Most rock and pop music is full of the same few chords.  So when I hear a chord I’m just not expecting show up on the radio, I get really interested.  Today I heard something unexpected in “Wonderboy” by Tenacious D.

The chord in question is in the opening progression.  Have a listen.

It has sort of this floating, ethereal sort of feeling, doesn’t it?  You could even say it conveys a sense of wonder. (Get it? Wonder, wonderboy… Yeah, you get it.) Let’s take a look at what is going on.

Music Theory Level: 8 / 10


This article touches on extended chords, modes, or chromaticism (secondary chords, modulations, etc).

I recommend being thoroughly familiar with diatonic seventh chords and smaller formal structures (binary, ternary, and rondo) before reading through this post.

To learn about this level system and determine what you should be learning, be sure to check my master guide on learning music theory.

Chromatic Mediant

The song is in the key of D major.  The opening progression bounces between two chords: D major and Bb major.  But Bb major chord is not found in the key of D major. 

So where does it come from?

Because this Bb major chord lies outside the key signature, we refer to this as a borrowed chord. Specifically, this chord is borrowed from the parallel minor key of D minor.

This use of the bVI chord within a major key is referred to as a chromatic mediant. The term mediant typically refers to the chord build on the 3rd above the tonic (in a major key, the iii chord). Likewise, the sub-mediant refers to the chord built a 3rd below the tonic (in a major key, the vi chord). A chromatic mediant is any mediant or sub-mediant chord that makes a harmonic adjustment to the expected chord. Typically, this involves a borrowed chord from a relative or parallel scale.

Chromatic mediants are used quite a bit in film scores to achieve a heroic or grandiose sort of effect. If you are interested in film scoring, be sure to add this trick to your toolbox.

For an in depth look at this topic, I recommend checking out Rick Beato’s YouTube video: Why Top Composers Use Chromatic Mediant Modulations.

Lydian Passing Tone

These two chords by themselves can give that dreamlike quality.  But there is a subtle addition that really makes “Wonderboy” by Tenacious D stand out.  Each arpeggio has a passing tone utilizing the note E.

Against the D major chord, this note E creates a interval of a major 2nd against the root note D.  Against the Bb major, it creates a #4 against the root Bb.

That #4 is characteristic of the lydian mode.  You’ll often hear this called the lydian note or the money note. And we see it very apparent here.

If we really analyze the chromatic mediant in depth, we find where the lydian note comes from.  As I said, the Bb major chord comes from the key of D minor.  The relative major of D minor is F major.  The fourth note of F major is a Bb (thus giving us our lydian mode). Going up a #4 from Bb gives us the lydian note of E in that particular key.

This can get a little confusing. So here is a chart showing how this connection is made. Each line represents one step of the process.

Additional Notes

When I first heard the song, I was in the car on my way to work. I had no access to an instrument and had to rely only on my ears. And my analysis was a little different.  I could hear the 5th of the D major chord (the note A) raising the half step to the Bb.  But I missed the F# dropping down to F natural.

So essentially, I heard it as a D major chord to a D augmented chord.  When analyzing that, it put the song in the realm of the mixolydian b6 mode.  This is another sound that doesn’t make an appearance in rock music very often.

Final Thoughts

While Tenacious D isn’t a band for everyone, I think their song “Wonderboy” is a great example of using something a little outside the box in a more modern way. When instances like this occur in pop and rock music, they really stand out to my ears. And moments like that are ones where I really appreciate the craft of music even more.

Do you agree with my analysis of “Wonderboy” by Tenacious D? Have any other great examples of chromatic mediants or lydian examples? Be sure to share them with us in the comments below.