V of II Secondary Dominant Pattern
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We're going to talk about the V of II secondary dominant chord.
So this chord doesn't normally belong in the key. We're in the key of A major. A is the I chord. The II chord is B minor. But we can give that II chord a bit more weight by putting its own dominant chord in front of it. In the key of B minor, the dominant chord would be F#. So we'll play an F# major chord and resolve it to Bmin.
Let's try voice leading this chord progression through closed triads:
A, E, F#min, F#maj, Bm, E. You can also resolve it back to A of course. You can go to another inversion and repeat.
So, ultimately you want to take this exercise and practise it on every strings with every triad that you can.
The V of II is the secondary dominant resolving to the key of the II in a major key.
Example
In the key of A, the II- chord is B-. The V chord of the key of B is F♯, so an F♯ chord in the key of A is likely a V of II, as the key of A has an F♯- chord, but no F♯.
Example Chord Progression
| Function | I | V | VI- | V/II | II- | V | I |
| Chord | A | E | F♯- | F♯ | B- | E | A |
| Chord Source | A major | A major | A major | B minor | A major | A major | A major |
The Chords
A major
E major
F♯ minor
F♯ major
B minor
E Major
A Major
Key Exercises
- Learn, memorize, and apply the chord progression.
- Starting from another inversion of an A major chord, voice lead your way through the same progression as above.
As the creator of Hub Guitar, Grey has compiled hundreds of guitar lessons, written several books, and filmed hundreds of video lessons. He teaches private lessons in his Boston studio, as well as via video chat through TakeLessons.