Adding substitutions to your progressions with inversions.

Hey, guitarists! I thought I would write out some things I've been playing around with lately since it follows nicely what I wrote last time. We'll take what we learned then and spice it up a bit with various substitutions. Here's something I've been playing with; it's a iii-ii-V-I in G major:

    iii    ii   V    I
   Bm7/D Am7/C D7/C Gmaj7/B
e|---x-----x----x----x---|
B|---10----8----7----7---|
G|---11----9----7----7---|
D|---9-----7----7----5---|
A|---x-----x----x----x---|
E|---10----8----8----7---|

That's a first inversion Bm7 (since the three is in the bass), first inversion Am7 (since the three is in the bass), third inversion D7 (since the seven is in the bass), and first inversion Gmaj7 (since the three is in the bass).

One way to really get this sounding nice is by adding chromatic lines, especially in the bass. Here's an example:

  Bm7/D A7/C# D7/C Gmaj7/B
e|---x-----x----x----x---|
B|---10----8----7----7---|
G|---11----9----7----7---|
D|---9-----7----7----5---|
A|---x-----x----x----x---|
E|---10----9----8----7---|

Notice that Am7/C is now A7/C# since we raised the three in the bass.

We can add more chromatic lines by substituting a diminished chord a half step above our V chord:

  Bm7/D A7/C# D#dim/C Gmaj7/B
e|---x-----x----x----x---|
B|---10----8----7----7---|
G|---11----9----8----7---|
D|---9-----7----7----5---|
A|---x-----x----x----x---|
E|---10----9----8----7---|

This works nicely since the dominant seventh chord and the diminished chord only differ in one note. Basically, just move the root note of the dominant seven up a half step. So here we not only have the chromatic line in the bass (E|---9----8----7---|), we also have a chromatic line on the third string (G|---9----8----7---|).

We can get even more chromaticism using a tritone substitution of the V chord (the sidebar has a good discussion of tritone substitutions):

   Bm7/D A7/C# G#7/C Gmaj7/B
e|---x-----x----x----x---|
B|---10----8----7----7---|
G|---11----9----8----7---|
D|---9-----7----6----5---|
A|---x-----x----x----x---|
E|---10----9----8----7---|

Here we have a chromatic line in the bass (E|---9----8----7---|), a chromatic line on the third string (G|---9----8----7---|), plus a chromatic line on the fourth string (D|---7----6----5---|).

Anyway, just something I've been messing with. Hope you found it useful!