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22 Oct 00 - 01:00 PM (#324555) Subject: Another Music Theory Question From: Peter T. Enquiring minds want to know! A famous Mexican song, La Llorona (sung by Joan Baez, Tish Hinojosa, and others) is -- at least in one guitar version -- in A minor. The chorus does something strange: can anyone explain why? Verse in Am: Salias del templo un dia, llorona, cuando al pasar yo te vi; (repeat) Chorus: Hermoso huipil llevabas, llorona, que te virgen te crei.(repeat) The song is in 6/8. Easy strum: thumb, strum, strum; thumb, strum, strum. Chords are: Verse: Am/Am/Dm/Dm// Am/Am/E7/E7// Am/Am/Dm/Dm// Am/Am/E7/E7// Straightforward: major substitution of the E for the V7 then Chorus: Am/Am/G/G/F/F/E/E//(repeat). What kind of a progression is going on here? Some weird Mexican thing, or something normal. Sounds great, but what is officially happening? yours, Peter T. |
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22 Oct 00 - 02:31 PM (#324627) Subject: RE: Another Music Theory Question From: Bernard It's a fairly typical flamenco chord progression, also found in pop music - the Ventures 'Walk, Don't Run', and the ubiquitous 'Stairway to Heaven' after the guitar solo are but two examples. Theory-wise it's down to the 'melodic minor scale', which is different 'ascending' and 'descending', unlike the 'harmonic minor' whigh remains the same. 'A melodic minor' runs as follows: A B C D E F# G# A G F E D C B A 'A harmonic minor', however, is: A B C D E F G# A G# F E D C B A I'll stop there, in case we've reached 'information overload'! |
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22 Oct 00 - 02:47 PM (#324638) Subject: RE: Another Music Theory Question From: Anglo Well, I'll have a stab at it.... There are various tried and true methods for going from A to B (well, A to A, or Am to Am). In a standard major chord tune, such progressions as 1 4 5 1 [let's think in the key of C for simplicity - C F G or G7 C]; 1 6 2 5 [C Am Dm G(7)] using minor chords - the doo-wop progression; 1 3 6 2 with major chords [C E A7 D7, then home with G7 C, think Freight Train, this jumps to E with the sharp 5th of the scale, then comes home via the circle of fifths]. The dominant chord, that's the main alternate chord you use, is a fifth above the tonic (the key chord). So for C major the dominant is G(7). Play a G chord, give it a little tension by adding the seventh, and it wants to come "home" to C. To leave your initial C chord you might add a 7th to give you a little impetus to get somewhere else. A C7 would lead naturally to F. (C is the 5th or dominant of F). A tune in A minor might have E major as a dominant, but a lot of minor tunes, especially folk tunes, don't have the sharpened leading tone, G# in A minor. The tune uses a G natural. (Think the first phrase of Greensleeves, "do me wrong," the "wrong" has a G nat. in A minor). Many 2-chord songs in Am would be most naturally harmonized with an Am chord and a G chord. The G becomes the "dominant" replacing the Em which is a weaker chord. But a tune like Greensleeves, for its final cadence, sharpens the G so the Ending harmonization is E (you can add the 7th if you want for more tension) to Am. (Also remember that the 7th of an Am is a G nat.) So what goes between the G and the E7 to get you from the Am start to the Am end. Another Am is certainly a possibility. Am G Am E7 Am. But let's consider F. It's a strong chord, it shares a lot of notes with Am, and if we substitute it in we have a direct descending bass line. Am G F E with the G# of the E chord giving us a little extra impetus back to the Am. And there's your common Spanish progression. Everything from the Kingston Trio's "El Matador" to you-name-it . Here endeth the first lesson. Maybe someone else can be clearer than I was - exposition is not my forte - nor is music theory! |
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22 Oct 00 - 02:52 PM (#324641) Subject: RE: Another Music Theory Question From: GUEST,Murray MacLeod (at the travel agent) Davey Graaham's "Angie" is probably the most famous example of this progression. Murray |
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22 Oct 00 - 03:00 PM (#324647) Subject: RE: Another Music Theory Question From: Bernard Erm, 'infamous'!! |
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22 Oct 00 - 03:39 PM (#324668) Subject: RE: Another Music Theory Question From: Peter T. Gracias, gents. We progress. yours, Peter T. |