m7b5 Chords in a Chord Progression?
I was transcribing a jpop song when I came across this chord progression:
Bb | C Bb | Am | F#dim |
C# | C# | C | C |
F#m7b5 | B | E | .....
(Example)
I think the song changes from D major to D minor in this part, starting from the the first Bb chord. It then changes to E major after the last B chord.
I'm confused about the usage of C#, C and F#m7b5 in the progression. They don't seem to be in the key of Dmaj, Dmin nor Emaj. Furthermore, While the F#m7b5-B-E progression is similar to a II-V-I cadence, I don't understand why the fifth of F#m7b5 has to be flat.
(1)1 Comments
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The piece definitely begins in D major, then progresses down by consecutive major seconds to reach that B? chord to give it a sense of D minor (the Am chord also helps with this).
The second line of your chords, with the C? and C, are suggested to me F major (the relative major of D minor). Thus the C? chords might better be spelled as D?, and this system is just a ?VI--V progression in F. This F never appears, but imagine that last C chord resolving to F, and you'll hear that F major is definitely implied.
That C chord just resolves deceptively to the F?m7?5, which is then treated as a ii half-diminished seventh in the key of E, and the final three chords are just a ii--V--I to cadence in E. Normally in the key of E this ii chord would just be F?m7, but the composer added in a bit of chromaticism and "borrowed" the F? chord from E minor, which has a ?5. We call this "mode mixture," and it's a very common and effective tool.
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