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borrowed

A chord taken from the parallel major/minor for extra color.

A chord lifted from the parallel key, the major or minor that shares the same tonic, to add a color the current key does not contain. A major key borrowing its minor's flat-VI or minor iv is the classic move: that sudden wistful shade in an otherwise bright progression. The notes come from outside the scale, so the ear reads them as a deliberate tint.

Learn it: Roman numerals

The one-sentence definition at the top is the same one the Theory Aide extension shows as a tooltip inside Ableton Live. Hover any dotted term for its own.