Minor Keys

Mike Neer · Post by **Mike Neer** » 7 May 2004 6:08 am

HowardR--your peyot is getting a little thin.

Klezmer tunes are actually very interesting to play on the steel, and I suspect that anyone who would be so inclined to do it would already be familiar with the scales and harmony used in this style.

A very good example of a tune to play in a minor key (not all traditional Jewish tunes are minor, of course) is Miserlou. For those of you not familiar with the title, it's the song Dick Dale plays and is used on the Pulp Fiction soundtrack; however, the tune is usually played at a much slower tempo.

Bob Stone · Post by **Bob Stone** » 7 May 2004 6:08 am

Try "Lullaby of the Leaves" or "Under Paris Skies" in Cm in standard Dobro tuning (GBDGBD). You will discover all sorts of cool stuff playing in Cm (and the relative major, E-flat) in this tuning.

"Lullaby of the Leaves" is on the Fake Book CD. Learning to read (more like decipher, for me) these tunes from written notation in Dobro tuning is mighty handy.

How about Stacy Phillips' Klezmer medley on his "From the Inside" CD? Great stuff. The steel is perfect for those slippery "Gypsy minor" scales.

"Harlem Nocturne" is dynamite in Gm on the Dobro. Check out Stacy Phillips' version on his "Hey Mister Get the Ball" CD.

[This message was edited by Bob Stone on 07 May 2004 at 07:15 AM.][This message was edited by Bob Stone on 07 May 2004 at 08:04 AM.]

Bobby Lee · Post by **Bobby Lee** » 7 May 2004 6:20 am

Here's a minor key instrumental I wrote. I'm playing it on my Sierra Laptop, and the accompaniment is Band-In-A-Box plus some live percussion.
http://soundhost.net/b0b/mrsmooth.mp3

File size is about 3 MB, so be patient.

------------------
<img align=right src="http://b0b.com/Hotb0b.gif" width="96 height="96">Bobby Lee - email: quasar@b0b.com - gigs - CDs, Open Hearts
Sierra Session 12 (E9), Williams 400X (Emaj9, D6), Sierra Olympic 12 (C6add9),
Sierra Laptop 8 (E6add9), Fender Stringmaster (E13, A6),
Roland Handsonic, Line 6 Variax

Denny Turner · Post by **Denny Turner** » 8 May 2004 8:13 am

Dwayne, you hit the nail smack on the head ! :

Most of you already know more about music theory than you realize.

If I might add some ideas to what you said, (and hope others do too) to expand-upon the importance of what you said for some folks that might not more fully realize it:

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And;

A fun and easy trick to remember when working out chord progressions, trying to steer out of the I-IV-V, is just to sub in the relative minor or major and see how it sounds.

Indeed; The Amin7 2-fret fret box is the same box and identical notes to it's relative-Major C6(dom7), ...with the only difference in their chords in the box being that the signature chord for minors are on the nut end of their 2-fret boxes and the signature chord for Majors are on the bridge end of their boxes, ...BUT the remaining notes on the other end of their respective boxes are all notes of their scale too, so have the effect of tasty extensions without even having to think about it once we know the simplicity of the boxes' single template. And your next statement shows how such approaches fans out even further:

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An interesting tension can be created by throwing in a minor IV chord here and there. It sounds surprisingly jazzy and augmented over a full band playing a major IV chord.

Throwing in a IVmin7 is the same notes as a Imin7b6 (aka pure minor / Aolean); And that b6 does indeed sound jazzy because it's pure minor and is perfectly compatible with a Imin7 which substitutes for IVMaj. If we're vamping along in the C6 box, ...when the band goes to IV we can slide up 3 frets to Cmin7 (=Eb6 ... same notes!) and VOILA we're on the extension notes fret of the IVMaj box! ...And if we slide 3 frets up from the F6 / IVMaj to get the minor you suggested, we're at the Fmin7 which is identical to Imin7b6 / pure minor which is identical to the Cmin7 except it has that pure minor b6 that sounds like we know what we're doing even though we might (and in my case probably) not ! And dog-gonnit, had we simply moved our bar down 2 frets from C6 to it's full 13th extension notes ...we would have been on the Amin7 extension voicing fret! So let's see, that makes 3 different boxes to jazz up the IV or make perfectly harmonious minors for the I / Tonic! And YIKES, ...if we can do that for the IV tone, then darn, we can do it for the "I" and V tones too. Well shootz, then we can do it for any tone! Darn, ...might this be the way that some guys can follow tones up and down the neck with chords that are so harmonious (aka in-mode) ? ! ?

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If it helps, you can always take your familiar major tuning and just tune one string to give you the relative MINOR root note.

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR>(i.e.) Take a [GBDGBD] "G Major" tuning and give yourself the relative minor, an E. Like: EBDGBD.

Hmm. And then you've just discoverd a 6th tuning. How funny.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

yyyyyYEPIRrrrr; And it would also be identical in some voicing to all 7 modes of it's Major parent scale / chord !

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P.S. Someday, Denny, I'm going to have enough time to print out your website, all of your posts, collate them into a binder, and then me and my steel are going to take a week off to read through them.

Now even though that's a mighty fine and appreciated compliment to my soul (and ego darn it), ...it's darn sure glutton for punishment too! I'm not brave enough to try that! If I might suggest, printing up particular discussion chain SUBJECTS would be more fruitful by everyones' excellent contributions ...particularly Howard's; I have always treasured Merle Haggard's "being crazy to avoid going insane"!

Aloha,
DT~
[This message was edited by Denny Turner on 09 May 2004 at 05:56 PM.][This message was edited by Denny Turner on 09 May 2004 at 05:59 PM.]

Denny Turner · Post by **Denny Turner** » 8 May 2004 8:54 am

While I'm here I wanted to Thank JD and mention that it was indeed Maurice Anderson's pedal steel ideas and mapping that led me to highly suspect that there was a modal template on the 6th tuned neck. And since Reece and Tommy Morrel and many others I asked didn't know, and in many hours of searching I could not find it published anywhere, even in the Library of Congress, ...I had to go figure it out myself.

And although I've never met Maurice in person; While ordering some of his material on the phone a few years ago, he was one of the finest Gentlemen I have ever talked to.

Aloha,
DT~[This message was edited by Denny Turner on 08 May 2004 at 09:56 AM.]

Denny Turner · Post by **Denny Turner** » 9 May 2004 7:37 pm

A very good and very easy exercise to train the ear, brain and fingers the crux of playing in mode (minor mode in this case); Is to have a friend play a minor I, IV, V chord change on rythm guitar while the person doing the exercise plays on either spanish or bass guitar with NOTHING but the bVIIMaj7 scale notes throughout the chord changes (bVIIMaj7 is the parent / Ionian scale identical to Imin7). First just run up and down between strings 1 and 6 in the 2 octaves of the scale's notes afforded at your favorite finger pattern of the Maj7, ...then experiment with suggestions you hear of where to reverse direction in that Maj7 scale finger pattern. AVOID the compelling temptation to throw your own licks in there because that is what the exercise is meant to break away from in order to hear and plant the modal approach (YOUR licks can / should later be applied once the modal idea sinks in). In a very short time experimenting with only that parent Maj7 scale notes, will lead to being able to readily / automatically find and play movements and "licks" in just that scale's notes, as well as where you want to be in the scale at "any" given time; Which reveals that it is indeed movements within a songs mode(s) that provides pleasing voicing ...and an armture / grounding to play other things around or away from. Once that is realized on spanish guitar or bass, then carrying that realization over to the 6th tuned Steel's scale / chord / mode boxes is quite easy.

If a person finds it feeling difficult to think / play in a Maj7 box, NO PROBLEM; Most of us think and play in the 6(7) box, ...and the V6(7) box is the same as the IMaj7 box; SO, to play in Amin, the parent Maj7 is GMaj7 which is identical to and the same as the D6(7) box, ...so just play in the D6(7) box. OH YEA ...we just said in a previous message here to move the 6(7) box up 3 frets to get the min7 box ...which in this case of Amin, up 3 frets gives us the min7 box formed at the C6 and D6 frets ...which IS INDEED also the D6(7) box ! ! ! And DARN, we also just learned that not only are Imin7 and bVIIMaj7 identical in notes, but so is V7 ! WHY? Because, for instance, Dmin7 = D E F G A B C D; And CMaj7 = C D E F G A B C; And G7 = G A B C D E F G. THE VERY SAME NOTES; AND ALL IN THE VERY SAME BOX on the 6th tuned steel ! ...along with the other 4 modes of the CMaj7 scale !

DT~
[This message was edited by Denny Turner on 09 May 2004 at 10:12 PM.]