What are secondary chords?

Secondary chords are less common chords you find in the key. They are built on the four less
important scale degrees of any key: ii, iii, vi, and vii° in major key and ii°, III˖, VI, and vii° in minor
key. The chords define the tonality less clearly than primary chords while primary chords are
the most common chords you will come across and a great starting point for composing music.

What are secondary dominant chords?

A secondary dominant is an altered chord having a dominant relationship to a chord in a key
other than the tonic. If that sentence was confusing to you, have no fear! We’re about to break
down secondary dominants right here and now.

In music, the “dominant” is the fifth scale degree of the diatonic scale. It is called the dominant
because it is next in importance after the first scale degree, the tonic.
Let’s start with diatonic chords. Diatonic chords refer to the chords which result when we build a
chord on each note of the major scale. Below are the diatonic chords, and their Roman numeral
names, in the key of C major. These Roman numerals represent a formula which will be the same in
every major key (i.e., the ‘I’ chord will always be major, the ‘ii’ chord will always be minor, etc).

The triad built on the dominant note is called the dominant chord. This chord is said to have a
dominant function, which means that it creates instability and typically leads to the tonic for
resolution.

Let’s say we’re in C Major. Looking at the image above, the fifth scale degree (the dominant) is
a G. When we build a triad on this scale degree, we can see that the dominant chord is an G
Major chord.

The word “dominant” can also apply to seventh chords. A dominant seventh chord is built from
a major triad and a minor seventh. Continuing on our example in C Major, let’s observe a
dominant G Major seventh chord. If you were labeling this chord on a chord chart, you’d call it
“G7” with the note name or “V7” for Roman Numeral analysis.
Now that we have a grasp on dominants, let’s dive into secondary dominants!