Harmonic Spaces

The five spaces

The row along the bottom names them:

• HOME — the tonic’s own diatonic chords. Where most music sits.
• SUB (Subdominant) — the world of the IV chord’s key, a step toward the “flat” side. Where music goes when it leans subdominant.
• PAR (Parallel) — the parallel major/minor: same root, opposite quality. This is where borrowed chords live (the iv, the ♭VII) — major borrowing from minor and vice versa.
• REL (Relative) — the relative minor or major: same notes, different home. Where a song tips into its relative key.
• BLUES — the dominant/blues color: the world where the I, IV, and V all turn dominant, the way blues harmony works.

As the music modulates or borrows, the wheel auto-rotates into the matching space, so you literally see the harmony move “sideways” into a related region and back. It’s modulation, made spatial.

Jumping manually

You don’t have to wait for the music — tap any space button to jump there yourself and explore its chords. Want to see what the parallel minor offers in your key? Tap PAR and the wheel rotates to show you. It’s a fast way to go borrowed-chord shopping.

Lock

Auto-rotation is great when you’re following a song, and distracting when you’re not. The Lock button freezes the current space so the wheel won’t rotate on its own. Lock it to HOME while you’re studying the diatonic chords, or lock it to a space you’re exploring so a stray detected chord doesn’t spin you away.

One thing to know: changing spaces needs a locked key (see the next chapter). The wheel can only rotate sensibly once it knows what key it’s in.

What to Practice

• Play a progression that uses a borrowed iv or ♭VII and watch the wheel rotate into PAR.
• Manually tap REL and explore the relative key’s chords, then tap HOME to come back.
• Lock to HOME and play around — notice the wheel now stays put, showing only home-key functions.