The Steel Guitar Forum

I'm in the process of constructing a chart to help in analyzing the harmonic functions of chords. It is kind of difficult to put together, so it may take a few days. I would like to start doing an harmonic
analysis of a classic tune and see where that leads with regard to steel guitar. I think I'm going to use "Georgia On My Mind".

In the meantime, just to take a step backward, I'd like to present this list of chord formulas. This is NOT a complete list, but you will find just about every really useful chord here. Remember, these are based on the major scale, starting from the root:

TRIADS

Major: 1 3 5
Augmented: 1 3 #5

Minor: 1 b3 5
Diminished: 1 b3 b5


SEVENTH CHORDS

Major 7: 1 3 5 7
Major 7+5: 1 3 #5 7
Dominant 7b5: 1 3 b5 b7
Augmented 7: 1 3 #5 b7

Minor 7: 1 b3 5 b7
MinorMajor 7: 1 b3 5 7
Diminished 7: 1 b3 b5 bb7
Half-dim 7 (m7b5): 1 b3 b5 b7


EXTENDED CHORDS

Major 6: 1 3 5 6
Major 6add9: 1 3 5 6 9
Major 7#11: 1 3 5 7 #11
Major 7add13: 1 3 5 7 13
Major 9: 1 3 5 7 9
Major 9b5: 1 3 b5 7 9
Major 13: 1 3 5 7 9 11 13

Minor 6: 1 b3 5 6
Minor 6add9: 1 b3 5 6 9
Minor 9: 1 b3 5 b7 9
Minor 9b5: 1 b3 b5 b7 9
Minor 9addMaj7: 1 b3 5 7 9
Minor 11: 1 b3 5 b7 9 11
Minor 13: 1 b3 5 b7 9 11 13


ALTERED DOMINANT CHORDS
(x represents the root)

x7sus4: 1 4 5 b7
x9: 1 3 5 b7 9
x7b9: 1 3 5 b7 b9
x7b5b9: 1 3 b5 b7 b9
x7#5#9: 1 3 #5 b7 #9
x7#5b9: 1 3 #5 b7 b9
x9#5: 1 3 #5 b7 9
x13: 1 3 5 b7 9 13
x13b5: 1 3 b5 b7 13
x13b9: 1 3 5 b7 b9 13


Practice writing these out for each key. As an example, to build C7b9, take your C Major scale, starting at C and plug in the formula:

Root: C 3rd: E 5th: G b7: Bb b9: Db

TTT,,,let's not let this thread get "buried" too far down! Mike, you're gonna HAVE to write a book!!!!!

I have used, with some success, the substitution of a 7b5 as a passing chord to the next change.
I find them to be gelarive to the 5th
G7b5= C#7b5
E7b5= Bb7b5

i'e. key of C, substition, I > IV change
C-C7-F#7b5 > F
Rick
PS:
don't have a guitar in front of me right now, so please correct me if I'm wrong

Rick Winfield wrote: G7b5= C#7b5
E7b5= Bb7b5

i'e. key of C, substition, I > IV change
C-C7-F#7b5 > F
Rick

Rick, this tritone substitution is great for Blues. The F#7b5 takes the place of the C7 for half a measure. Remember, with tritone subs and dominant chords, the guide tones (3rd and 7th) are the same.

The chord tones would be:
C7 = C E G Bb
F#7b5 = F# A# C E
F7 = F A C Eb

In voice leading this, one of the first things you notice is the common C note in each of the 3 chords. The most common choice would be to use the C as the top note, like a pedal point. All of the other voices in the chords (except the guide tones in C and F#) move down chromatically:

C->C->C
Bb->A#(Bb)->A
E->E->Eb
G->F#->F *

* Notice the use of chromatic bass movement. These would be common inversions of these chords for guitar:

3 x 2 3 1 x (C7)
2 x 2 3 1 x (F#7b5)
1 x 1 2 1 x (F7)

You could play something like this on a C6/A7 (C# string 6) tuned steel:

x 3 x 3 0 x (C7)
x 2 3 x 0 x (F#7b5)
2 x 2 x 0 x (F7)

or for straight C6 tuning
x 1 x 0 0 x (F)

Also, you could have a moving melody note, so instead of the top note being C for each chord, it could go: C -> C# -> D
on guitar:

3 x 2 3 1 x (C7)
2 x 2 3 2 x (F#7, tritone sub, C# sounds like a C7b9)
1 x 1 2 3 x (F13)

or on a C6/A7 steel

3 3 3 3 x x (C7)
3 x 3 x 3 x (F#13 or C7#9)
2 x 2 x 2 x (F13)

I'm not sure how much interest there is anymore in this material, but for the sake of completion, I'd at least like to finish up where I was heading with this.

I started touching on the use of some scales and such for improvisation, but that is not where I want to go with it at this point. I plan on addressing some of that in the future with some audio clips, but for now I still have some malaise from the Dallas trip, so I will continue with more of the boring stuff.

What I'd like to do is delve a little more deeply into our extended chords. I'm going to keep this easy for now, but it is very rewarding to continue exploring this stuff on your own. The area that will benefit the most from this information is your harmony, or chord solo playing.

Let's say you want to arrange a chord solo for a standard. Of course, the most important consideration is always going to be the melody. Second is the harmony. Basically, every song has a melody and chords--this we know. What if the melody contains a note that's not in our chord?

Let's take a look a the extended C Major chord: 1 3 5 7 9 ( C E G B D). Five notes.

Earlier on I talked about finding other chords within our chords. If you look at the CMaj9 above, you might notice C, G and Emin triads. What does this mean? Well, if your melody calls for a B (which does not fall in C position on C6), we can go to the 7th fret for the G position. You'll find the B right up on top. You will find a G on string 2, so if the melody note is G, you have another place to play a C chord, and it's one with a little color:

x x 7 7 7 x Cadd9

x x 7 7 7 7 CMaj9

Yet, another choice would be 14th fret (It is a D position, but we are avoiding the note F#--which sometimes is very desirable for a #11 Lydian sound):

X X 14 14 14 X C6add9
(yeah, I know, where's the C and G? The root and fifth can sometimes be omitted without really losing the quality of the chord. This is very common practice, particularly in ensemble playing.)

OK, now that we're clear on the concept I'm getting at, we can get heavier. What about those cool sounds you hear with dominant chords? What if your melody note is B and your chord is a D7, or a D9 functioning as a V7 (dominant 7)? Well, we now have the opportunity to explore a plethora of choices.

If we analyze a D7 chord ( 1 3 5 b7, key of D, D F# A C), by introducing the extensions we will see more notes from the D scale available:

1 (D) 3 (F#) 5 (A) b7 (C) 9 (E) 13 (B) **note, we usually skip the 11, but we don't have to.

Well, there is our B, residing as the 13th degree. So, we know that we can play a D13 chord for our chord melody--NOT SO FAST! Where you going to find a D13 chord in C6? Well, we can play the hip trimmed down Jazz version, you know, notes C F# B--OK, you can do that if you're tuned to C6/A7, but for straight C6 tuning, good luck.

How would I handle this? Well, I like a lot of tension and release, so I would probably opt for an altered dominant chord/ What is an alt. dom. chord? It is a dominant 7th chord with an altered 5th or 9th or both. Very important to remember--once you learn this stuff, it becomes automatic in time.

OK, getting back to our D13 chord--being that I can use an altered 5th or 9th to give me something useful, I'll opt for a b9 (Eb). If I take the leading tones of my chord, 3rd and 7th (F# and C) and add the 13 (B), and then the b9 (Eb), I will have a B7b9 chord (minus the A). Whuh?

Let's make it even simpler by omitting the C, now we'll have a 1st inversion B triad.* But our chord root is D, you say--My friends, I can think of nothing I like more than the sound of a B triad over a D bass note (D13b9)--well, I like a B triad over a C, but that's a different song...
------
* A root triad would be B, D#, F#. 1st inversion is D#, F#, B--2nd inversion is F#, B, D#. We can use different inversions to suit our melody note.


We're going to play this chord and let the bass player or guitar player do the rest:

x 11 11 x 11 x ..... B maj triad + D bass = D13b9

Edit: I just wanted to add this lovely voicing of the D13b9 chord. It is played easily with a C6/A7 tuning, but not otherwise in straight C6.

11 11 11 x 11 x ..... From the bottom up: C D# F# B (notice the diminished triad on the bottom?)

That, my friend, is a thing of beauty. It resolves so beautifully back to the I chord, which in this case would be GMaj.


So, now you have another color for your palette. Remember, if you're playing a dominant 7 chord functioning as a V, you can use the same process for any of the other melody notes as well. We could have ended up with a G# triad over D (D7b5b9), or an F triad over D7 (D7#9). What matters is the melody note we're going for and the chord's function.

All for now. I will stop this craziness if you tell me to, but if you really want me to
stop, send me $10. Thanks.

Man, I should have proofed this! Many little typos, which hopefully I've fixed.

Please don't stop Mike. This thread is great.

Your tritone explanation broke down years of mental barriers I had built up concerning them. As you joked, I thought tritones were secret spells of magicians and cave dwelling mountain top gurus. Somehow your short explanation cut to the chase and revealed them to be really quite simple and useful harmony tools. Further, I happen to have a 7th in my tuning, so I tried your example and sat there for a while with my mouth hung open.

I'm especially looking forward to your analysis of "Georgia On My Mind". In the meantime, each harmony insight you graciously share is very much appreciated. Thank you.

I agree with Terry...keep going Mike its great!

Its inspired me to start learning more music theory and my steel playing has improved greatly. I must admit that a lot of this stuff goes right over my head but as I keep re-reading it more of it sinks in.

Keep up the good work Mike you have saved my family from my endless twiddly noodling and now more tuneful sounds are coming out

Hi Mike,
do you remember my tread where I asked the provocative question if PSG C6 is a little lean on minors?
Your advice was to look at chords as stacked triads. I asked you for some literature links but I didn't expect that you are going start this thread soon. It really helps me to get a new perspective to some music theoretical things. Your skills to present this sometimes a little complicated facts are excellent. Its pure fun to read.
Please proceed with the good work.
Mahalo nui loa
Joerg

Thanks for the kind words, guys. I enjoy doing this, I'm not looking for compliments. But if you have any questions, feel free to post them.

Many people make great music without verbalizing all this stuff. It's not completely necessary if you don't feel it is, but it is how I like to communicate and how I work. The great retail honcho Sy Syms ran his business off of these words: "An educated consumer is my best customer." Consider yourself warned!

Anyway, I just recorded a sloppy little arrangement of Georgia On My Mind. It is in the form AABA. I took a few liberties with the melody and I let a few stray notes in that don't belong (well, maybe), but I don't have time to do much else, as I'm about to do a 10 mile power walk.

This was recorded with a Clinesmith D-8 console that Todd has lent to me via Bob Hoffnar, and the tuning is C6/A7 (E C A G E C#--NO SLANTS (even though I love them). I only used the first 6 strings, or at least I tried). I think you'll hear a significant number of examples of the stuff I've been talking about. I'll try to elaborate tonight after lessons.

Georgia On My Mind

I got a chance to listen back to it, man, that is a mess! But I have to work fast! Hopefully, you get the point I'm driving at anyway.

Here is the recording:

Georgia on My Mind
.............................................................................(1)............................(2)
//: G6 / B7 / Em G7/ C6 C#dim / G6 E7/ A-7 D7/ B-7 E7 / A-7 D7 :// G6 C9 // G6 B7 /

/ Em B7 / Em B7 / Em B7 / Em A7 / Em B7/D# / Em/D C#-7b5 F#7 / B-7 E7 / A-7 D7 /

/ G6 / B7 / Em G7 / C6 C#dim / G E7 / A-7 D7 / B-7 / E7 / A-7 B-7 CMaj7 C#dim / G6/D /

/ C#-7b5 C-7 / B-7 E7 / A-7 D7 / G6 //

In the recorded example, I used a pretty basic vanilla arrangement with maybe a touch of cinnamon. This is probably closer to Ray Charles than Hoagie Carmichael, or at least the way I remember it.

The C6/A7 provides plenty of opportunity for us to get the nice altered chords that sound like diminished chords (because they basically are). If you explore the possibilities, you can become familiar with their usage in no time. You have to be careful not to overuse the altered chords and, most importantly, use them when the function of the dominant chord calls for it. If you're dealing with a V7 chord resolving to I Maj or i minor, for example, or a VI7 chord, these sounds beg to be used. If you try it over a II7 going to V7, not gonna work. try it for yourself.

Another thing I did in this quickie arrangement is use a cycle of ii-V7s beginning a tritone above our tonic--C#-7b5 - C-7(sub for F#7), B-7 - E7, A-7 - D7, GMaj.

I also used the very hip, very utilitarian voicing of a 13th chord (b7 3 13), which can also be synonymous with the 7#9chord, the min9add6, quite frequently. It's a grip that your hands should be trained to grab automatically.

I hope to take it another step further when time allows.

Mike Neer wrote:The great retail honcho Sy Syms ran his business off of these words: "An educated consumer is my best customer." Consider yourself warned! [/size]

You can take the boy out of New Jersey, but....

Remember this one?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQFlkK9nYYs

Sorry, I digress, but this was the hippest jazz jingle on TV, and Mike's namecheck put this in mind.

John D. Carter wrote:Someone help me out. Is a C7 chord played with a B natural or B flat? B natural is the 7th of the C scale but when the resolution is to an F chord the B flat is used? I am confused here. Thanks.

John, you're correct from a rock/blues framework about the 7th chord, which is often called a Dominant 7th to distinguish it from the Maj7.

The Maj7th gives you a jazzier sound, which can work as a tonic chord (one that doesn't seem to want to resolve down a 5th). Actually, you first hear these chords in early 20th century French impressionist music like Satie (think of the BS&T cover).

Another exercise I got from my son's lessons is the concept of guide tones. Those are the 3rds and 7ths which impart the major/minor and Maj/Dom flavors to the chords. So the exercise was to just play the guide tones over chords, and omit the roots and fifths which don't provide any tonal information that's not already implied.

I think this is a useful step to get comfortable before adding 9th and other tones from stacked triads. Something I am still struggling with--it's feeling what NOT to play as much as what to play.

Matt, I'm afraid that one is a little before my time-- I'm only 25. I vaguely remember it, as I spent much of my youth in front of a radio. But yes, that was a cool jingle and kept lots of musicians working.


Here is another version of Georgia On My Mind with a few other harmonic devices slipped in. The bridge in this song, as you can see from the chord chart, moves to the relative minor key, so all the A sections are in G major and the B section is in E minor. I introduce a quick little tritone substitution going from F#7 to F7 to Em. Also, in the turnaround in the first A section I used dominant III VI II V. I really like that sound there, although it clashes with the rhythm track..

This time around I mixed the steel to one side and the rhythm guitar to the other in case you wanted isolate it or turn it off and play with the guitar and bass.

Mike, can't wait till you can show some of this in tab. I hear how you just play 2 notes of the dim chord, and it works fine. In particular, though, I can't get a handle on what you're doing in this part:

Em/D C#-7b5 F#7

It sounds really cool, but I have no clue what's going on in this little section...

Matt Berg wrote:...In particular, though, I can't get a handle on what you're doing in this part:

Em/D C#-7b5 F#7

It sounds really cool, but I have no clue what's going on in this little section...

Matt, that's a little chromatic walk down of the bass notes. Em.. B7/D#.. Em/D.. C#-7b5 The bass moves chromatically from E down to C#. The C#-7b5 is essentially an E min chord with a C# in the bass. From there, the C#-7b5 begins a cycle of ii-V7s that ultimately bring us back to G (C#-7b5-->F#7 which leads to B-7-->E7 which leads to A-7-->D7 which resolves to G).

I lived in Jerzy for 58 years !
on 9-1-09, I left and moved south. Unfortunately, it was the coldest winter, on record, they had here, in fl, in 20 years!
Gave me lotsa time for woodshedding !
Mike you're doing a great job, with all this !
thanks
Rick

Matt Berg wrote:

John D. Carter wrote:Someone help me out. Is a C7 chord played with a B natural or B flat? B natural is the 7th of the C scale but when the resolution is to an F chord the B flat is used? I am confused here. Thanks.

John, you're correct from a rock/blues framework about the 7th chord, which is often called a Dominant 7th to distinguish it from the Maj7.

The Maj7th gives you a jazzier sound, which can work as a tonic chord (one that doesn't seem to want to resolve down a 5th).

I was thinking about this post. I wanted to amend it for clarity/accuracy.

In jazz music, the dominant seventh doesn't always get resolved down a fifth. In fact, chords almost always have some tone that's a 7th if not a higher interval--otherwise it somehow doesn't sound like jazz. You'll hear lots of dominant sevenths in blues and sometimes rock that don't resolve either.

But in some folk ballad where you go to a V chord and then an added 7th is indicated, you can be pretty sure that the next chord's taking you back to I.

It's really a matter of context and expectations. And a lot of the more "out" jazz concepts that Mike's describing probably came from people experimenting with these existing conventions, trying to come up with something that sounded new.

Alright, I thought I'd take a minute to break down the harmony and examine the chord functions and the way I approached them in this take. Again, this is closer to Ray Charles' version than Hoagie Carmichael's.


.............................................................................(1)............................(2)
//: G6 / B7 / Em G7/ C6 C#dim / G6 E7/ A-7 D7/ B-7 E7 / A-7 D7 :// G6 C9 /

/ G6 B7 / / Em B7 / Em B7 / Em B7 / Em A7 / Em B7/D# / Em/D C#-7b5 F#7 / B-7 E7 / A-7 D7 /

/ G6 / B7 / Em G7 / C6 C#dim / G E7 / A-7 D7 / B-7 / E7 / A-7 B-7 CMaj7 C#dim / G6/D /

/ C#-7b5 C-7 / B-7 E7 / A-7 D7 / G6 //


Let's look at bars 1-4:
//: G6 / B7 / Em G7/ C6 C#dim /

Obviously, the first measure contains our tonic major chord, or I. Measure 2 moves to B7, which is not diatonic to the key of G. Now, I've got a lot of explaining to do here, so bear with me. The function of the B7 chord here is as the V7/vi (the V7 of vi, or the dominant to the relative minor). If you remember, this is from the section somewhere in the thread about secondary dominants. The B7 is basically the bridge that connects to Em.

If you'll indulge me for a moment, if you take a look at the G maj/E minor (natural) scale, there is no D#, which is the 3rd of our B7 chord. The E natural minor scale is E F# G A B C D E--it contains all the same notes as the G major scale. If we were to harmonize the E min. scale, we'd get all of the same harmonies as the G major scale: Em F#dim G Am Bm C D. As you can see, the V chord in this case is Bm. That is a very weak sound, as you want to have a Dominant 7 chord as your V chord to really highlight the resolution back to i min. The solution here is to use another minor scale which contains the D#. We have 2 choices: E harmonic minor and E melodic minor.

The harmonic minor scale, E F# G A B C D#, is very close to the E natural minor scale. If we harmonize starting with the 5th degree (B), we get B D# F# A C. This is B7b9, which is a nice sound, very predictable.

If you look at the melodic minor scale, E F# G A B C# D#, the difference is the C#. So, harmonized from the 5th degree, we'd get B D# F# A C#, or B9. Seems like it would be rather boring, but in actuality, it is less predictable and in my opinion is even hipper than B7b9. The reason why is that the C# is not diatonic to the key of G/Em, so it's a little surprising when you hear it, in a good way. My choice would probably be the melodic minor, but not always. Anyway, this is the how and why of using our other minor scales, simplified. Remember, our song is in the key of G, so the function of E minor is still as the vi chord.

In bar 3, we've resolved to Em, but in the second half of the bar, we set up movement to the IV chord (C) by using G7, which functions as the V7/IV (the V7 of IV). In that instant, we've begun thinking in terms of G mixolydian, which is the 5th mode of the C major scale. All that means is that we are now playing an F natural instead of F#, which is diatonic to G.

In the 2nd half of the bar we play a C#dim chord. The C#dim is also synonymous with Edim, Gdim and Bdim, but we like the bass movement in this progression. When we play the G7, the bass may very well play B to C, then C# and then when we resolve to G6 in bar 5, we play a D bass note underneath. Proper bass movement is essential. So, in essence the C#dim is really Gdim with a different bass note, which resolves back nicely to G.

/ G6 E7/ A-7 D7/ B-7 E7 / A-7 D7 ://

In bars 5-8, we have a series of turnarounds. The G to the E7 which functions as the V7/ii (the V7 of Am)--we can use the same approach to find the choices of extensions that we used for the B7--we look at the available A minor scales. In this case, A harmonic minor is a good choice, as I like the sound of the E7b9.

Bar 6, the ii-V7 leads to B-7 (iii7) (which can also be thought of as a substitute for G, which would work perfectly in its place) to E7 (again, the V7 of Am), and again A-7 to D7, our diatonic dominant 7 chord.

That's all for now. More to come.

--------------------
Matt, I really haven't gotten into any of the "out" harmonic concepts. All of this stuff is based on Western Classical music's system of harmony. I have spent a good amount of time with books like Arnold Schoenerg's "Structural Functions of Harmony" and "Theory of Harmony" and Walter Piston's "Harmony", etc., and I still refer to them often.

Mike, you are awesome. I really enjoyed your chord melody playing on that tune. Are you using 2 or 3 note Freddie Green voicings on your backup guitar? Thanks for sharing your knowledge so openly and kindly.

At the risk of being redundant, I would like to add, some thoughts that your thread has left me with.
Although I know some theory, I mostly play by ear. After viewing your version of "Georgia", I was forced to re-examine mine,and found it was similar to yours, (different key), and it made me realize, the relationship and different uses of chords:

key of C for ease:

C9- C E G Bb D
Gm6- G-Bb-D-E
Edim- E-G-Bb-D
Em7b5- E-G-D-Bb

Hope I've expressed this correctly, as it's opened many doors for me, thanks to you
Rick

Rick Winfield wrote: After viewing your version of "Georgia", I was forced to re-examine mine,and found it was similar to yours, (different key), and it made me realize, the relationship and different uses of chords:

key of C for ease:

C9- C E G Bb D
Gm6- G-Bb-D-E
Edim- E-G-Bb-D
Em7b5- E-G-D-Bb

Rick, this is the whole point of this thread. Like I said earlier, the subject of harmony and its application to steel guitar is not so black and white. Once you understand the fundamentals, though, the doors open and you can get more creative with your choices.

I would say the the chords you've mentioned as being the same are correct, except for the Edim, which is comprised of E G Bb Db. In a diminished chord, the 7th is double flatted. In the case of half diminished, or m7b5, the 7th is only a b7, hence the name "half-diminished."

To show you how wide open this subject is, I will add to your list: A7b9sus4, F#7#5b9, F13sus4, EbMaj7/E--as you can see, there are a ton of possibilities, some of them very impractical, but what matters is that you're exploring options.

This is the tip of the iceberg.

Mike, I've this arrangement all figured out except for the final ascending phrase in the cadenza-like end. I hear a repeated major 2nd move in the bass and can't find a place to make it work on the steel. Are you using open strings here? I could use a hint about the general fretboard position of that phrase. I've had a great time working this one out and learned a lot.

Matt, yes, that last part begins with open strings, I think like this:

x x 0 0 0 x

x x 2 2 2 x

x x x 0 0 0

x x 7 7 7 x

It's all about the voice leading.

I'm probably going to record another version with some more substitutions when I get some time. I really like the experience of listening to Lenny Breau playing a tune; every chorus he takes it further and further away until there is barely a hint of the original. That was one of his true gifts, an unending wealth of ideas.

Thanks Mike, I'll try it out when I get back back to the steel tonight.