an altered dominant, whose b9 and b13 are the 3rd and 6th of the minor key.

Tempo 120 BPM

Practice in all 12 keys

Bar 1: Dm7♭5 iiø7
Bar 2: G7alt V7alt

Rootless Shells Guide tones Rooted shells Rooted Drop 2

Four-note rootless voicings in their two forms, with the 3rd or the 7th on the bottom, played over the root.

Customize each chord

Dm7b5
G7alt

Meter: 4/4
Bars: 2

Where the major ii-V is smooth, the minor one is dark and tense: the ii has a flattened 5th, and the altered dominant adds b9, #9, b5 and b13. It leads to a minor chord, but players also use it to set up a major one, or to point at the ii or vi chord of a major key. Listen for the b9 of the V resolving down a half step to the 5th of the i chord.

Reharmonize Analyze these changes

Tritone substitutes

Dm7b5 Db7#11

Each dominant 7th that resolves down a fifth becomes the dominant a tritone away, which shares its 3rd and 7th, so the bass moves by half steps.
Backdoor dominants

Fm7 Bb7

Each V7 resolving to a major chord comes in by the back door from bVII7, with iv7 for its ii, borrowed from the minor key.

Reharmonize Analyze these changes

Tritone substitutes

Backdoor dominants