Grant takes his introduction to reharmonization a step further this month, and demonstrates how chord substitutions and suspensions can create completely different emotional landscapes when played against a familiar melody. In this instance, he transforms Woody Guthrie’s “This Land Is Your Land” from an upbeat folk anthem into a more brooding meditation with a melancholic edge. You’ll learn some basic substitution strategies as well as a few more dramatic approaches to reharmonization. Grant starts by reviewing the melody and standard chords, and then he shows you some easy substitutions such as replacing major chords with the relative minor—replacing the IV chord with the II chord (F to Dm in the key of C) or the tonic with the VI (Am). Then he takes it a step further and shows you some intriguing and sometimes surprising substitutions that alter the feel and musical context of the melody.
