Strange chord bi (flat I) in Cminor

music theory
1

Hi, I found a (B major) chord in chorus of Depeche Mode’s - Enjoy the silence written in Cm, that is defined as a bI - borrowed chord. So any chance for an explanation from where it is borowed, because i never saw such a thing in chord progressions before :smile:

Thank you!

2

In Hookpad, if a chord says it’s borrowed, that means that it was borrowed from a different mode, while bprrpwing in a different mode.

For example, lat’s say you have a I chord in B major, but you want that bI chord (Bb major). So what you do is you go under “Sec” and click on “Bor.”, and select a mode from the dropdown menu.

If you cycle through all the available modes and can’t find the chord you’re looking for, switch the song’s key to a different mode, and repeat.

In this case, you would switch to E Lydian, use the V chord, and borrow from Locrian. Once you switch back to B major, the chord will be a Bb major chord / bI.

3

I think he means flatI from minor transition.

In order to get that:

If you’re in CMinor (if it’s the song I’m thinking about):

  1. Click Settings gear icon.
  2. Under General in Settings modal, click Mode changes are dropdown, and choose relative
  3. Close Settings modal.
  4. Click Key circle icon (that says C minor)
  5. Click Mode dropdown and from dropdown choose Major (This should switch current mode and key to Eflatmajor).
  6. Click Borrow under Sec(n.)
  7. Make sure dropdown under Sec(n.) is minor.
  8. Click VI chord (should be labeled Cb).
  9. Click Key circle icon (that says Eflat major).
  10. Click Mode dropdown and from dropdown choose Minor (This should switch current mode back to Cminor)
4

This is also the way to get a vi chord from within a minor mode, which is very commonly used in a lot of dark/haunting melodies. In the case of Cminor, transitioning from cminor chord to aflatminor chord can produce some eerie melodies

5

Thank you very much!!!