Why does classic country rarely use minor chords ?

[Fred Treece]

Maj6 — laid back, carefree, reckless
Maj7 — wistful, poignant
Dom7 — playful, open, adventurous
Minor — sad, mournful, dark, tragic
Dim7 — creepy, suspenseful
Aug — tense, nervous, trapped

[Mike Neer]

They are probably trying to avoid sounding like Spaghetti Western themes. Big mistake. Country music can use more Morricone.

[Chris Templeton]

Yes more Morricone!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYlHiACHGiU

[Fred Treece]

Very well then....
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vXdPDrCXMdg

[Mike Neer]

Very well then....
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vXdPDrCXMdg

The thing I love most about Buddy is how serious he took his art. He may have been a cool and casual guy, but when it came down to his art, serious as a heart attack.

[Chris Templeton]

Yes, very serious about his art, Mike.
Your comment reminded me of what some people call "the look", a serious look which often turned into a smile, then a big, big laugh!
Here's a pic with him and "the look":

[scott murray]

great photo Chris!

this meme reminded me of the discussion here

[Chris Templeton]

Mmm, Scott,
I had just come back from Hawaii, and we had just done some recording at Buddy's and I was stoked to the max. We recorded on his Teac 8 track. We bounced some tracks from my Tascam two speed cassette recorder, that I had recorded my band in Hawaii, and we did more recording in Hermitage.
At this time, Buddy was using the IVL MIDI interface and played both his steel with a synth sound underneath and and a B3 organ sound.
Buddy played an organ sound like the best organ players I've ever heard!!.
With my IVL playing, I sounded like a crappy keyboard player.
One of the songs is called "Train" and is 20 minutes with a great guitar solo at the end by Kauai's Kirby Keough.
I was at Buddy's with Mike Cass, when Peewee Charles had come down from Canada to show Buddy the IVL rig .
Before Peewee arrived at Buddy's, Mike Case laid his blueprints for a pedal dobro on the floor.
If I remember correctly, Mike was told he could not manufacture it because of a similar product on the market.
One of those cease and desist deals.

[scott murray]

well I'd love to hear that!

[Chris Templeton]

I used to post songs on the forum with Picosong, but they are no longer. I'm looking into other options.

[Phillip Hermans]

I will say that I have played some sets of "classic country" where I never used a minor chord. Although you could blame the set list for that...

If you would like a more systematic analysis of this issue, I'd direct you to the research of Trevor de Clerq (www.midside.com)

Here are the notes for his presentation on A Corpus Analysis of Harmony in Country Music
Slides: https://www.midside.com/presentations/d ... slides.pdf
Lecture: https://www.midside.com/presentations/d ... g_text.pdf


He compares the harmonic function of country music to rock and classical music.

Here is the final slide's conclusion:

Other Notable Features of Country:
• Is almost always set in a major key
• Does not have significantly more three-chord songs than rock
• Relies only slightly more heavily on I, IV, and V than other styles
• Rarely has a harmonic palette of more than 7 different chords

Granted, this was a broader analysis of "country music" and not "classic country"...

[Duane Reese]

Minor seventh chords are said to be the saddest chord form

What? Who says that? I think those are less sad than a plain old minor triad — more like an "oh well" kind of feel.