PASSING TONES

[Dooley]

A fellow organ student asked me a question about how to know what passing tones to use and when.  I told him that I didnt know why I do them, i just hear them.  So my question is, "is there a certain way to know what passing tone to use or do you just have to feel it like me?"  For instance a 7-3-6 progression I think counts as a passing tone...I THINK....well I will let you heavyweights get to this answer...thanks
DOOLEY

A passing tone, or Passing Chord is just that, a chord to pass you on to the next main chord, for example you have a chord that's the 1

Db / DbAb / FAbDb

And you want to go to the 4th, you can use a chord that'll bring / lead you there:

F / DbB / GbBbBEb

Then on to your 4. Now that's 1 way, the 7_3_6 you mentioned is a progression, a series of chords to get to the next main chord, in the case of the 4th, you'd use a 5_1_4 progression:

Ab / GbBb / GbBbBEb = 5
Db / DbB / FBbBEb = 1
Gb / GbBb / FBbDbEb = 4