collapse

* Member Info

 
 
Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.
Did you miss your activation email?
And that low-down dirty Deacon done stole my gal and gone - Luke Jordan, Church Bell Blues

Author Topic: Blues in Minor/With Minor Chords  (Read 43929 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline Pan

  • Member
  • Posts: 1910
  • Howdy!
Re: Blues in Minor/With Minor Chords
« Reply #105 on: October 12, 2012, 02:05:38 PM »
Blind John Davis'  "Alley Woman Blues" is a very nice 8-bar tune which negotiates between the relative keys of C-minor and Eb-Major. Iit seems that the musicians vary the chord changes quite a bit as they go along.



Cheers

Pan

Edited to add: apparently the electric guitar is played be George Barnes, who was one of the first musicians who played the instrument.

« Last Edit: October 12, 2012, 02:07:24 PM by Pan »

Offline Pan

  • Member
  • Posts: 1910
  • Howdy!
Re: Blues in Minor/With Minor Chords
« Reply #106 on: October 12, 2012, 04:16:25 PM »
Georgia Tom Dorsey's "Maybe It's The Blues" has a verse that starts in E-minor, only to turn later on to the relative G-major key.



The changes go something like this:

Intro
|| C7 | C#dim7| G/D | E7 |

| A7 | D7 | G | G ||

Verse
|| Em | B7 | Em | B7 |

| A7 | D7 | G | G |

| Em | B7 | Em | B7 |

| A7 | A7 | D7 | D7 ||

A1
|| G | G | A7 | A7 |

| D7 | D7 | G | G |

| B7 | B7 | Em | Em |

| A7 | A7 | A7(or D7) | D7 ||

A2
|| G | G | A7 | A7 |

| B7 | B7 | Em | G7 |

| C7 | C#dim7 | G/D | E7 |

| A7 | D7 | G | (D7) ||

SOLOS A1 + A2

Vocals A2 -> End.

Edited to correct; The guitar player seems to be Tampa Red after all, not Big Bill Broonzy as suggested by  B&G!

« Last Edit: October 15, 2012, 02:59:09 PM by Pan »

Offline Johnm

  • Global Moderator
  • Member
  • Posts: 13190
    • johnmillerguitar.com
Re: Blues in Minor/With Minor Chords
« Reply #107 on: October 18, 2012, 08:52:14 PM »
Hi all,
This one really is a poser.  The timing of the phrasing sounds more like Broonzy than Tampa Red to me, and I've never heard Tampa Red play anything near this complex in standard tuning.  That having been said, I've never heard Broonzy play anything with this kind of expanded chordal vocabulary either.  Whoever is playing guitar is capoed to the fifth fret, playing out of D position to sound in G, doing those big bends at the eleventh fret of the B string, and is really playing to the chord changes, not fudging them as was often the case.  I think your assessment of the progression relative to the key placement is dead on, Pan.  I love that E minor changing to G7--every time I hear that change it's like I'm hearing it for the first time.  Thanks for finding this tune, Pan--it's a great one.
All best,
Johnm

Offline Pan

  • Member
  • Posts: 1910
  • Howdy!
Re: Blues in Minor/With Minor Chords
« Reply #108 on: October 19, 2012, 05:32:04 AM »
Hi all,
This one really is a poser.  The timing of the phrasing sounds more like Broonzy than Tampa Red to me, and I've never heard Tampa Red play anything near this complex in standard tuning.  That having been said, I've never heard Broonzy play anything with this kind of expanded chordal vocabulary either.  Whoever is playing guitar is capoed to the fifth fret, playing out of D position to sound in G, doing those big bends at the eleventh fret of the B string, and is really playing to the chord changes, not fudging them as was often the case.  I think your assessment of the progression relative to the key placement is dead on, Pan.  I love that E minor changing to G7--every time I hear that change it's like I'm hearing it for the first time.  Thanks for finding this tune, Pan--it's a great one.
All best,
Johnm

Thanks for your analysis on the guitar player's position and playing, Johnm. I really don't know what to think of the guitarist's identity anymore. One think that comes to mind though, is that we have seen Scrapper Blackwell  tackle harmonically more sophisticated material with Leroy Carr, as for example in "Longing For My Sugar", which we discussed earlier in this thread along with Snooks Eaglin's "Lipstick Traces".

http://weeniecampbell.com/yabbse/index.php?topic=8331.msg67565#msg67565

Go figure!

Cheers

Pan
« Last Edit: October 19, 2012, 05:34:19 AM by Pan »

Offline mr mando

  • Member
  • Posts: 254
Re: Blues in Minor/With Minor Chords
« Reply #109 on: October 27, 2012, 12:32:14 PM »
The recently discussed "Don't Be A Fool" by Al Miller (see topic in the lyrics board) has a minor chord. It's hard to tell if this 13,5 bar song is a blues. The lyrics could be sung over a 12 bar chorus blues (Tight Like That archetype), and the structure is actually 12 bars with an additional half bar pick-up phrase for the chorus and an extra turn-around bar. The chords are far from the usual blues clich?, though:


  | | | |  | | | |   | | | |   | | | |  | |
|    I    |    I    |    I    |    I   |  I |
 | | | |  | | | |  | | | |  | | | | 
|  VIm  |   VIm  |  bVI7  |  bVI7  |
  | | | |   | |  | |    | |  | |   | | | |  | |  | |
|    I    |  I   VI7  | II7  V7  |    I   |  I   V7 |

Offline Pan

  • Member
  • Posts: 1910
  • Howdy!
Re: Blues in Minor/With Minor Chords
« Reply #110 on: November 06, 2012, 10:49:29 AM »
Cow Cow Davenport's "I've Been Hoodoed" came up elsewhere during the Halloween. It has quite a unique chord progression, again switching between relative minor and major keys. The video pitches the song somewhere between F minor and Ab major,  or F#minor - A major, perhaps closer to latter?



Cheers

Pan

Offline Pan

  • Member
  • Posts: 1910
  • Howdy!
Re: Blues in Minor/With Minor Chords
« Reply #111 on: November 13, 2012, 04:50:00 PM »
Bill Willliams' "Pocahontas" is an instrumental in A minor. In around 1:09 the tune very briefly ventures to A major, only to return to the original minor key.



Cheers

Pan

Offline Pan

  • Member
  • Posts: 1910
  • Howdy!
Re: Blues in Minor/With Minor Chords
« Reply #112 on: November 14, 2012, 10:52:12 AM »
Mississippi Sheiks' "That's It" is a nice instrumental in the realtive keys of D minor and F major, if I'm not mistaken.



Cheers

Pan

Edited to add: Oops, apparently I already posted this a few pages back. Sorry about that, I could have sworn I did a search before posting.
« Last Edit: November 14, 2012, 06:04:10 PM by Pan »

Offline GhostRider

  • Member
  • Posts: 1292
  • That'll never happen no more!
Re: Blues in Minor/With Minor Chords
« Reply #113 on: November 14, 2012, 11:34:04 AM »
Mississippi Sheiks' "That's It" is a nice instrumental in the realtive keys of D minor and F major, if I'm not mistaken.

That tune reminded me of klesmer music. Strange.

Alex

Offline slideaway

  • Member
  • Posts: 129
Re: Blues in Minor/With Minor Chords
« Reply #114 on: November 14, 2012, 05:52:27 PM »
That tune reminded me of klesmer music. Strange.

nah, its alien outpost planet bar music! ;) (star wars cantina song)

Offline slideaway

  • Member
  • Posts: 129
Re: Blues in Minor/With Minor Chords
« Reply #115 on: November 14, 2012, 05:55:47 PM »
this Lonnie Johnson tune "a good happy home' weaves in and out minor major, mostly in second half. strange piece .. like the subject is cheering up eventually


Offline Pan

  • Member
  • Posts: 1910
  • Howdy!
Re: Blues in Minor/With Minor Chords
« Reply #116 on: November 20, 2012, 06:08:17 PM »
Black Boy Shine's "Married Man Blues" is an interesting mix of minor and major in a 12 bar blues form. I don't think I've ever heard anything quite like it before.
The first A section or 4 bars of the AAB lyric form starts in minor, but ends up in major in the last 2 bars, or the "response" lick. The same thing happens on the next 4 bars, starting on the minor IV chord, ending on the I major.
The last 4 bars are in major, but include a passing bVI chord, if I'm not mistaken.

I'll attach a YouTube video; please note that it has two songs in it, "Married Man Blues" starts in about 2:50, with a (deceiving ?) intro in the G major key. The song ends with a major b7 chord.



Cheers

Pan

Offline Pan

  • Member
  • Posts: 1910
  • Howdy!
Re: Blues in Minor/With Minor Chords
« Reply #117 on: February 28, 2013, 04:42:17 PM »
Hi all

"In the Mornin'" by "Johnson-Nelson-Porkchop" from 1928 is in minor.



Cheers

Pan

Offline Cleoma

  • Member
  • Posts: 275
  • Howdy!
Re: Blues in Minor/With Minor Chords
« Reply #118 on: March 01, 2013, 08:16:47 AM »
Just now tuning into this thread -- re "That's It"  -- when I was finding material for the Geoff Muldaur & Texas Sheiks recording, Geoff took every one of my suggestions, except for That's It.  He wanted me to play a fiddle instrumental, but That's It was too "ethnic" sounding for him. I ended up playing Yellow Dog Blues, from the Wise String ORchestra, a hillbilly group.

Offline Johnm

  • Global Moderator
  • Member
  • Posts: 13190
    • johnmillerguitar.com
Re: Blues in Minor/With Minor Chords
« Reply #119 on: March 01, 2013, 08:21:37 AM »
What a great find, Pan!  This is my favorite "how did that happen?" song I've heard since "Mama's Angel Child".  This definitely qualifies as "One of a Kind and Great".
All best,
John,

 


anything
SimplePortal 2.3.7 © 2008-2024, SimplePortal