Roger was charting the new hit "It's Getting Better All the Time" and was curious what I thought about the eleventh measure of the bridge. He said it was a three chord (G# in the key of E) of some type, but he thought it might be minor or a suspended fourth. Being a perennial procrastinator, I hadn't listened to the cd yet, so I told him I'd put an ear to it.

After listening a while, I called him back and told him it was a three minor with an added eleventh. Then, it dawned on me and I listened again. The eleventh was the melody note, which the steel player also played. I called Roger again and told him I was going to just treat it as a minor chord and let the singer and the steel player play the eleventh.

So the question is:

Does a strong melody note add itself to the harmonic implication. I mean, when the Righteous Brothers sing the word "close" at the beginning of You've Lost That Loving Feeling, is the three of the key added to your analysis of the five minor making it a five minor six?

Or am I wasting my time finding out how many angels can dance on my pin head?

Mike

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You have to practice improvisation. -Art Tatum

Later,
Emmit Sycamore

In a VERY general sense, I'd say that jazz arrangements tend to extend the chord; pop, rock and country tend not to extend the chord.

quote:

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Originally posted by Mike Dunbar:
I got a call yesterday from Roger Ball, a fine country guitarist with whom I work on Saturdays in a country dance band, the Music Masters.

Roger was charting the new hit "It's Getting Better All the Time" and was curious what I thought about the eleventh measure of the bridge. He said it was a three chord (G# in the key of E) of some type, but he thought it might be minor or a suspended fourth. Being a perennial procrastinator, I hadn't listened to the cd yet, so I told him I'd put an ear to it.

After listening a while, I called him back and told him it was a three minor with an added eleventh. Then, it dawned on me and I listened again. The eleventh was the melody note, which the steel player also played. I called Roger again and told him I was going to just treat it as a minor chord and let the singer and the steel player play the eleventh.

So the question is:

Does a strong melody note add itself to the harmonic implication. I mean, when the Righteous Brothers sing the word "close" at the beginning of You've Lost That Loving Feeling, is the three of the key added to your analysis of the five minor making it a five minor six?

Or am I wasting my time finding out how many angels can dance on my pin head?

Mike

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In my example (above) I totally blew the most interesting point. The note I mentioned isn't a sus4 at all, but a Tri-tone (three whole steps, AKA "flat 5"). There's no way in Nashville that a 7th note should be sung against a IV Major (not for an extended length of time, anyhow), but there it is, sounding glorious. The tri-tone is the note exactly 1/2 a scale away from the root of the chord, and it sounds pretty much like finger nails on a chalkboard, when heard out of context.

Still, it turns up hiding inside every 7th chord. The added 7th is the tri-tone of the 3rd. So, in a G7 chord, the F is a tri-tone of the B. The tritone is the be-all of the "full diminished" chord. Every note in the chord is the tri-tone of another note in the chord. It's not a sound you can ignore . . .