composition problem, please help!

[fliffo]

Hi
I'm writing a piano song, and I have found a verse that I like a lot, and evolves naturally into the main riff...my problem is going back to the verse, because the riff ends with a D Major chord, and the verse starts with a D minor chord, the sudden switch between major and minor sounds unpleasant to me...can you suggest me some trick to switch in a more soft way?

[GeckoYamori]

Sometimes I find that sus2/4 chords are great for bridging gaps, so you can try to change the D minor into either of those. Either that, or you can bridge them with a dominant or parallel inbetween... I think I came to that conclusion when I analyzed this Genesis song a bunch of months ago.

[fliffo]

than you I understand the sus2/4 part, bud what do you mean here: "you can bridge them with a dominant or parallel inbetween"?
I'm quite new in music theory

[GeckoYamori]

The parallel is the minor/major equivalent to whatever key you're using at the time. Essentially they use the exact same notes, just from a different starting point. It's very common to modulate between the parallels since it feels so seamless. In the case of D minor it's F Major you want to use.

The dominant is just the fifth interval in the key's scale. So the dominant for D is A.

[DSmolken]

Yup, sticking an A or A7 chord between them is the most obvious solution. Even if both chords were a D minor or a D major, it might be a good idea.

[fliffo]

ok thanks I will try which one fits best

[MadBrain]

- You can probably replace the first Dm chord with Bb, the melody will probably still work and having the rest of the verse in Dm will probably also work too.

- If your D major part ends on a cadence (A7 chord of some kind), try A7b9... it is more dissonant and prepares the minor key change... Other possibilities include Asusb9 (usually played as Gm/A), Asus (G/A), Aalt7(also known as A7#9#5), Gm (plagal cadence), A7b5...

-If that isn't enough, you can also have more "minor preparation" chords before A7... such as E7b9-A7b9, Gm-A7, Em7b5-A7, Eb7-Em7b5-A7, E7-A7sus4-A7...

- You could also have an intermediary part in F major... which means that you'd first modulate from D major to F major (using a progression such as D - C/E - F), and then modulate from F major to D minor (using something like F - Em7b5 - A7 - Dm).

- If you start your D minor verse on Gm7, you can get a pretty smooth transition by going D - C - Gm7. That means you could have a progression like: D - C - Gm7 - C7 - F - Bmaj7 - Em7 - A7 - Dm...

[JumpingJackFlash]

It's very common to modulate between the parallels since it feels so seamless. In the case of D minor it's F Major you want to use.

F major is the relative major of D minor (same key signature).
The parallel major is D major (same starting note).

[J.F.K.]

F major is the relative major of D minor (same key signature).
The parallel major is D major (same starting note).

Your english terms also confuse me again and again, because in german language "parallel" would be the correct term. F major is the "Paralleltonart" of D minor.

[stringtapper]

F major is the relative major of D minor (same key signature).
The parallel major is D major (same starting note).

Your english terms also confuse me again and again, because in german language "parallel" would be the correct term. F major is the "Paralleltonart" of D minor.

JJF's terminology is correct. The second paragraph here explains the difference between the English and German:

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paralleltonart