To add a bit of variety to your chord progressions you can use Borrowed Chords from Parallel Keys.

A parallel key is different from a relative key.

C major and A minor are relative keys because they share all the same notes.

C major, C minor, and C harmonic minor are all parallel keys because they share the same tonic note.

Let’s check out a graphic example of Parallel & Relative keys.

Parallel vs. Relative Keys

Common Borrowed Chords

Typically we borrow chords from the minor key to add to the major key and vise-versa.

• Chords that are commonly added to major keys are:   ii°    bIII    iv    bVI    bVII.
• Chords that are commonly added to minor keys are:   I    IV   V7.

If we look at all the available chords that we now have to work with they would be: