In music

Music

Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...

, a passing chord is, "a nondiatonic chord

Chord (music)

A chord in music is any harmonic set of two–three or more notes that is heard as if sounding simultaneously. These need not actually be played together: arpeggios and broken chords may for many practical and theoretical purposes be understood as chords...

 that connects, or passes between, the notes of two diatonic chords." "Any chord that moves between one diatonic

Diatonic and chromatic

Diatonic and chromatic are terms in music theory that are most often used to characterize scales, and are also applied to intervals, chords, notes, musical styles, and kinds of harmony...

 chord and another one nearby may be loosely termed a passing chord. A diatonic passing chord may be inserted into a pre-existing progression that moves by a third

Third (music)

In music and music theory third may refer to:*major third*minor third*augmented third/perfect fourth*diminished third/major second*Third , chord member a third above the root*Mediant, third degree of the diatonic scale...

 in order to create more movement." "'Inbetween chords' that help you get from one chord to another are called passing chords."

For example in the chord progression

Chord progression

A chord progression is a series of musical chords, or chord changes that "aims for a definite goal" of establishing a tonality founded on a key, root or tonic chord. In other words, the succession of root relationships...

:
|Cmaj7

Major seventh chord

In music, a major seventh chord is any nondominant seventh chord where the "third" note is a major third above the root.Most typically, major seventh chord refers to where the "seventh" note is a major seventh above the root . This is more precisely known as the major/major seventh chord, and it...

  |Em7

Minor seventh chord

In music, a minor seventh chord is any nondominant seventh chord where the "third" note is a minor third above the root.Most typically, minor seventh chord refers to where the "seventh" note is a minor seventh above the root...

  |Dm7 |G7

Dominant seventh chord

In music theory, a dominant seventh chord, or major minor seventh chord,is a chord composed of a root, major third, perfect fifth, and minor seventh. It can be also viewed as a major triad with an additional minor seventh...

  |
the diatonic passing chord (Dm7) may be inserted:
|Cmaj7 Dm7 |Em7 |Dm7 |G7 |
or the chromatic passing chord (Ebm7) may be inserted:
|Cmaj7 |Em7 Ebm7 |Dm7 |G7 |

A chromatic passing chord is, "a chord that is not in the harmonized scale

Harmonized scale

In music, harmonization is the chordal accompaniment to a line or melody: "Using chords and melodies together, making harmony by stacking scale tones as triads"....

".

Passing chords may be consonant or dissonant

Consonance and dissonance

In music, a consonance is a harmony, chord, or interval considered stable, as opposed to a dissonance , which is considered to be unstable...

 and may include flat fifth

Tritone

In classical music from Western culture, the tritone |tone]]) is traditionally defined as a musical interval composed of three whole tones. In a chromatic scale, each whole tone can be further divided into two semitones...

 substitution

Chord substitution

In music theory, chord substitution is the use of a chord in the place of another related chord in a chord progression. Jazz musicians often substitute chords in the original progression to create variety and add interest to a piece. The substitute chord must have some harmonic quality and degree...

, scalewise

Musical scale

In music, a scale is a sequence of musical notes in ascending and descending order. Most commonly, especially in the context of the common practice period, the notes of a scale will belong to a single key, thus providing material for or being used to conveniently represent part or all of a musical...

 substitution, dominant minor

Minor chord

In music theory, a minor chord is a chord having a root, a minor third, and a perfect fifth.When a chord has these three notes alone, it is called a minor triad....

 substitution, approach chord

Approach chord

In music, an approach chord is a chord one half-step higher or lower than the goal, especially in the context of turnarounds and cycle-of-fourths progressions, for example the two bar 50s progression: |G Em |Am D7 ||may be filled in with approach chords: |G F9 Em Abm |Am D#7 D7 Gb7...

s, and bass-line

Bassline

A bassline is the term used in many styles of popular music, such as jazz, blues, funk, dub and electronic music for the low-pitched instrumental part or line played by a rhythm section instrument such as the electric bass, double bass, tuba or keyboard...

-directed substitution.