Diatonic chords are built from notes of the major scale, so with these seven notes, we can build seven chords (C major, D minor, E minor, etc…). Most pop music is built from this approach to diatonic harmony, and that works fine. However, we can spice our chords up a little by borrowing some of the chromatic notes to make chromatic chords. For example, if we’re composing in the key of C major, we can use an E major chord built from the notes E, G# and B. The G# is from outside the key of C, and so is chromatic.

Here are a couple of tried-and-tested chromatic chords that appear in pop music a lot.

Minor IV

Turn the fourth chord of the major scale, which is usually major, into a minor chord, and you’ll get very a melancholy effect. In the key of C major, this would be an F minor chord. You can hear it in Blackbird by The Beatles and Creep by Radiohead. Bonus points if you turn it into a minor 6 chord.